Health Expert Phyllis Johnson shares health management news and commentary at HealthCentral.com. HealthCentral.com is one of the top health destinations on the Web, with more than 35 condition-specific, wellness and general health Web properties. http://www.healthcentral.com/profiles/c/9692/index http://www.healthcentral.com/profiles/c/9692/rss self application/xml en-us 15 120 19 http://www.healthcentral.com/images/hc_logo_sm.gif http://www.healthcentral.com/profiles/c/9692/index http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/9692/152480/decisions Sat, 28 Apr 2012 20:55:30 -0400 Phyllis Johnson  One of the on-line groups I belong to is buzzing with indignation about an article, “Living Life In My Own Way—And Dying That Way As Well," by Amy Berman in HealthAffairs.  In the article, Berman describes her decision to skip chemotherapy, radiation and/or surgery as treatments for her Stage IV inflammatory breast cancer (IBC). No one in my group quibbles with Berman’s right to forego aggressive... http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/9692/152480/decisions http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/9692/152096/part-follow Sun, 15 Apr 2012 07:24:01 -0400 Phyllis Johnson Maybe part of your diagnostic process was a breast MRI, but why would your doctor be ordering another MRI now after your diagnosis or even years after your treatment?    Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a tool your doctor can use to see if your cancer has spread to other parts of your body.  It uses radio waves and a strong magnetic field rather than x-rays to show internal organs and tissues.  MRI allows evaluation of... http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/9692/152096/part-follow http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/9692/150636/skeleton Sat, 25 Feb 2012 19:56:56 -0500 Phyllis Johnson As I lay on the table and watched the big square pass slowly over my body, I shuddered at the thought of the radiation it must be emitting.  It was my first bone scan, scheduled to find out if my recently diagnosed inflammatory breast cancer had spread.   “What kind of radiation is that putting into me?” I asked the technician.   She looked at me with a funny expression on her face and hesitated before finally... http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/9692/150636/skeleton http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/9692/150100/indelible Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:16:42 -0500 Phyllis Johnson The members of the on-line support groups I belong to are in mourning.  Susan Niebur-- physicist, mother, wife, and writer-has died of inflammatory breast cancer almost five years after her diagnosis. Susan's cheerful smile is beloved by everyone who has been reading her blog Toddler Planet and following her journey as a mother and a cancer patient over the years.  I wrote about the ways she used writing to navigate cancer in a... http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/9692/150100/indelible http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/9692/149763/good-picture Sat, 28 Jan 2012 09:30:07 -0500 Phyllis Johnson When you going through the diagnostic process for breast cancer, you soon get acquainted with a host of medical machinery—mammograms,  ultrasounds, maybe a breast MRI.  If it turns out that you do have breast cancer, your doctor may order some more tests to see if the cancer has metastasized to other parts of your body.  These tests may often be used in the years after your cancer treatment if you have symptoms that suggest... http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/9692/149763/good-picture http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/9692/148346/misleading Mon, 19 Dec 2011 06:49:16 -0500 Phyllis Johnson A heart-warming series of commercials currently running on television shows factory workers wishing they could meet the cancer survivors whose lives have been saved by the technology they build.  My favorite part of these commercials is the survivor who says that she now has "no evidence of disease."  She does not utter the over-used and misleading term "cancer-free."  The problem with the term "cancer-free" is that generally... http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/9692/148346/misleading http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/9692/147994/managing Sun, 11 Dec 2011 09:11:25 -0500 Phyllis Johnson Years ago my babysitter was attacked in her grocery store parking lot.  A man held a knife to her throat and demanded that she get into the car.  She fought back against her assailant and escaped with cuts to her throat and hand.  She needed some stitches but suffered no permanent injury.   She told me the story the next day calmly even when she showed me the bandages and explained the severity of the cuts.  She seemed... http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/9692/147994/managing http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/9692/147391/reducting Sat, 26 Nov 2011 09:56:37 -0500 Phyllis Johnson Has your doctor had to change your treatment plan because of a shortage of your cancer drug?  If so, you are not alone.  Drug shortages, which used to be rare, have been increasing.  According to a White House press release  October 31, 2011, "While the Food and Drug Administration has successfully prevented 137 drug shortages since the beginning of 2010, drug shortages have been increasing in frequency and severity in recent... http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/9692/147391/reducting http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/9692/146117/cancer-anger Fri, 28 Oct 2011 06:39:09 -0400 Phyllis Johnson My annual oncology appointment was in the late afternoon, so I was sitting alone in the large waiting room when they came in.  The young man with a scraggly beard and long pony tail rising up from the crown of his shaved head paced back and forth in the tiny check-in cubicle while a tiny, little old lady sat in the chair.  I could hear his agitated voice from 50 feet away.   "I've told them that I need more notice.  I... http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/9692/146117/cancer-anger http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/9692/145576/diagnosing Sun, 16 Oct 2011 10:45:00 -0400 Phyllis Johnson A reader wrote in concerned that she might have inflammatory breast cancer (IBC).  Although she had three of the symptoms of IBC--redness, swelling, and warmth--her doctors were confident that she couldn't have IBC.  She did not have the characteristic skin dimpling of IBC, and only part of her breast was affected.  Yet five antibiotics had not diminished her symptoms.  Finally they decided to biopsy. The results were... http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/9692/145576/diagnosing