Dear Dr. Bone: I live in the Philippines and am 26 years old. My
mother died of breast cancer when I was only 14 years old. Now I
have blood coming from my nipple and I was told that this is
usually due to terminal cancer. I am really scared. -- O.P.
Dear O.P.: The good news is that having blood come from your
nipple is almost always because of a NONcancerous growth called an
intraductal papilloma.
You need to see a surgeon about it. Your risk of breast cancer
is higher than other women based on the fact that your mother died
young of breast cancer. However, the risk may not be as high as you
suspect. Having one first-degree relative with breast cancer
increases your risk from about 14 percent to 18 percent, not a very
big difference.
Even so, I suggest you have an imaging study done, probably a
sonogram (ultrasound) as it may be more helpful than a mammogram at
your age. MRI is also a possible option.
I sincerely doubt you have cancer at all, let alone terminal
cancer and hope that you tell the person who scared you not to make
judgments until all the information is in.
Please keep me posted on what happens.
Dear Dr. Bone: My friend is dying of ovarian cancer. She is
almost catatonic. She never made out a will. Is it too late to try
to do it when she has a lucid moment? Her family is very concerned.
-- N.B.
Dear N.B.: A challenging question. A will should be done when
the patient is deemed sound of mind. If your friend is under the
influence of narcotic pain medication she may not be competent to
execute a will.
I suggest that her family consults with a lawyer right away.
Hospice and your local Legal Aid Society provide resources to
answer these type of questions.
Dear Dr. Bone: I sleep in a bra. Sometimes when I wake up my
breasts are sore and I notice lumps. Do you think this is due to
the bra?
There is breast cancer in my family so I am worried that these
lumps might turn into cancer. -- I.N.
Dear I.N.: Wearing any bra for a long period of time can cause
pressure on breast tissue. The pressure can cause soreness and
swelling that may feel like a lump when there isn't one there. The
good news is that wearing a bra all the time does not seem to
predispose a woman to breast cancer.
Simply by taking the bra off and letting the tissues expand
should solve the problem.
I am not sure when sleeping in a bra came into vogue, but I
certainly see a lot of young women doing it these days.
Perhaps they think that the constant support from the bra will
prevent sagging later on in life. How different than the 1960s when
bra burning was popular and going without one meant you were
liberated!
Dr. Melanie Bone is a cancer survivor and gynecologist who
practices in West Palm Beach, Fla. To send questions for her Q&A
column, go to www.cancersensibility.org (there is a tab to contact
her for questions) or PalmBeachPost.com/health (click on the "ask
a question" link). Any questions submitted to Dr. Bone will be
considered for her column.
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