Today, with 80 percent of the women who are diagnosed with breast cancer being eligible for lumpectomy surgery, we're able to save more lives and more breasts.

The only catch is that these lumpectomies must be followed with radiation, to make certain that the remaining breast tissue is incapable of ever creating and growing breast cancer again.

While a lot of women are comfortable with receiving this treatment with radiation, women who are still planning and having their families are naturally going to ask whether irradiated breasts will still be able to produce milk for a baby later on.

Can they? Well, the unaffected breast will certainly be able to make milk postpartum, but the irradiated breast probably will not. Does this mean that these new mothers will only have half as much milk to give to their babies?

Nope — Mother Nature has figured out how to get around this dilemma; she compensates for the loss of 1 breast by increasing milk production on the "good" side.

Does a radiated breast ever feel like it's lactating? Some women say yes; they even say they experience the let-down reflex, as if milk is being released, even if no milk can be expressed. Fascinating!