So, Tuesday I'm having brain surgery...
- Thread starter A Desert Rose
- Start date
A Desert Rose
Simply Charming Elsewhere
- Joined
- Aug 16, 2002
- Posts
- 13,997
Oh I am doing just swell. And you're right, everyone's meter is running.
I keep hearing on the news that they discovered Kennedy's tumor on Monday, after tests. I can assure you that the family knew within a couple of hours of his seizure on Saturday that he had a brain tumor. My family knew 2 hours after mine.
Seizure then CT scan = broad diagnosis
MRI confirms the diagnosis with better visualization
Biopsy then determines exactly what kind of tumor it is
And from what I'm hearing, he has a dire prognosis, unlike mine. I feel bad for his family. I'm very lucky.
I
you too. And hope you're doing great, too!A Desert Rose
Simply Charming Elsewhere
- Joined
- Aug 16, 2002
- Posts
- 13,997
I'm thinking the same way you are. It's at least a Stage III.
{{{{{{{{{ADR}}}}}}}}}}
Nice to see you. Sending lots of extra positive thoughts and prayers to you and to Senator Kennedy.
x12 love you!
Snoozebutton2
Despoiler of Women
- Joined
- Jun 28, 2004
- Posts
- 5,901
I'm glad you are well and hope you know you are a bright star in the dark nights sky.
And it is anyone whose life you touch that is lucky.
BlacklistLady
Virgin
- Joined
- Mar 14, 2008
- Posts
- 10
I'm thinking the same way you are. It's at least a Stage III.
I saw video of him leaving the hospital today, bandage on the back of his head. It appears they did a biopsy, but they just aren't sharing it which leads me to believe it is bad.
A Desert Rose
Simply Charming Elsewhere
- Joined
- Aug 16, 2002
- Posts
- 13,997
You are as nice a gentleman in person as I knew you would be. It was more than just a pleasure to finally meet you, my friend.I'm glad you are well and hope you know you are a bright star in the dark nights sky.
And it is anyone whose life you touch that is lucky.
's and lots of 'em! Thank you.And the fact that they are planning radiation and chemo both, leads me to agree with you. That is a pretty aggressive regime.
My oncologist's words were: "We always have radiation in our back pocket when the time comes." Meaning: it's a last resort and a last choice.
Kennedy's condition and prognosis is much worse than mine.
DVS
A ghost from your dreams
- Joined
- Apr 17, 2002
- Posts
- 11,416
The two stories below say about the same thing. Really, the titles say it all. Bleak and grim are not good adjectives.
the below medical portions taken from this story link
Kennedy's prognosis looking bleak
WASHINGTON — A malignant glioma — the diagnosis doctors gave Sen. Edward M. Kennedy — is the worst kind of brain cancer.
Malignant gliomas strike almost 9,000 Americans a year. Survival statistics are grim — few live three years and for the worst subtype, half die within a year.
----snip-----
The medical course of action for Kennedy's cancer depends on exactly what form of glioma he has, whether surgeons can cut most of it out, age and some other medical details.
Kennedy's doctors didn't mention surgery, suggesting that may not be a possibility for him.
"As a general rule, at 76, without the ability to do a surgical resection, as kind of a ballpark figure you're probably looking at a survival of less than a year," said Dr. Keith Black, chairman of neurosurgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
On the plus side, scientists are studying new approaches — adding a drug called Avastin to standard treatment, or even brewing up customized vaccines to help the body fight back. While they're still experimental, many glioma experts advise newly diagnosed patients to seek out specialized cancer centers and ask if they're a good candidate for a research study up front.
"Considering how poorly they do despite standard treatment, it is always best to seek a clinical trial," said Dr. Deepa Subramaniam, director of the brain tumor center at Georgetown University's Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. "They are not likely to do worse."
Kennedy was hospitalized Saturday after a seizure. Tuesday, doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital announced the reason, a malignant glioma in his left parietal lobe, a brain region that governs sensation but also plays some role in movement and language. Doctors were awaiting further tests before choosing treatment, but they cited radiation and chemotherapy as the usual approach.
Kennedy's age and the mention of upfront chemotherapy mean the glioma is almost certainly one of the two worst forms: a glioblastoma — the fastest-killing brain tumor, known for claiming entertainer Ethel Merman and Republican political strategist Lee Atwater — or the only somewhat less aggressive anaplastic astrocytoma, Subramaniam said.
