# ~Cancer~



## Dabs

*How close has cancer hit you or someone you love?
They say 1 out of 3 women will develop some form of cancer, and even tho it's not the number one killer of women (heart disease is), it ranks very high as the killer of men and women.
It kills more people than obesity. It kills more people than heart attacks/strokes.
I loathe fucking cancer, it's my only enemy in life........I am surrounded by it on both sides of my family and I have had to deal with it personally, in my own body~
I wish they would find something to help with this dreaded jackass disease. More and more children are being stricken with some form of cancer.
Instead of them getting closer to finding a cure, I hear about more and more cases~*


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## Jessica Blume

Cancer is a fungus.


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## smokin_kat

I've battled with cancer since I was 15..  I have been cancer free for two years and i am 31 years old.  I'm so happy about this!!    Somebody give me an E- hug.


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## Jessica Blume

smokin_kat said:


> I've battled with cancer since I was 15..  I have been cancer free for two years and i am 31 years old.  I'm so happy about this!!    Somebody give me an E- hug.



Good for you! 

/hug


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## smokin_kat

Jessica Blume said:


> smokin_kat said:
> 
> 
> 
> I've battled with cancer since I was 15..  I have been cancer free for two years and i am 31 years old.  I'm so happy about this!!    Somebody give me an E- hug.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Good for you!
> 
> /hug
Click to expand...


xo thanks!!  big smiles.


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## Dabs

*(((((((((((((((((((((((((smokin_Kat)))))))))))))))))))))*


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## Dabs

*I lost my best friend, my beautiful Mother to that damn disease in November 2005. Lung cancer, yes she smoked. They say there are 5 stages of grief, I sure hope to hell I would get to the final one, because I haven't yet, and truth be told, I doubt I ever will. She and I shared a bond like no other Mother and daughter you would see. Most people were jealous of us, we never fussed, always did things for each other, we were always there for each other. God what I wouldn't give to have my Mother here with me. Mother's days and her birthdays and Christmas are so damn hard. I am her only daughter, and so it was difficult for both of us, when she came home under Hospice care, because we both knew, the end was near.
Then I lost my Dad, my SF, to cancer in March 2008. Even tho he was so mean to me, I loved him and I forgave him for the many years of abuse. That's one thing about me, I am a very forgiving person. But he suffered terribly and I watched him die. My Mother went peacefully in her sleep, for that I am very thankful.
Then my Mother's favorite sister, my favorite Aunt, I lost her to cancer in February 2009. She sort of took over the role of my Mother after Mother left me. And she did a great job!
Also on my Mother's side, I lost my Grandfather to cancer, lung cancer- and my Grandmother to cancer (my Mother's parents) as well as Mother's oldest brother, he also passed away from cancer. And all of them, with the exception of my Aunt, they all passed away at the age of 66. My dear Aunt lived to be 68.
On my real Dad's side, even tho I didn't know him that well, he died at the age of 54, passed away from liver cancer.
And like I mentioned earlier, I have had the dreaded C word in my body, had to fight it for awhile, but I'm not about to give in, and so far, I'm doing great~
But I so loathe cancer, it sickens me.*


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## sparky

I've seen patients slowly decline due to cancer now for over 2 decades, and have taken many for their last ride, away from their families and lives

It's a de_human_izing disease imho, people literally wilt. I asked one old timer once what else i could do for him, he replied _'gotta gun?'_ , and to be honest, i thought about it for a second or two....

If there was any _one _disease i could pick to go away, it would be cancer


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## Dabs

sparky said:


> I've seen patients slowly decline due to cancer now for over 2 decades, and have taken many for their last ride, away from their families and lives
> 
> It's a de_human_izing disease imho, people literally wilt. I asked one old timer once what else i could do for him, he replied _'gotta gun?'_ , and to be honest, i thought about it for a second or two....
> 
> If there was any _one _disease i could pick to go away, it would be cancer



*Good post Sparky~
I've seen cancer take away so many people I love...some of them went quietly in their sleep, but some, ohmigosh, how they suffered.
If I could have done something to help, I would have...no matter how extreme *sigh**


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## editec

My mother had three _distinctly different kinds of cancer_ in her lifetime starting way back in the late 40's.  

She beat them ALL, and lived to die (at 72) of something other than cancer.

FWIW cancer kills one out of every four Americans.

And that is mostly because now we live long enough to GET cancer of some kind or the other.


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## Zoom-boing

My SIL died from ovarian cancer in 2004 at the age of 49.  She battled it for five years. 

One trip to the hospital (right before things went downhill), she passed numerous people on the cancer ward who were in wheelchairs.  Her reaction was 'omg, I'm so glad that's not me'.  Within 6 weeks or so of that she was 'one of them'.  She did great until the last 2 months.


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## geauxtohell

Cancer is horrible.  The good news is that many forms of cancer can be mitigated by health maintenance.  Getting the Gardisil Shot and Pap smears has dropped the incidence of cervical cancer in this country to a fraction of what it used to be.  If everyone got colonoscopies at 50, we could virtually eliminate the mortality behind colon cancer.  Regular mammograms and exams will reduce breast cancer.  And not smoking/quitting smoking makes your odds of getting lung cancer negligible.  

Some cancers, like the hematologic ones (lymphomas and leukemias) still will be a problem and seem to spring forth de novo, but there is no reason why a proactive adult should feel like they have to "roll the dice" when it comes to cancer.


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## smokin_kat

All of your stories.  Intense to hear and some are very sad.  Tearing up.   But, even though cancer has a vicious and lethal side to it... It also opens eyes and minds to see life and appreciate the little things in life.  Also family and friends are what keeps the heart warmer and appreciate you.  It's what makes one fight.


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## uscitizen

No one can live forever, if Cancer does not get you something else will.
I do think that we may soon realize that our fundamental understanding of cancer has been flawed and that things such as smoking are more triggers than causes.  Genetic modification may be the "cure" for cancer, but will open a new plethoria of problems of it's own.


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## Anachronism

I lost my father and both my grandfathers to Cancer between October of 2000 and August of 2001. I've lost a number of other friends and family to the disease including a friend and shooting buddy last Wednesday. It's a terrible disease.


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## uscitizen

Yeah it is not any fun at all.


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## Zoom-boing

uscitizen said:


> No one can live forever, if Cancer does not get you something else will.
> I do think that we may soon realize that our fundamental understanding of cancer has been flawed and that things such as smoking are more triggers than causes.  Genetic modification may be the "cure" for cancer, but will open a new plethoria of problems of it's own.



Something that gives me great comfort is that _no one_ gets out alive.  100 years from now not a single one of us will be here.


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## Dabs

*And with all the money that have in cancer research, why are we no closer to finding a cure than we were before?? Maybe we are, and they just aren't saying??
My Mother had a small 2 cm x 3 cm spot on her right lung, but because it was so close to her major arteries, they could not operate. So she had 6 weeks of chemotherapy and 36 radiation treatments, they literally burnt her up inside.
She would tell me the radiation was worse than the chemo.
God I felt so bad for her, watching her lie there, so helpless and weak, and all the while, she would tell me how much she loved me~*


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## Anachronism

Dabs, I can understand those feelings. In November of 1998 my father was diagnosed with Melanoma (skin cancer). He and my mom had just reached the point in life where they were going to be able to start living for themselves:  All 3 kids out of the house, the last one finishing college in the spring, the house almost totally paid off. 

He had three different surgeries, plus chemo between then and the spring of 2000. They thought it was gone. He and my mom went to Germany and Austria that summer. When they came home they found out the cancer had moved from his shoulder and neck into his brain. He had 2 more surgeries to remove tumors in his brain. 

In April of 2001, shortly after we buried his father who had just died of cancer himself they found another tumor in the brain... this one inoperable. They suggested chemo. He declined. The third weekend in June a hollow shell of a man walked down the aisle under his own power at his middle son's wedding, less than 12 hours after being rushed to the ER with pain issues. 

On Sunday, August 19, 2001 I sat with my father in the living room of the house we'd built as a family. The two of us, who had constantly been at loggerheads for years spent almost 2 hours clearing the air between us. I thank God every day for that time, even as much as I wish for one more day, one more hour, or even one more minute with him. 

That following Wednesday, August 22, 2001; my father's 54th Birthday, in the Hospice Center at Middlesex Memorial Hospital in Middletown, CT he was called to his Heavenly Home. He'd spent less than one hour in the Hospice Unit after agreeing to be admitted that morning. 

Brian H ***** 8/22/1947 - 8/22/2001. Devoted Husband. Loving Father. Friend. Soldier. Teacher. The most truly Faithful and Good Person I've ever known. Gone but never Forgotten.


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## Dabs

*My Mother was supposed to be in remission, but I'm not sure she ever really was, or if she was, the cancer came back very fast!
She was first diagnosed in August 2004...she spent 3 months in the hospital undergoing all her treatments. She came home right before Christmas, feeling pretty good!
She started out 2005 well...then halfway thru, she started feeling tired and weak.
But, the doctors told us all was fine from where he could see.
So Mother continued on--then in October 2005, at a doctor visit, we were told the cancer was back. Mother cried, I cried.
I said we beat it once before, we shall do it again.
They started her on chemo once again, she got one treatment, and after that one treatment, she told me she was feeling better!~
On October 27, 2005, I walked into her home, she was cooking- she hugged me and told me she felt great, wonderful!
She was smiling, looked very healthy 
The next day (October 28, 2005), it was a Friday, because the next day was my parents' wedding anniversary-my SF called and told me he had to call the ambulance, Mother wasn't looking well.
I only lived 1 mile away thank goodness, so when I got there, they were getting her ready to go.
When we got to the ER, they had her clothes off, and soon they were preparing her for a room.
I only thought they were keeping her as a precaution~
When she came to room 109, she was alert and talking, and doing well.....the nurses were fussing over her and she loved that *smiles*
The doctor came in, motioned me outside and told me that my Mother did not have long to live, there was nothing else they could do, the mass was putting pressure on her heart muscles and she was terminal.
I asked how long, the doctor told me about 3 months.
We brought my Mother home under Hospice (a wonderful place btw) on November 1, 2005.
Mother was again alert, she knew what was happening, she was coming home to die :-(
She left me on November 14, 2005- I didn't get the 3 months, I only got 2 weeks.
God how I miss that woman, she was a breath of fresh air, a bright ray of sunshine, never met someone she didn't like, and always doing for others~*


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## Anachronism

Dabs, I'm very sorry for your loss. I know how it feels to lose a parent. As much as we both still hurt inside from the loss, we need to remember the good times. Remember that ray of sunshine the same way I try to remember all the great memories of my father. You and I had the chance to say "goodbye". That's something a lot of people don't get; and that we should be thankful for, even as we cry the tears for the empty place they've left in our hearts that can never be filled. 

Stay strong. They say it gets better with time. I'm not sure they're right.... it's been almost 10 years for me and there are still things (songs on the radio, a particular vehicle on the street, etc...) that will make me cry; but we can both hope. If you need somebody to talk to, my PM box is always open and generally pretty empty, so feel free to fill it up.


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## Dabs

*Thank you Anach.....the song we played at Mother's funeral was Bette Midler's -Wind Beneath My Wings- and if I happen to hear that someplace, I need to grab a Kleenex fast~*


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## MaggieMae

Dabs said:


> *I lost my best friend, my beautiful Mother to that damn disease in November 2005. Lung cancer, yes she smoked. They say there are 5 stages of grief, I sure hope to hell I would get to the final one, because I haven't yet, and truth be told, I doubt I ever will. She and I shared a bond like no other Mother and daughter you would see. Most people were jealous of us, we never fussed, always did things for each other, we were always there for each other. God what I wouldn't give to have my Mother here with me. Mother's days and her birthdays and Christmas are so damn hard. I am her only daughter, and so it was difficult for both of us, when she came home under Hospice care, because we both knew, the end was near.
> Then I lost my Dad, my SF, to cancer in March 2008. Even tho he was so mean to me, I loved him and I forgave him for the many years of abuse. That's one thing about me, I am a very forgiving person. But he suffered terribly and I watched him die. My Mother went peacefully in her sleep, for that I am very thankful.
> Then my Mother's favorite sister, my favorite Aunt, I lost her to cancer in February 2009. She sort of took over the role of my Mother after Mother left me. And she did a great job!
> Also on my Mother's side, I lost my Grandfather to cancer, lung cancer- and my Grandmother to cancer (my Mother's parents) as well as Mother's oldest brother, he also passed away from cancer. And all of them, with the exception of my Aunt, they all passed away at the age of 66. My dear Aunt lived to be 68.
> On my real Dad's side, even tho I didn't know him that well, he died at the age of 54, passed away from liver cancer.
> And like I mentioned earlier, I have had the dreaded C word in my body, had to fight it for awhile, but I'm not about to give in, and so far, I'm doing great~
> But I so loathe cancer, it sickens me.*



I lost both my parents to cancer too. My mother at 58 from bone cancer; my father at 72 from lung cancer (although he hadn't smoked for 24 years). Everyone loathes cancer, but when are we going to also start loathing the fact that there are many proven cures that can't get off the ground because a "cure" isn't profitable?


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## uscitizen

Prolonging the suffering of cancer patients is a mega bucks business.


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## Grace

Yep. Mega bucks from the drug companies, doctors, etc.


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## MaggieMae

Grace said:


> Yep. Mega bucks from the drug companies, doctors, etc.



The only ones who show real interest are the lab researchers and testers. Anybody remember this? Sounds bizarre, but it works. So why isn't it in production?

The Kanzius Machine: A Cancer Cure? - 60 Minutes - CBS News

I also saw a documentary a while ago where some UK *nurses* had discovered that chemotherapy works best depending on the body's 24-hour cycle. When the blood is working at peak performance, usually at some point in the morning, that's when chemo should be given. In the afternoon when heart/lungs/blood are winding down, chemo will not be as effective. Patients at this particular hospital were tested regularly for about a week to determine their ideal cycle, and then given chemotherapy at that point. Some had their cancers dramatically shrunk, and some even beat the most deadly cancers, like pancreatic cancer, because the chemo did it's job in much less time and when the body was most physically capable of accepting it, and treatments didn't damage the good cells because of lengthy chemo treatment.


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## sparky

You see these people, i'm sure most of you have, some of them just kids....

one starts to think _bad _thoughts you know

how could any all-loving God _allow_ this?


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## Ernie S.

I lost my mom Christmas Eve 1973 to cervical cancer. She was diagnosed in early August and only left the hospital for 3 days in early November to attend her and Dad's 25th anniversary party.
Dad died this past August from prostate cancer after a 5 year battle. He was only hospitalized a total of 3 weeks in all that time. He passed at home.
Just 3 days before he died, he was out in his garden pulling weeds. He was sharp as a tack but the body just broke down. The cancer has spread to liver kidneys lungs and spine.


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## Grace




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## Anachronism

Grace said:


> Yep. Mega bucks from the drug companies, doctors, etc.



Which is why all the spending on my Cancer care if I were to get it has already been done.... I've got the gun and the bullet. It's actually put aside specially for that potential occassion (cancer or a number of other things).


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## Dabs

Anachronism said:


> Grace said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yep. Mega bucks from the drug companies, doctors, etc.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Which is why all the spending on my Cancer care if I were to get it has already been done.... I've got the gun and the bullet. It's actually put aside specially for that potential occassion (cancer or a number of other things).
Click to expand...


*Yep, because it's obvious, we aren't ever going to find a cure or be treated correctly waiting on the doctors~*


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## Anachronism

sparky said:


> how could any all-loving God _allow_ this?



This disease is what ended my 27 years as a Christian, sparky. Watching what happened to my father drove me completely and totally away from the Lutheran church, Christianity, and organized religion in general. 

I spent almost two years researching and investigating different type of religions after his death and I couldn't find a single one that would or could answer my question of... "Why?" So I gave up on organized religion entirely and now practice a form of private spirituality that incorporates ideas from a large variety of different religions, spiritual paths, and pantheons.


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## sparky

i hear ya Anach, kinda been down similar roads, i'll just leave it that as a recovering christian, sobriety kinda s*cks too.......


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## Anachronism

Dabs said:


> *Yep, because it's obvious, we aren't ever going to find a cure or be treated correctly waiting on the doctors~*



I'm just not interested in dealing with the pain, the humiliation, and the slow degredation that is dying of Cancer. Especially since I wouldn't take some of the drugs that they prescribe for the pain. I won't ask anyone else to put up with me through that either. I'm a horror when I've got a bad cold; I don't want to think about what I'd be like as a Cancer patient.


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## Dabs

Anachronism said:


> Dabs said:
> 
> 
> 
> *Yep, because it's obvious, we aren't ever going to find a cure or be treated correctly waiting on the doctors~*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm just not interested in dealing with the pain, the humiliation, and the slow degredation that is dying of Cancer. Especially since I wouldn't take some of the drugs that they prescribe for the pain. I won't ask anyone else to put up with me through that either. I'm a horror when I've got a bad cold; I don't want to think about what I'd be like as a Cancer patient.
Click to expand...


*I wouldn't want my family to go thru what I went thru when I was losing my Mother. My sons told me once, that they felt like they not only were losing a Mamaw, but they were losing a Mother, I was a basket case.
I honestly did not know how I was going to function day by day, after Mother had left.
And Mother knew how hard it was going to be on me. When I was away, and her sisters were there with her, they later told me "I" was all Mother talked about.
She was worried about me and how her little Debbie was going to make it~
She worried about me till the end......and I don't want my family going thru my last days in all that pain~*


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## Anachronism

Dabs, I don't know how my mother did it for almost two years. I live an hour away and I'm the closest of the three kids. They were dealing with my paternal grandfather dying at the same time, and then my maternal grandfather passed away during that time as well. I don't know how she wasn't a total basketcase. 

One thing I do suggest to everyone.... PRE-PLAN YOUR FUNERAL ARRANGEMENTS. My father did that. Literally the only things we had to do were to show up, and to choose the headstone. He had done EVERYTHING ELSE from choosing the coffin, to the order of worship and music for the service, to writing the obituary, and deciding what military honors he wanted. We literally had nothing to do for two days between his death and the wake.


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## Dabs

Anachronism said:


> Dabs, I don't know how my mother did it for almost two years. I live an hour away and I'm the closest of the three kids. They were dealing with my paternal grandfather dying at the same time, and then my maternal grandfather passed away during that time as well. I don't know how she wasn't a total basketcase.
> 
> One thing I do suggest to everyone.... PRE-PLAN YOUR FUNERAL ARRANGEMENTS. My father did that. Literally the only things we had to do were to show up, and to choose the headstone. He had done EVERYTHING ELSE from choosing the coffin, to the order of worship and music for the service, to writing the obituary, and deciding what military honors he wanted. We literally had nothing to do for two days between his death and the wake.



