It will be interesting to see more research on this. Three weeks ago I had chest pain and shortness of breath and ended up having 95% blockage of my Left Anterior Descending (LAD) Artery, exactly 1 year after my bi-lateral mastectomy. I had catherization that ended with Angioplasty and stent in my LAD. I had 33 treatments of radiation that ended in April last year. The on-call cardiologist believed that my blockage was due to radiation because I didn't have high cholesterol or high BP (Except that night it was 180/113). Last week I had my 6 month check up with my Radiation Oncologist who insisted that the radiation did not cause my blockage because my radiation was on the right side. That afternoon I had my follow up with my cardiologist and he said most likely the blockage was because of the radiation. He sees it all of the time and the radiation oncologists do not want to admit to it. Well, now I am on Plavix and a 325 mg aspirin for at least a year, maybe for the rest of my life. I wonder if this aspirin will help me in the long run with the breast cancer recurrance. I have triple negative inflammatory breast cancer, so we will see. Just thought this was interesting that I have been seeing these articles about aspirin may help our BC. It has been a trying year and half. Hopefully the rest of 2010 will be better (although I do turn 50 this year, my youngest graduates high school and I will have been married 1/2 my life-25 years with my sweetie).

Johanna

PJ Hamel, Health Guide

2/23/10 6:11am

Well, congratulations on turning 50 (yes, the older you get, the more entitled you are to your eccentricities!); your youngest graduating, and 25 years with your sweetie! 2010 already sounds MUCH better... PJH

When are we going to learn that greed will always get in the way of progress when it comes to learning how to fight breast cancer better?  Supplements like Vitamin D and Aspirin are not patented drugs that physicians can prescribe to get their monetary rebates, so naturally there will be plenty of resistance or medical advocates who say, "oh, be careful, we aren't sure this is true or could be good for you."  And toxic drugs like chemo or tamoxifen are good for me?  The only reason we still use chemo in this country is because it's tradition - we are so afraid to look for new possibilities!   Thank God for those brave warriors out there who are open minded enough to pursue or test other alternatives.  The ACS is a joke - they spend less than $1 of every $4 raised on research.  Devra Davis has written a great book called the "Secret History of War on Cancer."   Ladies, we've been deceived and still remain so naive about the numerous variables existing in our work and home environments that put us at risk every day.  We need to get angry, and start demanding that we stop raising money that is used to only research more ways to treat cancer instead of educating everyone on how to prevent cancer.   We need to demand more of our government agencies, like the FDA - get them to reveal the real truth about skin care companies and how the majority of the ingredients used are not monitored or regulated, and contain chemicals that produce excess estrogen which feeds breast cancer.  Let's figure out how to eliminate the toxins so disease can't start, instead of inventing more drugs to treat the disease.     

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PJ Hamel, Health Guide

2/23/10 11:38am

Thanks for adding your viewpoint here, Susan. It's hard to know the truth about so many aspects of cancer and its treatment. While we're all free to choose our own beliefs, what makes it difficult is that data from studies can be tweaked and tortured to "prove" just about anything... PJH