Help support the Pink Agenda as we hit the mean streets of Central Park on Sunday, September 14th to Race for the Cure and support the Susan G. Komen foundation in its fight against breast cancer.

Last year, half the group completed the race in record time, while the other half (aka “the too social group”) puffed across the finish line late in the game. For The Pink Agenda, it didn’t matter how long it took us — just that we all finished the race and we did it as a team. We’re all looking forward to round two this fall — as well as the necessary greasy diner retreat immediately following our morning of excercize.

Join us on the pavement or just show us you care and throw a dollar - or a hundred — our way.

“I’m going to have cute boobs ’til I’m 90, so there’s that. I’ll have the best boobs in the nursing home. I’ll be the envy of all the ladies around the bridge table.” — Christina Applegate on the bright side of having reconstructive surgery after her double mastectomy

Applegate, current star of Samantha Who? and even more importantly, Sue Ellen from my favorite flick, “Don’t Tell Mom The Babysitter’s Dead” made her recent breast cancer diagnosis public on August 2nd. Today she announced that in order to combat this disease, “The only [choice] that seemed the most logical and the one that was going to work for me was to have a bilateral mastectomy.”

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A new study published in the January issue of the Archives of Surgery reports that breast cancer patients who opt for reconstructive surgeries after a mastectomy are two times more likely to suffer from infection when they receive an implant instead of their own tissue. The research, conducted at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis at a university-affiliated hospital, analyzed 949 patients admitted for either mastectomy or breast reconstruction surgery between 1999 and 2000.

Overall, infections occurred in 50 of the patients (5.3 percent) within one year of surgery. Of that group, 6 percent of the infections were the result of reconstructive surgery that involved the patient’s own abdominal tissue whereas over 12 percent were from surgeries that utilized implants. As stated by the main author of the study, Margaret Olsen, “the bottom line is that implants are associated with an increased risk of infection in breast cancer patients.”

One reason implants double the risk of infection, according to expert Dr. R. Cohen, chairman of plastic and reconstructive surgery at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey, is that any time something foreign is introduced to the body during a surgery, it provides a new surface for bacteria to grow. Additionally, procedures specific to implantation create increased opportunities for infections to grow and spread.

While implants have many associated risks, using abdominal tissue also has it downsides. For one, the procedure takes several more hours than implant reconstruction, which can increase a patient’s odds for blood clots and lung embolisms. Additionally, there is also the risk of the tissue dying, which obviously necessitates more surgery.

Olsen believes that there are several measures which can be taken that could reduce infections, and therefore cost, such as, “strategies to optimize the timing and dosage of prophylactic antibiotics administered before the surgical incision, glucose control in diabetic patients, promotion of meticulous hand hygiene and strategies to promote timely removal of drains.”

I wish, in all sincerity, that I could take credit for finding this one: Boob Lube. Great job scouting, Bridget! Designed by Save the Ta-Tas (and you thought our name was silly), Boob Lube is the first ever breast check soap. Complete with instructions and a reminder calendar printed right on the label, this is a great idea and makes for an even greater gift. To purchase, go to the Save the Ta-Tas website.

What if there was a way to stop breast cancer before it starts?

Dr. Leisha A. Emens, an assistant professor of oncology at John Hopkins University, recently discussed her work on two new vaccines to fight breast cancer at a meeting of the Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy. While both vaccines are still in the first stage of clinical trials, to determine safety and effectiveness, the possibility of preemptive strike against breast cancer is obviously an exciting one.

The first vaccine targets a type of breast cancer called HER-2/neu disease, which happens to be particularly aggressive. As she explains, the vaccine works by marshalling the body’s immune response. In her research, she has also found that by combining the vaccine with chemotherapy drugs, like cyclophosphamide and doxorubicin, there seems to be an increase in effectiveness. In the current trial, women who have advanced breast cancer are receiving a combination of the vaccine and chemotherapy.

The second of Dr. Emens’ vaccines works very differently. Along with chemotherapy, this vaccine would prevent blood vessels from feeding the cancer and thus starve and kill the cancer cells. Eight people are currently enrolled in the trial for this vaccine and Dr. Emens says that there is reason to believe that she has seen signs of immunity. This is particularly important, as she explains, because “now that we are on the verge of developing immune-based and gene-therapy-based approaches for treating cancer to integrate these novel approaches into the standards we already have, so we can maintain the progress and improve it,” and she goes on to say, “by doing that, we will be able to cure breast cancer in our lifetime.”