*Very good idea!
I was left with a mess after my Dad died, as he wasn't expecting to go!
But I have a living will as well as my will and my life insurance, and all those items are in a special place where my sons can get ahold of them~
I am very prepared.
*


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## Anachronism

Dabs said:


> *Very good idea!
> I was left with a mess after my Dad died, as he wasn't expecting to go!
> But I have a living will as well as my will and my life insurance, and all those items are in a special place where my sons can get ahold of them~
> I am very prepared.*



That's a great start. Have you ever sat down with them and told them what you want in terms of a funeral/burial? Do you have the plot selected and purchased? Having the paperwork in place is great, but as you well know the devil is in the little details.... open casket wake or closed? coffin? music for the funeral service? Making your desires in regards to those things known; or at least telling them you don't care can be a huge load of stress off of them.


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## Dabs

Anachronism said:


> Dabs said:
> 
> 
> 
> *Very good idea!
> I was left with a mess after my Dad died, as he wasn't expecting to go!
> But I have a living will as well as my will and my life insurance, and all those items are in a special place where my sons can get ahold of them~
> I am very prepared.*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That's a great start. Have you ever sat down with them and told them what you want in terms of a funeral/burial? Do you have the plot selected and purchased? Having the paperwork in place is great, but as you well know the devil is in the little details.... open casket wake or closed? coffin? music for the funeral service? Making your desires in regards to those things known; or at least telling them you don't care can be a huge load of stress off of them.
Click to expand...


*I am to be cremated and they know this.
There is no burial plot to purchase, no casket to buy and no headstone to waste money on~
The flower display that we purchased for atop my Mother's casket was made of silk flowers and ribbons and lace, so very pretty, and it cost $165!
I have kept it sealed and my sons know that is what is to be placed atop my casket for my viewing, so no flowers to buy!
My songs are picked out, my pastor is picked out, and my funeral home already has papers of my wishes. I ask that nobody send flowers, flowers are a waste of money.
If you can't send me flowers when I am alive to enjoy them, then why send them when I'm dead?? Then my poor family is stuck trying to figure out what to do with all the flowers.
Plants are OK, but no flowers! I would rather have donations made to some cancer society.
I told everyone that whomever sends flowers to my funeral, I will come back to haunt them ~LoL~
My Mother and my Dad both were cremated. Mother always wanted that and she never told dad cause she was afraid, so on her death bed, we finally told him.
He later told me that since Mother was cremated, that was his choice too~
The total cost of their cremation services, including the casket rental, the funeral home usage, the funeral itself and embalming and such, was right at $3000.
My Dad had a flag draped across his casket, he served in the Korean war.
My life insurance is plenty, so that my cremation and funeral will be paid for, and there will be enuff left over for my sons to share~*


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## Anachronism

Dabs, I'm glad you've made your wishes clear to them. It's a huge load of their minds in what tends to be a time of great sorrow. Good for you.


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## Douger

A buddy of mine just died from lung cancer. 12 years ago they gave him a few months to live.
The local medicine man kept him alive for all of those years.He drank different teas all day long and spent considerable time in thermal pools. The diet, of course, was basically macrobiotic in nature.
No autopsy but the medicine man said he "saw" the cancer had moved to his brain.
He wasn't on O2 and hadn't lost very much weight or strength. He simple didn't wake up one morning.

Cool guy. Moved to the jungle with a hotdog-sausage cart and newborn triplets.Almost no money. In a few years he had built a kickass house, gift shop/real estate office, full tilt restaurant and a bed and breakfast.
He had moved from Austria to the empire. After 3 years he'd seen enough and escaped to reality.

I have another friend that's on her way out too. No doctors and thinks the medicine man is bullshit.
OH well. She didn't get to 300 lbs by being open to new ideas !


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## MaggieMae

Anachronism said:


> Grace said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yep. Mega bucks from the drug companies, doctors, etc.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Which is why all the spending on my Cancer care if I were to get it has already been done.... I've got the gun and the bullet. It's actually put aside specially for that potential occassion (cancer or a number of other things).
Click to expand...


There are less obvious ways to end your life, especially if you have an insurance policy that will deny death benefits due to suicide.


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## MaggieMae

Dabs said:


> Anachronism said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Grace said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yep. Mega bucks from the drug companies, doctors, etc.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Which is why all the spending on my Cancer care if I were to get it has already been done.... I've got the gun and the bullet. It's actually put aside specially for that potential occassion (cancer or a number of other things).
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> *Yep, because it's obvious, we aren't ever going to find a cure or be treated correctly waiting on the doctors~*
Click to expand...


I had a friend who, like so many others, was sicker with the chemo treatment than from the cancer. She opted to take an early retirement and take a trip around the world to spots she had always hoped to visit, knowing she would die sooner rather than later, but at least enjoy those final days. 

I specifically state in my Advanced Directive that I'm to receive no chemotherapy, ever, even if I'm in a state where someone else is making decisions for me. Just pull the plug if I'm ever that sick. I've had a great life, with few regrets.


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## uscitizen

MaggieMae said:


> Anachronism said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Grace said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yep. Mega bucks from the drug companies, doctors, etc.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Which is why all the spending on my Cancer care if I were to get it has already been done.... I've got the gun and the bullet. It's actually put aside specially for that potential occassion (cancer or a number of other things).
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> There are less obvious ways to end your life, especially if you have an insurance policy that will deny death benefits due to suicide.
Click to expand...


Quite right and hard on family and friends having your brians splattered all over the place.
An "accidental" overdose will work fine for me and spare those who oppose suicide some anguish.


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## Dabs

MaggieMae said:


> Anachronism said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Grace said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yep. Mega bucks from the drug companies, doctors, etc.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Which is why all the spending on my Cancer care if I were to get it has already been done.... I've got the gun and the bullet. It's actually put aside specially for that potential occassion (cancer or a number of other things).
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> There are less obvious ways to end your life, especially if you have an insurance policy that will deny death benefits due to suicide.
Click to expand...


Yes there are some that will not uphold their policy pay-off if the death is a suicide. 
Which is why you have to do some searching as far as your life insurance...I'm not saying people want to commit suicide, I just mean, read all the fine print.
My life insurance stated that they would not pay off on a suicide death within the first 2 years after I took out the policy.
Not a problem anymore, I have had mine for well over 10 year now.


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## Anachronism

uscitizen said:


> Quite right and hard on family and friends having your brians splattered all over the place. An "accidental" overdose will work fine for me and spare those who oppose suicide some anguish.



I suspect that by the time this is likely to be an issue, there really won't be many people around to care. Assuming it occurs after my mother passes away, the only real close family I have would be my two brothers, their wives and my nephews & niece. I can count the number of close friends who would really care about my death on both hands and have fingers left over. There's really nobody for me to leave anything to; not that I really have much to leave in the first place.


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## bill5

Jessica Blume said:


> Cancer is a fungus.


??  Hardly.




MaggieMae said:


> I lost both my parents to cancer too. My mother at 58 from bone cancer; my father at 72 from lung cancer (although he hadn't smoked for 24 years). Everyone loathes cancer, but when are we going to also start loathing the fact that there are many proven cures that can't get off the ground because a "cure" isn't profitable?


I'm very sorry for your losses; I have lost people close to me to cancer as well.  But is it not a fact that there are "many proven cures" - in fact there are exceedingly few, if any.  There are however many snake oil salesmen and assorted quacks who claim to have one so they can make a buck off of people desperate to believe in one.  IMO they rank among the lowest slime on the face of the earth.

I'm sorry for all of your losses and those dealing with this!


----------



## MaggieMae

MaggieMae said:


> Dabs said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Anachronism said:
> 
> 
> 
> Which is why all the spending on my Cancer care if I were to get it has already been done.... I've got the gun and the bullet. It's actually put aside specially for that potential occassion (cancer or a number of other things).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *Yep, because it's obvious, we aren't ever going to find a cure or be treated correctly waiting on the doctors~*
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I had a friend who, like so many others, was sicker with the chemo treatment than from the cancer. She opted to take an early retirement and take a trip around the world to spots she had always hoped to visit, knowing she would die sooner rather than later, but at least enjoy those final days.
> 
> I specifically state in my Advanced Directive that I'm to receive no chemotherapy, ever, even if I'm in a state where someone else is making decisions for me. Just pull the plug if I'm ever that sick. I've had a great life, with few regrets.
Click to expand...


I was surprised to see this thread pop back up in my User CP today, but less surprised that I said that (above). That's been my conviction for many, many years.

HOWEVER, not long after this thread began, I started noticing a swelling in my neck accompanied by thick, stringy saliva. So I went to my GP, who sent me to an ENT who performed a biopsy. Yup, non-Hodgkins lymphoma currently staging in the neck nodes which I've been having 5-day/week radiation plus 1 day per week infusion of Erbitux (Cetuximab), which is not a chemical (chemo) but rather a monoclonal antibody originally derived from mice but now derived from human antibody cells. It inhibits the growth receptors of cells which have divided into sarcoma (cancer) cells. I've had absolutely none of the usual side effects which often result from chemical infusions (chemotherapy) and which also kills the body's heathy cells (thus the sickness from it).

Aside from taking a whole lot of time away from my normal activities for daily treatments which will last through September, establishing entirely new eating habits, and daily regimens with Rx and OTC schedules, I look at this new invasion of my lifestyle as just temporary and I'm determined to get through it. If not, if it spreads and I find I will be more sick eventually from treatment than the actual disease, at that point, my Advanced Directive will rule, and that is just to assure some quality of life and with minimum pain.

It's been amazing to see how fast my attitude changed, once I realized that treating cancer even 20 years ago is far, far advanced today. Cancer specialists are also much more aware that they need to treat the emotional side effects and can no longer just shuttle patients through test after test and with a pat on the head just instruct them to do as they say. My oncology team constantly assures me that I AM THE BOSS. I am the patient, and if something isn't "working" for me, then it's up to THEM to design therapy around my body blueprint and my comfort zone, not just what's convenient or favored by them in general. 

After the weekly treatments, I have a consultation with my primary oncologist and we go over the results, and at that time I'm able to present my list of questions (and suggestions!) which we also review. I think I've become either one of his best patients or one of his worst patients!!  

So far, it's an incredible journey, and sure to be the longest chapter in that book I keep gathering notes along the way to write some day. Stay tuned! I've been thinking about how I would let my friends on USMB know what's been going on with me, or whether I should bother at all, since I don't personally know any of you but many have become anonymous confidants and friends, although many of us also greatly disagree on political matters. I think eventually we all come to realize how insignificant those differences truly are, frankly.
So I'm glad to have found the opening to do that. I had totally forgotten this thread existed.

Maggie

PS: I'm not looking for sympathy. I'm _way_ past that process (Oh God, _why *me*??!! _) You can drive yourself to suicide trying to figure out the answer to that!


----------



## MaggieMae

One more note, a bit of trivia:

Erbitux is the drug that Martha Stewart landed in jail over on inside trader charges. Back then, it was considered the new non-chemo wonder drug that had incredible proven results for treating Stage *IV* (yes!) colon cancer. In the meantime, while all this Wall Street bullshit was going on, the FDA wouldn't approve its use, so the scientists began seeing if the drug would also be effective in treatmet of other types of cancers, and voila! They discovered that it is an excellent substitute for chemotherapy/radiation by combining the radiation regimen with a weekly dose of the antibody and eliminating chemotherapy from the treatment process. The only known common side effect is a rash in the area being treated, which can appear as acne but it isn't and goes away once treatment is finished. But there are also suggestions on how to avoid that too, and so far, I've had no rash (or acne!). (Although I do look like I did 20-30 years ago when I spent every waking hour in the hot LA sun, which is from the radiation, not the drug.)


----------



## Dabs

My Mother told me the radiation treatments were the worst thing ever!
The chemo, she said, was easier than the radiation.
My Mother had 6 weeks of chemotherapy and she had *36* radiation treatments....36!!!!!!!!!!
They literally burnt her up inside. For when it came time several months later, after we were told she was in remission, and the cancer was back- radiation was no longer an option, they said to put her on the table and try radiation one more time, would kill her right then.
And surgery was never an option for my Mother. She had a hilar mass....and for anyone that doesn't know...that's a cancer mass right next to the heart and all the other major arteries.
She had a mass that was 2.7 x 2.9 cm.
I would get so fucking pissed.....cursing at anything I could. They could send a man to the moon, invented all this technology with cell phones and iPods and all the time, it's something new or another......but nobody could find a way to save my Mother, to remove a small mass off her lung.
I have to hush now, I still get emotional when I think about it all :-(


----------



## wirebender

I was having blood work done for some minor surgury 12 years ago.  My doc called and told me that there was some unspecified problem with the test.  I thought that maybe they had lost it and needed more.  (a real pain in the arm since it takes an average of 3 sticks to actually get into one of my veins).  When I got to the office, they ushered me right in to my doc's office.

He told me that my white cell count was elevated (125,000) and he suspected that I had leukemia.  I literally looked around his office, especially behind me to see who he was talking to.

He got me an appointment with an oncologist within a couple of days who asked my surgeon to remove a lymph node while he was performing my surgury.  The surgury was a success and the lymph node revealed that I had leukemia, stage III leaning towards stage IV.  

Chemo started right away. 3 treatments a week for 6 months.  My oncologist was ahead of the curve and recommended 6 treatments with a monoclonal antibody that was $8,000 per 100mg treatment that my insurance didn't cover.  If I had been living in a country with socialized medicine, the option wouldn't have been available to me because of the cost.

My white counts went down and reached a point where I was able to donate 4.2 million of my own stem cells should I ever need a bone marrow transplant.  

My oncologist, right from the start kept telling me not to dwell to much on the statistics.  Statistics are for populations, not individuals, and she was right.  Here I am 12 years later.  I have a couple of blood tests a year just to keep an eye on things but for the past 12 years, the resuts of my tests have been well within the "normal" boundries.

For those who are facing cancer now, or may in the future, let me tell you something:

ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING


----------



## Douger

Dabs said:


> *How close has cancer hit you or someone you love?
> They say 1 out of 3 women will develop some form of cancer, and even tho it's not the number one killer of women (heart disease is), it ranks very high as the killer of men and women.
> It kills more people than obesity. It kills more people than heart attacks/strokes.
> I loathe fucking cancer, it's my only enemy in life........I am surrounded by it on both sides of my family and I have had to deal with it personally, in my own body~
> I wish they would find something to help with this dreaded jackass disease. More and more children are being stricken with some form of cancer.
> Instead of them getting closer to finding a cure, I hear about more and more cases~*


Come and see me. I have an indigenous friend that can handle it.


----------



## MaggieMae

wirebender said:


> I was having blood work done for some minor surgury 12 years ago.  My doc called and told me that there was some unspecified problem with the test.  I thought that maybe they had lost it and needed more.  (a real pain in the arm since it takes an average of 3 sticks to actually get into one of my veins).  When I got to the office, they ushered me right in to my doc's office.
> 
> He told me that my white cell count was elevated (125,000) and he suspected that I had leukemia.  I literally looked around his office, especially behind me to see who he was talking to.
> 
> He got me an appointment with an oncologist within a couple of days who asked my surgeon to remove a lymph node while he was performing my surgury.  The surgury was a success and the lymph node revealed that I had leukemia, stage III leaning towards stage IV.
> 
> Chemo started right away. 3 treatments a week for 6 months.  My oncologist was ahead of the curve and recommended 6 treatments with a monoclonal antibody that was $8,000 per 100mg treatment that my insurance didn't cover.  If I had been living in a country with socialized medicine, the option wouldn't have been available to me because of the cost.
> 
> My white counts went down and reached a point where I was able to donate 4.2 million of my own stem cells should I ever need a bone marrow transplant.
> 
> My oncologist, right from the start kept telling me not to dwell to much on the statistics.  Statistics are for populations, not individuals, and she was right.  Here I am 12 years later.  I have a couple of blood tests a year just to keep an eye on things but for the past 22 years, the resuts of my tests have been well within the "normal" boundries.
> 
> For those who are facing cancer now, or may in the future, let me tell you something:
> 
> ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING



Yes, it is, and also a good rant every now and then releases built-up tension which leads to stress, which won't help recovery. If you need to, find a place out in the woods and let loose with a few primal screams (my doctor's advice!)

Glad to see you've done so well.


----------



## Lovebears65

my husband just lost his mother to stage 4 colon cancer that  went to her liver in Nov. His dad died from form of leukemia just 16 months prior.  A friend of mine daughter has ALL and another friend lost her son 2 years ago to AML. I hate cancer!


----------



## bill5

You have plenty of company!  Sorry for those losses and for anyone who is impacted by these #$@!@ diseases.


----------



## waltky

New leukemia treatment...

*'Amazing' therapy wipes out leukemia in study*
_Aug 10,`11 - Scientists are reporting the first clear success with a new approach for treating leukemia - turning the patients' own blood cells into assassins that hunt and destroy their cancer cells._


> They've only done it in three patients so far, but the results were striking: Two appear cancer-free up to a year after treatment, and the third patient is improved but still has some cancer. Scientists are already preparing to try the same gene therapy technique for other kinds of cancer.  "It worked great. We were surprised it worked as well as it did," said Dr. Carl June, a gene therapy expert at the University of Pennsylvania. "We're just a year out now. We need to find out how long these remissions last."
> 
> He led the study, published Wednesday by two journals, New England Journal of Medicine and Science Translational Medicine.  It involved three men with very advanced cases of chronic lymphocytic leukemia, or CLL. The only hope for a cure now is bone marrow or stem cell transplants, which don't always work and carry a high risk of death.  Scientists have been working for years to find ways to boost the immune system's ability to fight cancer. Earlier attempts at genetically modifying bloodstream soldiers called T-cells have had limited success; the modified cells didn't reproduce well and quickly disappeared.
> 
> June and his colleagues made changes to the technique, using a novel carrier to deliver the new genes into the T-cells and a signaling mechanism telling the cells to kill and multiply.  That resulted in armies of "serial killer" cells that targeted cancer cells, destroyed them, and went on to kill new cancer as it emerged. It was known that T-cells attack viruses that way, but this is the first time it's been done against cancer, June said.  For the experiment, blood was taken from each patient and T-cells removed. After they were altered in a lab, millions of the cells were returned to the patient in three infusions.
> 
> The researchers described the experience of one 64-year-old patient in detail. There was no change for two weeks, but then he became ill with chills, nausea and fever. He and the other two patients were hit with a condition that occurs when a large number of cancer cells die at the same time - a sign that the gene therapy is working.  "It was like the worse flu of their life," June said. "But after that, it's over. They're well."
> 
> MORE


----------



## Patrick2

Dabs said:


> *How close has cancer hit you or someone you love?
> They say 1 out of 3 women will develop some form of cancer, and even tho it's not the number one killer of women (heart disease is), it ranks very high as the killer of men and women.
> It kills more people than obesity. It kills more people than heart attacks/strokes.
> I loathe fucking cancer, it's my only enemy in life........I am surrounded by it on both sides of my family and I have had to deal with it personally, in my own body~
> I wish they would find something to help with this dreaded jackass disease. More and more children are being stricken with some form of cancer.
> Instead of them getting closer to finding a cure, I hear about more and more cases~*



I've had extended family members get it.  A sore point with me has been that the american people have dumped trillions of dollars on the cancer research establishment for what - 80 years?  Where the hell is the cure?  Every once in a while they announce something like the leukemnia cure on the news tonight, and then you never hear about it again.  I think there needs to be a fundamental review of cancer research in this country, to find out what's wrong.  Maybe a few lib media obama shills can tear themselves away from their 24/7 leftwing cheerleading long enough to report on something serious.


