🎯Three Content Types · One Force Field
Every square belongs to one of three content types — not three levels you climb. Track progress in your Course and Skills Lab.
📘 Learn It Content type
Concepts to absorb.
🛠 Live It Content type
Daily skills and habits.
📣 Share It Content type
Teach, advocate, carry forward.
🛡️Your Force Field — 16 Squares
Deeper detail lives in the Prepared Patient Breast Cancer Survivor course.
What Breast Cancer Was
Many subtypes (ER, PR, HER2). Each different. Yours is yours.
Learn ItMaintenance Therapy
Hormonal therapy 5-10 years for ER+. Critical for prevention.
Learn ItRecurrence Red Flags
Persistent bone pain · unexplained respiratory symptoms · new neurological signs.
Learn ItLate Effects
Cardiotoxicity, cognitive effects, peripheral neuropathy, lymphedema, fatigue.
Learn ItSurveillance Plan
Mammograms, MRIs, sometimes imaging. Personalized schedule.
Learn ItHormonal Therapy
Tamoxifen, AIs. Side effects real, but worth it.
Live ItBone Health
AIs accelerate bone loss. DEXA, bisphosphonates if needed.
Live ItExercise as Medicine
Reduces recurrence risk. PT for lymphedema, range of motion.
Live ItMental Health
Fear of recurrence is real. Therapy, support groups, mindfulness.
Live ItMake Every Visit Count
Bring symptom log, side effects, mood, surveillance results.
Live ItYour Care Team
Oncologist, surgeon, PCP, PT, mental health, sometimes genetics.
Live ItApps + Tracking
Breast cancer apps for survivorship, symptom tracking, support.
Live ItInsurance + Survivorship Plan
Survivorship care plan helps coordinate.
Live ItTeach & Mentor
Newly diagnosed need lived experience. Peer programs.
Share ItAdvocate
Push for research funding, screening access, equitable care.
Share ItResearch & Trials
CDK4/6 inhibitors, immunotherapy, novel hormonals, prevention.
Share ItThree things to learn before you actually need them.
Workflow lives in the Prepared Visit Tool. Trackers in your Course.
Which door do I use?
Survivorship has both routine and acute concerns. The ladder helps balance vigilance and life.
Handle at home
- No new symptoms
- On hormonal therapy or other maintenance
- Following surveillance schedule
Log it. Stay on hormonal therapy (often 5-10 years).
Call the office / message the portal
- Hormonal therapy side effects bothering you
- Running low on meds
- Lymphedema flare (if applicable)
- Mood drop or sleep issues
- New bone or joint pain
Same day. Quality of life matters as much as surveillance.
Urgent / Acute care
- Persistent unexplained bone pain
- Persistent cough, shortness of breath
- New lumps or skin changes
- Severe lymphedema or new arm swelling
- Significant unintentional weight loss
Urgent care or oncology. New symptoms need workup.
ER NOW / call 911
- Severe chest pain or shortness of breath
- Sudden severe bone pain with weakness
- Sudden severe headache or stroke signs
- High fever with rigors (sepsis especially on immunosuppression)
- Severe lymphedema with skin breakdown
Call 911. Tell them you’re a breast cancer survivor — relevant to differential.
How to describe a new symptom in 30 seconds
What is it?
Plain words.
How bad?
0-10.
When did it start?
Time + what you were doing.
What made it worse?
Movement · food · meds.
What helped?
Even a little.
What else was new?
Fever · med · supplement · stress. The forgotten detail often shifts the diagnosis.
“Persistent right back pain for 3 weeks, a 6 worst, started after I did some yard work, worse at night, ibuprofen barely helps, and I’ve had mild fatigue but no fever.”
Questions worth asking
Four for every patient, every condition, every visit:
- “Could this be a side effect of one of my medications, a supplement, or something else I’m doing — and should we change that?”
- “Would any non-drug therapy help — physical therapy, meditation, rest, ice or heat?”
- “If I can’t afford this medication or this test, can we talk about samples, alternatives, or a social worker who can help?”
- “What should I be watching for between now and my next visit — and when do I handle it myself, when do I call your office, when do I go to urgent care, and when do I go to the ER?”
Questions specifically for Breast Cancer Survivor:
- “What’s my surveillance schedule — mammograms, imaging, tumor markers?”
- “Hormonal therapy — am I tolerating it, and how long do I stay on it?”
- “Should I be screened for second cancers (uterus on tamoxifen, etc.)?”
- “Bone health — aromatase inhibitors and bone density?”
- “Late-effect screening — cardiotoxicity from chemo, cognitive effects, lymphedema?”