I certainly didn't intend for my story about having breast cancer in the
less-used breast to make anybody change their behavior!!

I agree that the reason for the cancer may have it's roots in whatever made
that breast not work very well in the first place.  It's also the case that
*any* breast surgery, including the removal of benign lumps, increases your
risk of breast cancer at the site of the surgery.  So getting reassurance
through surgery that the 1987 lump was not cancerous may have been the
origin of the 1999 cancer.

Of course being breastfed, and breastfeeding your own kids lowers your risk
of breast cancer.  It just doesn't lower it to zero.  Breast self exam may
lead to earlier detection, as mammogram may, but lots of tumors are not
identifiable by either mode.  And sometimes the one you can feel may not
show up on mammogram, and the one visible on mammogram may not be palpable.
Early detection does not lead to drastically lower mortality rates -- in
fact, almost no advances have been made in breast cancer survival rates in
the last few decades.  So while I certainly encourage everyone to do BSEs
and get your mammograms, don't think that early detection *guarantees*
survival.

Before we conclude that the Chinese study may not be applicable to women in
the US, we need to look at breast cancer rates in women in the US who
breastfed for a long time.  I hope to do this in the coming year.

Kathy Dettwyler


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