October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month If you have been recently diagnosed with breast cancer, you probably have some unanswered questions and concerns. Chances are good, too, that your doctor gave you a lot of information in a short time, and that you didn’t absorb it all right away. If this describes you, take heart. Help is just a phone call away. We understand that people with serious illnesses -- like breast cancer -- often need the support of a knowledgeable and caring healthcare professional. That’s why we have made health coaches available by phone, anytime, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, at no charge to you. Health coaches are specially trained healthcare professionals, such as nurses, dietitians, and respiratory therapists. They have access to the most up-to-date and reliable health information available. Health coaches can explain the different treatment options for breast cancer, and can help you work with your doctor to make a decision that’s best for you. Women with early stage breast cancer typically have two major treatment options. They can have a mastectomy, surgery to remove the entire breast, or they can have a lumpectomy, surgery to remove only the breast tumor and a border of healthy tissue around it, saving the breast. Women who have a lumpectomy (also called breast-conserving surgery) usually also have radiation therapy. If you have early stage breast cancer, the choice you make between mastectomy and lumpectomy will not make a difference in how long you will live. Still, there are important differences between the surgeries. The decision you make will depend on how you feel about these differences, which include: • How long you spend in treatment and how much it disrupts your life. • How your body looks after surgery. • The chance that your cancer might come back in the breast or breast area. If you are facing difficult choices about your treatment for breast cancer, a health coach can help. He or she can answer your questions and also help you prepare questions to discuss with your doctor. If appropriate, a health coach will send you a complimentary videotape, such as: • Early Stage Breast Cancer: Choosing Your Surgery • Ductal Carcinoma In Situ (DCIS): Choosing Your Treatment • Early Breast Cancer: Hormone Therapy And Chemotherapy, Are They Right For You? • Breast Reconstruction: Is It Right For You? • Living With Metastatic Breast Cancer: Making The Journey Your Own To talk to a health coach, call 1-800-658-2750. You can also get information online at www.thedialogcenter.com/bcbsnd. -- Amanda Eickhoff, Assistant Director for Work Well, Wellness Center, amandaeickhoff@mail.und.edu, 701.777.0210