Breast Cancer Blog

Submitted by The Stupid Cancer Blog

The brain tumor cell phone link rages on. The latest conclusion of a leading cancer expert is not likely to quiet the debate. According to neurosurgeon Dr Vini Khurana, over 100 studies reveal cell phones will kill more people than smoking unless, and until, the cell phone industry makes cellphones safer to use. The cell phone industry disputes the brain tumor danger.

What can you do to reduce exposure from cell phone radiation? Keep it away from your head as much as possible. Limit cell phone use. Keep cell phones out of the hands of children who are more susceptible to radiation exposure. Read Mobile phones more dangerous than smoking.
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Submitted by The Stupid Cancer Blog

Cancer is not just a tumor to be dealt with, eradicated or removed. Cancer comes delivered with a truckload of fear and frustration, and it is these emotions that seem as devastating as cancer itself. Eight-year-old A.J. Azevedo has a brain tumor but he is too young for radiation therapy. Surgery is not an option. The doctors cannot tell how fast the brain stem tumor is growing and they feel an operation might damage his motor skills. And so, for now, the small boy will not use a telephone thinking it might have caused his cancer and his mother disinfects their home more than is probably needed.

As any cancer survivor knows, there are endless doctor appointments and tests. Azevedo’s mother says he doesn’t complain. He worries how this life event is affecting the people around him, especially his mother. She said he asked, “Would you be better off without me?” To which his mother replied, “Buddy, you’re the whole reason I get up.”

This son and mother need all the cancer survivor friends they can get, and it is the obligation of those who survive to reach out to those who are valiantly marching through the first dark miles of a cancer diagnosis.

The news story comes out of a Twin Falls, Idaho newspaper. Azevedo attends Perrine Elementary School and is being treated at St. Luke’s Mountain State Tumor Institute in Boise, Idaho. Hope takes only a moment to give, but the gift of hope can last a lifetime. If you can, reach out.
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Submitted by The Stupid Cancer Blog

Arizona Diamondbacks Doug Davis has been diagnosed with thyroid cancer. The 32-year-old Davis has announced he will play on until surgery April 10 and fully expects to return to pitching shortly after surgery. During a press conference, Davis said,

“It’s going to take me down for a while but not out for good. I know I’m not going through this alone. I know I’ve got all the help in the world, and I’m definitely optimistic of the outcome.” Davis feels playing ball keeps his mind off the cancer diagnosis.

During a routine examination, doctors discovered a lump in his throat. A biopsy revealed cancer. Davis’ mother is a thyroid cancer survivor.
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Submitted by The Stupid Cancer Blog

Last Thursday evening against the Dallas Mavericks, Denver Nuggets center forward Nene returned to the court after surgery to remove a malignant testicular tumor and a round of chemotherapy. Nene was diagnosed with testicular cancer less than three months ago.

Nene received a standing ovation from fans, and according to one sports reporter, “Some looked as if they were on the verge of tears and clearly were touched by his return.”
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Submitted by Dr.Kattlove’s Cancer Blog

It must be frustrating for a woman with breast cancer to learn that after she has had surgery, she is only part way through her treatment. Often there will be hormone treatment or chemotherapy or both; and, if she has had a lumpectomy (about half of all women), she will also need radiation to the breast.

Why do we give radiation to the breast if the cancer has been removed? It’s because the cancer often will come back in the breast and radiation cuts the chances of this happening by half. Clearly, in some women – about 5-10%, some cancer cells have dodged the surgeon’s knife.

So traditionally, radiation oncologists have treated the breast with radiation 5 days a week for 5 to 6 weeks. That’s a lot of time out of a woman’s life and many doctors have wondered whether the radiation could be given over a shorter time with fewer treatments.

There have been a few studies that show that this can be done and now a really good study has come out of England that proves it. Several radiation centers participated in treating a little over 2000 women after their lumpectomies for breast cancer. Half the women received the usual 25 treatments over 5 weeks and another half got a slightly higher dose of radiation each time but only 15 treatments in 3 weeks.

