http://www.cancerquest.org/
Found this link another great source of information for Cancer
Showing posts with label Cancer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cancer. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Cancer Prevention
Okay so I haven't read this completely, but there is a gold mine of info here.
http://www.cancer-prevention.net/
This excerpt posted below is from about half-way down into the article. I went to go print it because it's so damn wordy- its 90 pages worth and giving me a headache reading on screen. Definitely good information in here though- well worth the read.
What The Medical Industry Won't Tell You
There was a woman whose daughter was in the advanced stages of brain cancer. She asked her oncologist if it was ok to give her daughter a superfood called blue green algae. Her doctor told her that it was no problem, that in fact a number of his patients had used that supplement with success in fighting cancer.
Naturally she wondered why he didn't tell her about this product a year before when they came to him.
Unfortunately, he couldn't tell her about this or any "natural or alternative health therapies" and stay employed. Insurance regulations would preclude such suggestions. And he could get into administrative trouble by recommending natural, non-drug treatments for cancer.
His advice is controlled by a large medical industry that makes mega money off expensive cancer fighting drugs and treatments. An industry that doesn't look favorably on natural supplements or other cancer treatments as they cannot patent them to make high profits.
Fifty years from now, the current conventional cancer treatments used by doctors will on the whole be viewed in the same light that we view the old medical practice of using leeches to cure illnesses.
Chemotherapy and other treatments damage cells and tear down and weaken the immune system. But the problem in the first place is that your immune system is already weak, and that your cells are already damaged.
Even if tumors do go into remission, these treatments will have damaged other cells, which are more likely to turn cancerous. The immune system, unless it is supported by supplements and diet to help it recover, will be in worse shape then ever.
While it may have taken decades for cancer to develop the first time around, the second time usually takes a year or two.
Another reason why doctors ignore sensible, safe and healthy treatments for cancer, and recommend costly and illogical treatments instead -- is human nature. They advise and prescribe what they know. Just what we all do.
You go to them and you get what they know. You assume they will do the best they can for you, while in fact they only do what the system teaches them, promotes and allows them to do.
Why? "The ineffectiveness of chemotherapy and its unacceptable degree of toxicity."
Philip Day, Cancer: Why We're Still Dying to Know the Truth
This information is shocking to say the least. But consider this ...
Doctors today are not very different than they were 150 or 200 years ago. Back then the common practice was for interns and doctors working on cadavers to walk down the hall to deliver a baby without washing their hands. Many women died from the subsequent infections.
Finally a doctor in charge of a clinic figured out what was happening, and had them wash their hands. The infections stopped. When he published his results, the medical profession was outraged. Good doctors could not be the cause of something like this. The doctor was ostracized and fired.
He went elsewhere and repeated the experiment. Again, deaths dropped. Again he announced the results, and again the medical profession rose up against him. The end of the story was, he lost everything, went insane from the tragedy of it all, and eventually, so the story goes, killed himself.
Bottom line: Don't expect a doctor working inside the system to buck the system. The risks are too great.
According to the National Cancer Institute, about 500,000 people will be diagnosed with some form of cancer this year. You may not know it, but cancer -- NOT heart disease -- is the number one risk of death for most everyone.
Chemotherapy works by killing all cells -- throughout your body -- that multiply and divide rapidly. This would include cancer cells, and other rapidly multiplying and dividing cells, that we need, such as:
In 2004, the Journal of Clinical Oncology published a study about chemotherapy’s success rates when looking at how many cancer patients were still alive after 5 years. It states:
RESULTS: The overall contribution of curative and adjuvant cytotoxic chemotherapy to 5-year survival in adults was estimated to be 2.3% in Australia and 2.1% in the USA.
CONCLUSION: As the 5-year relative survival rate for cancer in Australia is now over 60%, it is clear that cytotoxic chemotherapy only makes a minor contribution to cancer survival. To justify the continued funding and availability of drugs used in cytotoxic chemotherapy, a rigorous evaluation of the cost-effectiveness and impact on quality of life is urgently required.
You’d be hard pressed to find anything still being touted as your best shot at a cure with an average success rate of just over 2 percent, which chemotherapy has, if it wasn’t for the fact that big profits were driving the recommendation. For stage 4 cancers the rate is less than half of one percent.
Fundamentally, chemotherapy rarely works. Worse, some drug treatments also promote the spread of cancer. But somehow the rationale to avoid these agents because they might promote cancer does not apply when it comes to drugs.
– A Cancer Journal for the Clinician article concludes by stating:
"...as a chemist trained to interpret data, it is incomprehensible to me that physicians can ignore the clear evidence that chemotherapy does much, much more harm than good."
Alan C Nixon, PhD, former president of the American Chemical Society
It is not all gloom and doom with chemotherapy. For two decades Dr. Perez Garcia has been using a treatment he calls Insulin Potentiation Therapy (IPT). It consists of giving a patient a dose of insulin followed by a tiny dose of chemotherapy.
Cancer cells have 15 times more insulin receptors than normal cells. The insulin dose helps to target chemotherapy into cancer cells because they have so many more insulin receptors. So small doses of chemotherapy can be used that cause little harm to normal cells. With Stage 1 or 2 cancer, IPT is, I read, about 80% successful, mixed results for more serious cancers. So after two decades of use, how many doctors were using IPT in the USA? 29. Hard to believe isn't it.
Many oncologists make much of their income from the markup they make on chemotherapy drugs, and small doses don't make big money.
You don't have to avoid chemotherapy or radiation therapy to receive benefits from natural products and supplements. In fact, nutritional supplements are quite useful when used in conjunction with chemotherapy, radiation therapy and surgery. The best ones work to support the body so that radiation and chemo will actually work better. In addition, the immune system will be stronger, and better able to keep cancer from developing again.