Malignant glioma "usually is a synonym for a glioblastoma," agreed Dr. Robert Laureno, neurology chairman at Washington Hospital Center in the nation's capital.
The American Cancer Society puts the five-year survival rate for patients over age 45 at 16 percent for those with anaplastic astrocytomas, and 2 percent or less for those with glioblastomas.
Patients fare best when surgeons can cut out all the visible tumor, Black said. That isn't a cure — doctors know they're leaving cancerous cells they just can't see.
But about 40 percent of the time, surgery isn't an option. The cancer, which digs tentacle-like roots into normal brain tissue, may be too deep or located so closely to critical brain regions.
Moreover, "it doesn't help to take 50 percent or 60 percent of the tumor out," Black said.
Standard treatment is about six weeks of fairly high-dose radiation along with a chemotherapy pill named Temodar, and then additional Temodar for at least six months or until the tumor stops responding.
The older the patient, the worse the prognosis. But some people fare much better — especially those with a subtype where another glioma form, called oligodendroglioma, is mixed with the primary tumor, Black said. They generally survive three times as long as people with pure glioblastomas.
The tumor's size — which also wasn't revealed — is key, too, added Dr. Lynne Taylor of Seattle's Virginia Mason Cancer Center and the American Academy of Neurology. An 8-centimeter tumor is pretty big for chemo and radiation to blunt, while a 1cm tumor is easier.
Also, the fairly recent addition of Temodar has brought a slight increase in the number of patients who beat average survival odds, she added.
"You're fighting an uphill battle," is what Taylor tells her patients — and then immediately urges them to live as if they'll be one of the lucky ones.
Whatever the statistics, the news is grim. And what symptoms will appear first depends on exactly where in the parietal lobe the tumor sits and "how that individual's brain is wired," Laureno said.
Among the possibilities: Loss of sensation on the right side of the body, problems with movement in the right arm and leg, eventual problems speaking or even vision problems in the right eye.
There are some experimental therapies that researchers are watching closely, including:
• Adding the colon cancer drug Avastin to standard treatment. Avastin chokes off tumors' blood supply, and initial studies suggest it can help shrink gliomas. Whether that helps survival isn't yet known, but Black says even though this use is experimental, more and more specialists are prescribing it right after diagnosis.
• Trying experimental cancer vaccines. Brain tumors often can't be seen by the immune system. So scientists take cells from the surgically removed glioma, put them on the immune cells and give them back to the patient. Small studies at Cedars-Sinai suggest the approach improved two-year survival from 8 percent of glioblastoma patients to 42 percent, Black said. But it's only an option for surgery candidates.
The below link is from this article
Kennedy's prognosis grim, experts say
WASHINGTON — The kind of cancer that Sen. Edward Kennedy is fighting is a common, usually incurable form of brain tumor that is very difficult to treat, experts said Tuesday.
About 10,000 cases are diagnosed each year in the U.S., and only about half of those patients survive one year, experts said. After two years, perhaps 25 percent are still alive.
"In general, it's a very grim kind of prognosis," said Robert Laureno, chief of neurology at Washington Hospital Center. "It's a bad kind of tumor."
A key question is exactly which kind of malignant glioma Kennedy has — anaplastic astrocytoma or glioblastoma multiforme, said Lynne Taylor of the Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle. Those with anaplastic astrocytoma have a better prognosis; they survive three years on average, she said.
Doctors will determine what type of tumor Kennedy has by further analysis of a biopsy sample taken at the hospital.
In neither case are the tumors curable, Taylor said: "They always come back."
Age likely to be a factor
Most malignant gliomas diagnosed in older people tend to be more aggressive and less treatable, experts said. Kennedy, a Democrat from Massachusetts, is 76.
"Unfortunately the vast majority — about 70 percent of those cancers — in adults over 50 tend to be the much more malignant type that typically lead to death within 12 to 18 months," said Harald Sontheimer, a neurobiologist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
The American Cancer Society puts the five-year survival rate for patients over age 45 at 16 percent for those with anaplastic astrocytomas, and 2 percent or less for those with glioblastomas.
