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This year was more difficult than most as I struggled with “chemo brain” caused by the treatment I received for acute myeloid leukemia in 2012. Thank God for caffeine and all the help I had from family, colleagues, and friends, both online and off. Breast cancer has become immensely complicated since I wrote the first edition. It has been critically important to read everything I can get my hands on and even more to touch base with friends and acquaintances who are in the thick of research and patient care.

Aspirating a cyst was once thought to be dangerous. If a woman had an unknown breast cancer, doctors believed the process of aspiration would spread the cancer over the needle’s track. 1 It can be aspirated or left alone. Cysts don’t increase the risk of cancer. The real risk is mental rather than physical. A woman with frequent cysts is likely to feel a lump and shrug it off as just another cyst, only to learn later that it was a malignant growth. Every lump should be checked out to be sure it isn’t dangerous.

This includes not only the survivors I have met and talked to over the past years but also my Facebook friends, who always responded right away when I would post an urgent request for real-life stories to illustrate a point. I promised anonymity, but you know who you are. I appreciate all the help, and any errors are mine alone. Then there are the people in my life who facilitate the work and pitch in when needed. My major activity currently is the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation, and the team there has been terrific.