It makes sense, doesn't it, to supplement your chemotherapy or radiation treatments with other options that support your body and actually help it be much more effective in fighting cancer.
Many people only do chemotherapy and radiation therapy, and do not also support their body's fight against cancer in other ways. All too often, the cancer is not destroyed, or comes back a short while later. And no wonder...
If the immune system has been wiped out by chemotherapy or radiation, cancer is bound to overrun the body even faster than before.
Seeking other options after the doctors throw in the towel and say there is nothing else they can do, is necessary. It makes more sense to correct the underlying causes of cancer early on when the odds are much better. Especially with natural supplements that can do no harm.
Natural supplements won't hurt you. They can only help. They won't make chemotherapy or radiation therapy less effective. Instead they amplify the power of whatever cancer treatments you may be doing by attacking cancer in other ways, or supporting the health of the body and immune system. For example, research studies have shown that when you oxygenate cancer cells, radiation therapy is more effective at killing those cells. And beta glucan, when used in conjunction with some types of chemotherapy, produced marked improvement over chemotherapy alone.
Certainly some people beat cancer using chemotherapy or radiation therapy. But look at the number of deaths from cancer, and you see that too many people don't. Not using natural supplements to fight cancer is like being in a life and death struggle, and choosing to fight with one hand tied behind your back.
The more support you give your body, the better you will be at handling any possible side effects of chemotherapy and radiation therapy, and the better your body will be at fighting cancer. A natural approach to cancer is based on making your body healthier. To strengthen a depleted, worn out, under energized immune system that is not capable of killing cancer cells as fast as they are multiplying.
There are so many supplements that have anti-cancer properties, the choice of deciding what are the best to use can be overwhelming. This report will help you filter out the good or bad from the great. Besides taking into account feedback from users, speaking with manufacturers and industry insiders, we use energetic testing to help determine what products are important to use, and which may be a waste of time and money. The testing is subjective so we check and re-check the results to make it as accurate as possible. What it does is give you a general ballpark idea of what may be no good and what may be really good. The scale goes up to 1000, the higher the number the more healing power the supplement or procedure has. The numbers don't mean anything in and of themselves. They just enable a comparison of various supplements.
We gear this to what works best for cancer. Currently the best products we have found are a few in the 500 to 600 range. There are a few more in the 400s and more still in the 300s. Poor quality products, which are the vast majority of vitamins and supplements sold, will be in the 30s or 40s. Something less than 100. Products that may sound like they should be great, but are just okay, will be in the 100s. In the 200s products are starting to get good, but they are not great. We will give you the numbers we come up with throughout this report to better enable you to decide what might be worth trying and what might not.
http://www.cancer-prevention.net/
This excerpt posted below is from about half-way down into the article. I went to go print it because it's so damn wordy- its 90 pages worth and giving me a headache reading on screen. Definitely good information in here though- well worth the read.
What The Medical Industry Won't Tell You
About Treating Cancer
There was a woman whose daughter was in the advanced stages of brain cancer. She asked her oncologist if it was ok to give her daughter a superfood called blue green algae. Her doctor told her that it was no problem, that in fact a number of his patients had used that supplement with success in fighting cancer.Naturally she wondered why he didn't tell her about this product a year before when they came to him.
Unfortunately, he couldn't tell her about this or any "natural or alternative health therapies" and stay employed. Insurance regulations would preclude such suggestions. And he could get into administrative trouble by recommending natural, non-drug treatments for cancer.
His advice is controlled by a large medical industry that makes mega money off expensive cancer fighting drugs and treatments. An industry that doesn't look favorably on natural supplements or other cancer treatments as they cannot patent them to make high profits.
Fifty years from now, the current conventional cancer treatments used by doctors will on the whole be viewed in the same light that we view the old medical practice of using leeches to cure illnesses.
Chemotherapy and other treatments damage cells and tear down and weaken the immune system. But the problem in the first place is that your immune system is already weak, and that your cells are already damaged.
Even if tumors do go into remission, these treatments will have damaged other cells, which are more likely to turn cancerous. The immune system, unless it is supported by supplements and diet to help it recover, will be in worse shape then ever.
While it may have taken decades for cancer to develop the first time around, the second time usually takes a year or two.
Another reason why doctors ignore sensible, safe and healthy treatments for cancer, and recommend costly and illogical treatments instead -- is human nature. They advise and prescribe what they know. Just what we all do.
You go to them and you get what they know. You assume they will do the best they can for you, while in fact they only do what the system teaches them, promotes and allows them to do.
A Doctor's Shocking Closed-Door Confession...
In a survey of 79 oncologists from McGill University Cancer Center in Canada, 64 said they would not consent to treatment with Cisplatin, a common chemotherapy drug, while 58 oncologists said they would reject all the current trials being carried out by their establishment.Why? "The ineffectiveness of chemotherapy and its unacceptable degree of toxicity."
Philip Day, Cancer: Why We're Still Dying to Know the Truth
This information is shocking to say the least. But consider this ...
Doctors today are not very different than they were 150 or 200 years ago. Back then the common practice was for interns and doctors working on cadavers to walk down the hall to deliver a baby without washing their hands. Many women died from the subsequent infections.
Finally a doctor in charge of a clinic figured out what was happening, and had them wash their hands. The infections stopped. When he published his results, the medical profession was outraged. Good doctors could not be the cause of something like this. The doctor was ostracized and fired.
He went elsewhere and repeated the experiment. Again, deaths dropped. Again he announced the results, and again the medical profession rose up against him. The end of the story was, he lost everything, went insane from the tragedy of it all, and eventually, so the story goes, killed himself.
