Battling Cancer

There is an article in today’s Winnipeg Free Press by Jen Skerrit ..

Source: Winnipeg Free Press - Cancer Meds For Those Who Have The Cash

Alternate Source: Therapeutics Daily - Cancer meds for those who have the cash

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By Mike Herman

The diagnosis of breast cancer is overwhelming. After the initial phase of diagnosis comes the discussion of your breast cancer treatment type. This decision should involve more than just your physician.

Choosing the most appropriate breast cancer treatment type is a decision that ideally involves the patient, family, and healthcare team.

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By Sandra Kim Leong

Research studies are now going on how best to prevent colon cancer as more and more people are diagnosed with this condition today. It is found that colon cancer usually starts in the large intestine, also known as colon, or the rectum. Colon cancer then develops from dead cells that have been accumulated in a lump over a period of time. The risk to getting colon cancer increases if you have a genetic medical background of parents or close relatives who have been diagnosed with colon cancer. Research also showed that that colon cancer is aggravated by unhealthy diets such as ready meals and fast food.

Hence, it is vital that you seek the advice of your doctor should you feel the discomfort of colon cancer symptoms. The symptoms to look out for include unhealthy bowel occurrence such as diarrhea, constipation or bowel infection, severe pain in abdomen, blood in the stools, narrow stools, anemia, intestinal obstruction and drastic loss of weight.

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By Steve John Cowan

All of the different “types” of cancer can be deadly, that’s a given. Even though survival rates tend to be much higher nowadays than they were perhaps twenty years ago, the fact is that a diagnosis of cancer can still be a death sentence and this is especially so when it affects the most vital components of the body.

One such type of cancer that falls into this category is cancer of the blood, more commonly known as leukemia. Many people may not think of it this way, but, in simple terms, blood is the most important tissue of the body.

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By Jeff Kimball

Most folks diagnosed with any type of cancer notice it hugely difficult to agree with their predicament. The typical reaction of patients and their family is disbelief of their disease. However, cancer is something that won’t go away quietly because you avoid its existence. It is therefore better to determine as much as possible of the illness and learn how to attack it than to simply hide and wait for the unavoidable to happen. In the case of people with lymphoma, it is critical that you should understand what is going on in your body and be ready for any circumstance. Many things can happen to people with lymphoma, as this type of cell anomaly is rather mobile compared to other forms of cancers.

Lymphoma is a type of cancer that assaults the lymphocytes. The lymphocytes are defined by medical science as any of the nearly colorless cells found in the blood, lymph, and lymphoid tissues, constituting approximately 25 percent of white blood cells and including B cells, which function in humoral immunity, and T cells, which act in cellular specific immunity. So you should know that lymphocytes are not only most mobile as it is carried in the blood, it is also part of the body’s typical protective armor called the immune system.

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By Jayanto Chatterjee

Melanoma is essentially skin cancer. If detected early enough, it can be cured in ninety-five percent of the cases. However, it can also be fatal if allowed to run its course. Melanomas can be almost invisible in some cases, so a cursory examination is not effective in some cases. Hidden melanomas are, fortunately, relatively rare.

All melanomas are formed from cells that produce pigment. These are called melanocytes. So the cancer can develop wherever there is pigmentation in the body. Hidden melanomas can occur in difficult to detect parts of the body, hence the need to do a thorough check annually.

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By David Silva

Unlike other forms of lung cancer, metastatic lung cancer is the result of a cancer from another part of the body spreading to the lungs. When a malignancy develops in the body (most often in the breasts, colon, prostate, or bladder, though almost all cancers have the ability to spread) it can sometimes spread through the blood stream. When these malignancies settle into the pulmonary tissues, such as the alveoli (the final vein-like branches of the respiratory system) and the supporting tissues of the respiratory structures, the cancer has metastasized to the lungs.

Unfortunately, treating metastatic lung cancer presents significant challenges. Since the cancer has spread from another part of the body, treatment not only involves addressing the cancer in the lungs, but also the original cancer and any other areas of the body that may have also become affected. In some cases, if the primary tumor is successfully removed and if the spread of the tumor cells to the pulmonary regions is relatively localized, then the management of the cancer by surgical techniques may do the job. However, if the metastatic lung cancer is extensive, because so many areas of the body may be under the influence of the cancer, certain treatments (such as surgery, and in many cases, radiation therapy as well) may prove ineffective. Which leaves most patients with chemotherapy as the primary treatment of choice.

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By Carolina Fernandez

Plucky (pluk’e) adj. Brave and spirited; courageous.

Have you ever noticed how few people possess radiating energy? How eyes lack sparkle and how few real smiles there are out there? How almost no one looks you in the eyes when you talk or how few people have truly gracious social skills? One thing that never ceases to amaze me is the lack of charisma or magnetism or exuberance among people everywhere!

So when I met Lorraine and Cam, I was immediately drawn to their energy. To their lit-up eyes, frequent laughter and bubbly personalities. Now they’re not particularly bubbly as in “effervescent.” No, they are actually more on the subdued side. But when one talks to them, their eyes twinkle. They smile when they talk. They maintain fabulous eye contact. Good upbringing? Perhaps. I’ve met both of their parents, even though one set lives in Scotland and the other in England (and we live up here in Connecticut in New England) and they are, indeed, darling people.

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