----------



## bill5

MaggieMae said:


> It's been amazing to see how fast my attitude changed, once I realized that treating cancer even 20 years ago is far, far advanced today. Cancer specialists are also much more aware that they need to treat the emotional side effects and can no longer just shuttle patients through test after test and with a pat on the head just instruct them to do as they say.


 Oh many of them still do that, make no mistake.  Oncologists and other medical staff vary WIDELY on attitudes and even competency.  I know, because taking this journey with my girlfriend I have seen both extremes and all in between, and we've been to some of the most highly-touted cancer centers in the world.



> My oncology team constantly assures me that I AM THE BOSS. I am the patient, and if something isn't "working" for me, then it's up to THEM to design therapy around my body blueprint and my comfort zone, not just what's convenient or favored by them in general.


That is how is SHOULD be and I'm glad for you there.  But again, many do not do this.

The most important thing I think people need to keep in mind is just what you said above, ie YOU are the boss and most importantly YOU *SHOULD* BE THE BOSS.  I'm not just talking about feeling "comfortable" etc, but in really taking charge of your condition.  Read and research all you can, ask a lot of questions (as you said), and never be afraid to question anything.  This is your life!  Being intimidated into going along with whatever they say without feeling sure it's right could be a very dangerous mistake.  Never I do mean NEVER take a single doctor's word for anything.  Always, always seek out (at least) a second opinion, if not a third or fourth.  Doctors are human and so aren't always right and far from perfect, although some seem to think so.  

Treating cancer is often far more an art than a science.  Each case is unique and rarely are there pat answers.

/soapbox

Best of luck to anyone dealing with this!


----------



## Mr. H.

My daughter's best friend was diagnosed with "High Risk Pre-B Cell Acute Lymphoblast&#8203;ic Leukemia" at age 13. After 3 years she's finally rid of it but still has periodic checkups. It was terrible to watch her and her family deal with the experience. 

It prompted me to become an organ donor and I also registered with National Marrow Donor Program - Be The Match Marrow Registry where my DNA profile is kept in hopes of finding a match.


----------



## editec

Dabs said:


> *How close has cancer hit you or someone you love?*
> *They say 1 out of 3 women will develop some form of cancer, and even tho it's not the number one killer of women (heart disease is), it ranks very high as the killer of men and women.*
> *It kills more people than obesity. It kills more people than heart attacks/strokes.*
> *I loathe fucking cancer, it's my only enemy in life........I am surrounded by it on both sides of my family and I have had to deal with it personally, in my own body~*
> *I wish they would find something to help with this dreaded jackass disease. More and more children are being stricken with some form of cancer.*
> *Instead of them getting closer to finding a cure, I hear about more and more cases~*


 
There isn't a person alive whose family history doesn't include cancer deaths, Dabs. 

We are ALL surrounded by it, not just you.

Cancers are the # 2 cause of death following heart disease.


----------



## bill5

Mr. H. said:


> My daughter's best friend was diagnosed with "High Risk Pre-B Cell Acute Lymphoblast&#8203;ic Leukemia" at age 13. After 3 years she's finally rid of it but still has periodic checkups. It was terrible to watch her and her family deal with the experience.


Cancer is horrible for anyone, but for children to get it is the most tragic.  I wish her continued health!



> It prompted me to become an organ donor


An organization called called "UNOS" runs this and I know for a fact they are rife with horrific politics and attitudes, or at least were as of a few years back.  Hopefully things have changed.


----------



## MaggieMae

Dabs said:


> My Mother told me the radiation treatments were the worst thing ever!
> The chemo, she said, was easier than the radiation.
> My Mother had 6 weeks of chemotherapy and she had *36* radiation treatments....36!!!!!!!!!!
> They literally burnt her up inside. For when it came time several months later, after we were told she was in remission, and the cancer was back- radiation was no longer an option, they said to put her on the table and try radiation one more time, would kill her right then.
> And surgery was never an option for my Mother. She had a hilar mass....and for anyone that doesn't know...that's a cancer mass right next to the heart and all the other major arteries.
> She had a mass that was 2.7 x 2.9 cm.
> I would get so fucking pissed.....cursing at anything I could. They could send a man to the moon, invented all this technology with cell phones and iPods and all the time, it's something new or another......but nobody could find a way to save my Mother, to remove a small mass off her lung.
> I have to hush now, I still get emotional when I think about it all :-(



Well now after a few weeks of treatment, I certainly know how your mother felt. I've had a severe reaction, and they've suspended radiation treatment for a week, possibly longer. It wound up burning the inside of my mouth and my lips to the point I was blistering. That was a week ago, and just today the scabs on my lips are beginning to show signs of healing. It wasn't pretty. So now, after ravaging my insides, I'm just trying to get my strength back, and then on Monday I'm supposed to find out how the radiology oncologists want to proceed. But I sure as hell won't go through this again, and they know it.


----------



## MaggieMae

bill5 said:


> MaggieMae said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's been amazing to see how fast my attitude changed, once I realized that treating cancer even 20 years ago is far, far advanced today. Cancer specialists are also much more aware that they need to treat the emotional side effects and can no longer just shuttle patients through test after test and with a pat on the head just instruct them to do as they say.
> 
> 
> 
> Oh many of them still do that, make no mistake.  Oncologists and other medical staff vary WIDELY on attitudes and even competency.  I know, because taking this journey with my girlfriend I have seen both extremes and all in between, and we've been to some of the most highly-touted cancer centers in the world.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My oncology team constantly assures me that I AM THE BOSS. I am the patient, and if something isn't "working" for me, then it's up to THEM to design therapy around my body blueprint and my comfort zone, not just what's convenient or favored by them in general.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> That is how is SHOULD be and I'm glad for you there.  But again, many do not do this.
> 
> The most important thing I think people need to keep in mind is just what you said above, ie YOU are the boss and most importantly YOU *SHOULD* BE THE BOSS.  I'm not just talking about feeling "comfortable" etc, but in really taking charge of your condition.  Read and research all you can, ask a lot of questions (as you said), and never be afraid to question anything.  This is your life!  Being intimidated into going along with whatever they say without feeling sure it's right could be a very dangerous mistake.  Never I do mean NEVER take a single doctor's word for anything.  Always, always seek out (at least) a second opinion, if not a third or fourth.  Doctors are human and so aren't always right and far from perfect, although some seem to think so.
> 
> Treating cancer is often far more an art than a science.  Each case is unique and rarely are there pat answers.
> 
> /soapbox
> 
> Best of luck to anyone dealing with this!
Click to expand...


I couldn't agree more. I've always been an inquisitive person, but since the Internet now provides me with literally an arsenal of information, I spend an enormous time seeking out answers to my questions before I even discuss them with my primary oncologist. (I'll bet he hates to see me on his schedule with my handy little notebook at the ready.)

As a result of the severe burns I've had from the radiation treatment, when I was at the doc's office yesterday, I asked the front desk for a release in order to get a copy of my medical records, and she looked at me a little suspiciously (but I explained I wasn't planning anything ominous, just the type of person who likes to keep on top of things, especially my health). Now I'm not sure I should have done that, because they may fear I'm going to sue at some point and therefore will not include anything in their notes that could be construed in my favor. However, I already have all the records going back to July 7th, which is when the diagnoses were made and the overall treatment plan presented. So it it was wrong, they can't change that at this point.


----------



## Dabs

MaggieMae said:


> Dabs said:
> 
> 
> 
> My Mother told me the radiation treatments were the worst thing ever!
> The chemo, she said, was easier than the radiation.
> My Mother had 6 weeks of chemotherapy and she had *36* radiation treatments....36!!!!!!!!!!
> They literally burnt her up inside. For when it came time several months later, after we were told she was in remission, and the cancer was back- radiation was no longer an option, they said to put her on the table and try radiation one more time, would kill her right then.
> And surgery was never an option for my Mother. She had a hilar mass....and for anyone that doesn't know...that's a cancer mass right next to the heart and all the other major arteries.
> She had a mass that was 2.7 x 2.9 cm.
> I would get so fucking pissed.....cursing at anything I could. They could send a man to the moon, invented all this technology with cell phones and iPods and all the time, it's something new or another......but nobody could find a way to save my Mother, to remove a small mass off her lung.
> I have to hush now, I still get emotional when I think about it all :-(
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well now after a few weeks of treatment, I certainly know how your mother felt. I've had a severe reaction, and they've suspended radiation treatment for a week, possibly longer. It wound up burning the inside of my mouth and my lips to the point I was blistering. That was a week ago, and just today the scabs on my lips are beginning to show signs of healing. It wasn't pretty. So now, after ravaging my insides, I'm just trying to get my strength back, and then on Monday I'm supposed to find out how the radiology oncologists want to proceed. But I sure as hell won't go through this again, and they know it.
Click to expand...


Radiation is very damaging to one's body. I am sorry you are having to go thru this, for I would not wish it on anyone.
It made my Mother so weak at times, she could do nothing but lie there. And she'd tell me all she could think about was me, and how glad she was that I was with her thru it all.
And like I said earlier, my Mother said the radiation was worse than getting the chemo.


----------



## DiAnna

MaggieMae said:


> Well now after a few weeks of treatment, I certainly know how your mother felt. I've had a severe reaction, and they've suspended radiation treatment for a week, possibly longer. It wound up burning the inside of my mouth and my lips to the point I was blistering. That was a week ago, and just today the scabs on my lips are beginning to show signs of healing. It wasn't pretty. So now, after ravaging my insides, I'm just trying to get my strength back, and then on Monday I'm supposed to find out how the radiology oncologists want to proceed. But I sure as hell won't go through this again, and they know it.



I'm so very sorry. *hugs*


----------



## waltky

A contrived drug shortage to increase profits?...

*Drug shortages in the US mount*
_Mon, Sep 05, 2011  Washington - IN SHORT SUPPLY:A survey of 820 hospitals showed almost all had run out of an important drug in the past six months and the problems is expected to get worse_


> Shortages of vital drugs, particularly cancer-fighting medication, have raised concerns in the US, where regulators often have to race to try to find replacements.  A recent report by the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) found that the number of important treatments that are difficult or impossible to find nearly tripled from 61 to 178 between 2005 and last year.  Most of the rare medications are for hospital use, including sterile injections, intravenous treatments, anesthetics and antibiotics. The products include both name-brand and generic drugs.  FDA hears from patients and also from healthcare -professionals and organizations about the terrible impact the shortages have had, spokeswoman Shelly Burgess said. We continue to do all we can under our current authority to address shortages when they occur.
> 
> However, the FDAs efforts are hindered because it cannot force private pharmaceutical companies to produce certain drugs or even require them to notify the agency when they plan to discontinue one, Burgess said.  Last year, it was able to avert 38 shortages, mainly by persuading other manufacturers to produce the drugs or helping to resolve production issues.  However, a survey of 820 -hospitals carried out in June by the American Hospital Association found that almost all had run out of an important drug over the past six months.  Eighty percent said they had to delay patient treatments because of drug scarcity, and 70 percent said they administered less effective treatments.  We really need to take a very careful look at what is going on. I have never seen anything like this and I have been a pharmacist for over 40 years, said Mike Cohen, a pharmacist at the non-profit Safe Medical Practices.
> 
> The group recently surveyed 1,800 health professionals and found that a third of doctors and a fifth of pharmacists were aware of adverse reactions in their patients  including deaths  because of drug shortages.  Cynthia Reilly of the American Society of Health System Pharmacists said the dramatic increase in shortages is in part due to quality issues.  In a lot of instances, the manufacturer is either having problems with the production lines or perhaps they found particular products in vials, so they have to do a recall, she said.  Reilly fears the shortages will worsen as the pharmaceutical industry continues to consolidate, and as more companies stop producing generic drugs because they are less profitable.
> 
> A few years ago, five companies were making a similar product. Now there is only one or two ... There are not a lot of companies to fill the gap, she said.  She and other advocates believe new legislation to allow the FDA to force companies to alert it six months in advance of closing a production line would be helpful, because it would give the agency more time to find a substitute.  Two bills with broad support are currently under discussion in Congress.  Another problem is the so-called gray market, whereby distributors scoop up rare drugs and then charge hospitals exorbitant rates for them. Some drugs can fetch up to 1,000 times the normal price.  We tell our members to contact their state attorney general. Unfortunately there is opportunity for unscrupulous behavior, Reilly said.
> 
> Drug shortages in the US mount - Taipei Times


----------



## bill5

Cue all the wingnuts out there looking for another thread to digress into a political cat fight    If true, it is extremely concerning.


----------



## waltky

Fish oils may block cancer drugs...

*Fish oils block chemotherapy drug*
_12 September 2011 - Fats found in fish oil supplements can stop chemotherapy drugs working, according to researchers._


> Writing in the journal Cancer Cell, they advise cancer patients not to take the supplements.  The two fatty acids involved, which are also produced by stem cells in the blood, lead to tumours becoming immune to treatment.  Cancer Research UK advised patients to ask their doctor whether they would be affected.  Scientists in the Netherlands were investigating how tumours develop resistance to treatments.
> 
> Fat shield
> 
> Experiments on mice showed that stem cells in the blood responded to the widely-used cancer drug cisplatin. The cells started producing two fatty acids, known as KHT and 16:4(n-3).  These fatty acids begin a series of chemical reactions, which mean cancerous cells become resistant to chemotherapy.  Using drugs to block the production of the fatty acids prevented this form of resistance which "significantly enhances the chemotherapy," the study says.  However, researchers warned that these fatty acids were "abundantly present in commercially available fish oil products". They showed that off-the-shelf fish oil supplements, given to mice, could stop chemotherapy working against some tumours.
> 
> Prof Emile Voest, lead researcher at University Medical Centre Utrecht, said: "We show that the body itself secretes protective substances into the blood that are powerful enough to block the effect of chemotherapy.  "These substances can be found in some types of fish oil.  "Whilst waiting for the results of further research, we currently recommend that these products should not be used whilst people are undergoing chemotherapy."
> 
> Jessica Harris, health information manager for Cancer Research UK, said: "This interesting study suggests one possible option for stopping cancers becoming resistant to treatment, but it is at an early stage and much more research would be needed to develop ways to halt resistance.  "The results also suggest that fish oil preparations may reduce the effectiveness of chemotherapy drugs.  "Cancer patients who are taking or thinking of taking these supplements should talk to their doctors to find out whether they could affect their treatments."
> 
> BBC News - Fish oils block chemotherapy drug


----------



## bill5

The link between cancer and cell phones is extremely inconclusive.

Also I don't know why you singled out cigars; cigarettes and pipes are much more dangerous (not that it's much of a choice).


----------



## ACE158

Hey guys,.....
My cousin has cancer (a blood cancer) and he is at this time at normal stage. Is there cure available for cancer in UK. Which hospital is best know regarding to their cancer cure? We have to change his whole body blood and want a new one B+. Hope i will get friendly suggestions.


----------



## Xchel

My mom died from lung cancer in 1998 perhaps the worst experience in my life.  I also hate cancer and hope there is one day a cure for it, but it likely will not happen in my life time.


----------



## bill5

ACE158 said:


> Hey guys,.....
> My cousin has cancer (a blood cancer) and he is at this time at normal stage. Is there cure available for cancer in UK. Which hospital is best know regarding to their cancer cure? We have to change his whole body blood and want a new one B+. Hope i will get friendly suggestions.


There is no cure for bone cancer (in fact there are few if any true cures for any cancer).  I can't speak to which hospitals are best in the UK, but if you search the internet, I'm sure you can find some info.  I wish you the best!




Xchel said:


> My mom died from lung cancer in 1998 perhaps the worst experience in my life.  I also hate cancer and hope there is one day a cure for it, but it likely will not happen in my life time.


I'm so sorry for your loss.  As for cures, cancer is actually not one disease but many, so we will likely never find a single thing that cures all at once, but hopefully in the not too distant future we will start finding cures.....


----------



## ACE158

Hey guys,.....
My cousin has cancer (a blood cancer) and he is at this time at normal stage. Is there cure available for cancer in UK. Which hospital is best know regarding to their cancer cure? We have to change his whole body blood and want a new one B+. Hope i will get friendly suggestions.


----------



## Xchel

ACE158 said:


> Hey guys,.....
> My cousin has cancer (a blood cancer) and he is at this time at normal stage. Is there cure available for cancer in UK. Which hospital is best know regarding to their cancer cure? We have to change his whole body blood and want a new one B+. Hope i will get friendly suggestions.



there is no cure for cancer of any kind..there is only treatment and hope that the cancer can be sent into remission.  You cannot change his blood type.


----------



## waltky

Pharmaceutical companies creatin' shortages to jack up profits..

*Hospital drug shortages deadly, costly *
_Fri Sep 23,`11  A severe shortage of drugs for chemotherapy, infections and other serious ailments is endangering patients and forcing hospitals to buy life-saving medications from secondary suppliers at huge markups because they can't get them any other way._


> An Associated Press review of industry reports and interviews with nearly two dozen experts found at least 15 deaths in the past 15 months blamed on the shortages, either because the right drug wasn't available or because of dosing errors or other problems in administering or preparing alternative medications.  The shortages, mainly involving widely-used generic injected drugs that ordinarily are cheap, have been delaying surgeries and cancer treatments, leaving patients in unnecessary pain and forcing hospitals to give less effective treatments. That's resulted in complications and longer hospital stays.
> 
> Just over half of the 549 U.S. hospitals responding to a survey this summer by the Institute for Safe Medication Practices, a patient safety group, said they had purchased one or more prescription drugs from so-called "gray market vendors"_ companies other than their normal wholesalers. Most also said they've had to do so more often of late, and 7 percent reported side effects or other problems.  Hospital pharmacists "are really looking at this as a crisis. They are scrambling to find drugs," said Joseph Hill of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists.
> 
> A hearing on the issue was set for Friday before the health subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The Food and Drug Administration is holding a meeting Monday with medical and consumer groups, researchers and industry representatives to discuss the shortages and strategies to fight them.  The FDA says the primary cause of the shortages is production shutdowns because of manufacturing problems, such as contamination and metal particles that get into medicine.
> 
> Other reasons:



See also:

*Widely used hospital drugs are in short supply*
_Fri Sep 23,`11 :  Drugs used frequently to treat hospital patients, many of them critically ill, increasingly are difficult or impossible to find._


> Shortages causing the most disruption in care include:
> 
> _Sodium phosphate injection  electrolyte (controls heart, nerve, muscle function)
> 
> _Magnesium sulfate injection  electrolyte (controls heart, nerve, muscle function)
> 
> _Levofloxacin injection  antibiotic
> 
> _Foscarnet injection  antiviral drug
> 
> _Paclitaxel injection  chemotherapy
> 
> _Doxil injection  chemotherapy
> 
> _Prochlorperazine injection  for nausea
> 
> _Ondansetron injection  for nausea
> 
> Source


----------



## Dabs

Xchel said:


> ACE158 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey guys,.....
> My cousin has cancer (a blood cancer) and he is at this time at normal stage. Is there cure available for cancer in UK. Which hospital is best know regarding to their cancer cure? We have to change his whole body blood and want a new one B+. Hope i will get friendly suggestions.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> there is no cure for cancer of any kind..there is only treatment and *hope that the cancer can be sent into remission.*  You cannot change his blood type.
Click to expand...


