For breast cancer survivors like Marie McCrone, the worry never quite stops.
Despite a lumpectomy and lymph node removal in 2002, she feared recurrence of the cancer or the onset of lymphedema, a painful swelling of the arm that can occur long after surgery.
"I heard all sorts of horror stories about it," recalls McCrone, 52, of Warrington, Bucks County. "How you might get it just from lifting a grocery bag."
Four years later, she heard about a weightlifting program for breast cancer survivors being tested at the University of Pennsylvania.. The study by Kathryn Schmitz and colleagues eventually found that survivors who went through the program showed improvement in body image and satisfaction with their intimate relationships, compared with a control group. They were also 35 percent less likely to get lymphedema. McCrone remains symptom free and is still exercising: "I wouldn't do without it," she said.
The Penn study was one more example of how the treatment of breast and other cancers is going beyond the three major cancer-fighting weapons of traditional Western medicine: chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery.
The side effects and aftereffects of these are well known to be harsh, particularly in breast cancer. But knowledge of how to cope with them - and even to use that knowledge to hike survival odds - is growing.
For example, until a few years ago, McCrone and patients like her would have been advised to remain physically inactive for weeks or months after surgery.
"Unfortunately, the [standard] treatments we have can create problems in and of themselves, enduring physical and emotional symptoms," said Barrie Cassileth, chief of integrative medicine at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. "Proper oncology care must include attention to these symptoms. That's what complementary therapy is all about."
In breast cancer, "we've known for decades that women with higher stress levels have worse overall outcomes," said Daniel Monti, director of the Integrative Medicine Program at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. "And we're just scratching the surface of how stress affects cell biology."
Philadelphia is blessed with many cancer facilities, and complementary care is common too: namely acupuncture, exercise - from weightlifting to yoga - and mind-body therapies for stress reduction.
