There are many ways to treat breast cancer, depending on the stage of your cancer. The main ones are:
- surgery
- radiotherapy
- chemotherapy
- hormone therapies
- targeted therapies.
If you have breast cancer, you might need one of these, or a combination of them.
Your doctors will yarn with you about what treatments they recommend and what options are best for you.
Yarn with your doctor, nurse or Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander health worker about which treatment you might have and including any traditional healing, bush medicines and cultural practices into your treatment plan.
Surgery
Surgery is a procedure done in hospital to remove the cancer and help to stop it from spreading to other parts of your body. Surgery involves staying in hospital and having an anaesthetic and an operation to remove the cancer.
Some women just have the lump removed, with a small bit of healthy tissue around it taken too. This is called a lumpectomy, or breast-conserving surgery.
Other women have the whole breast removed, which is called a mastectomy.
Some women also have some of the lymph nodes under their arms taken out.
Yarn with your doctor, nurse or Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander health worker to learn more about your surgery.
Read more about surgery.
Radiotherapy
Radiotherapy (or radiation therapy) uses X-rays to destroy cancer cells in one part of your body.
Most people who have radiotherapy have it 5 days a week for 4-6 weeks, and each session can take 15 minutes. But it might be different for you.
You can only have radiotherapy in cities and some big towns – see this list. If your doctor thinks radiotherapy would help, and you don’t live near a radiotherapy site, assistance with travel and accommodation is available for you and your family if you need to travel away from home for treatment.
Yarn with your doctor, nurse or Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander health worker.
Read more about radiotherapy.
Chemotherapy
Many people have chemotherapy or “chemo” in cycles – such as once every 2-3 weeks or once a week. Some people have chemotherapy tablets at home, but most need to go to a hospital or clinic. But you usually don’t need to stay in hospital for chemo.
Most chemo comes as injections into your arm or hand that drip in over a few hours and some need you to take home a small bottle home for two days then come back to take it off again. Some chemo comes as tablets. If you’re having chemo, your doctor will tell you exactly how it will work for you.
Chemo can make people feel sick for a while, but there are things they can take and do to help. Yarn with your doctor, nurse or Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander health worker. Mob who have had chemo before say that being on Country, traditional healing and bush medicines, Women’s Business and Men’s Business as well as cultural practices can help with relieving symptoms from treatment.
Read more about chemotherapy and side effects.
Hormone therapy
Some women have a type of breast cancer that thrives on the hormones in your body. If you have this type of cancer, then your doctor might suggest drugs to affect your body’s hormones. It can slow, and maybe stop, the growth of the cancer.
Hormone therapy usually means that you take tablets every day for months or years. Yarn with your doctor, nurse or Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander health worker.
Read more about hormone therapy.
Targeted therapies
Targeted therapies are newer drugs that try to stop the cancer growing.
Targeted therapy is usually used in combination with other treatments, such as radiation therapy, chemotherapy or surgery. If your doctor thinks they might help, click here for some questions to ask.
Read more about targeted therapy.