If I had a nickel for each time I am asked this question, I could probably retire. Within hours or perhaps minutes of hearing they have breast cancer, women want to know what caused it.

We do know that 70 percent of women who are diagnosed have no known risk factors, but we still don't know the causes of this disease. If we did, we would probably be closer to a cure and prevention. Yet women want to know, maybe fearing that somehow they brought this disease on themselves.

I tell patients that there is no answer. The only time we really can say we know the cause is in the case of someone who has a breast cancer gene, passed down from a previous generation, that predisposes them to getting the disease. Obviously it's no one's fault. Still, despite my years of oncology nursing experience, I felt compelled to inventory my own life to look for possible contributing factors that could explain my diagnosis at age 38.

Rather than trying to decipher a mystery that science is working hard to solve for us, focus instead on your treatment and on preventing recurrence in the future. This is how your time and thinking are best spent. Talk with your doctor about steps you can take to prevent a recurrence. Are there other steps your daughters, sisters, or mother should consider to reduce their risk? Focus forward, not backward. After all, we aren't going backward.