Breast cancer is a particularly devastating and intimate disease. Although not as deadly as some other forms of cancer — five-year survival rates in the United States are between 80 percent and 90 percent — the toll that breast cancer takes on the body, mind, and psychology make it an especially difficult disease to contend with.

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, finding a good specialist, and support from your partner, family and friends.

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; has tips on how to get ready for a mammogram and biopsy; introduces the members of your treatment team; and suggests contact numbers to keep on hand as you undergo treatment.

We all go outside, which means we’re all at risk for developing skin cancer. Fortunately, skin cancer is usually successfully treated when it’s found in its early stages. Along with making sure a skin cancer screening is part of your annual check-up, a key to early detection is monthly self exam. By knowing what your skin normally looks like, and how to spot the various types of skin cancer, you’ll be able to alert your doctor at the first sign of a skin abnormality so you can get the treatment you need.

If you have any questions about the results of your biopsy, whether it's positive or negative for cancer, be sure to write them down so that you can remember to discuss them with your doctor. If the biopsy is positive for cancer Here are some questions to ask your doctor in the event that the findings are positive for prostate cancer: What is the stage of the cancer?

When men who have prostate cancer talk to each other, they sometimes exchange their Gleason scores or their cancer stages with an intensity that two combat veterans might use when exchanging the name of a battle they both served in. They say such things as "I'm a Gleason 6," or maybe "I'm a Gleason 4" — rather than saying that they were at the battle of Khe San in Vietnam or in the Gulf War.

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 some chemotherapy patients with thinning hair, nail loss, uncomfortably dry skin, and permanent reproductive damage.

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 make cancer patients vulnerable to a series of side effects and secondary conditions, including bleeding, anemia, infections, numbness in the extremities, and memory loss.