I just read Kathy's post re her cancer on the "unused" breast.  It inspired me to try nursing again on my unused breast  after a 3 month "weaning".   I guess I just always thought that using cortisone long-term on the nipple/areola (for eczema)  would be more harmful than simply weaning from that breast.  In truth, there's probably no way to know.  Anyway, it amazes me that 3 months after not using that breast, my daughter managed to get milk from it in two seconds.  

I had a thought for Kathy and anyone else interested in this subject.   Kathy, you mentioned that the breast that eventually developed cancer had always produced less milk and that was part of the reason you preferred to nurse on the other one.  Your point was that, maybe if you had nursed from the left breast more frequently, you wouldn't have developed a tumor in it.  But it's a chicken an egg argument: Maybe the breast that developed a tumor did so not because you nursed less from it, but rather because the same factor that caused it to produce less milk also caused it to develop cancer.  Whatever the reason for it, I hope you're okay now.

Anyway, Kathy's post (and another response I received -- thank you, Sharon) really drives home how crucial it is to do BSE.  I don't know about the rest of you, but I like to think I've reduced my risk of breast cancer significantly by having nursed as long as I have.  Yet, when  I read Kathy's post (by my count, she has at least 9.5 years of nursing under her belt) I realized that I can't get complacent.  It's like the guy who eats healthful food and exercises every day his whole life then drops dead of a heart attack.  There are no guarantees.   So you learn the warning signs of a heart attack, just in case.  Sorry if I'm sounding morbid.

As an aside, I wonder how applicable that recent study in China (that showed 50% reduction in breast cancer after two years of nursing) is to women in this country (U.S.).  The Chinese diet is worlds away from the American diet and that would certainly play a role.  Someone recently posted about a woman who stopped eating dairy and saw her tumor shrink.  Has anyone else heard anything like that?  (The poor Dairy Industry has really gotten a pounding from LACTnet lately!)

--Julie Rosen

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