Bottom line: Don't expect a doctor working inside the system to buck the system. The risks are too great.
According to the National Cancer Institute, about 500,000 people will be diagnosed with some form of cancer this year. You may not know it, but cancer -- NOT heart disease -- is the number one risk of death for most everyone.
Chemotherapy works by killing all cells -- throughout your body -- that multiply and divide rapidly. This would include cancer cells, and other rapidly multiplying and dividing cells, that we need, such as:
- Bone marrow, which produces blood
- Digestive system
- Reproductive system
- Hair follicles
In 2004, the Journal of Clinical Oncology published a study about chemotherapy’s success rates when looking at how many cancer patients were still alive after 5 years. It states:
RESULTS: The overall contribution of curative and adjuvant cytotoxic chemotherapy to 5-year survival in adults was estimated to be 2.3% in Australia and 2.1% in the USA.
CONCLUSION: As the 5-year relative survival rate for cancer in Australia is now over 60%, it is clear that cytotoxic chemotherapy only makes a minor contribution to cancer survival. To justify the continued funding and availability of drugs used in cytotoxic chemotherapy, a rigorous evaluation of the cost-effectiveness and impact on quality of life is urgently required.
You’d be hard pressed to find anything still being touted as your best shot at a cure with an average success rate of just over 2 percent, which chemotherapy has, if it wasn’t for the fact that big profits were driving the recommendation. For stage 4 cancers the rate is less than half of one percent.
Fundamentally, chemotherapy rarely works. Worse, some drug treatments also promote the spread of cancer. But somehow the rationale to avoid these agents because they might promote cancer does not apply when it comes to drugs.
– A Cancer Journal for the Clinician article concludes by stating:
“Pending the publication of suitable trials, clinicians must be guided by existing data in the context of a fundamental principle of medicine, "Primum non nocere." (First do no harm.)And yet, conventional cancer treatments can in no way, shape or form ever be considered harmless.
"...as a chemist trained to interpret data, it is incomprehensible to me that physicians can ignore the clear evidence that chemotherapy does much, much more harm than good."
Alan C Nixon, PhD, former president of the American Chemical Society
It is not all gloom and doom with chemotherapy. For two decades Dr. Perez Garcia has been using a treatment he calls Insulin Potentiation Therapy (IPT). It consists of giving a patient a dose of insulin followed by a tiny dose of chemotherapy.
Cancer cells have 15 times more insulin receptors than normal cells. The insulin dose helps to target chemotherapy into cancer cells because they have so many more insulin receptors. So small doses of chemotherapy can be used that cause little harm to normal cells. With Stage 1 or 2 cancer, IPT is, I read, about 80% successful, mixed results for more serious cancers. So after two decades of use, how many doctors were using IPT in the USA? 29. Hard to believe isn't it.
Many oncologists make much of their income from the markup they make on chemotherapy drugs, and small doses don't make big money.
You don't have to avoid chemotherapy or radiation therapy to receive benefits from natural products and supplements. In fact, nutritional supplements are quite useful when used in conjunction with chemotherapy, radiation therapy and surgery. The best ones work to support the body so that radiation and chemo will actually work better. In addition, the immune system will be stronger, and better able to keep cancer from developing again.
It makes sense, doesn't it, to supplement your chemotherapy or radiation treatments with other options that support your body and actually help it be much more effective in fighting cancer.
Many people only do chemotherapy and radiation therapy, and do not also support their body's fight against cancer in other ways. All too often, the cancer is not destroyed, or comes back a short while later. And no wonder...
If the immune system has been wiped out by chemotherapy or radiation, cancer is bound to overrun the body even faster than before.
Seeking other options after the doctors throw in the towel and say there is nothing else they can do, is necessary. It makes more sense to correct the underlying causes of cancer early on when the odds are much better. Especially with natural supplements that can do no harm.
Natural supplements won't hurt you. They can only help. They won't make chemotherapy or radiation therapy less effective. Instead they amplify the power of whatever cancer treatments you may be doing by attacking cancer in other ways, or supporting the health of the body and immune system. For example, research studies have shown that when you oxygenate cancer cells, radiation therapy is more effective at killing those cells. And beta glucan, when used in conjunction with some types of chemotherapy, produced marked improvement over chemotherapy alone.
Certainly some people beat cancer using chemotherapy or radiation therapy. But look at the number of deaths from cancer, and you see that too many people don't. Not using natural supplements to fight cancer is like being in a life and death struggle, and choosing to fight with one hand tied behind your back.
Hit cancer hard. This is one fight you don't want to lose.
The more support you give your body, the better you will be at handling any possible side effects of chemotherapy and radiation therapy, and the better your body will be at fighting cancer. A natural approach to cancer is based on making your body healthier. To strengthen a depleted, worn out, under energized immune system that is not capable of killing cancer cells as fast as they are multiplying.
There are so many supplements that have anti-cancer properties, the choice of deciding what are the best to use can be overwhelming. This report will help you filter out the good or bad from the great. Besides taking into account feedback from users, speaking with manufacturers and industry insiders, we use energetic testing to help determine what products are important to use, and which may be a waste of time and money. The testing is subjective so we check and re-check the results to make it as accurate as possible. What it does is give you a general ballpark idea of what may be no good and what may be really good. The scale goes up to 1000, the higher the number the more healing power the supplement or procedure has. The numbers don't mean anything in and of themselves. They just enable a comparison of various supplements.
We gear this to what works best for cancer. Currently the best products we have found are a few in the 500 to 600 range. There are a few more in the 400s and more still in the 300s. Poor quality products, which are the vast majority of vitamins and supplements sold, will be in the 30s or 40s. Something less than 100. Products that may sound like they should be great, but are just okay, will be in the 100s. In the 200s products are starting to get good, but they are not great. We will give you the numbers we come up with throughout this report to better enable you to decide what might be worth trying and what might not.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Its all fun and games...