Five years later, the women who got the shorter treatment had no more recurrences in the breast than did those who received the traditional 25 treatments over 5 weeks. In fact, their recurrence numbers (2.2%) were lower than the women with the longer treatment schedule (3.3%). And the concern that slightly higher doses over a shorter period would damage the breast (the breast can become scarred and hard) turned out to be unfounded. Actually the women with the shorter treatment tended to end up with better looking breasts. The researchers actually took pictures of all the women for comparison.

So why are we in the U.S. still using the older longer regimen? One reason is that there are a lot of radiation facilities in the U.S. and we don’t want them to stand idle. Treatment schedules tend to conform to capacity. That’s why most of the studies of shorter treatments come from Canada and Great Britain where the supply of radiation facilities is limited.

Still, that doesn’t mean a woman should spend her time going to radiation treatments if it isn’t necessary. Nor should they (or their insurance companies) have to pay more than necessary – 15 treatments are cheaper than 25).

It’s time for radiation oncologists to discard their traditional approach and give these women a break.

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Submitted by The Stupid Cancer Blog

As chemo prices rise, doctors get first guidelines on discussing affordability.You’ve just been diagnosed with cancer, and the doctor is discussing treatment options. Should the cost be a deciding factor?Chemotherapy costs are rising so dramatically that later this year, oncologists will get their first guidelines on how to have a straight talk with patients about the affordability of treatment choices, a topic too often sidestepped.“These are awkward discussions,” says Dr. Allen Lichter of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, which is writing the guidelines. “At least we can bring this out in the open.”

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Submitted by Dr.Kattlove’s Cancer Blog

Every so often, a doctor would refer me a patient who had widespread cancer without any warning signs or symptoms. Usually, we could diagnose the origin of the cancer – lung, pancreas, testicle, stomach were often the likely sites. The cancer would start in these organs and then quickly spread throughout the body without any tip off. There it was!

But sometimes, we were unable to figure out where the cancer started. These cancers are called “cancers of unknown primary”. We don’t know how often these occur, because no one keeps statistics on these. I would probably see one or two patients with this diagnosis each year. Usually, treatment wasn’t effective and they would die in a short space of time. Most publications say that about 2-5% of all cancers fall into this category. I suspect it is lower. As our diagnostic imaging tools have improved, we are able to pin down the origin of some of these.

At one time, I predicted that genetic tests would pinpoint the origin of more of these cancers. Now I think that time has come. Researchers from Israel have found that a small gene associated molecule called “micro RNA” can tip us off to the origin of widespread cancers. Micro RNA is a new player in the genetics game. It has only been known about for a few years. It functions as a control valve for genes and plays a role in turning them on or off.

The Israeli researchers found that each type of cancer has a specific set of micro RNAs that can distinguish them from others. By checking a cancer’s line of micro RNAs, they were able to call the origin of cancers in most patients with widespread cancer. These were patients where the origin of the cancer was known, but not to the researchers.

Will this help? Probably. In the past, we would try to guess where the cancer started. If they had cancer in lymph nodes in the chest and abdomen and were males, the cancer might be related to testicular cancer and would often improve with chemotherapy designed for testicular cancer. If the cancer was in lymph nodes under a woman’s arm, then breast cancer was the likely diagnoses. If they were a big time smokers with cancer all over, we would think of lung cancer. Then we would treat with chemotherapy based on our guess.

The problem with this approach is that the chemotherapy was often ineffective and, because we had guessed wrong, patients had to put up with all the side effects of chemotherapy while they were dying of this very fatal disease. So now if we know where the cancer started, we can better tailor our treatment. Will this help? Perhaps a little. The major advantage of knowing the diagnosis is that if we know what cancer we are dealing with and if it doesn’t respond to the chemotherapy appropriate for that cancer, we can lay off and concentrate on keeping the patient comfortable during their last months.

No great breakthroughs for these unfortunate people, but at least a possible measure of comfort.

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Submitted by The Stupid Cancer Blog

The sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer in women is poised to become one of the leading causes of oral cancer in men, according to a new study.

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Submitted by The Stupid Cancer Blog

CNN’s Anderson Cooper was back at work Wednesday after minor surgery two days earlier to remove a cancerous mole from underneath his left eye.