Depending on exactly where the tumor is and how big it is, surgeons sometimes try to remove as much as they can. But that is difficult, because the tumor usually has penetrated deep into the brain.
"It tends to infiltrate in all directions. Even when one chooses to operate on one, it's usually impossible to take out. It's usually weaving its way in all directions," Laureno said. "You can't even see the whole thing to take it all out."
Impossible to predict
The left parietal lobe, where Kennedy's tumor is located, is responsible for a host of crucial bodily functions, including some aspects of speech, as well as sensation and movement on the right side of the body.
"If the tumor is located in very essential parts of the brain, such as those that control speech and motor functions, then trying to perform surgery could leave the patient devastated," said Vivek Deshmukh, director of cerebrovascular neurosurgery at George Washington University.
Regardless of whether patients undergo surgery, they typically receive radiation and chemotherapy to try to shrink the tumor. A variety of regimens are used, including a common course that involves seven weeks of targeted radiation combined with a drug called Temodar to sensitize the tumor to the therapy, Taylor said. That is followed by five days of the drug every month for as long as it is effective.
"The lucky patients continue for two years if it's working," Taylor said. "If you relapse within months, the enthusiasm to do more is obviously less."
Although a variety of experimental therapies are being tested, most so far appear to extend life by only weeks.
"We're not talking about anything that adds years of life to a patient's prognosis. We're talking weeks or months at the most," Sontheimer said.
Despite the bleak outlook, several experts said it is impossible to predict what will happen for any individual patient.
"We do have some long-term survivors who are doing very well," Taylor said. "I think it would be unfortunate to say it's grim. It could go that way. But I don't think it's destined to."
the below medical portions taken from this story link
Kennedy's prognosis looking bleak
WASHINGTON — A malignant glioma — the diagnosis doctors gave Sen. Edward M. Kennedy — is the worst kind of brain cancer.
Malignant gliomas strike almost 9,000 Americans a year. Survival statistics are grim — few live three years and for the worst subtype, half die within a year.
----snip-----
The medical course of action for Kennedy's cancer depends on exactly what form of glioma he has, whether surgeons can cut most of it out, age and some other medical details.
Kennedy's doctors didn't mention surgery, suggesting that may not be a possibility for him.
"As a general rule, at 76, without the ability to do a surgical resection, as kind of a ballpark figure you're probably looking at a survival of less than a year," said Dr. Keith Black, chairman of neurosurgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
On the plus side, scientists are studying new approaches — adding a drug called Avastin to standard treatment, or even brewing up customized vaccines to help the body fight back. While they're still experimental, many glioma experts advise newly diagnosed patients to seek out specialized cancer centers and ask if they're a good candidate for a research study up front.
"Considering how poorly they do despite standard treatment, it is always best to seek a clinical trial," said Dr. Deepa Subramaniam, director of the brain tumor center at Georgetown University's Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. "They are not likely to do worse."
Kennedy was hospitalized Saturday after a seizure. Tuesday, doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital announced the reason, a malignant glioma in his left parietal lobe, a brain region that governs sensation but also plays some role in movement and language. Doctors were awaiting further tests before choosing treatment, but they cited radiation and chemotherapy as the usual approach.
Kennedy's age and the mention of upfront chemotherapy mean the glioma is almost certainly one of the two worst forms: a glioblastoma — the fastest-killing brain tumor, known for claiming entertainer Ethel Merman and Republican political strategist Lee Atwater — or the only somewhat less aggressive anaplastic astrocytoma, Subramaniam said.
Malignant glioma "usually is a synonym for a glioblastoma," agreed Dr. Robert Laureno, neurology chairman at Washington Hospital Center in the nation's capital.
The American Cancer Society puts the five-year survival rate for patients over age 45 at 16 percent for those with anaplastic astrocytomas, and 2 percent or less for those with glioblastomas.
Patients fare best when surgeons can cut out all the visible tumor, Black said. That isn't a cure — doctors know they're leaving cancerous cells they just can't see.
But about 40 percent of the time, surgery isn't an option. The cancer, which digs tentacle-like roots into normal brain tissue, may be too deep or located so closely to critical brain regions.
Moreover, "it doesn't help to take 50 percent or 60 percent of the tumor out," Black said.