Then the shit just ends up coming back anyway.....remission is sort of like a fucking tease with cancer.
Lets you think you have a chance for a bit.....then wham, comes back and bites you harder.
Fucking shit.


----------



## bill5

waltky said:


> Pharmaceutical companies creatin' shortages to jack up profits..


I seriously doubt it.  But the trend is extremely disturbing regardless.





Dabs said:


> Then the shit just ends up coming back anyway.....remission is sort of like a fucking tease with cancer.
> Lets you think you have a chance for a bit.....then wham, comes back and bites you harder.
> Fucking shit.


Often, yes, but by no means always.


----------



## Dabs

martinnman said:


> Cancer is such a dangerous disease. More peoples are dying because of cancer. Now-a-days cigarettes smoking is common in young generation. These will cause cancer. And these young generation know these truth though they are continue these habit. They don't know they are on the path of death.



I understand what you're saying, smoking is a big cause of cancer, lung cancer, and that is how I lost my Mother.
She started smoking when she was 16 and I lost her when she was a bit young at age 66.
She was a smoker for 50 years......BUT, there are people who get lung cancer, and they have never smoked a day in their life!!!
Cancer doesn't care who it hits...it just hits someone and that person, sadly, is struck down.
Then there are some, who have smoked prolly 40 years or more, and have great lungs...so one never knows. I just know I hate the fucking shit and it angers me more than most anything else.


----------



## chikenwing

Brother,sister in law,several friends only the friends have survived.


----------



## bill5

Dabs said:


> Cancer doesn't care who it hits...it just hits someone and that person, sadly, is struck down.



Not necessarily.  Many people survive cancer and live to a ripe old age.  It varies greatly w/the cancer, however.


----------



## graywolf

I was found to have bladder cancer when I was 65, was treated and worked until I was 70 years old.  I am 75 now and been cancer free for about 9 years. I wish you who have cancer or have a family member or friend with cancer the best.


----------



## waltky

Cancer of the pancreas still deadly but declining...

*Pancreatic cancer declining, but among most deadly*
_Oct 6,`11 - Pancreatic cancer is notoriously lethal - there are almost as many deaths from it each year as there are new cases. The deaths this week of Apple founder Steve Jobs and Nobelist Ralph Steinman bring unusual attention to this less-well-known type of cancer that has actually been declining despite no big advances in treatment or finding it early._


> A decline in smoking, one of the top risk factors for the disease, may be behind the drop in cases.  Jobs lived more than seven years after being diagnosed with a neuroendocrine tumor - a less common, slower-growing and more treatable type of pancreatic cancer than the kind that killed Steinman a week ago and actor Patrick Swayze two years ago.  The Apple chief kept details of his illness behind a firewall and declared he was cured after cancer surgery in 2004. However, five years later, gaunt and having lost a lot of weight, Jobs had a liver transplant. Experts said it was likely because his cancer had returned or spread.
> 
> A liver transplant sometimes can cure the type of cancer that Jobs had. But if it comes back, "it's usually in one to two years," said Dr. Michael Pishvaian of Georgetown University's Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center.  In January, Jobs announced his third and final leave of absence. He resigned in August and died on Wednesday.  Part of what makes pancreatic cancer so deadly is that the pancreas is as vital as the heart. You can live with just part of a liver or a colon, or only one kidney or lung. But the pancreas is a fish-shaped organ that makes digestive enzymes and insulin and other hormones that enable the body to make energy from food.
> 
> In the United States, pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer deaths. About 44,030 people will be diagnosed with it and about 37,660 people will die of it this year in the U.S., the American Cancer Society estimates.  Possible symptoms are fatigue, back pain, abdominal pain, unexplained weight loss, loss of appetite, jaundice and nausea, according to the Lustgarten Foundation, a private group that finances research on the disease.  This cancer often is not found until it is advanced or has spread, and overall survival is dismal: 20 percent after one year and only 4 percent after five years.  However, with a neuroendocrine tumor like the one Jobs had, "people can live a longer time; median survival is five to eight years," said Dr. Alan Venook, a pancreatic cancer specialist at the University of California, San Francisco.
> 
> The lifetime risk of developing pancreatic cancer is about 1 in 71, according to the cancer society. Men and blacks account for more cases than women and whites, possibly because of differences in smoking rates. Smokers have two to three times more risk of developing the disease. Use of smokeless tobacco also raises the risk.  Obese people, those who don't exercise much and diabetics also have more risk for pancreatic cancer. Alcohol use might play a role: Most studies haven't tied it to pancreatic cancer, but heavy drinking can lead to diabetes and liver and pancreas problems that pose a cancer risk, the cancer society says.
> 
> MORE


----------



## waltky

Black market for cancer drugs developes...

*Cancer drug scalpers corner the US market*
_Wed, Nov 30, 2011 - Pssst. Wanna buy some chemo drugs?_


> A new trend in pharmaceutical sales has raised concerns over ethics and patient safety, as companies buy up critical cancer drugs in short supply and attempt to resell them at huge markups.  Rather than operate by the dark of night on street corners, these drug dealers work in broad daylight using fax, telephone and e-mail to deluge hospitals with offers.
> 
> Experts say the so-called gray market is not illegal and could even be poised to surge further after US President Barack Obama issued an executive order that tried to fix the problem, but may have just opened a larger loophole.  These are a number of very small firms that have popped up out of nowhere. Most of them are relatively new, said Thomas Smith, director of palliative medicine at Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions. It happens in every other market, we just dont expect it to happen in pharmaceuticals for cancer treatment.
> 
> Fifty-six percent of the 549 hospitals surveyed by the non-profit Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) earlier this year said they received daily solicitations from gray market vendors to purchase medications no longer available through the manufacturer or usual wholesaler.  Fifty-two percent admitted to buying one or more drugs from gray market vendors in the past two years, as manufacturers halted production of some generic drugs because they were no longer profitable.  I would like to know why hospitals cant get these products, but the scalpers can. It is unreal to have to deal with scalpers in healthcare, said one survey respondent whose name was withheld by ISMP.
> 
> Drug prices ranged from 650 percent to 4,000 percent over the usual cost, said the survey, which referred to all kinds of pharmaceuticals, not just cancer drugs.  Prescription drug shortages in the US nearly tripled from 2005 to last year, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.  Just why drugs are falling out of production, particularly in cancer care, has to do with the extremely low price of generic medicines and the profit incentive that drives cancer doctors to prescribe costlier medications.  Oncologists get a portion of their pay by buying drugs wholesale and billing the governments Medicare behemoth for reimbursement, a practice that ended up paying US doctors more than they spent on the drugs by US$1.6 billion a year.
> 
> MORE


----------



## lizzie

Dabs said:


> *How close has cancer hit you or someone you love?*
> *They say 1 out of 3 women will develop some form of cancer, and even tho it's not the number one killer of women (heart disease is), it ranks very high as the killer of men and women.*
> *It kills more people than obesity. It kills more people than heart attacks/strokes.*
> *I loathe fucking cancer, it's my only enemy in life........I am surrounded by it on both sides of my family and I have had to deal with it personally, in my own body~*
> *I wish they would find something to help with this dreaded jackass disease. More and more children are being stricken with some form of cancer.*
> *Instead of them getting closer to finding a cure, I hear about more and more cases~*


 
Pretty freaking close. My dad died from it last summer. Frankly, is it worse to die from cancer than from other causes? I doubt it. 

Obesity kills many people- not the obesity itself, but the result of obesity on the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. Diabetes is another one, and it seems to be associated with obesity and heart disease as well. 

Cancer isn't an enemy- it's a failure of the immune system in most cases. All of us produce cancer cells all the time, but our bodies usually detect it as an abnormality and kill them off. For various reasons, some peoples' immune system fails to recognize the cancer cells as foreign, then they are able to take residence and grow. 

Frankly, we are all going to die, and I'd rather die from some of the cancers I've observed the effects of, than of some other causes of death.


----------



## Dabs

lizzie said:


> Dabs said:
> 
> 
> 
> *How close has cancer hit you or someone you love?*
> *They say 1 out of 3 women will develop some form of cancer, and even tho it's not the number one killer of women (heart disease is), it ranks very high as the killer of men and women.*
> *It kills more people than obesity. It kills more people than heart attacks/strokes.*
> *I loathe fucking cancer, it's my only enemy in life........I am surrounded by it on both sides of my family and I have had to deal with it personally, in my own body~*
> *I wish they would find something to help with this dreaded jackass disease. More and more children are being stricken with some form of cancer.*
> *Instead of them getting closer to finding a cure, I hear about more and more cases~*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Pretty freaking close. My dad died from it last summer. *Frankly, is it worse to die from cancer than from other causes? *I doubt it.
> 
> Obesity kills many people- not the obesity itself, but the result of obesity on the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. Diabetes is another one, and it seems to be associated with obesity and heart disease as well.
> 
> Cancer isn't an enemy- it's a failure of the immune system in most cases. All of us produce cancer cells all the time, but our bodies usually detect it as an abnormality and kill them off. For various reasons, some peoples' immune system fails to recognize the cancer cells as foreign, then they are able to take residence and grow.
> 
> Frankly, we are all going to die, and I'd rather die from some of the cancers I've observed the effects of, than of some other causes of death.
Click to expand...


Well many diseases contribute to a heart attack...and from all I gather, a heart attack can happen suddenly..without warning and without much pain.
One can be walking or sitting and feel the discomfort and the next thing everyone sees, is a person slumped to the ground...dead.
Heart attacks happen so sudden, I highly doubt the person who had it, felt much....let's hope not.
Some cancer patients suffer tho.....and it's a terrible sight.
I don't wanna suffer, period...from anything when it's my time to die. Just let my ass go to sleep...or crash very fast and hard into something that kills me instantly..that sort of thing, so I don't have to be in agony~


----------



## Wiseacre

I was diagnosed with prostate cancer, had the surgery to remove it 7 years ago.   So far, no reoccurrence.


----------



## Dabs

Wiseacre said:


> I was diagnosed with prostate cancer, had the surgery to remove it 7 years ago.   So far, no reoccurrence.



Very good news!
I know you are pleased about that!


----------



## Kooshdakhaa

Dabs said:


> lizzie said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Dabs said:
> 
> 
> 
> *How close has cancer hit you or someone you love?*
> *They say 1 out of 3 women will develop some form of cancer, and even tho it's not the number one killer of women (heart disease is), it ranks very high as the killer of men and women.*
> *It kills more people than obesity. It kills more people than heart attacks/strokes.*
> *I loathe fucking cancer, it's my only enemy in life........I am surrounded by it on both sides of my family and I have had to deal with it personally, in my own body~*
> *I wish they would find something to help with this dreaded jackass disease. More and more children are being stricken with some form of cancer.*
> *Instead of them getting closer to finding a cure, I hear about more and more cases~*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Pretty freaking close. My dad died from it last summer. *Frankly, is it worse to die from cancer than from other causes? *I doubt it.
> 
> Obesity kills many people- not the obesity itself, but the result of obesity on the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. Diabetes is another one, and it seems to be associated with obesity and heart disease as well.
> 
> Cancer isn't an enemy- it's a failure of the immune system in most cases. All of us produce cancer cells all the time, but our bodies usually detect it as an abnormality and kill them off. For various reasons, some peoples' immune system fails to recognize the cancer cells as foreign, then they are able to take residence and grow.
> 
> Frankly, we are all going to die, and I'd rather die from some of the cancers I've observed the effects of, than of some other causes of death.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Well many diseases contribute to a heart attack...and from all I gather, a heart attack can happen suddenly..without warning and without much pain.
> One can be walking or sitting and feel the discomfort and the next thing everyone sees, is a person slumped to the ground...dead.
> Heart attacks happen so sudden, I highly doubt the person who had it, felt much....let's hope not.
> Some cancer patients suffer tho.....and it's a terrible sight.
> I don't wanna suffer, period...from anything when it's my time to die. Just let my ass go to sleep...or crash very fast and hard into something that kills me instantly..that sort of thing, so I don't have to be in agony~
Click to expand...


I have a picture of a beautiful wolf caught in a trap.  The wolf is snarling, obviously at someone off camera who is approaching him to finish him off.

The caption on the picture says:

"It takes more courage to suffer than to die."

I cannot look at that picture without crying.


----------



## Big Black Dog

I'm a Cancer.  I was born on July 6th.  A long time ago.


----------



## Dabs

Kooshdakhaa said:


> Dabs said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> lizzie said:
> 
> 
> 
> Pretty freaking close. My dad died from it last summer. *Frankly, is it worse to die from cancer than from other causes? *I doubt it.
> 
> Obesity kills many people- not the obesity itself, but the result of obesity on the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. Diabetes is another one, and it seems to be associated with obesity and heart disease as well.
> 
> Cancer isn't an enemy- it's a failure of the immune system in most cases. All of us produce cancer cells all the time, but our bodies usually detect it as an abnormality and kill them off. For various reasons, some peoples' immune system fails to recognize the cancer cells as foreign, then they are able to take residence and grow.
> 
> Frankly, we are all going to die, and I'd rather die from some of the cancers I've observed the effects of, than of some other causes of death.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well many diseases contribute to a heart attack...and from all I gather, a heart attack can happen suddenly..without warning and without much pain.
> One can be walking or sitting and feel the discomfort and the next thing everyone sees, is a person slumped to the ground...dead.
> Heart attacks happen so sudden, I highly doubt the person who had it, felt much....let's hope not.
> Some cancer patients suffer tho.....and it's a terrible sight.
> I don't wanna suffer, period...from anything when it's my time to die. Just let my ass go to sleep...or crash very fast and hard into something that kills me instantly..that sort of thing, so I don't have to be in agony~
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I have a picture of a beautiful wolf caught in a trap.  The wolf is snarling, obviously at someone off camera who is approaching him to finish him off.
> 
> *The caption on the picture says:
> 
> "It takes more courage to suffer than to die."*
> I cannot look at that picture without crying.
Click to expand...


Then call me a coward, because I don't wanna suffer. I have watched 3 people in my immediate family suffer because of cancer, and while they may have appeared to be full of courage, it sure as hell was very hard on me, and the others who watched....we were suffering, watching them die.


----------



## waltky

Granny tol' Uncle Ferd if he gonna marry one o' his fat g/f's, he better make sure she got lotsa cancer insurance...

*Over 40% of cancers due to lifestyle, says review*
_7 December 2011 - Booze, cigarettes and inactivity are collectively bad_


> Nearly half of cancers diagnosed in the UK each year - over 130,000 in total - are caused by avoidable life choices including smoking, drinking and eating the wrong things, a review reveals.  Tobacco is the biggest culprit, causing 23% of cases in men and 15.6% in women, says the Cancer Research UK report.  Next comes a lack of fresh fruit and vegetables in men's diets, while for women it is being overweight.
> 
> The report is published in the British Journal of Cancer.  Its authors claim it is the most comprehensive analysis to date on the subject.  Lead author Prof Max Parkin said: "Many people believe cancer is down to fate or 'in the genes' and that it is the luck of the draw whether they get it.  "Looking at all the evidence, it's clear that around 40% of all cancers are caused by things we mostly have the power to change."
> 
> Weighty matters
> 
> For men, the best advice appears to be: stop smoking, eat more fruit and veg and cut down on how much alcohol you drink.  For women, again, the reviews says the best advice is to stop smoking, but also watch your weight.  Prof Parkin said: "We didn't expect to find that eating fruit and vegetables would prove to be so important in protecting men against cancer. And among women we didn't expect being overweight to be more of a risk factor than alcohol."  In total, 14 lifestyle and environmental factors, such as where you live and the job you do, combine to cause 134,000 cancers in the UK each year.    About 100,000 (34%) of the cancers are linked to smoking, diet, alcohol and excess weight.  One in 25 of cancers is linked to a person's job, such as being exposed to chemicals or asbestos.
> 
> Some risk factors are well established, such as smoking's link with lung cancer.  But others are less recognised.  For example, for breast cancer, nearly a 10th of the risk comes from being overweight or obese, far outweighing the impact of whether or not the woman breastfeeds or drinks alcohol.  And for oesophageal or gullet cancer, half of the risk comes from eating too little fruit and veg, while only a fifth of the risk is from alcohol, the report shows.  For stomach cancer, a fifth of the risk comes from having too much salt in the diet, data suggests.  Some cancers, like mouth and throat cancer, are caused almost entirely by lifestyle choices.
> 
> More BBC News - Over 40% of cancers due to lifestyle, says review


----------



## waltky

Hope for breast cancer patients...

*New Breast Cancer Treatment Shows Great Promise*
_December 16, 2011 - In clinical trials at Johns Hopkins Cancer Center in Baltimore, Maryland, doctors report they successfully pumped cancer-fighting medicine directly into a breast tumor._


> There's some promising news about breast cancer treatment. In clinical trials at Johns Hopkins Cancer Center in Baltimore, Maryland, doctors report they successfully pumped cancer-fighting medicine directly into a breast tumor. Early results show the treatment not only kills the tumor, but spares the patients disfiguring surgery and the side effects of more radical treatments.  The earliest stages of breast cancer are usually discovered during a mammogram. Right now, the standard treatment when tumors are found is surgery, followed by radiation therapy and then hormone treatment. Some women who have a high risk of getting breast cancer even opt to have mastectomies - the surgical removal of one or both breasts - just to reduce their risk.
> 
> At Johns Hopkins Cancer Center in Baltimore, one oncologist has been studying a less radical approach.  "Since most cancers originate within the breasts and the cells that line the milk ducts within the breasts, can we possibly eliminate those dangerous cells, and by doing so, eliminate breast cancer?" asks Dr. Vared Sterns.  The idea is simple. Give a small concentration of a chemotherapy drug directly through the patient's nipple and into the milk ducts where cancer cells or even pre-cancerous cells are forming. The entire procedure takes about 30 minutes. In clinical trials, researchers found this technique was more effective and less toxic than the conventional practice of administering chemotherapy through the vein.  "What we found was that the concentration of the drug within the breast was very, very high, while the concentration of the drug within the blood system was very low," said Sterns.
> 
> With conventional chemotherapy, the opposite was true: Drugs administered through the vein concentrated in the blood system and but were less concentrated where they were most needed - in the breast. The clinical trials have been so promising that this type of treatment might eventually become the standard for patients with very early stages of breast cancer or those who are at risk of developing it.  "It is my hope that the treatment can be delivered in just your usual mammogram suite. This has been done in our study quite easily on an outpatient basis. It doesn't take very long. It's not painful," said Sterns.
> 
> She likens this procedure to a colonoscopy. If there's a polyp, the doctor removes it before it can become cancerous.  Dr. Sterns said researchers need to find out how much of the drug is needed and how often it should be administered to rid the breast of cancer. She estimates that work will take another 10 years. Then, if this procedure is as promising as it seems, it may become standard treatment for patients with early stage breast cancer.
> 
> Source


----------



## waltky

Soon they may be able to detect lung cancer on the breath...