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Submitted by The Stupid Cancer Blog

The BC Cancer Agency is launching a massive study aimed at determining if a test for the human papilloma virus (HPV) can replace the Pap test as an effective tool for cervical cancer screening.The collaborative study, which also includes the BC Centre for Disease Control, the UBC faculty of medicine and the McGill University department of epidemiology, will involve up to 33,000 participants and 100 family doctors over the next seven years.The study is the first long-term and largest study of its kind in North America. Over the last 20 years, it has become apparent that infection from HPV is the primary cause of cervical cancer,” Dr. Andy Coldman, BC Cancer Agency vice-president of population oncology, and principal investigator of the study, said in a news release.”If we can test for the presence of high-risk strains of this virus, we believe we can identify women who are truly at risk for developing cervical cancer and its precursors.”

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Submitted by The Stupid Cancer Blog

Further cuts in reimbursement rates are forcing doctors to reject new patients.After San Diego ear, nose and throat physician Ted Mazer recently billed the state’s medical insurance program for the poor for a tonsillectomy, he got a check for $168, too little to cover surgical costs. The balance came out of his pocket.Now legislators have cut the rates even further, leaving Mazer resolved to shut his doors to new Medi-Cal patients. Almost every other specialist in his field countywide has already done the same, he said.”I am the last guy I know of still taking [Medi-Cal] on a regular basis,” he said. “I am seeing patients from the Riverside and Orange County lines all the way down to the border.”Statewide, many other doctors report that they too are abandoning Medi-Cal, even those who had stuck with it for years out of a sense of professional responsibility.In response, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom is expected to announce in Sacramento on Tuesday that a coalition of local governments and healthcare providers plans to file suit to force a rollback of the 10% cut in fees paid to doctors that was approved by legislators in February.

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Submitted by The Stupid Cancer Blog

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Submitted by The Stupid Cancer Blog

Young survivors who’ve banded together share their stories – So what does a group of young cancer survivors look like?That’s what’s going through my mind as I stand inside the entrance to Clover Lanes on Monroe Avenue. I’m there to meet the members of Rochester Young Adult Survivors of Cancer. The group is a local chapter of the New York City-based foundation I’m Too Young For This, a national support group for cancer survivors under 40.Ignorantly, I find myself looking for a group of people with physical characteristics that would somehow distinguish them from the hundreds of others in the crowded bowling alley. Then, from behind me, I hear a voice: “Are you Troy?”I turn and see a young woman with a slice of pizza and a beautiful smile.This is Leah Shearer, leader of Rochester Young Adult Survivors of Cancer. Behind her is a group of other young cancer survivors and their families and friends — all eating pizza, drinking soda and bowling. I shake hands with every member of this welcoming bunch. But the person I am most interested in talking to, the one with whom I’ve been exchanging e-mails for weeks, is Shearer.She’s the reason we’re all here on this particular night.Last November, Shearer — who has been treated for two forms of cancer — started Rochester Young Adult Survivors. Her inspiration was a phone conversation last year with the founder of I’m Too Young For This, Matthew Zachary.
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Submitted by The Stupid Cancer Blog

Despite a boisterous and impassioned campaign by numerous groups of cancer survivors to save the acclaimed freshman hour series “Side Order of Life” from the chopping block, Lifetime quietly pulled the plug on the show today without bothering to release a statement. (The information was discovered via unofficial sources mere minutes ago — so this is the first word.) It’s not the classiest way of handling things, but it is, unfortunately, the way of the television world. So the bottom line is, a hoped-for second season of the show is not to be.This is sad news indeed for several hundred thousand cancer survivors all over the United States who had been drawn to the seriocomic “Side Order” by its uncompromising realism in depicting a cancer victim named Vivy (Diana Maria Riva). It was widely praised for portraying this character’s cancer as a manageable life trauma rather than a manipulative and maudlin plot point that need end in wrenching pain and a protracted death.That “Side Order” didn’t burn up the ratings charts is clear, having averaged below a 2.0 average during its 13-episode original run last summer and early fall. But neither did it tank entirely. Its numbers wre low when compared to the breakout Lifetime hit “Army Wives” but decent in comparison to the network’s other original series productions (particularly in the reality realm). Given the grassroots effort to rescue the series, there remained hope for a return engagement. In the end, it was not to be. Too bad. It deserved far better. And given how few of the network’s shows seem to strike anything close to the passionate chord this one did, I believe it’s Lifetime’s loss.

