If the cancer is still in the early stages (Stage 1 or 2), the doctor will
most likely recommend that you have surgery to remove either the suspicious lump
(lumpectomy) or the affected breast (mastectomy). During the operation, the
surgeon will examine the lymph nodes to see whether any are affected and will
(usually) remove the lymph nodes where the cancer is most likely to have spread.
If is it necessary to give chemotherapy, your doctor will usually wait until
after the first trimester to reduce the chances that it will harm the baby.
If the cancer is more advanced (Stage 3 or 4), the situation can become more
more complicated and treatment would need to be individualized for each woman.
If radiation is needed to treat the cancer, it can be very hard to protect
the baby. Additionally, these cancers usually require both surgery and
chemotherapy, so the risk of harming the baby is much higher. There have been
instances where the cancer is advanced to the point where any treatment is not
likely to add more than a year or two to the woman's life. In these cases,
whether or not to undergo the treatment and risk harming the baby can be an
agonizing decision for both the woman and her family.
Can I breastfeed my baby if I have breast cancer?
Breastfeeding
while you have breast cancer will not harm your baby. Moreover, there is no
evidence that stopping your flow of breast milk will improve your cancer.
However, if you are undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer, you should not
breast feed because these powerful chemotherapy drugs can travel through your
breast milk to the baby.
I had breast cancer, but have been successfully treated for it. Is it OK for me to
get pregnant? Will this harm either me or my baby?
Pregnancy
does not change the overall length of time a woman who has had breast cancer can
expect to live. At this point, it appears that babies born to women who have had
breast cancer in the past are normal and healthy. However, it is possible that
babies born to women who have had extensive radiation, chemotherapy or bone
marrow transplantation may have more problems.
Some doctors feel that postponing pregnancy for 2 years or so after being
treated for breast cancer will make it less likely that your cancer will come
back while you are pregnant, and lead to the problems discussed earlier in this
section.