The purpose of the entire Q&A section of our website is to help you gain knowledge and information during your time of need. But it is only the starting point to helping you understand your journey ahead.

Here are 4 more helpful pieces of information.

1.  Contact WIN ABC

• The Women's Information Network Against Breast Cancer can:

• Mail you free literature on a range of topics including surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, eating hints, and pain control.

• Provide names and addresses of doctors or cancer centers that provide second opinions.

• Provide fact sheets on current issues and controversies that show up in the daily news media.

• Give you access to Physician Data Query (PDQ), a computer information center that provides the most up-to-date information on treatments for most types of cancer.

• Give you information on clinical trials.

2.  Follow-Up Care

After your breast cancer treatment is completed, you will need to have regularly scheduled follow-up care. Because you have had breast cancer in one breast, you are at increased risk of developing breast cancer again. To be sure that the cancer has not returned, your checkups will include physical exams and mammograms. You also may have blood tests, chest x-rays, bone scans, or other tests. If you find any unusual changes in your treated area or in your other breast, or if you have swollen lymph glands or bone pain, you should call your doctor as soon as possible.

3.  Clinical Trials

People who join clinical trials have a chance to benefit from new research and to make a contribution to medical science. Each study is designed to answer a scientific question on how to prevent, detect, or treat cancer. Studies place a portion of the patients in a "control group." These study participants receive the standard treatment so that their results can be compared with those of participants who receive the new treatment. During the trial, you may not know in which group you have been placed. Clinical trials take time. Until a trial is over, the true value of the new treatment will not be known. There may also be unknown side effects. If you are thinking about joining a clinical trial, you will receive written material that will help you decide whether to join. You can quit the trial at any time. 

4 - Helpful, Off-site Resources (Click here for more resources)

• Lange Productions
• FDA Certified Mammography Facilities

Last Updated: 02/12/2003

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