*Study Says Breath Analysis Can Help in Diagnosing Cancer*
_January 03, 2012 - Lung cancer claims an estimated one and a half million lives each year. But a research team at the Cleveland Clinic and University of Illinois is working to develop a new test that could make diagnosis and treatment faster and easier._


> If only diagnosing lung cancer were as easy as exhaling. It soon may be. This machine analyzes a person's breath and identifies the exact composition of the organic compounds in it. We all have chemicals in our breath and we think that the chemicals in breath of people with cancer are slightly different than those without cancer," said Dr. Peter Mazzone of the Cleveland Clinic.
> 
> Dr. Peter Mazzone led the study using breath analysis as a tool to diagnose lung cancer. He and his team of researchers tested the breath of 229 patients from Cleveland Clinic. Ninety-two of them had confirmed lung cancer and the others had high risk of developing it, with undefined growths in their lungs.  We found that we could be in the 80-85% accuracy range at detecting lung cancer from the breath signature. We were a little more accurate if we looked for a very specific type of lung cancer rather than lung cancer in general. We found that we were able to characterize someones lung cancer that was in an advanced stage versus an early stage," he said.
> 
> Dr. Mazzone says the breath test also reveals how cancer is behaving. For example, the study shows aggressive cancers have a different breath bio-signature than cancers which are not so fast-moving.  But the test will have to be refined before it can be widely adopted.  This was relatively a crude instrument with lots of room for improvement so our hope is that the next generation of this sensor system can increase that accuracy beyond the 80- 85 percent range to a point where it can be clinically useful," said Dr. Mazzone.
> 
> At that point, the test could be used during regular health check-ups for early detection. It would be easier to administer, less invasive and less expensive than the currently available tests, biopsies and scans.  Experts also hope that the breath test, when supplemented by a CAT scan, could help doctors quickly distinguish between benign and malignant tumors, so treatment could begin sooner.
> 
> Source


----------



## alicewatson

Cancer is horrible. The good news is that many forms of cancer can be mitigated by the maintenance of health. Receiving the vaccine and Pap smear Gardisil fell incidence of cervical cancer in this country at a fraction of what it was. If everyone colonoscopies at 50, we could virtually eliminate mortality after colon cancer.


----------



## jan

My brother currently has stage 4 buccal mucosa cancer.  His odds really aren't very good and the treatment for his particular type of cancer is as bad as the disease itself.  He's had all of his teeth pulled in preparation for his chemo/radiation combo treatment.  However he's wavering a bit as to whether or not he actually wants to go through with treatment.  He'll have to get a feeding tube and the radiation will kill off his taste buds so food probably will never taste the same to him eating it orally.  That is...*if* he can ever eat food orally after treatment.  They may have to remove part of his jaw or cheek and do reconstructive surgery later.  God only knows how that will turn out. 

The goal of the chemo/radiation treatment is to reduce the tumor size down to managable, so the surgeon can go in and remove the rest of what's left after radiation/chemo.  If he were to have the surgery first, it would be a commando type of surgery that would leave him deformed and maimed.  The outlook isn't very good and I think the reality of the situation is hitting home with Jack.  At first he was gung-ho for getting treatment...but now he's wavering and considering quality of life issues after treatment, and rightly so. 

I guess time will tell what he chooses to do...it's his call and nobody can make this decision for him.  He has about 3 weeks before he has to make a definite decision...enough time for his gums to heal from the tooth extractions he had done in preperation for the radiation/chemo.  He just turned 67 years old.


----------



## FuelRod

Prayers to those currently battling this awful plague on our world.  I have been fortunate that immediate family has not been touched by this disease.  Have had friends lose spouses and lost one of my closest friends 3 years ago.


----------



## waltky

Research on shark's blood for cancer fighting properties gets help from drug company Roche...

*Research on Cancer-Fighting Shark's Blood Gets Boost in Australia*
_March 09, 2012 : Australian scientists investigating the cancer-fighting qualities of shark blood have been given a significant funding boost from an international pharmaceutical giant._


> The team from La Trobe University in Melbourne says trials indicate shark antibodies can be a potent weapon against malaria and breast cancer.   International pharmaceutical company Roche is funding Australian research into shark blood for six months.  During that time scientists will try to determine if shark-blood antibodies are able to lock onto and neutralize cancer cells.
> 
> Shark antibodies are very small, which researchers say makes them particularly good at seeking out and binding to target cells.   Thanks in part to funding from the Bill Gates Foundation, trials have already shown they can be an effective treatment against malaria.  The research started a decade ago and a team from Melbournes La Trobe University has created the worlds first 'test-tube library' of millions of antibodies from shark blood that could fight cancer and other diseases.  Trials into breast cancer have also started, work that will be accelerated following the deal with Roche.
> 
> There are several-thousand million different anti-bodies," explained associate professor Mick Foley, explaining the funding deal.  "Really we have just got to find in our library one that will bind to their target and give that to them.  We will license it to them," he explained. "But we are hoping that, you know, this is just a sort of vote of confidence, if you like, in big pharma (large pharmaceutical companies) that we have something interesting that might be very useful to the broader pharmaceutical industry."
> 
> Foley says his teams work could provide a breakthrough. "We are researching into sort of, for example, cancers," Foley said. "So, we have several antibodies that we are looking at, one of which we know in vitro, again in the laboratory, if you put it into breast cancer cells it will stop those breast cancer cells from growing.      Sharks have immune systems similar to humans, but their antibodies - the molecules that actually fight disease - are different to human anti-bodies and are extremely resilient.  The team in Melbourne found that shark antibodies can withstand high temperatures as well as extremely acidic or alkaline conditions.
> 
> Source


----------



## earlycuyler

Dabs said:


> *How close has cancer hit you or someone you love?
> They say 1 out of 3 women will develop some form of cancer, and even tho it's not the number one killer of women (heart disease is), it ranks very high as the killer of men and women.
> It kills more people than obesity. It kills more people than heart attacks/strokes.
> I loathe fucking cancer, it's my only enemy in life........I am surrounded by it on both sides of my family and I have had to deal with it personally, in my own body~
> I wish they would find something to help with this dreaded jackass disease. More and more children are being stricken with some form of cancer.
> Instead of them getting closer to finding a cure, I hear about more and more cases~*



The Wife had precancerous things removed . Had a partial hysterectomy. Healing nicely.


----------



## auditor0007

Dabs said:


> *I lost my best friend, my beautiful Mother to that damn disease in November 2005. Lung cancer, yes she smoked. They say there are 5 stages of grief, I sure hope to hell I would get to the final one, because I haven't yet, and truth be told, I doubt I ever will. She and I shared a bond like no other Mother and daughter you would see. Most people were jealous of us, we never fussed, always did things for each other, we were always there for each other. God what I wouldn't give to have my Mother here with me. Mother's days and her birthdays and Christmas are so damn hard. I am her only daughter, and so it was difficult for both of us, when she came home under Hospice care, because we both knew, the end was near.
> Then I lost my Dad, my SF, to cancer in March 2008. Even tho he was so mean to me, I loved him and I forgave him for the many years of abuse. That's one thing about me, I am a very forgiving person. But he suffered terribly and I watched him die. My Mother went peacefully in her sleep, for that I am very thankful.
> Then my Mother's favorite sister, my favorite Aunt, I lost her to cancer in February 2009. She sort of took over the role of my Mother after Mother left me. And she did a great job!
> Also on my Mother's side, I lost my Grandfather to cancer, lung cancer- and my Grandmother to cancer (my Mother's parents) as well as Mother's oldest brother, he also passed away from cancer. And all of them, with the exception of my Aunt, they all passed away at the age of 66. My dear Aunt lived to be 68.
> On my real Dad's side, even tho I didn't know him that well, he died at the age of 54, passed away from liver cancer.
> And like I mentioned earlier, I have had the dreaded C word in my body, had to fight it for awhile, but I'm not about to give in, and so far, I'm doing great~
> But I so loathe cancer, it sickens me.*



Lost my wife to leukemia nearly ten years ago.  Seen many friends die much too young.  Life is a crapshoot.  Make the most of it while you can, enjoy those who are your friends and family while you can.  In the end, be thankful for what you have and had, and do not fret on those you have lost.  This world is a world for the living, regardless of your faith in anything hereafter.  

As I said, I have seen many die too young.  One year after my wife passed, the family down the street was killed in a plane crash.  The father and his two sons were on vacation in Idaho.  On July 4th their single engine plane crashed shortly after takeoff.  The mother was in Las Vegas celebrating her mother's birthday, so she was spared.  As difficult as it was losing my wife, I can't even begin to imagine what this woman went through, losing her husband and both children.  She is happily married again today and I believe she and her husband have adopted.  I'm sure her life is very different and I know there is no way she can't wonder what her life would have been like had things been different, but she remains strong.


----------



## waltky

Oral cancer increasing...

*Oral cancer cases on the increase - Cancer Research UK*
_15 March 2012 - Most oral cancer cases are linked to smoking_


> Oral cancer cases are increasing, with 6,200 this year, figures from Cancer Research UK show, with two-thirds of cases in men.  This compares with 4,400 cases a decade ago.  Most cases are linked to smoking, but alcohol misuse and the human papillomavirus (HPV) infection through oral sex have been linked to the rise.
> 
> Experts said warning signs included mouth ulcers and red or white patches in the mouth that would not heal.  Up to eight out of 10 people in the UK are infected with HPV at some point in their lives, though most cases are harmless.  But high-risk strains of HPV are linked to oral cancers, as well as cervical and other genital cancers.
> 
> Dental checks
> 
> Richard Shaw, a Cancer Research UK (CRUK) expert in head and neck cancers based at the Liverpool Cancer Research UK Centre, said: "We have noticed that patients with HPV-related oral cancers tend to be younger, are less likely to be smokers and have better outcomes from treatment than those whose tumours show no evidence of HPV."  Oral cancers usually take at least a decade to develop.  Smoking rates have fallen significantly, though it is still the major cause of oral cancers.
> 
> Alcohol is another. CRUK says that, while overall consumption has fallen compared with 10 years ago, it could be that some groups are drinking more.  But there have also been particularly sharp rises in the incidence rates of two specific types of oral cancer linked to HPV: tumours on the base of the tongue - which have risen by almost 90%- and tonsil cancers, which have seen a 70% rise.
> 
> Sara Hiom, director of information at Cancer Research UK, said: "It's worrying to see such a big rise in oral cancer rates.  "But like many other cancers, if oral cancer is caught early, there is a better chance of successful treatment."  She added: "It's not just doctors who have a vital role to play. If you're worried about any of these symptoms you can see your dentist as well."
> 
> BBC News - Oral cancer cases on the increase - Cancer Research UK


----------



## uscitizen

Dabs said:


> *How close has cancer hit you or someone you love?
> They say 1 out of 3 women will develop some form of cancer, and even tho it's not the number one killer of women (heart disease is), it ranks very high as the killer of men and women.
> It kills more people than obesity. It kills more people than heart attacks/strokes.
> I loathe fucking cancer, it's my only enemy in life........I am surrounded by it on both sides of my family and I have had to deal with it personally, in my own body~
> I wish they would find something to help with this dreaded jackass disease. More and more children are being stricken with some form of cancer.
> Instead of them getting closer to finding a cure, I hear about more and more cases~*



Got it, dying...
Outlived my doctors estimates by a year or so.
And did not do the chemo thing either.
It sucks.


----------



## uscitizen

Just realized this is an old thread, hope I did not repeat myself


----------



## jeffdix

smoking is the major cause for cancer. Still people can live normal with cancer.


----------



## waltky

Aspirin Can Possibly Treat, Help Prevent Cancer...

*Studies find an aspirin a day can keep cancer at bay*
_March 20, 2012 - Three new studies published on Wednesday added to growing scientific evidence suggesting that taking a daily dose of aspirin can help prevent, and possibly treat, cancer._


> Previous studies have found that daily aspirin reduces the long-term risk of death due to cancer, but until now the shorter-term effects have been less certain - as has the medicine's potential in patients already diagnosed with cancer.  The new studies, led by Peter Rothwell of Britain's Oxford University, found that aspirin also has a short-term benefit in preventing cancer, and that it reduces the likelihood that cancers will spread to other organs by about 40 to 50 percent.  "These findings add to the case for use of aspirin to prevent cancer, particularly if people are at increased risk," Rothwell said.  "Perhaps more importantly, they also raise the distinct possibility that aspirin will be effective as an additional treatment for cancer - to prevent distant spread of the disease."
> 
> This was particularly important because it is the process of spread of cancer, or "metastasis", which most often kills people with the disease, he added.  Aspirin, originally developed by Bayer, is a cheap over-the-counter drug generally used to combat pain or reduce fever.  The drug reduces the risk of clots forming in blood vessels and can therefore protect against heart attacks and strokes, so it is often prescribed for people who already suffer with heart disease and have already had one or several attacks.  Aspirin also increases the risk of bleeding in the stomach to around one patient in every thousand per year, a factor which has fuelled an intense debate about whether doctors should advise patients to take it as regularly as every day.
> 
> Last year, a study by British researchers questioned the wisdom of daily aspirin for reducing the risk of early death from a heart attack or stroke because they said the increased risk of internal bleeding outweighed the potential benefit.  Other studies, including some by Rothwell in 2007, 2010 and 2011, found that an aspirin a day, even at a low dose of around 75 milligrams, reduces the long-term risk of developing some cancers, particularly bowel and oesophageal cancer, but the effects don't show until eight to 10 years after the start of treatment.  Rothwell, whose new studies were published in The Lancet and The Lancet Oncology journals on Wednesday, said this delay was because aspirin was preventing the very early development of cancers and there was a long time lag between this stage and a patient having clinical signs or symptoms of cancer.
> 
> Rothwell and others said deeper research was now needed into aspirin as a potential treatment for cancer in patients whose disease has not yet spread.  "No drug has been shown before to prevent distant metastasis and so these findings should focus future research on this crucial aspect of treatment," he said.  Peter Johnson, chief clinician at the charity Cancer Research UK, said his group was already investigating the anti-cancer properties of aspirin. "These findings show we're on the right track," he said.  In a written commentary on the research in The Lancet, Andrew Chan and Nancy Cook of Harvard Medical School in the United States said it was "impressive" and moved health experts "another step closer to broadening recommendations for aspirin use".
> 
> Source


----------



## waltky

Healthier lifestyle reduces risk of cancer...

*Half of all cancers are preventable: study*
_28 Mar.`12 - Half of all cancers could be prevented if people just adopted healthier behaviors, US scientists argued on Wednesday._


> Smoking is blamed for a third of all US cancer cases and being overweight leads to another 20 percent of the deadly burden that costs the United States some $226 billion per year in health care expenses and lost productivity.  For instance, up to three quarters of US lung cancer cases could be avoided if people did not smoke, said the article in the US journal Science Translational Medicine.  Science has shown that plenty of other cancers can also be prevented, either with vaccines to prevent human papillomavirus and hepatitis, which can cause cervical and liver cancers, or by protecting against sun exposure, which can cause skin cancer.
> 
> Society as a whole must recognize the need for these changes and take seriously an attempt to instill healthier habits, said the researchers.  "It's time we made an investment in implementing what we know," said lead author Graham Colditz, an epidemiologist at the Siteman Cancer Center at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri.  Exercising, eating right and refraining from smoking are key ways to prevent up to half of the 577,000 deaths from cancer in the United States expected this year, a toll that is second only to heart disease, according to the study.
> 
> But a series of obstacles to change are well enshrined in the United States, which will see an estimated 1,638,910 new cancer cases diagnosed this year.  Those hurdles include skepticism that cancer can be prevented and the habit of intervening too late in life to stop or prevent cancer that has already taken root.  Also, much of the research on cancer focuses on treatment instead of prevention, and tends to take a short-term view rather than a long-term approach.  "Humans are impatient, and that human trait itself is an obstacle to cancer prevention," said the study.
> 
> Further complicating those factors are the income gaps between the upper and lower social classes that mean poor people tend to be more exposed to cancer risk factors than the wealthy.  "Pollution and crime, poor public transportation, lack of parks for play and exercise, and absence of nearby supermarkets for fresh food hinder the adoption and sustained practice of a lifestyle that minimizes the risk of cancer and other diseases," said the study.  "As in other countries, social stratification in the United States exacerbates lifestyle differences such as access to health care, especially prevention and early detection services.  "Mammograms, colon screening, diet and nutrition support, smoking cessation resources and sun protection mechanisms are simply less available to the poor."
> 
> More Half of all cancers are preventable: study - Yahoo! News



See also:

*Cancer: 'Book of knowledge' published*
_28 March 2012 - The first volume of a "book of cancer knowledge" has been published, which scientists say will speed up the search for new cancer drugs._


> The "encyclopaedia" details how hundreds of different cancer cells respond to anti-cancer agents.  UK, US and European researchers say the data, published in Nature, is a step towards tailoring cancer medicine to a patient's genetic profile.  A cancer charity said the work would help in testing new cancer drugs.  Cancer cells grown in the laboratory are an essential tool in cancer research.  Hundreds of different cell lines exist, allowing scientists to study the effect of new cancer drugs on the human body.
> 
> Now, a team at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute near Cambridge and various cancer institutes around the world have released two papers cataloguing data on hundreds of cancer cell lines.  The UK team, working with colleagues in the US, Paris and Switzerland, screened more than 600 cancer cell lines with 130 drugs, identifying genetic signatures linked with drug sensitivity.  Already clues are emerging that could be of benefit to patients, including the discovery that a rare bone cancer in children (Ewing's sarcoma) appears to be vulnerable to certain drugs.
> 
> Personalised medicine
> 
> Dr Mathew Garnett of the Sanger Institute is lead researcher on one of the two papers published in the journal Nature.  He told the BBC: "It's bringing together two very large and very powerful data sets and asking which cell line is the most sensitive and what is behind that sensitivity.  "This is the largest study of its kind linking drug response with genetic markers. You need these very large studies to identify small subsets of cells that are sensitive to drugs."  Dr Levi Garraway of The Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Cambridge, US, is a senior member of the research team behind the second paper, which profiled 24 drugs across nearly 500 cell lines.  He told the BBC: "Developing this large cell-line resource with all the associated genetic details is another piece in the pie to get us to our goal of personalised cancer medicine.  "We're trying to get smarter about understanding what the right drug is using the genetic information in each tumour. This is a stepping stone along the way."
> 
> The next step is use the information to help decide on tailored treatments for cancer patients.  This would involve getting a genetic "fingerprint" of their tumour, which could be matched to information in the database. Some cancer drugs are already available for individuals with a certain genetic makeup.  he best known is Herceptin, a breast cancer drug that works in patients with an overactive HER2 gene.  Professor Charles Swanton, based at Cancer Research UK's London Research Institute, said the papers were "an invaluable resource" that provided "extremely useful intelligence" for cancer researchers.  He added: "This new resource will help speed up cancer research and may well begin to guide further developments in personalised cancer medicine."
> 
> http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-17537242


----------



## waltky

Uncle Ferd lets his fat g/f's check him out...

