A progesterone blood test is done to find out how much of the progesterone hormone is in a sample of blood. This female hormone is produced each time a mature egg is released from an ovary after a process referred to as ovulation. This hormone really helps to prepare the endometrium (uterine lining) to take the egg if sperm fertilizes it. If the egg goes without being fertilized, menstrual bleeding occurs and progesterone levels drop. Statistics from your American Cancer Society and the National Cancer Institute indicate that almost 25 percent of US women clinically determined to have cancer experience cancer of the breast. Additionally, they estimated many 207,090 new female cases and 39,840 deaths caused by female cancer of the breast for 2010. However, studying the survival rates represents a far more optimistic viewpoint. The numbers increased over time and they're currently estimated to get 89% at 5 years after diagnosis, 82% after a decade, and 75% after 20 years.