Prostate Cancer: Essential Screening and Testing for Men
Prostate cancer is often curable, if the disease is diagnosed and treated early (before the cancer spreads). The following diagnostic tests should be done with your annual physical exam starting at age [more…]
Finding a Cancer Specialist and Asking Questions about Prostate Cancer
If your primary care doctor says you may have prostate cancer, he will want you to see a specialist, usually a urologist, to prescribe treatment and to answer your questions. When looking for a qualified [more…]
How to Deal with Side Effects of Prostate Cancer Treatment
The possible side effects of prostate cancer treatment cause most men to worry. The following information can help you talk to your doctor about overcoming and controlling the side effects that may accompany [more…]
Tips for Partners of People with Prostate Cancer
It may feel like the world is falling apart if your partner is diagnosed with prostate cancer. It is scary for both of you. Here are some tips for you to help your partner as he struggles with prostate [more…]
Prostate Cancer For Dummies Cheat Sheet
Screening and testing for prostate cancer are important for early detection and treatment. You can talk with your doctor about any concerns you may have, like prostate cancer treatment and side effects [more…]
Contacts to Keep on Hand during Breast Cancer Treatment
Being treated for breast cancer is an ongoing process with some twists and turns to be expected. Make yourself a call sheet so that you can notify the right people when chemo runs long and you need someone [more…]
Is It Breast Cancer? Warning Signs You Shouldn't Ignore
Breast cancer has some obvious and not-so-obvious symptoms that you shouldn't ignore. Pay attention to your breast health so that you can identify changes early on. Schedule an appointment with your doctor [more…]
How to Prepare for a Mammogram
Mammograms are an important diagnostic tool in detecting and combating breast cancer. You should schedule regular mammogram screenings, and follow this advice: [more…]
Breast Cancer Treatment Options
If you've been diagnosed with breast cancer, you have many treatment options available depending on a variety of factors. You can discuss the options with your doctor and your loved ones to decide the [more…]
How to Prepare for a Breast Biopsy Appointment
If your doctor suspects you may have breast cancer or wants to confirm that you don't, you'll probably be scheduled for a biopsy, a procedure in which some breast tissue is extracted and analyzed for cancerous [more…]
Members of Your Breast Cancer Treatment Team
Breast cancer patients have a whole team of caring and attentive health professionals who are focused on helping you beat the disease. Here's the roster for your breast cancer team: [more…]
Breast Cancer For Dummies Cheat Sheet
If you're dealing with breast cancer, know that fellow patients and medical professionals can do a deal to ease your journey. This cheat sheet offers advice on when to see a doctor about breast issues; [more…]
How to Cope with Chemotherapy-Related Digestive Problems
The same properties that make chemotherapy drugs effective cancer killers also cause them to wreak havoc on normal cells, including those that make up your digestive system. The damage, although usually [more…]
How to Cope with Chemotherapy’s Blood and Nervous System Side Effects
The same properties that make chemotherapy drugs effective cancer killers also cause them to damage healthy cells in your bone marrow, blood and nervous system. The damage, although often temporary, can [more…]
How to Cope with Chemotherapy-Related Skin, Hair, and Reproductive Tract Changes
Chemotherapy can be a life-saving cancer destroyer. Unfortunately, the drugs don’t take aim solely at cancer. They can also kill hair, skin, and reproductive tract cells. This collateral damage leaves [more…]
Coping with Common Radiation Therapy Side Effects
Because radiation therapy involves focusing strong beams of radioactive energy directly on the cancerous tumor and not throughout the body, most side effects occur in the immediate area where the radiation [more…]
Radiation Therapy’s Side Effects on Sexuality and Fertility
Because radiation therapy involves focusing strong beams of radioactive energy directly on the cancerous tumor and not throughout the body, most side effects occur in the immediate area where the radiation [more…]
Radiation Therapy’s Effects on the Head, Neck, Chest, and Abdomen
If you’re receiving radiation to fight cancer in your neck, you may develop trouble swallowing. If you’re radiation is targeting an abdominal tumor, you may have to fight bouts of diarrhea. [more…]
Checking the Prostate Gland
Having regular prostate exams are important as a man ages. The prostate gland — located below the bladder — can become enlarged and cause increased frequent urination. This problem, called [more…]
How to Check for Breast Cancer
One woman in nine will develop breast cancer in the United States. Because of this risk, every woman must know how to do a breast self-exam. Examining your breasts for cancer is easy but critical. Because [more…]
How to Physically Check for Testicular Cancer
Testicular cancer can be deadly. Luckily, the disease is also easily curable — if a man finds it in time. Testicular cancer usually begins as a painless lump, which can be found without a doctor’s help [more…]
Is There a Sex Life after a Mastectomy?
Survival is the first concern for women who undergo a mastectomy because of breast cancer; yet women shouldn’t forget their sexual feelings. Breast cancer treatment, surgery, and optional breast reconstruction [more…]
Facing Hair Loss from Cancer Treatments
Many forms of chemotherapy cause temporary hair loss, and radiation causes permanent hair loss for the body part treated. Losing your hair is an emotional experience, so you need to spend some time getting [more…]
Building a Cancer Treatment Support Team
When you’ve been diagnosed with cancer and you’re going through treatment, you need not only help from your family and friends but from an entire support team of people, with your doctors at the forefront [more…]
Treating Yourself Well during Chemo and Radiation
While you’re going through chemotherapy and radiation, take some time to pamper yourself. Even if you experience just a few cancer treatment side effects, you may not have your usual level of energy. So [more…]