I was given this T-shirt a while back, and I've finally been able to hang it up in my office. Quite obviously this has special meaning to me. Haha. Thanks Kellie and Mark!
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Cancer: The Treatment, Part 2
Yeah yeah... its been a while since my last post on cancer.
Kind of a dreary subject- I know, but I guess its good to talk about it and get my thoughts out. So I last spoke about the first part of my treatment, here's a small recap:
I was to undergo two rounds of chemotherapy as a "preventative maintenance" on my body, to make sure all cancer cells were destroyed. I had been given Neulasta because my white blood cell count was dropping pretty low, and had a PICC line put in so that I wouldn't have to be poked every other day.
The PICC line was for the most part REALLY convenient. I remember my last day, my veins had atrophied a little and they had to poke me 8 times before they could get a good feed into my system. All those pokes could have been avoidable had I actually been able to keep the PICC in.
So, what happened to the PICC you may be asking? This post is about just that. My staff infection. I'm sure you're all drooling with anticipation!!!
Again, I want to stress this isn't about pity, I don't want people feeling bad about any of this, its my way of talking about what happened and bringing this moment of my life out for others to read about. So anyways! On to the show so to speak...
The Wedding
Ashley and I and a couple friends had a wedding to attend in August. Ash was the maid of honor and so had a pretty central role in the wedding. At this point things were starting to get edgy around our house. I was going through some really crappy bone pain, so much that it was difficult to lay still. Ashley was holding out like a trooper on the outside, but inside was being torn apart seeing me like that. I know now how upset she was, but she never showed it. To this day I feel bad, looking back, that she had to take the burden on her shoulders during this time.
So things were stressful to say the least and she had a lot of pent up anger and frustration, some directed at me, most directed at the situation. The wedding was in Steven's Point which was I dunno- maybe an hour and a half away from home. My mom took Isabella for the weekend in the hopes that we could have a nice quiet mini-vacation. We arrived in Stephen's Point the day before the wedding, and had a pretty uneventful day (in regards to my health). For the most part I felt normal, minus the pain in my legs.
But that changed before the ceremony when I started to feel very strange. I felt light-headed, I started to sweat quite a bit, I just couldn't get my bearings straight. I decided to stay in the hotel during the ceremony to try to get some more rest. Ashley at that point just figured I didn't want to be there and I think was a little upset with me for not making it. Which in all honesty was partially true- I really didn't want to be there. After all I had lost all my hair, I felt drained, it just felt like I wasn't me. I didn't want to look at me just as much as I didn't want others to!
So I sat the ceremony out, and climbed into bed. Later that night they had the reception, and I felt compelled to get out of the hotel. The main reason was because Ashley wanted desperately to dance with me at least once.
I went and was able to spend some quality time with Molly and Brandon (our wonderful niece and nephew). Ashley had been whisked away by the bride and groom for a time and so I was left to my thoughts. I ducked out for a time behind the reception hall and took a walk near a baseball diamond. I remember thinking about how wonderful life is and how fleeting this world is from a humans point of view.
We're all so busy busy all the time, its moments like that that I wonder for what- the world still moves of its own accord, life still blooms and time ticks onward. Is it worth it to be so busy? Would it not be more enjoyable to spend time not being busy! It was pleasant standing there watching the sun set. That is much more my element than a crowded hall with a hundred people I don't know and frankly don't care to know. But I digress!
I tend to do that every now and again! Anyways, I returned to the hotel fairly early that night (yes after dancing with Ashley), and abruptly fell to the pillow and blankets of our bed. I woke up several times shaking that night and couldn't get warm enough. I was sweating and had a very high fever, but felt ice cold.
We were both concerned the next morning when my condition hadn't improved. So we immediately left for home, and once there decided to go straight to the hospital.
The Staff Infection
We arrived at the hospital before we went home, and they admitted me into the emergency room where the nurse immediately took my temperature. It came back 99.5 degrees. Now if you know my wife, she is a no-bs kind of woman. She knew that my temperature was way higher than what the nurse had said it was and demanded that she retake it. When the nurse wouldnt, she found another nurse that would, and finally (much to my chagrin), my temperature was retaken (this time in a less humble location).
Turns out my temp was close to 104. I was shivvering and could not get warm, immediately the doc was in looking at my PICC line. The source of my fever was the PICC line, it had become infected. They unwrapped the PICC and began to pull it out. At which time, they noticed that there was a green (I know I know I'm really sorry for the visual here) liquid that came out. Without much warning, the doctor said- okay, we're pulling this out, you may feel a bit of a sting.
Now when they take a PICC line out, especially one that is close to your heart, you'd think they'd not yank it. But thats entirely what the doc did. He grabbed the end that was in my arm, and just started pulling it out. Within seconds the PICC was out and I was being given liquids to help hydrate.
I was in the hospital for 5 days recovering.
The doctor said that had I waited another few days, my arm would have needed to be amputated. I was only half way through my chemotherapy at this point, and boy was I done.
Again, my friends and family were so awesome during all this. They were all there for me and more importantly- there for Ashley, who really needed the shoulder to cry on. This was the closest to death I had ever come in life. The cancer seemed a little superfluous after that.
So to wrap things up, I was given a couple weeks to heal up before starting the last session of chemotherapy. I'll probably continue with that in another post...
Kind of a dreary subject- I know, but I guess its good to talk about it and get my thoughts out. So I last spoke about the first part of my treatment, here's a small recap:
I was to undergo two rounds of chemotherapy as a "preventative maintenance" on my body, to make sure all cancer cells were destroyed. I had been given Neulasta because my white blood cell count was dropping pretty low, and had a PICC line put in so that I wouldn't have to be poked every other day.
