The Latest in Breast Cancer Research with Dr. Larry Norton

For the past 24 years, Dr. Larry Norton, renowned breast cancer surgeon at Memorial Sloan Kettering, hosts a lecture to share an update on the latest in breast cancer research and treatment. This year, I had the pleasure of joining him!

We covered so many important topics, so I wanted to take a moment to share with you 3 highlights from this inside scoop with Dr. Norton:

1) We talked about what a doctor is likely thinking when they are making treatment recommendations for their patient. Dr Norton said there are usually four thing they consider: what is the abnormality in the DNA that is making the tumor tumorous, what drug will attack that abnormality, how do I use the drug, and what do I combine it with. Ultimately they are looking for the "cause" or what is driving the mutation of the tumor. 

2) We also talked about what things we can do while undergoing treatment to have successful results. Dr. Norton warned about obesity. You can use a body mass index to actually figure out if your height and weight proportions are healthy. He also mentioned that exercise is important because human beings evolve as moving animals, not as sedimentary animals.  Our bodies are made for activity and when we deprive ourselves of that activity, is could result in physiological consequences.

3) After spending months in treatment doing something to get rid of the cancer, all of a sudden you complete treatment and are "done," so we talked about what we should be doing after treatment. Dr. Norton said that is is extremely important to stay engaged, knowledgable, connected, and to good source of information, because there is an awful lot of misleading information out there and it can be confusing. I couldn't agree more! Information can empower us to make the best decisions when it comes to our health.