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Submitted by Dr.Kattlove’s Cancer Blog

The most recent update of cancer statistics has just been published, and the news is mildly encouraging. First, the bad news. If you are a man, the chance of developing cancer in your lifetime is nearly one in two. For women the chance is lower, at one in three. Cancer has replaced heart disease as the leading cause of death for people younger than 85. Over 85, heart disease wins, but cancer is slowly taking over. The reason cancer is overtaking heart disease is not because cancer rates are increasing. They are not (more on that later). Instead, deaths from heart disease are dropping quickly. Blame better treatment to lower cholesterol and blood pressure.

But there is a lot of good news. Both the rate of new cancers and death rate in men have dropped. Most of this is due to a drop in the rates for lung cancer (more men are avoiding smoking) and prostate cancer (don’t know why there are fewer of these). There has also been a downward trend in colorectal cancer, probably because of screening – although more needs to be done.

For women, the picture is not as bright. Lung cancer deaths have not dropped, meaning women haven’t yet given up their cigarettes as readily as the boys have. But colorectal and breast cancer death rates have gone down.

The best news comes from the data on children. Survival rates from all sorts of cancers continue to rise, making the chance that a child will die of cancer less likely than ever.

But, there is one more preventable cancer risk factor, overweight and obesity. These increase cancer risk by around 30%, meaning we are our own worst enemy. So after putting away the cigarettes, we need to push back from the table earlier and start with less on our plates. A little exercise wouldn’t hurt either.

These are all small but important steps, especially for adults. Still we can’t eliminate the next most important risk factor, aging. Cancer is a disease of aging and as our population gets older, our cancer numbers are sure to climb.

Nothing we can do about aging (or want to).

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Submitted by The Stupid Cancer Blog

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released the results of a study on sex and teens. One in four girls had a sexually transmitted disease. Of sexually transmitted diseases, the human papillomavirus (HPV) tops the list. HPV is linked to cervical cancer.

Public health officials said a large number of young people have unprotected sex, many with multiple partners. In a 2007 study by the D.C. public school system, 60 percent of high schoolers and 30 percent of middle schoolers reported having sex. Twenty percent of the high school students said they had had sex with four or more people, and 12 percent of the middle schoolers said they had had three or more partners.

Reasons? In the world of teens, sex is cool and virgins are mocked. Oh, and bad parenting, according to a teen interviewed for the news article STD Data Come as No Surprise, Area Teenagers Say.

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Submitted by The Stupid Cancer Blog

Blogged.com is all about blog discovery. It’s a place for readers to discover interesting blogs and for authors to discover who their readers are. Blogged goes beyond being a traditional blog directory. We focus on providing tools for bloggers and readers alike. Through our database of over 200,000 blogs, readers can discover and explore new blogs.

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Submitted by The Stupid Cancer Blog

The mostly listless response of the viewing public during the writers strike seemed to beg the question of whether the masses even care about primetime television anymore. There was no visible outrage over folks missing their shows and having them replaced by unscripted imposters. Where there should have been three months of ire, there instead rose indifference.Given this inconvenient truth, it plays as almost quaint that a highly committed grassroots campaign to save a TV series might still be successfully mounted. The whole idea of taking pen to paper, or even finger to keyboard, and imploring a network exec to keep a show around feels a little bit like using a hand-crank telephone.Yet somehow, the growing effort to rescue the Lifetime original dramedy “Side Order of Life” — a show on the bubble that may or may not see a second season — feels different, perhaps in part because of those doing the crusading: survivors of cancer. We like to smugly instruct obsessed fans of TV shows to “Get a life!,” but this series, and what it represents, truly IS their life.

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Submitted by The Stupid Cancer Blog

Cancer Survivors Lobby Lifetime TV to Order More of ‘Side Order of Life’

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Submitted by Dr.Kattlove’s Cancer Blog

Every cancer prevention message always emphasizes that you should limit your exposure to sunshine as much as possible. But is this the right message? Sure, we know that skin cancer is caused by sun exposure. Although the most common skin cancer, basal cell cancer, almost never poses a threat, the less common skin cancer, melanoma can be a killer.