Visit The Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy website, an organization dedicated exclusively to cancer gene therapy research.

Imagine that you have an open chest wound and there are draining tubes coming out of it. Imagine agonizing pain and exhaustion. Imagine feeling robbed, mutilated, scared and helpless. Now imagine that someone is asking you to leave the hospital.

Unfortunately, a woman being asked to leave the hospital mere hours after having a mastectomy is not an uncommon circumstance. This phenomenon, known as a “drive through” mastectomy, is the direct result of insurance companies trying to reduce the cost of inpatient healthcare and has been around for a surprisingly long time. In 1996, Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., drafted a bill to stop this practice. Yet today, over 10 years later, the United States still has no formal legislation to protect breast cancer patients and guarantee them a minimum stay within a hospital after they have had a breast, or both breasts, removed. Currently, there is a re-drafted form of DeLauro’s original bill titled The Breast Cancer Protection Act of 2007 awaiting approval in Congress. If passed, this bill would revolutionize the way the women are treated after receiving mastectomies, allowing them and their doctors to decide the appropriate recovery time within a hospital as well as determine whether the quality of care at home is adequate following this physically and emotionally difficult surgery. Lifetime, who has long been involved in the fight to end drive through mastectomies, delivered a petition with over 12 million signatures to Congress this year during Breast Cancer Awareness Month in support the DeLauro’s bill. Currently, the petition has over 20 million signatures and it continues to grow!

If you haven’t already, it is vital that you add your name to petition—it takes less than 15 seconds (yes, I counted!). Sign the Lifetime’s petition to stop Drive-Through Mastectomies

Who has the energy to exercise regularly? Well, to be sure, not me and I am by no means a lazy person. (Just to give you a little bit of insight into my life, I have marathon running listed under ‘interests’ on my resume). I therefore CANNOT imagine what kind of motivation it must take to exercise for someone who is undergoing chemo for breast cancer.

While exercise has been the subject of many studies on how to prevent cancer, a new study, done by Professor Kerry Courneya at University of Alberta (Canada), is taking a look at exercise on the post-diagnosis side.

He recruited over 200 women with breast cancer who were beginning chemo and grouped them into 3 categories: resistance training, aerobic exercise and “usual care” (aka nothing). The most novel finding was the group that was doing weight resistance training actually increased their ability to complete chemo on time.

The reasoning behind why the weight resistance might have helped the patients is unknown, but Courneya speculates that workouts boost white blood cell counts. As he mentioned to a HealthDay reporter earlier this month, “If white blood cell counts fall during chemo, the chemotherapy sometimes has to be delayed or the amount of the drug given is reduced”

Both exercise groups also showed improvement in overall self esteem, an important issue when undergoing chemo because of hair loss and other concerns. So, even though it may be counterintuitive to exercise while undergoing treatment, there may be noticeable benefits.

Obviously, all cancer patients considering exercise should consult their doctor first.

Hello to my future readers! My name is Meredith, I am the resident “writer” for Saving Second Base (SSB) and you have just found your way to my blog about all things breast cancer.

To give you a bit of background into why I am blogging on this site, it has to do with the fact that SSB is dedicated towards getting young professionals involved in the fight against this terrible disease. As someone who considers herself in touch with the concerns, lifestyle and interests of our age group, I think that is pretty safe to say that most of us are not super informed about what is going on in the world of medical R&D. Whether it’s a new study related to prevention or a new drug released to help with treatment, breast cancer news is just not something that gets picked up on our radar—and I would like to change that.

Since it turns out that one in every eight women will eventually be diagnosed with breast cancer, this is an issue that will affect everyone at some point of time in their life. We cannot ignore the scale of this disease: we need to be informed.

The problem is, who wants (or has the time) to read a boring medical press releases or latest findings published in this month’s Scientific Journal? This is where I come in. Marisa, the founder of SSB, has agreed—for hopefully longer than a short trial period— to let me blog about breast cancer! This way, I can update you in a modern, abbreviated and, ideally, more interesting way than other formal resources. What’s more, I vow to go beyond the simple, dry regurgitation of material by incorporating opinions, reactions and feelings, just like any good blogger should.

The blogging will be irregular, whenever there is something noteworthy, so check back often. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please contact me at: meredith@savingsecondbase.org. I would love to hear all of your opinions unless, of course, they conflict with mine, in which case you should keep them to yourself. JUST KIDDING! Well…sort of anyway.