The PICC line was for the most part REALLY convenient. I remember my last day, my veins had atrophied a little and they had to poke me 8 times before they could get a good feed into my system. All those pokes could have been avoidable had I actually been able to keep the PICC in.
So, what happened to the PICC you may be asking? This post is about just that. My staff infection. I'm sure you're all drooling with anticipation!!!
Again, I want to stress this isn't about pity, I don't want people feeling bad about any of this, its my way of talking about what happened and bringing this moment of my life out for others to read about. So anyways! On to the show so to speak...
The Wedding
Ashley and I and a couple friends had a wedding to attend in August. Ash was the maid of honor and so had a pretty central role in the wedding. At this point things were starting to get edgy around our house. I was going through some really crappy bone pain, so much that it was difficult to lay still. Ashley was holding out like a trooper on the outside, but inside was being torn apart seeing me like that. I know now how upset she was, but she never showed it. To this day I feel bad, looking back, that she had to take the burden on her shoulders during this time.
So things were stressful to say the least and she had a lot of pent up anger and frustration, some directed at me, most directed at the situation. The wedding was in Steven's Point which was I dunno- maybe an hour and a half away from home. My mom took Isabella for the weekend in the hopes that we could have a nice quiet mini-vacation. We arrived in Stephen's Point the day before the wedding, and had a pretty uneventful day (in regards to my health). For the most part I felt normal, minus the pain in my legs.
But that changed before the ceremony when I started to feel very strange. I felt light-headed, I started to sweat quite a bit, I just couldn't get my bearings straight. I decided to stay in the hotel during the ceremony to try to get some more rest. Ashley at that point just figured I didn't want to be there and I think was a little upset with me for not making it. Which in all honesty was partially true- I really didn't want to be there. After all I had lost all my hair, I felt drained, it just felt like I wasn't me. I didn't want to look at me just as much as I didn't want others to!
So I sat the ceremony out, and climbed into bed. Later that night they had the reception, and I felt compelled to get out of the hotel. The main reason was because Ashley wanted desperately to dance with me at least once.
I went and was able to spend some quality time with Molly and Brandon (our wonderful niece and nephew). Ashley had been whisked away by the bride and groom for a time and so I was left to my thoughts. I ducked out for a time behind the reception hall and took a walk near a baseball diamond. I remember thinking about how wonderful life is and how fleeting this world is from a humans point of view.
We're all so busy busy all the time, its moments like that that I wonder for what- the world still moves of its own accord, life still blooms and time ticks onward. Is it worth it to be so busy? Would it not be more enjoyable to spend time not being busy! It was pleasant standing there watching the sun set. That is much more my element than a crowded hall with a hundred people I don't know and frankly don't care to know. But I digress!
I tend to do that every now and again! Anyways, I returned to the hotel fairly early that night (yes after dancing with Ashley), and abruptly fell to the pillow and blankets of our bed. I woke up several times shaking that night and couldn't get warm enough. I was sweating and had a very high fever, but felt ice cold.
We were both concerned the next morning when my condition hadn't improved. So we immediately left for home, and once there decided to go straight to the hospital.
The Staff Infection
We arrived at the hospital before we went home, and they admitted me into the emergency room where the nurse immediately took my temperature. It came back 99.5 degrees. Now if you know my wife, she is a no-bs kind of woman. She knew that my temperature was way higher than what the nurse had said it was and demanded that she retake it. When the nurse wouldnt, she found another nurse that would, and finally (much to my chagrin), my temperature was retaken (this time in a less humble location).
Turns out my temp was close to 104. I was shivvering and could not get warm, immediately the doc was in looking at my PICC line. The source of my fever was the PICC line, it had become infected. They unwrapped the PICC and began to pull it out. At which time, they noticed that there was a green (I know I know I'm really sorry for the visual here) liquid that came out. Without much warning, the doctor said- okay, we're pulling this out, you may feel a bit of a sting.
Now when they take a PICC line out, especially one that is close to your heart, you'd think they'd not yank it. But thats entirely what the doc did. He grabbed the end that was in my arm, and just started pulling it out. Within seconds the PICC was out and I was being given liquids to help hydrate.
I was in the hospital for 5 days recovering.
The doctor said that had I waited another few days, my arm would have needed to be amputated. I was only half way through my chemotherapy at this point, and boy was I done.
Again, my friends and family were so awesome during all this. They were all there for me and more importantly- there for Ashley, who really needed the shoulder to cry on. This was the closest to death I had ever come in life. The cancer seemed a little superfluous after that.
So to wrap things up, I was given a couple weeks to heal up before starting the last session of chemotherapy. I'll probably continue with that in another post...
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Cancer: The Treatment, Part 1
So I've been meaning to talk about this for a while, but every time I sit down to go over my thoughts I find I haven't got a clue on how to begin...
I suppose first off I want to make it clear that I don't want this to come off sounding like I want sympathy from any of you. That's not what this is about. Its more about discussing my experiences and how the chemotherapy affected me. A memoir of sorts on what I've felt and learned from this life experience.
My treatments were administered by a team of wonderful people, people who cared for not only myself, but for my family as well. I am still amazed at how I was treated, and in fact how I saw them treat all the patients in the oncology center- never once did I feel a burden or invisible.
In fact, when Ashley and I first sat down with the nurse to speak about the treatment process, the wonderful lady cared so much for us that she began to tear up, quite obviously overtaken with emotion.
