Cancer Resources

More than 60,000 American women are diagnosed with DCIS annually. For those unfamiliar with the term, and I was too until I was diagnosed with it in 1999, DCIS stands for Ductal Carcinoma In Situ, which is a growth of malignant cells inside the milk ducts of the breast. Some doctors call it a pre-cancer, while others say that it’s the earliest stage of cancer.

I don’t know for sure, but I imagine if you’re reading this article you personally or someone in your life has been diagnosed with DCIS and you’re wondering what kind of treatment is best, given that it’s labeled a pre-cancer or early stage cancer. Should you choose treatment that is as aggressive as that prescribed for aggressive cancers, or people with large tumors?

As I am not an oncologist, but a 10-year cancer survivor, I am not in a position to give you any advice. But your questions are ones the medical profession has been asking itself lately as well. Susan Reed, an obstetrician-gynecologist at Seattle’s Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center recently served on an expert panel on DCIS in September, 2009 at the National Institutes of Health. Reed was quoted as saying that the medical profession is asking women to make decisions that are crucial to their lives, without a lot of hard evidence. Continue reading ‘DCIS Diagnosis – Does This Cancer Diagnosis Require the Rigorous Treatment Used For Other Cancers?’ »

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Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has proven to be a very important tool for discovering many forms of cancer. From diagnosis to evaluating the efficacy of treatment, visualizing a tumor allows physicians to gather real-time information about the behavior of a specific cancer.

Magnetic resonance imaging uses magnets and radio waves to move electrons in human tissue which allows the tissue to be visualized. As each tissue in the body has a specific frequency that can be detected, each tissue produces a specific resonance that can be collected and formed into an image. Fatty tissues and muscular tissues produce different frequencies when placed in a magnetic field, so each of these tissues will have a distinct pattern of resonance. Those patterns are transformed into an image by converting these frequencies into visual patterns. This also allows normal tissues to be differentiated from abnormal tissues. Normal bone and muscles will appear dissimilar than those with tumors. As there is no radiation with an MRI, these tests can be performed as often as needed without affecting a patient’s overall body exposure to radiation. This can be very important in those patients that may be utilizing radiation for the treatment of their tumor. Continue reading ‘MRI for Cancer Diagnosis and Evaluation’ »

At the moment of cancer diagnosis, there is a marker in life, which bookmarks personal time as either Before Cancer or After Cancer.

But before that, there is the in-between time, when you don’t quite know what is happening. You may have experienced troubling symptoms for some time, followed by lab work or medical exams. Or, it may have all started with a routine trip to the doctor – you were told that something seems suspicious or wrong. “How long has this lump been there?” After that, you may have gone through more visits and more tests, several weeks apart.

So at the time of receiving the definitive news of cancer, you have already been feeling fear, dread, confusion – many unpleasant feelings. While waiting for test results, you might have been counting on relief or expecting the worst. While waiting, we usually cope in the way that is most familiar, using our habits and patterns of thinking and feeling. If you are upbeat, you probably stayed that way. If you are more like Eeyore in Winnie the Pooh, you probably have been feeling dark and dismal. Continue reading ‘Cancer Changes Everything’ »

National Cancer Survivors Day is an annual holiday dedicated to celebrating life after cancer diagnosis. Managed by the National Cancer Survivors Day Foundation, this holiday is held on the first Sunday in June each year. National Cancer Survivors Day 2011 will be held on June 5th. Started in 1988, this year marks the holiday’s 23rd anniversary. Originally held solely in the United States, holiday celebrations now also take place in Canada, India, the Netherlands and many other nations around the world.

Thanks to medical research and early detection, the number of cancer survivors has increased dramatically over the past decades. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, while there were 3 million survivors in 1971, the figure for 2007 was 11.7 million of people who are living with this disease. Continue reading ‘National Cancer Survivors Day’ »

Cancer treatment can have a negative impact on your immune system and this is why you need to find ways to enhance it. This will help you fight the disease and restore your health. There are various practical steps that you can take including using Beta Glucan to enhance your health. The medication that is used to fight the disease is very strong therefore you need Bill Henderson cancer advice about how to take care of yourself to make the treatment more effective.

Proper Nutrition
One of the things you should do after your diagnosis is to pay attention to what you eat. According to Bill Henderson cancer, the foods you eat will determine how good your immune system is. When you have this disease, your diet needs change because you require more energy to handle the treatment. This means that you will need additional calories and proteins compared to a healthy individual. Continue reading ‘Beta Glucan – Boosting Your Immunity After Cancer Diagnosis’ »

Stress and worry created by a childhood cancer diagnosis can increase with financial concerns. The impact on a family can create a financial burden that cannot be anticipated. Parents of children with cancer might experience a sharp decrease or loss of income, an increase in medical and personal expenses such as food, travel and lodging away from home, and inadequate insurance coverage that can create a significant financial strain.

Studies show that even families with full health insurance will spend 25 percent or more of their income on co-payments. Severe difficulties face families with no or little insurance. However, local and national organizations are available to help with a variety of resources so that major hardships might be avoided Continue reading ‘Financial Support For Childhood Cancer’ »

Cancer has a huge impact on most people when it is first diagnosed. The person with the disease goes through a wide range of emotions including fear, anger, anxiety and sadness. But those emotions are not restricted to the sufferer. Members of the ill person’s family can also run the gamut of emotions including depression and despair.

So the first step on the road to battling cancer is to accept that everyone involved is affected. Some will suffer a greater impact than others but no-one will be exempt from the difficult times ahead.

So how might the impact of your cancer be seen in your family? Well some family members, particularly children, may suffer fear and anxiety. Young children will see the change in the patient’s appearance and their dietary changes and the attention being given to the patient. This can be confusing and cause anxiety. Continue reading ‘How Does My Cancer Impact My Loved Ones?’ »