Standard treatment is about six weeks of fairly high-dose radiation along with a chemotherapy pill named Temodar, and then additional Temodar for at least six months or until the tumor stops responding.
The older the patient, the worse the prognosis. But some people fare much better — especially those with a subtype where another glioma form, called oligodendroglioma, is mixed with the primary tumor, Black said. They generally survive three times as long as people with pure glioblastomas.
The tumor's size — which also wasn't revealed — is key, too, added Dr. Lynne Taylor of Seattle's Virginia Mason Cancer Center and the American Academy of Neurology. An 8-centimeter tumor is pretty big for chemo and radiation to blunt, while a 1cm tumor is easier.
Also, the fairly recent addition of Temodar has brought a slight increase in the number of patients who beat average survival odds, she added.
"You're fighting an uphill battle," is what Taylor tells her patients — and then immediately urges them to live as if they'll be one of the lucky ones.
Whatever the statistics, the news is grim. And what symptoms will appear first depends on exactly where in the parietal lobe the tumor sits and "how that individual's brain is wired," Laureno said.
Among the possibilities: Loss of sensation on the right side of the body, problems with movement in the right arm and leg, eventual problems speaking or even vision problems in the right eye.
There are some experimental therapies that researchers are watching closely, including:
• Adding the colon cancer drug Avastin to standard treatment. Avastin chokes off tumors' blood supply, and initial studies suggest it can help shrink gliomas. Whether that helps survival isn't yet known, but Black says even though this use is experimental, more and more specialists are prescribing it right after diagnosis.
• Trying experimental cancer vaccines. Brain tumors often can't be seen by the immune system. So scientists take cells from the surgically removed glioma, put them on the immune cells and give them back to the patient. Small studies at Cedars-Sinai suggest the approach improved two-year survival from 8 percent of glioblastoma patients to 42 percent, Black said. But it's only an option for surgery candidates.
The below link is from this article
Kennedy's prognosis grim, experts say
WASHINGTON — The kind of cancer that Sen. Edward Kennedy is fighting is a common, usually incurable form of brain tumor that is very difficult to treat, experts said Tuesday.
About 10,000 cases are diagnosed each year in the U.S., and only about half of those patients survive one year, experts said. After two years, perhaps 25 percent are still alive.
"In general, it's a very grim kind of prognosis," said Robert Laureno, chief of neurology at Washington Hospital Center. "It's a bad kind of tumor."
A key question is exactly which kind of malignant glioma Kennedy has — anaplastic astrocytoma or glioblastoma multiforme, said Lynne Taylor of the Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle. Those with anaplastic astrocytoma have a better prognosis; they survive three years on average, she said.
Doctors will determine what type of tumor Kennedy has by further analysis of a biopsy sample taken at the hospital.
In neither case are the tumors curable, Taylor said: "They always come back."
Age likely to be a factor
Most malignant gliomas diagnosed in older people tend to be more aggressive and less treatable, experts said. Kennedy, a Democrat from Massachusetts, is 76.
"Unfortunately the vast majority — about 70 percent of those cancers — in adults over 50 tend to be the much more malignant type that typically lead to death within 12 to 18 months," said Harald Sontheimer, a neurobiologist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
The American Cancer Society puts the five-year survival rate for patients over age 45 at 16 percent for those with anaplastic astrocytomas, and 2 percent or less for those with glioblastomas.
Depending on exactly where the tumor is and how big it is, surgeons sometimes try to remove as much as they can. But that is difficult, because the tumor usually has penetrated deep into the brain.
"It tends to infiltrate in all directions. Even when one chooses to operate on one, it's usually impossible to take out. It's usually weaving its way in all directions," Laureno said. "You can't even see the whole thing to take it all out."
Impossible to predict
The left parietal lobe, where Kennedy's tumor is located, is responsible for a host of crucial bodily functions, including some aspects of speech, as well as sensation and movement on the right side of the body.
"If the tumor is located in very essential parts of the brain, such as those that control speech and motor functions, then trying to perform surgery could leave the patient devastated," said Vivek Deshmukh, director of cerebrovascular neurosurgery at George Washington University.
Regardless of whether patients undergo surgery, they typically receive radiation and chemotherapy to try to shrink the tumor. A variety of regimens are used, including a common course that involves seven weeks of targeted radiation combined with a drug called Temodar to sensitize the tumor to the therapy, Taylor said. That is followed by five days of the drug every month for as long as it is effective.
