There is a time in a nurse's career when we need to step up, even though we may feel overwhelmed.
For me, that day arrived early in my career. I had promised to be available for an IV start for a friend with late-stage breast cancer. She had extreme peripheral lymphedema, which made vein selection impossible. Her port had failed. My IV skills were decent, but I could not fail her. A promise is a promise.
Thankfully, I accessed a vein and her final journey with breast cancer could begin.
Today, the science of treating breast carcinoma is vastly different, and even late-stage breast cancer patients may live as if they have chronic disease, but the premise for optimal prognosis remains the same:
Early Detection of Breast Cancer Is Crucial!
While we think of October as a month of pink ribbons and themes to remind us of breast cancer awareness, this disease affects both women and men.
A woman's risk for breast cancer over her lifetime is 1 in 8. Approximately 43,000 women are expected to die from breast cancer in 2021but overall death rates in women over age 50 have dropped 1% in the years 2013 to 2018, with the decrease thought to be the result of both "treatment advances and early detection," according to
