Cancer Support and Caregivers Who Are Trail Blazers!

[Andrew, Jr.]

The tumor the surgeon removed last week from my breast was not cancerous. Thank God above. I have a very good chance of getting cancer since I already had cervical cancer, but my mother and grandmother both have/had breast cancer, and my sister is in remission from ovarian cancer. It has been 8 years so far.

The surgeon told me that my chances go up a great deal. I am being used in a study and followed from this point forward.

I dodged a huge bullet.

[Tommi]

Originally Posted by Andrew, Jr.

Thanks Tommi,

You are such a wonderful friend to me, and many others.

I am out of sorts. Just not myself. I am so grateful for my many friendships here.

Namaste,
Andrew

Originally Posted by sweetcali

Oh goodness Andrew...That is one of the wonderful side effects of this journey we are on. All those filters you used to have? Say goodbye!!! And learn to have fun with them. LOL

sweetcali

Yes, sweetcali, life gives you lemons and we want to add it to our water, versus throwing them any longer.
I was the same way, stepping on toes, so I took Salsaand Two Step lessons.

Originally Posted by Andrew, Jr.

The tumor the surgeon removed last week from my breast was not cancerous. Thank God above. I have a very good chance of getting cancer since I already had cervical cancer, but my mother and grandmother both have/had breast cancer, and my sister is in remission from ovarian cancer. It has been 8 years so far.

The surgeon told me that my chances go up a great deal. I am being used in a study and followed from this point forward.

I dodged a huge bullet.

Andrew,
Glad to hear the good news. Waiting for the news is scary, so glad that is over. Now as you know, the follow-ups are so important, as you know.

I signed up for a clinical study too, when I was diagnosed with endometrial ca 6 years ago. My only family history of cancer was my Mom, who had lung cancer after smoking since she was 16.. No relatives on either side of my family for as far back as anyone knew. My Gyn/Onncologist had said they wanted to follow many things, including effects of 2nd hand smoke on non-smokers who were diagnosed with cancer. So, I am now having annual follow-ups, and am free to live every day to the fullest, and thank god for my lucky stars every night.

[sweetcali]

Andrew,
Glad to hear the good news. Waiting for the news is scary, so glad that is over. Now as you know, the follow-ups are so important, as you know.

I signed up for a clinical study too, when I was diagnosed with endometrial ca 6 years ago. My only family history of cancer was my Mom, who had lung cancer after smoking since she was 16.. No relatives on either side of my family for as far back as anyone knew. My Gyn/Onncologist had said they wanted to follow many things, including effects of 2nd hand smoke on non-smokers who were diagnosed with cancer. So, I am now having annual follow-ups, and am free to live every day to the fullest, and thank god for my lucky stars every night.[/QUOTE]

Make sure you let them know that 60% of those diagnosed with lung cancer have never smoked. Out of that 60%, 45% have not lived around second hand smoke. 1 out of three women this year will be diagnosed with lung cancer. The least researched and least funded cancer is lung cancer. There is no federal mandated money to study or research lung cancer.

Just a little info you can take with you to your study.

sweetcali

[Spirit Dancer]

Originally Posted by sweetcali

Andrew,
Glad to hear the good news. Waiting for the news is scary, so glad that is over. Now as you know, the follow-ups are so important, as you know.

I signed up for a clinical study too, when I was diagnosed with endometrial ca 6 years ago. My only family history of cancer was my Mom, who had lung cancer after smoking since she was 16.. No relatives on either side of my family for as far back as anyone knew. My Gyn/Onncologist had said they wanted to follow many things, including effects of 2nd hand smoke on non-smokers who were diagnosed with cancer. So, I am now having annual follow-ups, and am free to live every day to the fullest, and thank god for my lucky stars every night.

Make sure you let them know that 60% of those diagnosed with lung cancer have never smoked. Out of that 60%, 45% have not lived around second hand smoke. 1 out of three women this year will be diagnosed with lung cancer. The least researched and least funded cancer is lung cancer. There is no federal mandated money to study or research lung cancer.