*Self-checking won't spot testicle cancer: doctor*
_28 Mar.`12 - Celebrity appeals for British men to check their testicles to detect early signs of cancer are a waste of time and possibly harmful, an opinion piece published by the British Medical Journal (BMJ) says._


> Singer Robbie Williams and the Leicester Tigers rugby team are among those who have lent their names to a campaign for men to be "testicle aware," just as women are encouraged to look for dangerous lumps in their breasts.  But in a personal view published in Thursday's BMJ, Doctor Keith Hopcroft, a general practitioner in the southeastern county of Essex, lashes the invitation for a man to "grope his gonads or caress his crown jewels" as "well-meaning whimsy, with the potential to do harm."  "There is no good evidence that routine testicular self-examination is of any benefit," he writes.  "The chances of discovering something significant from routine self-examination of the testicles are minuscule. At least 50,000 men would need to examine themselves for 10 years to prevent one death."
> 
> Hopcroft says the "testicle aware" campaign is based on the notion that this form of cancer is a silent killer, with no symptoms of pain.  The campaigners argue men should look for painless swelling that, they say, is a possible sign of cancer.  But, argues Hopcroft, at least half of patients with testicular cancer usually experience pain.  The real question is teaching men to be aware of this symptom and act on it swiftly, rather than "turning the nation's blokes into ball-watching neurotics," he says.  Self-examination may turn up benign swellings such as epididymal cysts that are harmless but may cause the man crippling anxiety, he adds.
> 
> Source


----------



## waltky

Nanomedicine offers new treatment therapy...

*New cancer drug delivery system shows promise*
_4 Apr.`12 - A new method of delivering cancer drugs that could cut down on chemotherapy's side effects and boost the strength of the tumor-fighting medicine has shown promise, US researchers said Wednesday._


> Early phase 1 studies on a small group of humans have shown the therapy, which delivers a potent cancer drug directly to the tumor through a process known as nanomedicine, is safe and shows some effectiveness in shrinking cancers.  The treatment had an effect even when given at doses as low as 20 percent of the typical amount, said the research presented at a science conference in Chicago and published simultaneously in Science Translational Medicine.  In addition, it was shown to concentrate drug activity in the tumor up to 10 times higher than seen in conventional application of the same chemo drug.  "If you try to get that concentration in a conventional form, you will kill the patient," said Omid Farokhzad, a physician-scientist at the Brigham and Women's Hospital and co-senior author of the clinical trial.
> 
> The 17 patients involved in the ongoing phase 1 study all have advanced cancers, according to the results presented at the American Association for Cancer Research's annual meeting.  Six of the patients have shown some response to the drug, with one cervical cancer patient showing a shrinkage of tumors and five showing stabilization of their diseases, which include pancreatic, colorectal, bile duct, tonsillar and anal cancer.  Researchers were pleased with the results because the doses were low, suggesting that one day doctors may find a way around the weakening effects of chemotherapy by targeting medicine at the tumor itself.
> 
> The nanomedicine is called BIND-014, and Farokhzad, who is also an associate professor at Harvard School of Medicine, described it as the "the first of this kind ever to be going into humans for any kind of illnesses."  The nanomedicine was combined with the chemotherapy drug docetaxel (Taxotere), often used against solid tumors found in patients with breast, ovarian, prostate and non-small cell lung cancer.  BIND-014 is made by BIND Biosciences, a biopharmaceutical company in the northeastern state of Massachusetts.
> 
> Study co-author Philip Kantoff, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, said the emerging data "validates the potential for the revolutionary impact of nanomedicines and is a paradigm shift for the treatment of cancer."  More research is needed before scientists can determine if the method is safe for widespread use in the treatment of cancer.
> 
> Source


----------



## laughinReaper

Both my grandfathers,one of my grandmothers,my step mother,and my husbands grandmother all died of cancer. My mother has had breast cancer and skin cancer but they caught it in time. Cancer sucks.


----------



## Jackson

Dabs said:


> *I lost my best friend, my beautiful Mother to that damn disease in November 2005. Lung cancer, yes she smoked. They say there are 5 stages of grief, I sure hope to hell I would get to the final one, because I haven't yet, and truth be told, I doubt I ever will. She and I shared a bond like no other Mother and daughter you would see. Most people were jealous of us, we never fussed, always did things for each other, we were always there for each other. God what I wouldn't give to have my Mother here with me. Mother's days and her birthdays and Christmas are so damn hard. I am her only daughter, and so it was difficult for both of us, when she came home under Hospice care, because we both knew, the end was near.
> Then I lost my Dad, my SF, to cancer in March 2008. Even tho he was so mean to me, I loved him and I forgave him for the many years of abuse. That's one thing about me, I am a very forgiving person. But he suffered terribly and I watched him die. My Mother went peacefully in her sleep, for that I am very thankful.
> Then my Mother's favorite sister, my favorite Aunt, I lost her to cancer in February 2009. She sort of took over the role of my Mother after Mother left me. And she did a great job!
> Also on my Mother's side, I lost my Grandfather to cancer, lung cancer- and my Grandmother to cancer (my Mother's parents) as well as Mother's oldest brother, he also passed away from cancer. And all of them, with the exception of my Aunt, they all passed away at the age of 66. My dear Aunt lived to be 68.
> On my real Dad's side, even tho I didn't know him that well, he died at the age of 54, passed away from liver cancer.
> And like I mentioned earlier, I have had the dreaded C word in my body, had to fight it for awhile, but I'm not about to give in, and so far, I'm doing great~
> But I so loathe cancer, it sickens me.*



Dabs, your story is heartbreaking.  Your suffering is monstrous.  I am so sorry. 

I just lost my best friend to cancer.  It has shaken my faith.  I prayed so hard for her to overcome her illness that I was sure she would make it, but Death took her over like a thief in the night.  It still jars me awake.

My thoughts are with you.


----------



## sparky

My childhood pals son contracted the big C around Xmas time, massive tumor in his chest

at first they told him to go home, here's your O2 tank, but his petite wife stood the doc's down, and had him admitted.

The kid was given this super kemo deal, told he might have a chance if he survived it, but it was a rough go, lungs filled, he was talking to St Peter

meanwhile my pal wasn't taking it well, told his kid wouldn't survive the night

we talked a lot, but he was inconsolable, and went out on his back porch and had the big one

the kid bounced back the next day. he survived another month before the cancer ate him up

i went to two funerals this month, was asked to speak at my pals by his brothers

imho, cancer eats families up 

~S~


----------



## Jackson

sparky said:


> My childhood pals son contracted the big C around Xmas time, massive tumor in his chest
> 
> at first they told him to go home, here's your O2 tank, but his petite wife stood the doc's down, and had him admitted.
> 
> The kid was given this super kemo deal, told he might have a chance if he survived it, but it was a rough go, lungs filled, he was talking to St Peter
> 
> meanwhile my pal wasn't taking it well, told his kid wouldn't survive the night
> 
> we talked a lot, but he was inconsolable, and went out on his back porch and had the big one
> 
> the kid bounced back the next day. he survived another month before the cancer ate him up
> 
> i went to two funerals this month, was asked to speak at my pals by his brothers
> 
> imho, cancer eats families up
> 
> ~S~



Losing loved ones eats families up.  You saw it first hand.


----------



## Emma

I lost a patient last week. The tumor in his throat had been removed and he'd received chemo, but it soon recurred and grew out of control. He came to us with a baseball-sized mass growing out of his throat, compressing his trachea. Part of me wished the tumor would invade an artery, so that he would quickly exsanguinate (even though I knew it would terrify his family to see that happen). Instead, he  suffocated to death over a period of about a week, as the tumor slowly closed off his air supply. All I could do was medicate the shit out of him and pray he wasn't aware of what was happening. But of course at some level, he was. What a hideous way to die. 

I can't fathom how _anyone_ can be opposed to a person's right to choose to end their own life. Physician-assisted suicide is _not_ euthanasia.


----------



## mudwhistle

Dabs said:


> *How close has cancer hit you or someone you love?
> They say 1 out of 3 women will develop some form of cancer, and even tho it's not the number one killer of women (heart disease is), it ranks very high as the killer of men and women.
> It kills more people than obesity. It kills more people than heart attacks/strokes.
> I loathe fucking cancer, it's my only enemy in life........I am surrounded by it on both sides of my family and I have had to deal with it personally, in my own body~
> I wish they would find something to help with this dreaded jackass disease. More and more children are being stricken with some form of cancer.
> Instead of them getting closer to finding a cure, I hear about more and more cases~*



My Dad died from it. 

I don't dwell on it.


----------



## Dabs

mudwhistle said:


> Dabs said:
> 
> 
> 
> *How close has cancer hit you or someone you love?
> They say 1 out of 3 women will develop some form of cancer, and even tho it's not the number one killer of women (heart disease is), it ranks very high as the killer of men and women.
> It kills more people than obesity. It kills more people than heart attacks/strokes.
> I loathe fucking cancer, it's my only enemy in life........I am surrounded by it on both sides of my family and I have had to deal with it personally, in my own body~
> I wish they would find something to help with this dreaded jackass disease. More and more children are being stricken with some form of cancer.
> Instead of them getting closer to finding a cure, I hear about more and more cases~*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My Dad died from it.
> 
> I don't dwell on it.
Click to expand...


I don't dwell on it.
My Mother and I were very close....closer than most Mothers/daughters.
There is a void in my life now that she is gone.......my heart is broken........I try and remember the good times......but that only makes me realize there will be no more good times to be made.
I miss her terribly......it's just the way I am........


----------



## Middleoftheroad

I've lost an uncle to it, and currently my dad has it.  His is a particularly deadly form, glioblastoma, the most aggressive of brain tumors.  His also was not caught early enough and so is not operable.  He is currently going through radiation with hope that the cancer goes into remission in order for it to become operable, but it is unlikely.  From what I have read, in inoperable cases life expectancy is 3-6 months and it has already been 4.  He goes through stages of seizures after which he cannot talk for a day or two and has no memory for the next 3-4 days.


----------



## waltky

Hope for prostate cancer patients...

*New Drug Could Slow Spread of Prostate Cancer*
_April 20, 2012 - In mice, stops disease from spreading to nearby tissues and bone_


> Scientists report they have developed a drug that can prevent prostate cancer from spreading to nearby tissues and bone, increasing the chances of successful treatment.  The experimental compound doesn't cure prostate cancer. It contains the disease so more traditional cancer therapies, such as surgery and radiation, have a chance to work.
> 
> Raymond Bergan is director of experimental therapeutics at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center at Northwestern University in Illinois, where the drug was developed.  Using breast cancer as an analogy, Bergan says it's not the original cancer that's lethal, but its spread or metastasis.  "The relevance of that is life versus death, literally," he says. "If the cancer is localized, it's very treatable, curable. If the cancer has spread throughout the body, it will take her life. We can treat it, but it will take her life."
> 
> The new drug, called KBU2046, is a small molecule that attaches to tumor proteins involved in metastasis and disables them, so they can't travel to distant organs. Bergan says it's like turning off a switch that tells the cells to keep moving all the time.  Bergan and his colleagues transplanted aggressive human prostate cancer cells into mice, and then fed them the drug for five weeks. The compound prevented metastasis of the cancer to the lungs, a frequent site of tumor spread in men with prostate cancer.
> 
> Toxicity studies showed the compound is safe. Unlike other cancer therapies, which can cause significant side effects, investigators say the experimental drug spares healthy cells, causing minimal side effects.  Bergan is confident that KBU2046 will work to contain other cancers as well.  "We don't think it's specific to prostate cancer. We've done some early tests with other cancer cells in the laboratory and it appears to stop them from moving."  Bergan stresses that drugs developed using animal models don't always work in humans, and he's looking forward to trials involving cancer patients.
> 
> Source


----------



## Mr. H.

Lil' sis recently had biopsies taken from her thyroid. 
Prognosis is most likey cancer. Will no more this week. 
It'll be taken out but the big if - has it spread. 
Film at 11.


----------



## waltky

Dat's why Granny gets her vaccinations...

*Infection causes one in six new cancer cases: study*
_8 May,`12 - Largely preventable or treatable infections with viruses, bacteria and parasites cause about two million new cancer cases and 1.5 million cancer deaths each year, said a study published Wednesday._


> This amounted to about one in six of the 12.7 million new cancer cases reported in 2008, said the report in The Lancet Oncology journal.  "Application of existing public health methods for infection prevention, such as vaccination, safer injection practice or antimicrobial treatments, could have a substantial effect on the future burden of cancer worldwide," said the report by the International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon, France.
> 
> Four infections, hepatitis B and C, human papillomavirus (HPV) and the Helicobacter pylori stomach bacteria, accounted for the bulk of the cases, some 1.9 million -- mostly gastric, liver and cervical cancers.  Infection-related cancers accounted for 3.3 percent of new cases in Australia and New Zealand, but 32.7 percent in sub-Saharan Africa, said the report, based on a study of 27 cancer types in 184 countries.
> 
> Cervical cancer accounted for half the infection-related cancers in women, and liver and gastric cancers for 80 percent of cases in men.  "Around 30 percent of infection-attributable cases occur in people younger than 50 years," said the report.
> 
> Sourec


----------



## waltky

Using stem cells to provide a 'shield' for cancer patients...

*Stem cell shield 'could protect cancer patients'*
_9 May 2012 - The trial is being conducted on patients with brain cancer_


> It may be possible to use "stem cell shielding" to protect the body from the damaging effects of chemotherapy, early results from a US trial suggest.  Chemotherapy drugs try to kill rapidly dividing cancer cells, but they can also affect other healthy tissues such as bone marrow.  A study, in Science Translational Medicine, used genetically modified stem cells to protect the bone marrow.  Cancer Research UK said it was a "completely new approach".
> 
> The body constantly churns out new blood cells in the hollow spaces inside bone. However, bone marrow is incredibly susceptible to chemotherapy.  The treatment results in fewer white blood cells being produced, which increases the risk of infection, and fewer red blood cells, which leads to shortness of breath and tiredness.  Researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, in Seattle, said these effects were "a major barrier" to using chemotherapy and often meant the treatment had to be stopped, delayed or reduced.
> 
> 'Protective shields'
> 
> They have tried to protect the bone marrow in three patients with a type of brain cancer, glioblastoma.  One of the researchers, Dr Jennifer Adair, said: "This therapy is analogous to firing at both tumour cells and bone marrow cells, but giving the bone marrow cells protective shields while the tumour cells are unshielded."  Bone marrow was taken from the patients and stem cells, which produce blood, were isolated. A virus was then used to infect the cells with a gene which protected the cells against a chemotherapy drug. The cells were then put back into the patient.  The lead author of the report, Prof Hans-Peter Kiem, said: "We found that patients were able to tolerate the chemotherapy better, and without negative side effects, after transplantation of the gene-modified stem cells than patients in previous studies who received the same type of chemotherapy without a transplant of gene-modified stem cells."
> 
> The researchers said the three patients had all lived longer than the average survival time of 12 months for the cancer. They said one patient was still alive 34 months after treatment.  Cancer Research UK scientist Prof Susan Short said: "This is a very interesting study and a completely new approach to protecting normal cells during cancer treatment.  "It needs to be tested in more patients but it may mean that we can use temozolomide [a chemotherapy drug] for more brain tumour patients than we previously thought.  "This approach could also be a model for other situations where the bone marrow is affected by cancer treatment."
> 
> BBC News - Stem cell shield 'could protect cancer patients'


----------



## waltky

Granny says, "Another sign Jesus is comin' soon - we ain't s`posed to live forever...

*Immune boosters show promise against cancer: study*
_2 June`12 - A pair of experimental treatments that fight cancer by boosting the immune system have shown promise in early studies and deserve testing in larger patient groups, said US research released Saturday._


> The drugs, both made by Bristol-Myers Squibb, work by breaking down the shield that protects tumor cells. Rather than try to kill the cancer directly, they allow the immune system to do its work against the invading cells.  In the trials which included just over 500 people, as many as one in four patients with non-small cell lung cancer, melanoma and kidney cancer, who had not responded to standard therapies, saw significant shrinkage of their tumors.  Results of the phase 1 clinical trials were published in the New England Journal of Medicine and released at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting in Chicago.  The drugs are known as BMS-936558, which blocks a protein PD-1 on the surface of immune cells; and BMS-936559, which blocks a protein PD-L1 expressed on cancer cells.
> 
> They are in the same class of treatments as other antibody therapies against cancer including Erbitux, Herceptin, and Rituxan.  "We have just scratched the surface of laboratory and clinical research on these drugs," said lead author of the PD-1 study, Suzanne Topalian, professor of surgery and oncology at Johns Hopkins University.  "Based on the positive response rates to these drugs and longevity of many of these responses, we believe that new clinical trials should move forward."  Among the 296 patients who tested in the PD-1 blocking drug, 18 percent of non-small cell lung cancer patients saw significant tumor shrinkage, as did 28 percent of melanoma patients and 27 percent of kidney cancer patients.
> 
> A small number of patients, five to nine percent, saw their disease remain stable for six months or more, though more study is needed to determine the treatment's impact on survival, the researchers said.  "This level of response in patients with advanced lung cancer, which is typically not responsive to immune-based therapies, was unexpected and notable," said lead researcher on the PD-L1 study Julie Brahmer, associate professor of oncology at Johns Hopkins University.  Among the 207 patients treated with the anti-PD-L1 therapy, 10 percent of non-small cell lung cancer patients, 17 percent of melanoma patients, and 12 percent of kidney cancer patients showed positive responses.  "The positive results from both drugs give us a good indication that the PD-L1/PD-1 pathway is an important target for cancer therapy," said Topalian.  Early analysis showed that among those who responded to the therapy, those responses were maintained for more than a year in half to two-thirds of of patients.  However, the treatments also caused serious toxic effects in 14 percent of patients, including three deaths from lung inflammation, or pneumonitis.
> 
> Other significant side effects were colon inflammation and thyroid abnormalities. Some people reported fatigue, itching and rash.  "A major limitation of the various approaches to turning on an immune response to cancer is that the immune system exerts a major effort to avoid immune overactivation, which could harm healthy tissues," said an accompanying editorial by doctor Antoni Ribas in the New England Journal of Medicine.  However, Ribas, a melanoma expert at the University of California Los Angeles, pointed out that the treatments may help extend the duration of tumor suppression and could open new doors in personalized treatment.  The research "predicts that these antibodies unleash a memory immune response to cancer," he wrote, adding the approach "may well have a major effect on cancer treatment."  The study authors said the therapies might be most useful if combined with other anti-cancer agents, including cancer vaccines.
> 
> Source


----------



## JakeStarkey

Cancer is . . . awful: my mom, my first wife, my eldest daughter, my great uncle, my cousin, and so on.