"The lucky patients continue for two years if it's working," Taylor said. "If you relapse within months, the enthusiasm to do more is obviously less."
Although a variety of experimental therapies are being tested, most so far appear to extend life by only weeks.
"We're not talking about anything that adds years of life to a patient's prognosis. We're talking weeks or months at the most," Sontheimer said.
Despite the bleak outlook, several experts said it is impossible to predict what will happen for any individual patient.
"We do have some long-term survivors who are doing very well," Taylor said. "I think it would be unfortunate to say it's grim. It could go that way. But I don't think it's destined to."
DVS
A ghost from your dreams
- Joined
- Apr 17, 2002
- Posts
- 11,416
Wow, this isn't related, but then again, it is. There has been a series of local TV news reports that are talking about a small town not far from Kansas City that has had an abnormal amount of brain tumors reported, in recent months.
The link is below. Just days ago this story broke, and not only is it strange that this has happened, but another strange thing is that I grew up in the town. I haven't lived there for about 35 years, but my parents lived there, until they died, and I still have a lot of friends that live there. In fact, most of the people in the story are people that I know or know of.
Cameron isn't a large town. They say that there's 6,500 people living there, but there are three prisons on the outskirts of town and they widened the city limits to include these, so the prison population is considered residents of town. Cute, huh?
When I lived there, the population was more like 2,000 and quite literally, everybody knew everybody else. I'm sure it's still very similar to that now. After all, the prison population just doesn't get around town that much, if you know what I mean. They are really "fake" residents. But, the town gets more government money, when they have a larger population. That's why they enlarged the city limits.
Anyway, I just thought it was strange, and when Kennedy as just diagnosed, etc. it is even more of a strange coincidence. I just thought I'd post to your thread, ADR. I hope you don't mind that I did. It's all just a bit unsettling, to say the least.
Here's the link to the first story...there is a series on this one Kansas City ABC affiliate, on channel 9, KMBC.
The link is below. Just days ago this story broke, and not only is it strange that this has happened, but another strange thing is that I grew up in the town. I haven't lived there for about 35 years, but my parents lived there, until they died, and I still have a lot of friends that live there. In fact, most of the people in the story are people that I know or know of.
Cameron isn't a large town. They say that there's 6,500 people living there, but there are three prisons on the outskirts of town and they widened the city limits to include these, so the prison population is considered residents of town. Cute, huh?
When I lived there, the population was more like 2,000 and quite literally, everybody knew everybody else. I'm sure it's still very similar to that now. After all, the prison population just doesn't get around town that much, if you know what I mean. They are really "fake" residents. But, the town gets more government money, when they have a larger population. That's why they enlarged the city limits.
Anyway, I just thought it was strange, and when Kennedy as just diagnosed, etc. it is even more of a strange coincidence. I just thought I'd post to your thread, ADR. I hope you don't mind that I did. It's all just a bit unsettling, to say the least.
Here's the link to the first story...there is a series on this one Kansas City ABC affiliate, on channel 9, KMBC.
A Desert Rose
Simply Charming Elsewhere
- Joined
- Aug 16, 2002
- Posts
- 13,997
How scary. And thank you for posting this. Of course I don't mind that you did. ;-)
Unlike these folks, I have nothing to blame for this. There's no outside chemical or even bad lifestyle choices that had anything to really do with mine. Mine is a genetic thing... 2 missing markers on my DNA. Just a flukey thing.
Having something to blame really helps, I think because it gives you a direction for your anger. I had nothing to get mad at or about. I was (and still am sometimes) just fucking pissed off and had (have) nowhere to direct it.
And then I start to feel guilty about having those feelings and including people who I love and care about, in on it.
If I could place the blame on something or someone, it would make being angry easier to understand, for me and for everyone else.
I'm so sorry for whatever is happening in this town. It must be terrifying for everyone.
A Desert Rose
Simply Charming Elsewhere
- Joined
- Aug 16, 2002
- Posts
- 13,997
I'm going to print out these articles and take to my doctor when I see him in a couple of weeks.
