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Taking her round two with a positive spirit, Tahira penned a note on Instagram stating that she has “still got this”
Writer and filmmaker Tahira Kashyap has confirmed a relapse of breast cancer after seven years. She has been diagnosed with the deadly disease for the second time and has stated she is taking treatment. Tahira, wife of actor Ayushmann Khurrana, was diagnosed with this cancer in 2018.
Taking her round two with a positive spirit, Tahira penned a note on Instagram stating that she has “still got this.”
"Seven-year itch or the power of regular screening—it's a perspeI would like to go with the latter and suggest the same for everyone who needs to get regular mammograms. Round 2 for me.”
What is recurrent breast cancer?
Breast cancer recurrence is when you have breast cancer that comes back after treatment. According to doctors, breast cancer can come back months, years, or sometimes even decades after you have finished treatment. It can be treated again, and despite that, breast cancer can come back again.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, the type of recurrence of breast cancer depends on where it happens again:
Local
Cancer returns in the same breast as the original tumour.
Regional
It comes back near the original tumour—in lymph nodes in your armpit or around the collarbone area.
Distant
Breast cancer can also spread away from the original tumour to other body parts like the lungs, brain, or even bones. According to doctors, it is metastatic, or it spreads to other body parts like your lungs, brain, and even bones and is known as metastatic or stage 4 breast cancer.
If cancer in one breast goes away after treatment but you develop it in your other untreated breast, the tumour is considered new cancer and not recurrent breast cancer. The American Cancer Society says inflammatory breast cancer or triple-negative breast cancers are more likely to come back than normal breast cancer.
In how much time does recurrence happen?
Most local recurrences of breast cancer occur within five years of treatment, which includes a lumpectomy. According to doctors, you can lower your risk by taking radiation, but there is still a 3-15 per cent chance of breast cancer recurrence within a decade. Recurrence rates for people who have mastectomies vary:
- There is a 5-10 per cent chance that cancer will recur within five years if doctors do not find cancer in your axillary lymph nodes.
- There’s a 25 per cent chance of cancer recurrence if your axillary lymph nodes are cancerous.
What causes breast cancer recurrence?
Experts say recurrence of breast cancer happens when treatment is not able to kill all the cancer cells as they can be extremely tricky:
Treatments like chemotherapy and radiation shrink breast cancer tumours to the point that tests are not able to detect weakened cancer cells, but they are still around. Over time, they can return stronger, start to grow, and create tumours. Surgery to remove a tumour is not 100 per cent effective.
Signs and symptoms
Breast cancer recurrence may cause:
- Lumps in your breast or bumps on or under your chest
- Changes in your nipple like flattening
- Swollen skin or skin that pulls near the lumpectomy site
- Thickening
- Firm breast tissue.
- Chronic chest pain
- Difficulty swallowing
- Pain, swelling, or numbness in one arm or shoulder.
- Swollen lymph nodes
- Chronic dry coughing
- Dizziness and balance issues
- Fatigue
- Loss of appetite and weight loss
- Severe headache
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