----------



## waltky

Be sparing with the CT scans for kids...

*CT scans in childhood increase cancer risk: study*
_6 June`12 - Children exposed to multiple CT scans could be up to three times likelier to contract cancer of the blood, brain or bone marrow later in life, according to research published Thursday._


> Writing in The Lancet medical journal, a team of scientists in Canada, Britain and the United States said the cancer risk, in absolute terms, appears to be small.  But they appealed for radiation doses from CT scans to be kept at a minimum and for alternatives to be used where appropriate.  The researchers claimed their study was the first to provide direct evidence of a link between exposure from CT radiation in childhood and later cancer risk.  "Of utmost importance is that where CT is used, it is only used where fully justified from a clinical perspective," said lead author Mark Pearce of Newcastle University's Institute of Health and Society.
> 
> As a vital diagnostic technique, use of the CT scan has increased rapidly in the past 10 years, particularly in the United States, the researchers said.  "However, potential cancer risks exist due to the ionising radiation used in CT scans, especially in children who are more radiosensitive than adults."  Computerized tomography -- commonly known as CT -- is an X-ray technique that produces images of the body's internal structures in cross sections.  The researchers studied nearly 180,000 people who underwent a CT scan as children or young adults (under 22) in Britain between 1985 and 2002.
> 
> Of these, 74 were subsequently diagnosed with leukaemia and 135 with brain cancer according to data for the period 1985 to 2008.  The team calculated that compared to patients who received a radiation dose of less than five milli-Grays (mGy), those who were given a cumulative dose of 30 mGy had about three times the risk of developing leukaemia (cancer of the blood or marrow) later in life.  Those who received 50 to 74 mGy had thrice the risk of brain tumours.  The study did not compare children who had been scanned against those who had not been scanned.
> 
> MORE


----------



## waltky

Finding the source of cervical cancer offers hope to prevent and treat it...

*Researchers find origin cells for cervical cancer*
_11 June`12 - Researchers have found the cells at the origin of cervical cancer, in a discovery that could offer new ways to prevent and treat the disease, according to a US-published study on Monday._


> Most cases of cervical cancer are known to be caused by specific strains of human papillomavirus, but now researchers know the specific group of cells that HPV targets, said the study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.  Moreover, when they are removed from the cervix they do not appear to regenerate, said the study by scientists at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School and the Agency for Science Technology and Research (A-STAR) in Singapore.  The cells can become cancerous when infected with HPV while other cells in the cervix often do not, said senior author Christopher Crum, director of women's and perinatal pathology at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Massachusetts.  They also have a particular gene expression that is the same as found in aggressive cervical tumors, which could allow doctors to differentiate benign lesions from dangerous pre-cancers.
> 
> "We have discovered a discrete population of cells that are located in a specific area of the cervix that could be responsible for most, if not all, of HPV-associated cervical cancers," said Crum, who was joined by researchers Wa Xian from A-STAR and Frank McKeon of Harvard Medical School. Michael Herfs, a postdoctoral fellow at Brigham and Women's, was the lead author.  The cells are located near the opening of the cervix, in a transition area between the uterus and the vagina known as the squamo-columnar junction.  The findings build on the group's previous research that identified the origin of a rare and sometimes cancerous change in certain cells in the esophagus, at a junction between the tube that carries food through the throat and the stomach.
> 
> A similar population of cells has been found to reside in the cervix, Crum said. They are the remnants of a process known as embryogenesis, which is the process of cell division and growth that we all undergo in the process of growing from embryo to fetus.  "There is a population of cells in the cervix that during fetal life disappears and is replaced by another type. We found out that a small number of these cells are actually not lost and they remained there, almost like little sentinels from a prior age," Crum told AFP.  "It appears that that particular group of remaining embryonic cells at the squamo-columnar junction is the population that you must infect, at least in the great majority of cases, to produce the significant cancers and precancers," he added.  "During reproductive life they undergo changes, or metaplasia, when they become other cell types, so they are kind of like stem cells."
> 
> Knowing the biology of these cells and where they reside could help physicians both clarify which cervical precancers (dysplasias) need treatment and also possibly prevent cancer altogether by destroying the cells in advance.  Further study may shed light on whether similar populations of cells reside in other areas of the body known to be affected by HPV-related cancers, such as the penis, vulva, anus and the throat.  HPV types 16 and 18 are believed to be responsible for about 70 percent of all cases of cervical cancer in the world, according to the World Health Organization.  While regular screening has drastically cut down on death rates in the West, cervical cancer continues to be a major killer of women in the developing world, and ranks as the third most common cancer among women globally.  The WHO estimates nearly 530,000 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer annually worldwide and 275,000 die from the disease.
> 
> Researchers find origin cells for cervical cancer - Yahoo! News


----------



## Mad Scientist

Dabs said:


> *How close has cancer hit you or someone you love?
> They say 1 out of 3 women will develop some form of cancer, and even tho it's not the number one killer of women (heart disease is), it ranks very high as the killer of men and women.
> It kills more people than obesity. It kills more people than heart attacks/strokes.
> I loathe fucking cancer, it's my only enemy in life........I am surrounded by it on both sides of my family and I have had to deal with it personally, in my own body~
> I wish they would find something to help with this dreaded jackass disease. More and more children are being stricken with some form of cancer.
> Instead of them getting closer to finding a cure, I hear about more and more cases~*


More cancer since the FDA Food Pyramid was implemented. Wanna' greatly diminish cancer in our lifetimes? Stop eating the *S*tandard *A*merican *D*iet. (SAD) 

Take vitamin supplementation, preferably megadoses. Stop drinking High Fructose Corn Syrup drinks. Stop eating Fast Food.

And stop taking vaccines. Yes, *stop* taking vaccines. Do you ever read the inserts that come with them?


----------



## Borillar

Dabs said:


> *How close has cancer hit you or someone you love?
> They say 1 out of 3 women will develop some form of cancer, and even tho it's not the number one killer of women (heart disease is), it ranks very high as the killer of men and women.
> It kills more people than obesity. It kills more people than heart attacks/strokes.
> I loathe fucking cancer, it's my only enemy in life........I am surrounded by it on both sides of my family and I have had to deal with it personally, in my own body~
> I wish they would find something to help with this dreaded jackass disease. More and more children are being stricken with some form of cancer.
> Instead of them getting closer to finding a cure, I hear about more and more cases~*



My mother died of a cancerous brain tumor when I was 9. My wife is a cancer survivor. I was just diagnosed with early stage prostate cancer and am now deciding on treatment options.


----------



## Shogun

I was going to go have my gall bladder taken out today.  Turns out, today was cancelled because they've found pre-cancer cells taken from a polyp and I will also have to have a portion of my stomach removed.

FUN DAY TODAY, lemme tellya.


----------



## waltky

Shogun - hope this encourages ya...

*Number of US cancer survivors to surge: study*
_14 June - The number of people in the United States who have survived cancer is set to reach nearly 18 million in the next decade, up from 13.7 million currently, said a US study out Thursday._


> The number of survivors is growing because of better treatments and an ageing and expanding population, even as the overall rate of cancer is falling, it said.  The research appears in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, and was compiled by the American Cancer Society and the National Cancer Institute.  Nearly half of US cancer survivors are 70 or older, and 64 percent were diagnosed five or more years ago, said the report.
> 
> The median, or midpoint age for patients at the time of diagnosis was 66.  Young cancer survivors were more rare -- only five percent of the US population that had beat cancer was younger than 40.  "There are 58,510 survivors of childhood cancer living in the United States, and an additional 12,060 children will be diagnosed in 2012," said the study.
> 
> The most common cancers among women in 2012 were breast (41 percent), uterine (eight percent), and colorectal (eight percent).  Among men, the most common were are prostate cancer (43 percent), colorectal cancer (nine percent), and melanoma (seven percent).  In the United States, there will be an estimated 1.6 million new cases of cancer in 2012 and 577,000 deaths, according to projections by the American Cancer Society.
> 
> Number of US cancer survivors to surge: study - Yahoo! News


----------



## hjmick

Dabs said:


> *How close has cancer hit you or someone you love?*



Too fucking close.


----------



## waltky

Cancer stem cells?...

*Stem cells blamed for cancer re-growth*
_1 Aug.`12 - Researchers presented evidence Wednesday for the existence of cancer stem cells, with three different studies seeking to end a decades-old scientific dispute about how tumours grow._


> The discovery should lead to new drugs targeting stem cells that cause tumours to reappear after cancer therapy, the teams argued in three scientific papers published simultaneously in the journals Nature and Science.  "The hypothesis (that cancer stem cells exist) has been around now for some time. Hopefully these three papers now make an end to the discussion," Dutch researcher Hugo Snippert told AFP.  All the studies were conducted on lab mice.  Some experts have maintained that tumours are comprised of masses of cancer cells that are all the same, and all dividing.
> 
> But Snippert said the latest papers clearly show a hierarchy of cells in tumours, with different functions -- including stem cells that act as cancer cell factories.  Stem cells are infant cells that develop into specialised tissues of the body, touted by medicine as a future source from which to replenish damaged tissue.  In the case of intestinal cancer, a healthy stem cell mutates to create a "cell of origin" from which a tumour grows, said Snippert. The tumour contains stem cells which then create new cancer cells.  Cancer stem cells must now be targeted for drug research, argued Snippert, a member of the University Medical Center Utrecht research team which focused on intestinal cancer and published its findings in Science.  "Since the cancer stem cells are so similar to normal stem cells, most treatments also harm the normal stem cells," he said.  "That is why it is important now to have a look at cancer stem cells, comparing them to normal stem cells to find the differences."
> 
> Focusing on incurable brain tumours, a US-based research team said they had found a subset of cells that appear to be the source of new tumour growth after chemotherapy.  "This study serves as a proof of principle that in at least some solid tumours functional cancer stem cells exist," researcher Luis Parada of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center told AFP.  Also writing in Nature, a separate team in Belgium and the UK found a sub-population of tumour cells with stem-like properties in skin cancer.  "Taken together these reports provide evidence that point towards the existence of cells that may represent cancer stem cells," said a Nature press statement.  Snippert said the latest technology has allowed the scientists to examine tumour cancer growth in as natural a state as possible, unlike earlier studies that involved tumour transplants in lab mice.  The Dutch team was able to breed special mice in which different tumour cells displayed different colours which could then be studied under a microscope.
> 
> Say the tumour cells were red and the stem cell blue, the scientists could follow the stem cell's progeny as they spread in the tumour.  "Because of the colours we could visualise everything within one and the same tumour in its original mouse at the original position where the tumour was formed," Snippert said.  "It is more natural... as it would behave normally in patients."  The three teams studied different organs using somewhat different techniques, but all with technology that allowed them to let the tumours grow undisturbed, said Snippert.  "Better understanding of the cancer stem cells will be critical for re-evaluation of existing therapies and development of new ones," added Parada.
> 
> Stem cells blamed for cancer re-growth - Yahoo! News


----------



## waltky

An aspirin a day helps keep the oncologist away...

*Daily aspirin cuts cancer death in seniors*
_Aug. 11,`12 (UPI) -- A study involving more than 100,000 predominantly elderly participants found daily aspirin use lowered cancer mortality, U.S. researchers say._


> The study, published online in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, pooled results from existing randomized trials of daily aspirin for prevention of vascular events and found daily aspirin use was associated with an estimated 16 percent lower overall risk of cancer mortality.
> 
> Study leader Eric J. Jacobs of the American Cancer Society and colleagues analyzed data from 100,139 U.S. adults age 60 and older -- mainly white -- who were tracked for up to 11 years.  The reduction in cancer mortality observed in the current study was considerably smaller than the 37 percent reduction reported in a recent pooled analysis of randomized trials, Jacobs said.
> 
> Jacobs and colleagues said their study was observational, not randomized, and therefore could have underestimated or overestimated potential effects on cancer mortality if participants who took aspirin daily had different underlying risk factors for fatal cancer than those who did not.
> 
> However, the study's large size is a strength in determining the extent aspirin use might lower cancer mortality, Jacobs said.  "Although recent evidence about aspirin use and cancer is encouraging, it is still premature to recommend people start taking aspirin specifically to prevent cancer," Jacobs said in a statement. "Any decision about daily aspirin use should be made only in consultation with a healthcare professional."
> 
> Read more: Daily aspirin cuts cancer death in seniors - UPI.com


----------



## waltky

New test for Galectin-3 protein...

*New Test Identifies Disease-Promoting Protein*
_ August 24, 2012 : Strong scientific evidence suggests high levels of a protein in the body may increase the risk of heart attack, cancer and other diseases.  U.S. regulators have approved a test for the protein that could be useful in determining the risk of these diseases and their prognosis._


> Galectin-3 is a molecule normally found in small amounts in cells, tissues and circulating blood.  It works with the immune system to promote tissue repair, but too much of the protein can cause harmful inflammation that is involved in heart disease, cancer and kidney disease.  U.S. regulators have approved a blood test to check for elevated blood levels of galectin-3.  It has only been approved for heart failure.  But Isaac Eliaz, who supplements his medical training with alternative therapies, predicts the galectin-3 test will soon be used by doctors as frequently as a routine test that checks for levels of c-reactive protein, a marker for inflammation.
> 
> Eliaz believes the galectin-3 test will warn physicians of serious health problems brewing in their patients years before they develop.  You can see galectin-3 [levels] high in patients who are completely healthy, but you know that it is a time bomb," said Eliaz.  "And if you watch them for a few years, if you do not take care of them, they will start showing up with rising with c-reactive protein and serious illnesses.
> 
> Studies have shown that galectin-3 can promote cancer development and growth by helping cancerous cells create colonies or tumors.  The protein, Eliaz explains, leads to angiogenesis, the formation of new blood vessels that feed the original cancer colony and allow it to spread.  But there is a compound that can block the effects of galectin-3 and improve treatment of cancer and other chronic diseases, according to Eliaz.  It is the tough pulp inside orange rinds and other citrus fruit called citrus pectin.
> 
> While the pectin molecules are too large to be absorbed by the body and are normally eliminated through the digestive tract, Eliaz says a modified form of the pectin can be absorbed, limiting the harmful effects of galectin-3.    So if you can block galectin-3, you are taking away this inflammatory marker," Eliaz noted.  "If you can prevent the scarring of the tissue, you are preventing aging, definitely.  He says, if taken as part of a healthy lifestyle, the modified pectin will help prevent many diseases of aging, as well as cancer and heart disease, and improve cancer treatment.  Modified pectin is available as a supplement at health food stores.  Isaac Eliazs comments were made at the American Chemical Society meeting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
> 
> Source


----------



## mudwhistle

Dabs said:


> *How close has cancer hit you or someone you love?
> They say 1 out of 3 women will develop some form of cancer, and even tho it's not the number one killer of women (heart disease is), it ranks very high as the killer of men and women.
> It kills more people than obesity. It kills more people than heart attacks/strokes.
> I loathe fucking cancer, it's my only enemy in life........I am surrounded by it on both sides of my family and I have had to deal with it personally, in my own body~
> I wish they would find something to help with this dreaded jackass disease. More and more children are being stricken with some form of cancer.
> Instead of them getting closer to finding a cure, I hear about more and more cases~*



Killed my Dad and my Grandfather.


----------



## niklas

This disease are common in this world and this disease are effect on any side of body leg,neck.brain,chest but i want to share some fighter food  these food are good effect at cancer.Fish,folate, Sugary Soda,Meat.


----------



## William Joyce

Cousin, breast cancer.

Mother-in-law, uterine cancer.

Maternal grandfather, bladder cancer.

Paternal grandfather, bone cancer.

But according to my mom, the heart's the real problem in the fam...


----------



## waltky

Mebbe dey could use it to kill rats...