I want to talk to him about Avastin. I was on Temodar for 18 months. They say that if no changes occur (shrinking of the tumor) in 6-12 months, it should be stopped. He stopped it in January and I've not been on anything since then.
I discussed the clinical trials early on with another doctor but he suggested not to go that route first. He and my current oncologist wanted me to try the chemo (Temodar) before I went to the more agressive regime of chemo and radiation. That's what they call "having in our back pocket" for later.
I'm doing wacky stuff now LOL or what some people would call wacky. Taking a mix of all kinds of spices and vitamins. People have posted websites here and in my email that I've read and that I'm trying out.
What have I got to lose, eh? ;-D
Thank you so much for posting these articles.
Byron In Exile
Frederick Fucking Chopin
- Joined
- May 3, 2002
- Posts
- 66,591
These things I see are a lot of distractions. You must not fear death.
People like you have nothing to fear.
Your survival is important to people, like me, who love you.
But nobody can live forever.
Organize your things, and give them away to those people who would remember you by them.
Finally, you are an honest and true person, and such a one as you has nothing to fear from death.
I would entreat you, though, when you meet God face-to-face, if you would put in a word for me? A word from you would carry far greater weight than I could muster.
People like you have nothing to fear.
Your survival is important to people, like me, who love you.
But nobody can live forever.
Organize your things, and give them away to those people who would remember you by them.
Finally, you are an honest and true person, and such a one as you has nothing to fear from death.
I would entreat you, though, when you meet God face-to-face, if you would put in a word for me? A word from you would carry far greater weight than I could muster.
A Desert Rose
Simply Charming Elsewhere
- Joined
- Aug 16, 2002
- Posts
- 13,997
DVS
A ghost from your dreams
- Joined
- Apr 17, 2002
- Posts
- 11,416
It's kind of strange, but I have three co-workers that have cancer, and are living with it. One has Leukemia. He has the type that is chronic but controllable. He has to watch his white count and take chemo treatments every few months, but other than that, he's doing fine. He's in remission, and has been, for several years.I'm going to print out these articles and take to my doctor when I see him in a couple of weeks.
I want to talk to him about Avastin. I was on Temodar for 18 months. They say that if no changes occur (shrinking of the tumor) in 6-12 months, it should be stopped. He stopped it in January and I've not been on anything since then.
I discussed the clinical trials early on with another doctor but he suggested not to go that route first. He and my current oncologist wanted me to try the chemo (Temodar) before I went to the more agressive regime of chemo and radiation. That's what they call "having in our back pocket" for later.
I'm doing wacky stuff now LOL or what some people would call wacky. Taking a mix of all kinds of spices and vitamins. People have posted websites here and in my email that I've read and that I'm trying out.
What have I got to lose, eh? ;-D
Thank you so much for posting these articles.
Another co-worker once had a job of changing the light bulbs on transmitter towers. One he told me about is a very tall TV station transmitter tower, right in the heart of our city. After an ice storm, it's not advisable to get near the bottom of this tower. When the sun melts the ice, chunks of ice come down and crash on the ground below. Most of the time, this isn't an issue, because the area directly below the tower is fenced off. But, if there is a considerable wind, these ice chunks can travel almost a block, where they hit rooftops, cars and such.
He said they never turned the whole transmitter off, but only lessened the power...cutting off transmitting sections of the tower, that the workers were on. He was paid rather well for his job, because of the obvious height dangers. Of course, he was never told about the possibility of the transmitter causing cancer.
He had a tumor that involved a large portion of his shoulder and neck. After the normal treatments, he opted for a major surgery that removed his upper shoulder muscles and connected tissue as well as his carotid artery on that side. He no longer has the ability to turn his head, without turning his whole body, but other than the obvious, he's doing quite well.
He continues to take Chemo treatments, and he sometimes has to take time off, because of how it affects him. He said the burning in his stomach is difficult to explain. Saying it's nausea just doesn't cover it.
The third co-worker has had a relapse. I don't know enough about her cancer to know what kind it is, but she is cutting back her work schedule from full time to part time, because she needs to get more aggressive in her treatments. But, she's in good spirits. She's a tough lady, with a good attitude about life.
And now, with this cluster of brain tumors forming in my hometown, it's kind of unsettling to think about the people I know that are living with cancer. Although, I do say LIVING with cancer, when about 20 years ago, you just didn't do that. I've also had friends and relatives who have died, because they lived in a time when research wasn't so vigorous.
