Dana M. Brantley-Sieders, PhD, has been working in basic biomedical breast cancer research for more than twenty years. She is currently an assistant professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee. In addition, she now works as a patient advocate with a focus on education and outreach for breast cancer patients about clinical trials. She is a breast cancer survivor.

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Part I: Breast Biology, Breast Cancer, and What to Expect When Diagnosed with Breast Cancer

Chapter One: Can I talk to you about my personal relationship with my breasts?

Chapter Two: Cancer 101: What (breast) cancer is and how it makes your body betray you

Chapter Three: Diagnostics: Imaging, poking, and prodding to find breast cancer

Chapter Four: Tumor gene expression profiling and surgical options - excise and examine

Chapter Five: Radiation, chemotherapy, and molecularly targeted therapies - weapons of cancer destruction

Chapter Six: Cancer doesn't discriminate, but we do: Disparities and cancer

Part II: My Breast Cancer Story

Chapter Seven: Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition, or a cancer diagnosis

Chapter Eight: New boobs, new you? The toll breast cancer takes on your mental health and how to deal with it

Chapter Nine: I laugh in the face of cancer-a few funny stories

Part III: Science Savvy: Why You Should Listen to Your Doctor and Not Dave Avocado Wolf, Gwyneth Paltrow, or Darla Shine

Chapter Ten: Avoid the woo! How to spot scams and distinguish pseudoscience from what's legit when it comes to breast cancer

Chapter Eleven: How to look past the sensational headlines and get the real scoop from science reporting

Chapter Twelve: The post-cancer feminist manifesto: Academic researcher edition

Chapter Thirteen: Boring Science and Why Chasing New and Shiny Isn't Always the Best Goal

Part IV: Survivorship and Finding a New Normal

Chapter Fourteen: My condition is chronic, but my tits are iconic

Chapter Fifteen: Top ten things you can say/do when a friend/loved one is going through cancer, and what you should never say/do

Chapter Sixteen: Life goes on: Moving forward with humor and hope

Appendix

Bibliography

Notes

Index

About the Author