I'll admit it was a little unnerving to see her saddened at the thought of my condition, though I understand she probably remembered others who were in her care that weren't as fortunate as myself. I don't honestly know how doctors and nurses like her can do it- it takes a certain caliber of strength and humbleness to be able to look after others in such a manner. Is humbleness a word?
The Process
So my treatment began on a Monday in July, 2006. I was to undergo two six-week cycles. Each cycle would begin with a five day regiment during the first week, with the next three weeks requiring a visit only on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. The last two weeks of the cycle were only Monday visits to take tests, clean the PICC line and recoup from the first round of medicine.
It was decided that since I would be getting these treatments on a rather continuous basis, I would have a PICC line put in (for information on PICC lines click here). Basically it is a catheter inserted in the inner bend of your elbow that runs up a large vein and ends just north of your heart.
From here, the medicine could be administered without the hassle of daily needle pokes and such. So, this was a simple outpatient procedure that took all of an hour. It was pretty interesting watching them do it, I could see on the monitor as they fed the tube up my arm and into my chest, was something I'd never really witnessed (or much care to witness again). This was done a few days before my chemotherapy began. Over the course of the treatment, I had two of these PICC lines put in.
So now I had a little tube hitch-hiker dangling from my inner left elbow. It would require daily maintenance and had to remain dry- something I wasn't particularly looking forward to. Imagine putting a plastic bag around your arm every morning when you showered, taking care to tape it shut (and I have arm hair mind you). It was convienent though, for the most part.
I walked in the first day feeling a little apprehensive and well okay, a little scared. I knew though, that for all my anxiety, Ashley's must have been triple-fold. Even if she did well to hide it.
As we walked in we were greeted again by the nurses who would be taking care of us, and my anxiety was quickly put to rest when the nurses began to oogle over Isabella. She was just over 6 months old. Suddenly it felt more like a family get-together than anything else. We talked for a little bit while the nurses brought in the IV and (I'm not sure of the technical term) the drip machine thingy.
I was hooked up in no time and was recieving a combination of fluids and medication. We were there for several hours at a time, usually around two-to-three if I can remember correctly. Lunch was always provided (even if rarely taken) and lights were turned off when I wanted to sleep. They made it a very comfortable place, and Isabella was always with us.
How it affected me
So I didn't really feel anything until the third day. I felt... different.
It was like my energy was robbed away, at least in part. I'm not sure how much of this was mental at this stage, but I know that part of it had to be. I had decided to take off from work during this time, and focus on getting through the treatments. This did offer quite the relief on my every day routine, however in hindsight, this was probably a careless descision on my part.
It caused a time of financial stress on us that was difficult to overcome. I would like to mention that it was our dear friends and family who looked after us most generously during this time. We're very lucky to have such wonderful people around us.
I digress...
The third day I began to feel weak, I was sleeping more and my appetite was beginning to diminish. My bowel movements began to change and I remember being plugged up for several weeks (sorry for the visual), which is (ask anyone who knows me) not really usual for me (we'll put it that way).
After the first five-days were through, I had a brief and very welcome break during the weekend. I again began to feel my energy return which carried me through the next week feeling little distress.
After the second week, my white blood cells had diminished significantly, something that is normal for people undergoing chemotherapy. It was decided that I would recieve Neulasta to beef up my bodies defenses (for information on Neulasta click here). Already I was beginning to feel a dip in my body, this one perhaps greater than the first. I was hoping for relief from the new drug, but knew what the doctor had told me- it may cause mild to moderate bone pain.
I thought it wouldn't be too bad...
So I had three shots of this I believe, and boy was I wrong. I remember it laid me flat for many days, unable to walk, feeling feeble and drained. It was as if I couldn't get comfortable in any position. Sleep came difficult as I could not stop from tossing and turning, unable to find relief to the pain that had developed in my leg bones and arm bones especially. Unfortunately they were necessary and in hindsight, I was lucky to have my white blood cells return to an average level. I remember putting Ashley through some difficult times during this event. I can only sit in wonder to think of everything shes done for me over the years.
Now by this time I was just entering my fifth week. It was the two-week break before the next treatment and I had some time away from the drugs. The hair on my head and face had fallen out by now, but oddly enough, my leg and arm hair remained (though thinner).
I remember I put my hand up to my goatee one day and moved it down towards my chin. When I looked at my hand, it was covered in hair. I could literally take my hand and run it through the hair on my head and have sections of it just fall right out. Thats when it was time to shave!
Its too bad I was so white I probably wouldn't have looked half bad bald if I had been tanner... I digress again... So the next main chapter in this story is my staff infection. I'll save that for another entry...
I suppose first off I want to make it clear that I don't want this to come off sounding like I want sympathy from any of you. That's not what this is about. Its more about discussing my experiences and how the chemotherapy affected me. A memoir of sorts on what I've felt and learned from this life experience.
My treatments were administered by a team of wonderful people, people who cared for not only myself, but for my family as well. I am still amazed at how I was treated, and in fact how I saw them treat all the patients in the oncology center- never once did I feel a burden or invisible.
In fact, when Ashley and I first sat down with the nurse to speak about the treatment process, the wonderful lady cared so much for us that she began to tear up, quite obviously overtaken with emotion.
I'll admit it was a little unnerving to see her saddened at the thought of my condition, though I understand she probably remembered others who were in her care that weren't as fortunate as myself. I don't honestly know how doctors and nurses like her can do it- it takes a certain caliber of strength and humbleness to be able to look after others in such a manner. Is humbleness a word?
The Process
So my treatment began on a Monday in July, 2006. I was to undergo two six-week cycles. Each cycle would begin with a five day regiment during the first week, with the next three weeks requiring a visit only on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. The last two weeks of the cycle were only Monday visits to take tests, clean the PICC line and recoup from the first round of medicine.
