From relationships with the partner to family members to food habits to exercise and social life, breast cancer entirely transforms the survivor's life that prevails well after treatment ends. So how do you fight never-ending exhaustion? What food should you eat to help control a breast cancer relapse? Will you ever have a regular life again? These are just some breast cancer survival questions that might bother you as you shift from breast cancer treatment to breast cancer survival. 

Breast cancer survival: A brief overview 

While many breast cancer patients are relieved to be complete with breast cancer treatment, they also fear cancer relapse and can feel lost when they do not get timely assistance from their cancer care team. Furthermore, cancer may never completely disappear for some females diagnosed with advanced breast cancer. 

These patients might continue to receive treatments that can assist them in keeping the breast cancer growth under control and help reduce its symptoms. Therefore, learning to live with progressive breast cancer that hardly goes away can have its kinds of anxiety and tension.

Even if you have finished your breast cancer treatment and therapies, your Oncologist will still want to monitor you carefully, and you must never overlook these follow-up appointments. In addition, during these appointments, your doctors will ask if you are having any issues and will thoroughly examine you to see if any new cancer traits. 

While lab examinations and imaging tests generally aren't required after treatment for most early-stage breast cancers, doctors might perform them if they think the signs of cancer are relapsing or are from treatment-related side effects. Also, if you are a breast cancer survivor, you must know that almost any cancer therapy can produce side effects. While some might only endure a few days or weeks, other side effects might prevail for an extended time.

Moreover, some side effects might not occur until years after you have completed the breast cancer treatment. Hence regular appointments with the best Oncologist in Delhi NCR are an excellent way to ask your doubts and discuss any changes, issues you notice, or concerns. Nevertheless, if worries about your cancer occur between visits, you shouldn't immediately see your doctor. 

Breast cancer survivorship plan

While every cancer patient will have a tailored survivorship plan, a general breast cancer survivorship plan includes the following: 

• A synopsis of your breast cancer diagnosis, the tests and therapies that got completed, and the treatment plan and medications you received

• A suggested plan for follow-up appointments and tests

• A list of potential late or long-term side effects from your therapy, including what to monitor and when you should contact your Oncologist

• A plan for other examinations you might require in the future, such as early detection (screening) examinations for other kinds of cancer or examinations to look for long-term health impacts from breast cancer or its therapy.

• Physical activity, diet, and other lifestyle change suggestions

General follow-up schedules after breast cancer survival 

Your follow-up plan after breast cancer survival can depend on numerous aspects, including the type of breast cancer, how developed it was when discovered (the stage of cancer), and the treatment you received.

• Doctor appointments: If you have completed breast cancer therapy or treatment, your follow-up appointments will likely be every few months. In addition, the longer you have been free of cancer, the less frequently doctor appointments are needed. And after five years, breast cancer survivors only need to see their doctor about once a year.

• Pelvic examination: If you are consuming either hormone drugs toremifene or tamoxifen for breast cancer treatment, your Oncologist will likely suggest pelvic exams annually because these medications can increase your risk of endometrial (uterine) cancer. Moreover, this risk is more prominent in ladies who have undergone menopause. Therefore, always ensure that you reach out to your doctor immediately regarding any uncommon vaginal bleeding, such as spotting or bleeding after menopause, spotting or bleeding between periods, or a change in your period dates. Although this is generally induced by something that isn't cancer, it can also be the primary indication of uterine cancer.

• Mammograms: If you underwent breast-conserving surgery (partial mastectomy or lumpectomy), you would likely have a mammogram approximately 6 to 12 months when radiation therapy and surgery are completed and then at least once every year after that. Women who've undergone a mastectomy (full breast removal) typically no longer require mammograms on that breast. However, unless the patient had both breasts removed, they still need to undergo yearly mammograms on the remaining breast. 

• Bone density examinations: If you are consuming hormone drugs like aromatase inhibitors (such as letrozole, anastrozole, or exemestane) for early-stage breast cancer or if treatment induces early menopause, your Oncologist would monitor your bone fitness and may consider examining your bone density.

• Other examinations: Other examinations such as imaging tests (like x-rays, bone scans, or CT or PET scans) and blood tests are not a final follow-up for most patients treated for breast cancer as they haven't shown better results. Nevertheless, doctors might perform one or more of these examinations if they think the cancer has relapsed.

Even when your breast cancer treatment is finished, it is essential to remain in touch with your doctor, who can help you with better breast cancer survival tips. If you are looking for the best cancer doctor in Delhi, book your appointment with Dr. Manish Singhal at Cancer Consult India. 

Cancer Consult India is one of India's leading cancer care centres and holds the utmost superiority for rendering the most advanced breast cancer treatment.