But how about other cancers? The National Cancer Institute publishes a document called the Cancer Atlas that portrays the rate for different states by colors. Red means a high rate and blue a low one. The map for melanoma naturally finds that southern states are red and northern one blue. No surprise – lots more sun in the South so expect more melanoma. But check out the maps for cancers of the breast, colon, ovary and prostate. Now the Northern states are red, and the Southern ones blue. There are a lot more of these cancers in the North than in the South.

Why is this? Most researchers point to Vitamin D as the link between sunshine and a reduced cancer rate. Much of our vitamin D comes from sunshine. Sure some foods, especially milk are fortified with vitamin D to protect northerners or couch potatoes from getting deficient in vitamin D. But good old sunshine is a more important source.

Sunshine makes vitamin D by converting substances in the skin to this vitamin. In fact, one theory why Africans are black and northern Europeans are white has to do with vitamin D. The black skin blocks sunlight and protects the Africans against making too much vitamin D, which can be toxic at high levels. The light skin of the Europeans allows vitamin D production in these lands of low sunshine.

So why not just take Vitamin D pills? The problem is that so far researchers have been unable to prove that taking vitamin D will prevent cancer. There are studies in progress, but none are anywhere near complete. Also, the vitamin D in the pills may be slightly different chemically, from the Vitamin D produced by sunshine.

So what’s the bottom line? More sun or less? We really don’t know.

But don’t be so trusting that staying out of the sun is good for you.

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Submitted by The Stupid Cancer Blog

Personal health records, or PHRs, were all the buzz at last week’s health-tech conference in San Diego — especially recent entries by Google and Microsoft that have the rest of the industry energized, focused and at least a little bit frightened.

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Submitted by The Stupid Cancer Blog

Matthew Zachary is interviewed by ICYou.com at the 2008 Spring Fling Health2Con event in San Diego, CA.

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Submitted by The Stupid Cancer Blog

At a time when everybody is doing the Internet, watching DVDs, playing video games, even reading — seemingly everything but watching TV — it seems almost quaint that a highly committed grassroots campaign to save a television show might still be successfully mounted. But maybe, just maybe, a galvanized and dedicated group of fans will be able to help rescue the Lifetime drama “Side Order of Life” from imminent doom. One reason the effort could well have influence on Lifetime heads Andrea Wong and Susanne Daniels for a show on the bubble is that the vocal supporters aren’t just any old obsessed fans whom we might be tempted to tell, “Get a life!”. This series, and what it represents, truly is their life.

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Submitted by The Stupid Cancer Blog

If there’s ever been a chance to prove this rather unorthodox theory…the time is at hand. Lifetime’s groundbreaking series Side Order of Life has been hovering on the verge of cancellation for months now. The drama that aired this past fall featured the story of a small circle of early 30s who rally around their beloved friend, Vivy, who has been diagnosed with cancer. Personally, I think this show is just what the survivorship movement needs. But Lifetime is waffling.

Somehow by a series of minor miracles the show has not yet been cancelled. But Lifetime still has not moved to renew. They think “fans of the show are not passionate enough.”

THEY UNDERESTIMATE US.

As a last ditch effort fans of the show and especially us cancer survivors are now sending menus (that’s right, menus) to Lifetime. ANY KIND OF MENU! You know those pesky little take-out menus the local pizza joint stuffs on your windshield or the ones you might have sticking out of a couch cushion? We need all the army of menu mailers we can get our hands on! If you see this pass it on to friends, tell them to send their menus. Our campaign is no-fuss, no frills and cheap and simple. All we need is teamwork.
Send your menu to Lifetime and include whatever you want to say about saving this show…your personal story…whatever moves you. But the important part is you get it stamped and in the mail. Write “ I WANT SIDE ORDER OF LIFE BACK ON THE MENU” somewhere on it and pop it in the mail ASAP.

LIFETIME ENTERTAINMENT
c/o ANDREA WONG
World Wide Plaza
309 West 49th Street
New York, N.Y. 10019

Let’s show these execs that cancer survivors believe in media that handles cancer with integrity, honesty and with heart. If you haven’t seen the show, take my word for it. The writer’s strike is over and television viewers are left still wondering “is there anything on television worth watching anymore?” Your answer lies not in what’s on television but on what needs to be put back on television.

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Submitted by The Stupid Cancer Blog.

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