Just a little info you can take with you to your study.

sweetcali[/QUOTE]

SweetCali
You are so correct, when we began our journey we also found that
Multiple Myeloma accounted for only 1% of all Cancers and therefore the funding was minuscule.
One cannot help but wonder does lack of funding for research come with the price, since most patients are deemed "terminal" it's not worth spending the money to further research advance medicine or threapies for said cancer's.
We've written letters to congress and pur senators regarding these issues. Although the rsponse was sketchy at best, A We voiced our opinions and will continue to do so. sweetcali sending you light and hope may your day be blessed.

[Andrew, Jr.]

When my sister, Jo, was battling skin cancer at NIH, she dropped weight so fast. In the last 3 years of her life, I know that the chemo and experimental drugs really took a toll on her system. We all tried everything from Ensure or fruit shakes or just frozen fruit pops. Now, Jo was very much into cooking, so she still tried to keep playing tennis, making all efforts to live as if she was ok.

Then when she was at the point of taking stem cells...she got her appitite back. In fact, she loved to go to McDonald's for breakfast. She loved their coffee, and english muffin w/egg sandwich (can you tell I don't go there much -lol). Anyway, I would make a trip there and get her a large coffee, and 3 or 4 of those sandwiches because I knew later on after this go round, when we were back on the chemo, she would be loosing weight again. I hated it. I hated what it was doing to her.

I bought her a teddy bear from Vt. Teddy Bear Company when she was depressed, and not bouncing back from the treatments. That was a big hit for her, but no sooner than she got that, her energy level just dropped.

I just kept trying to boost her spirits. I would sent prayer cards, plants, balloons, funny cards, tennis balls, and just tons of pictures. It was the best thing to do to keep her guessing what was coming to her next.

The pain meds only help so much. Cancer sucks. I have lost not only my sister to cancer, but my Godfather. He died from brain cancer. I just cannot even talk about what happened to him. It is too fresh, and too overwhelming to me.

Namaste to all,
Andrew

[Passionaria]

http://www.archive.org/details/Teres...patientsneedto

This is a Podcast of a show I did some time ago on Holistic care for Cancer patients, I hope it can be of some help and support to you all. It is with Dr Jeannie Galloway, who is Naturapathic Oncologist here in Austin. She has some important tips to share that may help you or family members who are in the process of dealing with cancer, in any phase. These are the notes from a talk on Five things a Cancer patients should know.

Generally, when a person hears they have cancer they either: relinquish responsibility and let the doctor have control over their life OR get very busy finding out everything they can that might help. I encourage every cancer patient to become involved in their own decision making and to ask questions. Often my work with a patient is to help them figure out what their questions should be.
The treatments for cancer are somewhat limited from a standard medical position. The drugs (especially chemotherapy) are pretty much the same as they have been for many years. New ideas are surfacing, and benefits are found, but we have a long way to go. Chemotherapy, radiation and surgery are designed to kill the cancer, yet in the process healthy tissue is sacrificed along the way. Side effects of standard treatment are typically not the concern of oncologists. There is a huge gap in cancer care when it comes to addressing the concerns of the person undergoing treatment. The oncologist is focused on the cancer, not really on the wholeness of the person getting treatment. Naturopathic doctors with training and experience in complementary and integrative cancer care fill the void with an emphasis on the wellness factor of the whole person. We:
improve nutrient consumption and intake
Treat side effects of cancer treatments
Improve the response of standard treatments
Improve immune function
Improve quality of life
Speed healing processes
Educate patients and their families, and their oncologists on natural medicine's
Reduce recurrence of cancer

What a Naturopathic doctor is NOT; we aren't just "green doctors" who replace a drug with an herb.We aren't interested in just treating symptoms of disease, we do not believe that drugs are always bad or that cancer can be treated without standard medicine. We do believe that there is an ability of the body to heal itself if given the right building blocks and that addressing the underlying cause of a disease is the important thing to do, instead of just treating symptoms. We also believe that all of medicine has an appropriate place...at times drugs and surgery are needed, at times herbs and meditation are needed. There is a whole spectrum of medicine available to the ND.

Five Natural Treatments
1) Blood sugar/Insulin
2) Vit D
3) Green Tea
4) Cortisol
5) Dangerous side effects

First, blood sugar and insulin. If a cancer patient has high blood sugar and high insulin levels in the blood they are much more likely to have a more aggressive form of cancer and to have a high rate of recurrence. I encourage all the people I work with who have a cancer diagnosis to be sure their physician is checking their fasting blood sugar and their insulin levels.