It was decided that since I would be getting these treatments on a rather continuous basis, I would have a PICC line put in (for information on PICC lines click here). Basically it is a catheter inserted in the inner bend of your elbow that runs up a large vein and ends just north of your heart.
From here, the medicine could be administered without the hassle of daily needle pokes and such. So, this was a simple outpatient procedure that took all of an hour. It was pretty interesting watching them do it, I could see on the monitor as they fed the tube up my arm and into my chest, was something I'd never really witnessed (or much care to witness again). This was done a few days before my chemotherapy began. Over the course of the treatment, I had two of these PICC lines put in.
So now I had a little tube hitch-hiker dangling from my inner left elbow. It would require daily maintenance and had to remain dry- something I wasn't particularly looking forward to. Imagine putting a plastic bag around your arm every morning when you showered, taking care to tape it shut (and I have arm hair mind you). It was convienent though, for the most part.
I walked in the first day feeling a little apprehensive and well okay, a little scared. I knew though, that for all my anxiety, Ashley's must have been triple-fold. Even if she did well to hide it.
As we walked in we were greeted again by the nurses who would be taking care of us, and my anxiety was quickly put to rest when the nurses began to oogle over Isabella. She was just over 6 months old. Suddenly it felt more like a family get-together than anything else. We talked for a little bit while the nurses brought in the IV and (I'm not sure of the technical term) the drip machine thingy.
I was hooked up in no time and was recieving a combination of fluids and medication. We were there for several hours at a time, usually around two-to-three if I can remember correctly. Lunch was always provided (even if rarely taken) and lights were turned off when I wanted to sleep. They made it a very comfortable place, and Isabella was always with us.
How it affected me
So I didn't really feel anything until the third day. I felt... different.
It was like my energy was robbed away, at least in part. I'm not sure how much of this was mental at this stage, but I know that part of it had to be. I had decided to take off from work during this time, and focus on getting through the treatments. This did offer quite the relief on my every day routine, however in hindsight, this was probably a careless descision on my part.
It caused a time of financial stress on us that was difficult to overcome. I would like to mention that it was our dear friends and family who looked after us most generously during this time. We're very lucky to have such wonderful people around us.
I digress...
The third day I began to feel weak, I was sleeping more and my appetite was beginning to diminish. My bowel movements began to change and I remember being plugged up for several weeks (sorry for the visual), which is (ask anyone who knows me) not really usual for me (we'll put it that way).
After the first five-days were through, I had a brief and very welcome break during the weekend. I again began to feel my energy return which carried me through the next week feeling little distress.
After the second week, my white blood cells had diminished significantly, something that is normal for people undergoing chemotherapy. It was decided that I would recieve Neulasta to beef up my bodies defenses (for information on Neulasta click here). Already I was beginning to feel a dip in my body, this one perhaps greater than the first. I was hoping for relief from the new drug, but knew what the doctor had told me- it may cause mild to moderate bone pain.
I thought it wouldn't be too bad...
So I had three shots of this I believe, and boy was I wrong. I remember it laid me flat for many days, unable to walk, feeling feeble and drained. It was as if I couldn't get comfortable in any position. Sleep came difficult as I could not stop from tossing and turning, unable to find relief to the pain that had developed in my leg bones and arm bones especially. Unfortunately they were necessary and in hindsight, I was lucky to have my white blood cells return to an average level. I remember putting Ashley through some difficult times during this event. I can only sit in wonder to think of everything shes done for me over the years.
Now by this time I was just entering my fifth week. It was the two-week break before the next treatment and I had some time away from the drugs. The hair on my head and face had fallen out by now, but oddly enough, my leg and arm hair remained (though thinner).
I remember I put my hand up to my goatee one day and moved it down towards my chin. When I looked at my hand, it was covered in hair. I could literally take my hand and run it through the hair on my head and have sections of it just fall right out. Thats when it was time to shave!
Its too bad I was so white I probably wouldn't have looked half bad bald if I had been tanner... I digress again... So the next main chapter in this story is my staff infection. I'll save that for another entry...
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Cancer: The Diagnosis
Wednesday, May 10th 2006
I remember the day that I was told I had testicular cancer, it was much like many other busy days in life, I think it was sunny outside...
I had an appointment with the doc mid-morning, it was a regular follow up to a pain I had felt in my left testicle a couple weeks earlier. Though the pain never receded like he thought it would, I wasn't feeling overly anxious- after all I was already thinking of lunch. I remember feeling rather irritated in myself that I had skipped breakfast that morning because my stomach was grumbling. Later in the day I had to scurry off to work, a prospect that interested me least of all. So there I sit in the waiting room, thinking about lunch, waiting to get the visit over with.
Unconsciously a week before I remember taking the dogs outside and I was awash with this gut feeling that the pain was cancer. I can't really describe the feeling other than to say it was not unlike an internal conversation I was having with myself. I seem to have them often, as that's the way my mind works. I tend to say the words in my head before I talk, a habit that makes it difficult to think on my feet in certain situations- I tend to think too hard when I want to say something important.
"Am I making them feel uncomfortable? I am aren't I. Say something. Quickly, okay um... man- whats that word again..." until finally I blurt out "it's a nice ...day today huh?". Such is the way my mind works. Oi...
Even despite having had this conversation in my head a week before, it still hit me like a train was boring down on me- tied to the tracks and feeling a bit helpless to get out of its way. I remember the doctor saying "We'll need you in for an ultrasound, and most likely surgery... today."
While I was digesting the new information about the body that I've known for the better part of 27 years, I was absolutely fixated on his last word: "today" Was it really that bad? Was it going to grow into more areas of my body- had it already? It was like my body was under siege, and that millions of little ninja's had full run of it.