Younger people who have been born in the last 30 or so years should understand how scary the big "C" word once was. Sure, there are still types that are difficult to control. But, progress is being made.
In the old process of radiation, the treatments would be like shooting someone with a shotgun of radiation, just to kill a cancer the size of a quarter. Surrounding healthy tissue would also be killed, and the patient would often be near death, as a normal part of the treatment.
The idea was to take the patient as far as possible, in the hopes the cancer wouldn't survive...but the patient would. That was difficult, because the patient had to be in pretty good health to withstand such a thing. In some cases, treatment wasn't possible, because the patient wouldn't survive.
Today, they have laser technology and it's possible to shoot a very thin and precise beam directly at the cancer cells, without damaging surrounding tissue. But, it's not possible to stop the laser beam at the cancer, so anything behind it also gets a dose. In the case of my co-worker, he said the cancer in his neck was shot with the laser, and it went on through his neck and damaged blood vessels to his ear, on the other side of his head.
When he told me this, he smiled and said he was then given Viagra as a normal part of the after treatment, to help those vessels recover. He said they didn't tell him about the side effect. He had a tent in his sheet for several days. Actually, the treatment of depleted blood vessels was the first use of Viagra. The fact that it helps men with ED get an erection is the side effect.
They also have radioactive "seeds" that are planted in the tumor, so just the cancer gets affected, keeping healthy cell damage to a minimum.
They are working with different powered lasers to control the damage of tissue that's beyond the cancer target. One of these days, in the not so distant future, we will be living like that old movie"Fantastic Voyage". Well, maybe that's a few years, yet, but we'll get there.
Some interesting links about cancer, tumors, treatments and such.
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/types/brain/
http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/brainandspinaltumors/detail_brainandspinaltumors.htm
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/braincancer.html
http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/05/did-a-herpes-vi.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6268433.stm
http://www.cancerhelp.org.uk/help/default.asp?page=5005
http://virtualtrials.com/faq/index.cfm
Last edited:
Bandit58
Sir's wonder woman
- Joined
- Sep 7, 2002
- Posts
- 8,121
My father had rectal cancer in 1981. He had surgery (which damaged the nerves to his penis so he became impotent), chemotherapy(which made him really ill) and radiation.
The radiation caused damage to his colon. It became very fragile and developed a "kink" so it blocked very easily. He could feel a strawberry seed going through there...it felt like glass cutting him inside he said. When he got a blockage it meant a trip to hospital for an injection of pethidine for the pain and maxolon to stop the vomiting, and something else to relax the bowel so the blockage could pass. This often happened in the middle of the night, so either an ambulance would be called or I'd get a call to come drive him. Eventually they moved to the city to be closer to medical care.
He passed away in 2005
Not from cancer (he was cancer free since his treatment) but from complications from taking warfarin (brain bleeds which caused brain damage).
Desdemona
Ellie Mae's evil auntie
- Joined
- Dec 11, 2001
- Posts
- 6,584
I will pray
I just sent you a PM.
DR is going to the ER. Lets pray it isn't anything serious.
I just sent you a PM.
Sir_Winston54
Assume the position!
- Joined
- Jul 15, 2004
- Posts
- 14,027
PLEASE let us know what's happening with her as soon as she's willing for us to know. I absolutely adore her, and I'm (figuratively) crossing every part of my body that will cross, and a few that won't, and beaming every possible good vibe I can muster directly at her.DR is going to the ER. Lets pray it isn't anything serious.
Y
Yasashii_Kaze
Guest
Give her best wishes from all of us. 
Snoozebutton2
Despoiler of Women
- Joined
- Jun 28, 2004
- Posts
- 5,901
Tell her to rest and get well soon. Well she knows she has friends that care and those of us that would volunteer to sponge bathe her lol.
A Desert Rose
Simply Charming Elsewhere
- Joined
- Aug 16, 2002
- Posts
- 13,997
You guys are real nice and I'm sorry if I worried WD . I was home alone and just sick, well really sick.
I'm better now. Thank you for the concern and well wishes.
. I was home alone and just sick, well really sick. I'm better now. Thank you for the concern and well wishes.