If there are troubles with high blood sugar or insulin there are great ways to impact this; dietary, exercise, supplements such as cinnamon, bitter melon, gymnema have been shown to have effect, and chromium supplementation, too.

Secondly, it is becoming very clear that Vitamin D levels should become part of every person's "annual physical" blood workup. Vitamin D deficiency is being linked to a tremendous amount of disease processes and we are particularly concerned with cancer patients as they have been shown to have lower levels in many cases. If you have cancer, or if you don't and want to prevent it, have your doctor check your Vitamin D status. There are clear guidelines around what these levels should be. Your doctor should know these or s/he can find them out easily.

Thirdly, green tea is part of any natural approach to the cancer fight. Cancer cells turn into tumors by continually dividing even when they should just die. Green tea, among many other important cancer fighting properties, is able to shut down cancer cell division...thus slowing the growth of tumors.

Fourth, stress is a killer. Cortisol levels are associated with increased insulin levels, with decreased melatonin levels (a natural cancer fighter) and with increased inflammation which can drive cancer formation. Treating the adrenal glands, reducing stress, using techniques such as Tai Chi or Qi Gong are great ways to reduce the stress response and see a more positive influence of the body.

Fifth, there are extremely dangerous side effects to chemotherapy. Yet, the use of chemotherapy is highly recommended by Naturopathic Oncologists for many forms of cancer. Sometimes the body needs to have the disease eliminated forceably in order to provide a clear path for healing. The leading side effects that can have long lasting impact are: nerve damage, heart tissue damage and digestive tract symptoms. In each case there are natural treatments that have been shown to reduce the side effects safely. The damage that can be done may be irreparable, and the cancer patient needs to take action to understand the risks and to find a practitioner who can help them avoid side effect damage.

[Andrew, Jr.]

We have done this at one point in our lives. We make due with what we have. For colds, we take our Tylenol, stay in bed, eat chix noodle soup, and suck on cough drops. For some of us, it is a means of survival. Money for medical care and insurance causes alot of us to dely treatment. Cash for services rendered is out of question because it is so high.

I really am not sure of what the answer is. I believe in healthcare for everyone, not just the wealthy. That is why I am all for NIH. It is not a hospital, but a research center. That way all of your medical care is free. It is funded by the drug companies & manufacturers.

I feel that accountability for those sick should be on the minds of those in the medical field. It shouldn't be financial and run as a business for profit. There goes the Hypocratic Oath.

But then again, this is my opinion only.

[WolfyOne]

I sat here and read this thread tonight with tears in my eyes and sadness in my heart. Some of you are new to me and others I have known for years now, but either way, it's painful. I wasn't sure I'd be mentally strong enough to read in here, but something kept pulling me in. Years ago when my mom was diagnosed with cancer, she gave us 6 years to prepare for the inevitable. It wasn't any easier even with those 6 years. She wasn't diagnosed for a year from the time she first started seeing doctors. My mom had lymphoma and I saw glands swell and burst over the last year of her life. I remember sitting every day at the hospital with her. My visits would leave me drained and mentally exhausted. She once asked me why my brothers couldn't understand that all she wanted to do was die. I cried hard that day trying to grasp hold of the situation, but I did understand. I understood she gave us a 6 year warning. She gave us time to spend with her. She lived for her oldest grandchild that she helped raise. I think that's why she lasted so long. It wasn't until all the transfusions and hospital stays that last year that sucked the life out of her. When she stopped eating, I'd bring my niece to the hospital with me to feed her. Seems like she would eat for granddaughter, but only baby food. My niece used to beg my mom to eat for her. I should tell you now, my niece was only 9 or 10 then. When my mom stopped eating, she started getting worse. She had absolutely no strength, but enough of a voice to ask me to sign a DNR for her. It was the hardest choice I ever had to make, but I did what she asked.

Enough story, ok.

To get to my point and what I'm trying to get at is that even if nothing tastes good or you don't feel hungry, please keep putting nourishment in your body. I think it's more or as important as chemo. Never stop eating or drinking. Please push yourself, for you and for those that love you.