Next came a flurry of activity and I soon remember walking across to another section of the hospital on one of those elevated bridges that cross the streets. I looked down at the cars and it was just Ashley, Isabella and me for a good length of time. I watched the cars going by below me, almost feeling silly- that here I am the one who's in shambles. I'm supposed to be strong for our family, I'm the one who takes care of them. The cars reminded me of my blood cells moving through my arteries. The analogy made me realize just how fragile I was.
It wasn't long before I was taken to a room, and the preparations for surgery had begun. Most of the day had come and gone by then, I remember it was sunny and I wished I hadn't skipped breakfast. Leaving Ashley and Isabella, I was wheeled into another room, where they gave me a black sharpie and instructed me to draw an "x" on my inner thigh- the side that they would eventually remove the tumor from.
I was perplexed to say the least and all I could think about was- "You mean to tell me you guys don't know!?" I nonetheless obliged and then was told to take my contacts out. Now without my contacts, I'm blind as a bat is in sunlight- wait but bats have sonar- so I was left feeling rather screwed and a little hesitant about what was going to happen next. They put an IV in and the next thing I know I'm getting some pretty decent medication.
So off they wheel me to surgery, and here I am feeling a little funny an X drawn on my inner left thigh. The nurses help make me feel at ease, and soon they're asking me questions while I squint at my surroundings passing me by. I remember telling them that I like movies and then mention King Kong. I can't be sure, but I'm fairly certain I talked at length about that big ape, probably butchering the storyline only to fall into a dreamless sleep (most likely drool accompanying me).
Great, way to make a good impression Mariucci.
The surgery went very well, and soon I awoke in a room with my loving wife. I remember little of the following hours, only that the morphine was making me feel ill, and that I desperately wanted to go home and be left in peace and quiet.
It was well beyond the point of reflection, for I had cancer and within 5 hours of its diagnosis, it was out of me. Surreal I would call the experience, as I really hadn't had the time to digest it. I was lucky, and am happy to be able to count my blessings.
The sun did shine that day, I remember...
I remember the day that I was told I had testicular cancer, it was much like many other busy days in life, I think it was sunny outside...
I had an appointment with the doc mid-morning, it was a regular follow up to a pain I had felt in my left testicle a couple weeks earlier. Though the pain never receded like he thought it would, I wasn't feeling overly anxious- after all I was already thinking of lunch. I remember feeling rather irritated in myself that I had skipped breakfast that morning because my stomach was grumbling. Later in the day I had to scurry off to work, a prospect that interested me least of all. So there I sit in the waiting room, thinking about lunch, waiting to get the visit over with.
Unconsciously a week before I remember taking the dogs outside and I was awash with this gut feeling that the pain was cancer. I can't really describe the feeling other than to say it was not unlike an internal conversation I was having with myself. I seem to have them often, as that's the way my mind works. I tend to say the words in my head before I talk, a habit that makes it difficult to think on my feet in certain situations- I tend to think too hard when I want to say something important.
"Am I making them feel uncomfortable? I am aren't I. Say something. Quickly, okay um... man- whats that word again..." until finally I blurt out "it's a nice ...day today huh?". Such is the way my mind works. Oi...
Even despite having had this conversation in my head a week before, it still hit me like a train was boring down on me- tied to the tracks and feeling a bit helpless to get out of its way. I remember the doctor saying "We'll need you in for an ultrasound, and most likely surgery... today."
While I was digesting the new information about the body that I've known for the better part of 27 years, I was absolutely fixated on his last word: "today" Was it really that bad? Was it going to grow into more areas of my body- had it already? It was like my body was under siege, and that millions of little ninja's had full run of it.
Next came a flurry of activity and I soon remember walking across to another section of the hospital on one of those elevated bridges that cross the streets. I looked down at the cars and it was just Ashley, Isabella and me for a good length of time. I watched the cars going by below me, almost feeling silly- that here I am the one who's in shambles. I'm supposed to be strong for our family, I'm the one who takes care of them. The cars reminded me of my blood cells moving through my arteries. The analogy made me realize just how fragile I was.
It wasn't long before I was taken to a room, and the preparations for surgery had begun. Most of the day had come and gone by then, I remember it was sunny and I wished I hadn't skipped breakfast. Leaving Ashley and Isabella, I was wheeled into another room, where they gave me a black sharpie and instructed me to draw an "x" on my inner thigh- the side that they would eventually remove the tumor from.
I was perplexed to say the least and all I could think about was- "You mean to tell me you guys don't know!?" I nonetheless obliged and then was told to take my contacts out. Now without my contacts, I'm blind as a bat is in sunlight- wait but bats have sonar- so I was left feeling rather screwed and a little hesitant about what was going to happen next. They put an IV in and the next thing I know I'm getting some pretty decent medication.
So off they wheel me to surgery, and here I am feeling a little funny an X drawn on my inner left thigh. The nurses help make me feel at ease, and soon they're asking me questions while I squint at my surroundings passing me by. I remember telling them that I like movies and then mention King Kong. I can't be sure, but I'm fairly certain I talked at length about that big ape, probably butchering the storyline only to fall into a dreamless sleep (most likely drool accompanying me).
Great, way to make a good impression Mariucci.
The surgery went very well, and soon I awoke in a room with my loving wife. I remember little of the following hours, only that the morphine was making me feel ill, and that I desperately wanted to go home and be left in peace and quiet.
It was well beyond the point of reflection, for I had cancer and within 5 hours of its diagnosis, it was out of me. Surreal I would call the experience, as I really hadn't had the time to digest it. I was lucky, and am happy to be able to count my blessings.
The sun did shine that day, I remember...
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