In the past 16 months since my breast cancer diagnosis, I’ve had boatloads of questions, and received answers for many of them. But I’ve also had other questions that bounce around in my brain, so I decided to share them here. These questions may show my ignorance, may or may not be rhetorical, or may just be comical, but I hope some are thought-provoking. If you have other questions along these lines, please share them in the comments.

Skipping Treatments

During my course of treatments, we had holidays, weekends, inclement weather, Tim and I were exposed to Covid, and once, my platelets crashed so bad, my treatment was postponed. When doctors prescribe a regimen of treatments or medicines, like chemo, radiation, or the series of seven daily shots I had to have, how do our bodies, and the cancer cells these treatments are trying to eradicate, know/react to “skipping days” like these, like I had to do? Are all the skipped days causing a higher reoccurrence of cancers? (And I’ m not talking about the time between the chemo treatments – that time was crucial for recovery from the side effects, so I do understand that time between those.)

Preventative Treatments

I was told that all my treatments were preventative treatments. I had surgery to remove the cancerous lump, then I went through chemo first (with 7 daily shots following each treatment), then radiation, and then was prescribed a hormone-blocking pill that I’m supposed to take daily for five years. When I experienced awful side effects to the first hormone blocker, and then learned that the other two options had high risk of cancer reoccurring, I told the oncologist I wanted to come off hormone blockers completely. She said that the hormone blocking medicine is more important than the chemo, and that if I don’t take it, cancer WILL come back. Then why can’t someone invent medicine that doesn’t make cancer return? And if these “preventative treatments” are known to cause cancer, why aren’t “no treatments” considered the best preventative measure?

Why do doctors who diagnose and treat cancer recommend and/or prescribe products that contain ingredients known to contain carcinogens? Hydrocortisone cream and Silvadene creams both contain parabens, which are known carcinogens.

Immunotherapy, Autoimmune Diseases and Cancer Treatments

Immunotherapy is defined by the American Cancer Society as using a person’s own immune system to fight cancer. If the person’s immune system is already compromised with autoimmune diseases, which include vitiligo, psoriasis, Hashimoto’s, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and others – how does that affect treatment, and how does immunotherapy affect the autoimmune disease? (I’ve had psoriasis since 1984, and it went away during chemo. I’ll be curious to see if it returns now that I’ve completed the Herceptin infusions. I also have vitiligo, but it did not seem to be affected in any way.)

Hormones and Cancer

It’s interesting to me that I chose to have a tubal ligation when I was 25, to avoid taking birth control pills the rest of my life, with the simple reason of avoiding cancer. And yet I ended up with cancer anyway, and now they’ve prescribed medicine that blocks hormones to prevent cancer’s return. AND – two of the three hormone blockers give a 10% chance of cancer reoccurrence or new cancer forming. Lots of questions are generated from these statements, but I guess my primary one is, WHY?

The type of cancer I had was HER2+, estrogen receptive. If I’d had a hysterectomy during my anemia years, or even years before, as I’d requested for numerous years, would I have avoided breast cancer?

Sugar, Diet, and Cancer

If sugar is known/suspected to “feed” cancer, then why are sugars/sweets handed out at doc offices on a regular basis? Why aren’t patients advised to avoid sugars and sweets?

In fact, why isn’t a healthy diet and/or a visit with a dietician one of the first discussions and first actions with a cancer doctor?

Cancer and Covid Side Effects

Why are many of the side effects from chemo and radiation like side effects of COVID?

Why I Wrote the Pink Pages

When I was diagnosed with cancer, the questions began and as you can see above, they never stopped. I began writing a journal to process all that I was going through, so I could remember it later. As I writer, I knew I would write a book about my experiences, but I wanted it to be less about me and more about other cancer patients. I wanted to help other cancer patients, so The Pink Pages was born. Along with my journal, The Pink Pages offers an A-Z guide so patients can easily find information relevant to where they are in their own journey, with topics like Body Parts (and how treatments affect different parts of our body), bras, medi-ports, side effects, surgeries, treatments, and more.

Everyone’s cancer journey is as different and as unique as the individual, so I also included my own cancer timeline. When I was diagnosed, the time involved seemed the most overwhelming to me, and I wanted to SEE the time others experienced.

The Pink Pages also offers a list of resources to help patients get more information about cancer and treatments, find financial assistance, and provides information about support groups and prayer teams.

I also created another helpful book, Days to Remember, a journal for cancer patients to document their own journey. Days to Remember offers journal pages, space for appointment notes and questions, contacts, medications list, and more.

Do You Have Questions about Cancer or Cancer Treatments?

If you have any questions to add to the list above or comments in general, please leave them below.

Questions I’ve Had Since My Cancer Diagnosis