*Rat study links GM corn, cancer*
_Sept 19, 2012 - France&#8217;s government on Wednesday asked a health watchdog to carry out a probe, possibly leading to EU suspension of a genetically-modified corn, after a study in rats linked the grain to cancer._


> Agriculture Minister Stephane Le Foll, Ecology Minister Delphine Batho and Health and Social Affairs Minister Marisol Touraine said they had asked the National Agency for Health Safety (ANSES) to investigate the finding.  &#8220;Depending on ANSES&#8217; opinion, the government will urge the European authorities to take all necessary measures to protect human and animal health,&#8221; they said in a joint statement.  &#8220;(The measures) could go as far as invoking emergency suspension of imports of NK603 corn to Europe pending a re-examination of this product on the basis of enhanced assessment methods.&#8221;Preview
> 
> Earlier, French scientists led by Gilles-Eric Seralini at the University of Caen in Normandy unveiled a study that said rats fed with NK603 corn or exposed to the weedkiller used with it developed tumours.  NK603 is a corn, also called maize, made by US agribusiness giant Monsanto.  It has been engineered to make it resistant to Monsanto&#8217;s herbicide Roundup.  This enables farmers to douse fields with the weedkiller in a single go, thus offering substantial savings.  Genetically modified (GM) crops are widely grown in North America, Brazil and China but are a hot-button issue in Europe.
> 
> The study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Food and Chemical Toxicology, says it is the first to look at rats over their normal lifespan of two years.  &#8220;For the first time ever, a GM organism and a herbicide have been evaluated for their long-term impact on health, and more thoroughly than by governments or the industry,&#8221; Seralini told AFP. &#8220;The results are alarming.&#8221;  Two hundred male and female rats were split into 10 groups of 10 animals.  One was a &#8220;control&#8221; group which was given ordinary rat food that contained 33 percent non-GM corn, and plain water.  Three groups were given ordinary rat food and water with increasing doses of Roundup, reflecting various concentrations of the herbicide in the food chain.
> 
> The other six were fed rat food of which 11, 22 or 33 percent comprised NK603 corn, either treated or not with Roundup when the corn was grown.  The researchers found that NK603 and Roundup both caused similar damage to the rats&#8217; health, whether they were consumed together or on their own.  Premature deaths and sickness were concentrated especially among females.  At the 14-month stage of experiment, no animals in the control groups showed any signs of cancer, but among females in the &#8220;treated&#8221; groups, tumours affected between 10 and 30 percent of the rodents.  &#8220;By the beginning of the 24th month, 50-80 percent of female animals had developed tumours in all treated groups, with up to three tumours per animal, whereas only 30 percent of controls were affected,&#8221; it said.  Males which fell sick suffered liver damage, developed kidney and skin tumours and digestive problems.
> 
> More France orders probe after rat study links GM corn, cancer



See also:

*$3 billion shot at common cancers*
_Friday, September 21, 2012 - 'The only way we're going to make dramatic progress is a large-scale concerted effort'_


> The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center on Friday will announce an ambitious initiative to dramatically reduce the death rates of eight common and difficult cancers.  The $3 billion effort, dubbed the Moon Shots Program, will bring together large teams of researchers and clinicians to mount attacks in the next decade on cancers that annually account for nearly 750,000 cases and more than 260,000 deaths. Those figures represent nearly half of the nation's totals in both categories.
> 
> "The Moon Shots Program signals our confidence that the path to curing cancer is in clearer sight than at any previous time in history," M.D. Anderson President Dr. Ronald DePinho said in a statement. "Thanks to what we've learned over the past decade, we now have many of the tools we need."  The initiative sounds like the sort of effort that might come from the White House or National Cancer Institute. But DePinho said M.D. Anderson's 19,000 employees, 100,000 patients and 10 million diagnostic procedures a year make it a logical place to undertake such an enterprise.
> 
> The targets are lung, prostate and ovarian cancer, a particularly aggressive type of breast cancer, melanoma, two common types of leukemia and another blood cancer - all diseases for which there is little treatment, newfound molecular understanding and considerable M.D. Anderson expertise. They were selected by committees of internal and external reviewers after a year of discussions.  The program is the follow-up to a pledge DePinho made in his inaugural speech to faculty and staff last year, soon after he was selected as M.D. Anderson's fourth president. In that speech, DePinho said he wanted M.D. Anderson to develop "a bold and ambitious plan for curing several cancers." Press materials for the initiative, however, shy away from that bold a promise.
> 
> But the initiative is likely to raise big hopes.  Its Moon Shots title is a nod to President John F. Kennedy's famous speech at Rice University 50 years ago declaring the United States would "go to the moon in this decade." It also recalls President Richard Nixon's 1971 remark, upon signing the National Cancer Act, that "the time has come in America when the same kind of concentrated effort that split the atom and took man to the moon should be turned toward conquering this dread disease."
> 
> *'A marathon'*


----------



## waltky

Chemotherapy bath for liver cancer...

*First liver cancer 'chemo-bath' in the UK*
_11 November 2012 : Chemotherapy affects the whole body and can cause side effects_


> A "chemo-bath" which delivers toxic cancer drugs to just one organ in the body has been used on patients in the UK for the first time, say doctors.  Chemotherapy drugs kill rapidly growing cells such as cancers, but they also attack healthy parts of the body.  Doctors at Southampton General Hospital believe targeting just one organ can prevent side effects.  They also say it means they can give higher doses without causing damage to the patient.  Chemotherapy drugs are normally injected into the veins of patients. However, the whole body, rather than just the tumour, is exposed. It results in side effects such as fatigue, feeling sick, hair loss and damage to fertility.
> 
> Targeted
> 
> Two patients in the UK have now received chemotherapy focused on just their liver. Both had a rare eye cancer which had spread to the liver.  The operation works by inflating balloons inside blood vessels on either side of the liver to isolate it from the rest of the body.  The liver is then pumped full of chemotherapy drugs, which are filtered out before the liver is reconnected to the main blood supply.  It means only a tiny fraction of the chemotherapy dose ends up in the body.
> 
> Dr Brian Stedman, a consultant interventional radiologist, said: "To cut off an organ from the body for 60 minutes, soak it in a high dose of drug and then filter the blood almost completely clean before returning is truly groundbreaking.  "Previously, the outlook for patients specifically suffering from cancer which has spread to the liver has been poor because standard chemotherapy's effect is limited by the unwanted damage the drug causes to the rest of the body."  The surgery took place in the past three months and both patients are said to be doing well and their tumours "all look smaller", he said.
> 
> Dr Stedman told the BBC: "In 20 years' time the idea of injecting a drug which poisons the whole body for a cancer in just one small area will seem bonkers."  He suggested that any organ which could be easily separated from the blood supply, such as the kidney, pancreas and lungs, would be suitable for this kind of approach.  However, he said the method was "in its infancy" and he was "not sure this is the finished product or the end of the story".  The technique is also being tested in the US and elsewhere in Europe.
> 
> BBC News - First liver cancer 'chemo-bath' in the UK


----------



## waltky

Using gene mapping in the fight against cancer...

*DNA mapping for cancer patients*
_10 December 2012 - The human genome contains three billion pairs of code_


> Up to 100,000 patients with cancer and rare diseases in England are to have their entire genetic code sequenced.  The Prime Minister will announce £100m has been set aside for the project over the next three to five years.  The aim is to give doctors a better understanding of patients' genetic make-up, condition and treatment needs, and help develop new cancer treatments.  One human genome contains three billion base pairs - the building blocks of DNA.
> 
> Sequencing the code produces a huge amount of data. Although the price is falling fast, it currently costs £5,000 to £10,000 - which explains why no country in the world has embarked on mass DNA mapping on this scale.  When it will start - who will do the genome sequencing and analysis - has not been worked out - nor which patients will be eligible for the voluntary testing.  But the hope is by comparing genetic profiles of huge numbers of patients, it will allow scientists to understand why some do far better than others - and help in the quest for new treatments.
> 
> Privacy campaigners are concern such a move could allow personal data to be passed on to private companies, such as insurance companies.  But ministers insist the project is for medical research alone.  For existing patients, DNA mapping may lead to better targeting of medicines.  The power of this type of genetic analysis was demonstrated earlier this year when a study of 2,000 breast cancers showed the cancer should be thought of as 10 completely separate diseases.
> 
> *Personalised therapies*


----------



## waltky

Stopping cancer from metastasizing...

*Researchers Discover Key to Cancer's Spread*
_ January 31, 2013 - If cancer cells did not metastasize, says Georgia State University's Dr. Zhi-Ren Liu, many tumors would not be deadly._


> Usually in many cases, it does not interfere with normal function," says the Atlanta-based biology professor. "But if you have metastasis, it interferes with multi-organ function and that kills a patient.  Liu and co-researcher Jenny Yang, a Georgia State biochemist, have discovered they can stop cancers from spreading by disrupting the interaction of two proteins within cells.
> 
> Proteins, which act as switches to activate or stop cellular activities  including migration, or metastasis, around the body  are necessary for healing and immune response. But when cancer cells metastasize, the disease can become deadly.  The researchers found that two proteins in particular  p68 and calcium-calmodulin  appear to promote cell migration when interacting. By engineering a peptide that keeps them apart, Yang and Liu discovered they can significantly reduce or prevent the spread of cancerous cells.
> 
> According to Liu, their peptide reduced metastasis from primary tumors by 90 percent in mice infected with aggressive human colon and breast cancers.  The tumor size is much, much smaller," says Liu. "In several cases, we did not see any metastasis at all by the treatment.
> 
> The two Georgia State researchers plan to develop a drug that interferes with the binding of p68 and calmodulin, and look forward to eventually conducting clinical trials with human cancer patients.  Liu and Yangs discovery of the role of the two proteins in cancer metastasis was published in Nature Communications, Vol. 4, Article number: 1354, on January 15.
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## waltky

Many cancer patients left to fend for themselves thanks to health care...

*Many cancer patients are struggling alone, charity says*
_10 February 2013 - One in four patients surveyed lacked support_


> Thousands of cancer patients struggle to manage their treatment and recovery because they get no support from family or friends, a charity has said.  A survey by Macmillan Cancer Support suggests one in four newly-diagnosed patients lacks support.  It equates to about 70,000 people in the UK struggling to look after themselves with no help.  The research also found more than half of doctors have had patients refuse treatment because of a lack of support.  About 325,000 patients are diagnosed with cancer every year in the UK.
> 
> A survey of almost 1,800 patients found that people lacked support because family and friends lived too far away, had other commitments, or patients simply had no-one to turn to.  Of those questioned, 12% said they had not had a visit from family or friends in more than six months.  Half of those who said they were isolated had skipped meals or not eaten properly due to lack of help.  And more than a quarter had been unable to wash themselves properly, while 60% had not been able to do household chores.
> 
> Missed appointments
> 
> Isolation had also had an impact on treatment itself with one in 10 missing medical appointments and 18% unable to pick up prescriptions.  Most health professionals questioned in a separate survey agreed that lack of support at home led to a poorer quality of life for patients and half believed it could even cut patients' life expectancy.  Macmillan Cancer Support has launched a report calling on health professionals to ask patients about the support they have and direct them to other sources of help.
> 
> Chief executive Ciaran Devane says isolation can have a truly shattering impact on people living with cancer.  "Patients are going hungry, missing medical appointments and even deciding to reject treatment altogether which could be putting their lives at risk  all because of a lack of support.  "But these figures are just the tip of the iceberg.  "As the number of people living with cancer is set to double from two to four million by 2030, isolation will become an increasing problem and we need to address this now."
> 
> Lis Blyth, 66, from Surrey, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008.  She said living alone and having no energy during her treatment meant she lived on ready-made meals.  "There were days when I went to bed having had nothing more than a glass of milk and a biscuit because I was too exhausted to cook.  "That was four years ago, but even now, due to the long-term side effects of the treatment, I'm often still too exhausted to get on a bus and shop for food."  She added that after her initial diagnosis, none of the hospital staff she came into contact with asked how she was or if she could support herself at home.
> 
> Martin Ledwick, Cancer Research UK's head information nurse, said: "Health professionals should always check about an individual patient's social circumstances.  "But it's important they're prepared with lists of support groups and other available resources so they can recommend these to a patient who appears to be socially isolated."
> 
> BBC News - Many cancer patients are struggling alone, charity says


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## waltky

Monitoring kidney tumors vs. surgery...

*Study questions kidney cancer treatment in elderly*
_Feb 12,`13 - In a stunning example of when treatment might be worse than the disease, a large review of Medicare records finds that older people with small kidney tumors were much less likely to die over the next five years if doctors monitored them instead of operating right away._


> Even though nearly all of these tumors turned out to be cancer, they rarely proved fatal. And surgery roughly doubled patients' risk of developing heart problems or dying of other causes, doctors found.  After five years, 24 percent of those who had surgery had died, compared to only 13 percent of those who chose monitoring. Just 3 percent of people in each group died of kidney cancer.  The study only involved people 66 and older, but half of all kidney cancers occur in this age group. Younger people with longer life expectancies should still be offered surgery, doctors stressed.
> 
> The study also was observational - not an experiment where some people were given surgery and others were monitored, so it cannot prove which approach is best. Yet it offers a real-world look at how more than 7,000 Medicare patients with kidney tumors fared. Surgery is the standard treatment now.  "I think it should change care" and that older patients should be told "that they don't necessarily need to have the kidney tumor removed," said Dr. William Huang of New York University Langone Medical Center. "If the treatment doesn't improve cancer outcomes, then we should consider leaving them alone."  He led the study and will give results at a medical meeting in Orlando, Fla., later this week. The research was discussed Tuesday in a telephone news conference sponsored by the American Society of Clinical Oncology and two other cancer groups.
> 
> In the United States, about 65,000 new cases of kidney cancer and 13,700 deaths from the disease are expected this year. Two-thirds of cases are diagnosed at the local stage, when five-year survival is more than 90 percent.  However, most kidney tumors these days are found not because they cause symptoms, but are spotted by accident when people are having an X-ray or other imaging test for something else, like back trouble or chest pain.  Cancer experts increasingly question the need to treat certain slow-growing cancers that are not causing symptoms - prostate cancer in particular. Researchers wanted to know how life-threatening small kidney tumors were, especially in older people most likely to suffer complications from surgery.
> 
> They used federal cancer registries and Medicare records from 2000 to 2007 to find 8,317 people 66 and older with kidney tumors less than 1.5 inches wide.  Cancer was confirmed in 7,148 of them. About three-quarters of them had surgery and the rest chose to be monitored with periodic imaging tests.  After five years, 1,536 had died, including 191 of kidney cancer. For every 100 patients who chose monitoring, 11 more were alive at the five-year mark compared to the surgery group. Only 6 percent of those who chose monitoring eventually had surgery.  Furthermore, 27 percent of the surgery group but only 13 percent of the monitoring group developed a cardiovascular problem such as a heart attack, heart disease or stroke. These problems were more likely if doctors removed the entire kidney instead of just a part of it.
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## Dabs

I just found out a family friend has breat cancer, she is 34 years old and right now doing chemo. She has lost all her hair. I pray for her~


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## Dabs

I just found out a family friend has breast cancer, she is 34 years old and right now doing chemo. She has lost all her hair. I pray for her~


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## jefflawsonn

According to me,  Cancer is horrible. The good news is that many forms of cancer can be mitigated by health maintenance. Getting the Gardisil Shot and Pap smears has dropped the incidence of cervical cancer in this country to a fraction of what it used to be. If everyone got colonoscopies at 50, we could virtually eliminate the mortality behind colon cancer. Regular mammograms and exams will reduce breast cancer. And not smoking/quitting smoking makes your odds of getting lung cancer negligible.


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## waltky

Drug for colo-rectal cancer expanded for use with gastro-intestinal tumors...

*FDA expands approval of Bayer cancer drug*
_Feb 25,`13   WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Food and Drug Administration on Monday expanded approval of a Bayer cancer pill to treat tumors of the intestinal tract that don't respond to other treatments._


> The drug is called Stivarga and regulators approved it to treat gastrointestinal stromal tumors that cannot be surgically removed and no longer respond to other FDA-approved drugs.  The FDA previously approved Stivarga to treat colorectal cancer. It works by blocking several enzymes that promote cancer growth.
> 
> The FDA approved the drug for the new use based on a study of nearly 200 patients who were randomly assigned to take Stivarga or a placebo pill.  Patients taking the drug experienced a nearly four month delay in the growth of their tumors compared to taking placebo.
> 
> The most common side effects of Stivarga in clinical trials included liver damage, severe bleeding, blistering and peeling of skin, high blood pressure, heart attacks and perforations.
> 
> Other drugs approved to treat intestinal tumors include Gleevec, from Novartis, and Sutent, made by Pfizer Inc.  Bayer HealthCare is a subsidiary of Germany's Bayer AG
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> Source


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## waltky

Cancer cells highly adaptive...

*Thriving cancer's 'chaos' explained*
_27 February 2013 - The way cancers make a chaotic mess of their genetic code in order to thrive has been explained by UK researchers._


> Cancer cells can differ hugely within a tumour - it helps them develop ways to resist drugs and spread round the body.  A study in the journal Nature showed cells that used up their raw materials became "stressed" and made mistakes copying their genetic code.  Scientists said supplying the cancer with more fuel to grow may actually make it less dangerous.  Most normal cells in the human body contain 46 chromosomes, or bundles of genetic code. However, some cancerous cells can have more than 100 chromosomes.  And the pattern is inconsistent - pick a bunch of neighbouring cells and they could each have different chromosome counts.  This diversity helps tumours adapt to become untreatable and colonise new parts of the body. Devising ways of preventing a cancer from becoming diverse is a growing field of research.
> 
> Chaos from order
> 
> Scientists at the Cancer Research UK London Research Institute and the University College London Cancer Institute have been trying to crack how cancers become so diverse in the first place.  It had been thought that when a cancer cell split to create two new cells, the chromosomes were not split evenly between the two.  However, lead researcher Prof Charles Swanton's tests on bowel cancer showed "very little evidence" that was the case.  Instead the study showed the problem came from making copies of the cancer's genetic code.  Cancers are driven to make copies of themselves, however, if cancerous cells run out of the building blocks of their DNA they develop "DNA replication stress".
> 
> The study showed the stress led to errors and tumour diversity.  Prof Swanton told the BBC: "It is like constructing a building without enough bricks or cement for the foundations.  "However, if you can provide the building blocks of DNA you can reduce the replication stress to limit the diversity in tumours, which could be therapeutic."  He admitted that it "just seems wrong" that providing the fuel for a cancer to grow could be therapeutic.  However, he said this proved that replication stress was the problem and that new tools could be developed to tackle it.  Future studies will investigate whether the same stress causes diversity in other types of tumour.
> 
> The research team identified three genes often lost in diverse bowel cancer cells, which were critical for the cancer suffering from DNA replication stress. All were located on one region of chromosome 18.  Prof Nic Jones, Cancer Research UK's chief scientist, said: "This region of chromosome 18 is lost in many cancers, suggesting this process is not just seen in bowel cancers.  "Scientists can now start looking for ways to prevent this happening in the first place or turning this instability against cancers."
> 
> BBC News - Thriving cancer's 'chaos' explained


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## waltky

Naked mole rats may hold key to cancer tumors...

*The animal that doesn't get cancer*
_31 October 2015 - Somehow, one creature never develops tumours_


> Cancer is rife in the animal kingdom. For many, the mortality rate is similar to that suffered by humans.  The dogs and cats we share our homes with can get various forms of cancer. Among other things, second-hand cigarette smoke increases the risk.  But wild animals get cancer too. For instance, many Tasmanian devils have devastating facial tumours, which spread from devil to devil upon contact.  Polluted oceans also pose a problem. One population of California sea lions is known to suffer from urogenital cancer, partly as a result of organic pollutants. It causes paralysis and then death.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Many animals get cancer just like humans do, but there are a few mysterious species that rarely develop it​
> In Canada's St Lawrence estuary, intestinal cancer is the second most common cause of death for beluga whales: 27% are affected. And despite misleading myths that sharks are cancer-free, it turns out they can get a form of skin cancer called melanoma.  However there are exceptions. A few animals don't seem to get cancer very often, or at all. Understanding why could help us treat it, or even prevent it.  Cancer occurs when a seemingly normal cell spirals out of control. Usually, old or damaged cells are destroyed, but occasionally one will keep reproducing, creating more and more rogue cells. The eventual result is a tumour.
> 
> In theory, this ought to be a simple numbers game. The more cells an organism has and the longer it lives, the more likely it is that one of its cells will succumb to a random cancer-causing mutation.  For instance, taller people are slightly more cancer-prone than shorter people. The same is true of large dogs.  But it turns out not all cells are equally prone to cancer.  Elephants have trillions more cells than us and live a long time, yet they have lower cancer rates. This is called "Peto's paradox", after the scientist Richard Peto, who noticed that cancer prevalence is not correlated with body size.  Only about 5% of elephants die from cancer. This is staggeringly low when you consider that one in five humans will die from the disease.
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