Home     Log in

Archive for November, 2008

Living With Prostate Cancer

November 29th, 2008 by admin | No Comments | Filed in Uncategorized

The baby boomer population bubble has now reached 60 years old. This means that many of us are going to need to face illness and diseases that come with surviving six decades. Prostate cancer is one such disease that is expected to grow in number over the next few decades.

Statistically 180,000 new cases are being diagnosed in the United States every year with about 32,000 men dying from this disease annually. Although these are the statistics that are used, the fact is that many of these men will will die and not from the actual , but from allowing the cancerous condition to grow until it is unmanageable. This is due to the fact that can metastasize or move from the prostate area and infect organs, bones and lymph nodes.

This should cause every man to pause and realize that is a serious disease that if given the chance will kill you. It is now the second leading cause of cancer deaths among men in the United States after . In Canada about 17,000 males are diagnosed with each year and about 4,200 die each year from the disease.

The sad fact is that many of these deaths are avoidable. As with many cancerous diseases, early detection is the key to effective treatment and even cure. Prostate cancer is diagnosed based upon how advanced the malignant tumor has grown. In the early stages, we have maximum flexibility in treatment options and can both manage and in many times cure this potentially deadly disease.

Diagnosis usually start with a medical history as studies have shown that heredity may be a factor with . Next, a DRE or digital rectal exam is done. This is a quick and simple exam where the doctor feels your prostate for any abnormal bumps, size difference or texture. In addition to a DRE, the doctor may suggest a Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) blood Test. This blood test looks for abnormal markers that may indicate the presence of a developing cancerous situation.

There’s growing evidence to suggest that a diet very rich in vitamins and nutrients can also help maintain our body’s ability to ward off many serious diseases. Although the definitely not a cure for , the use of natural remedies to strengthen your body’s immune system can only help to keep you healthy. There’s no question that a low-fat diet along with appropriate vitamins and minerals can help keep you healthier and make you better able to fight off disease.

Several studies have suggested that men who had a diet rich in and vitamin E. had fewer cases of . The kinds of foods that contain include meat, grains, seafood, and some kinds of nuts. It’s critical that you meet with your doctor before making any radical changes to your diet as other problems may arise. There’s also some evidence to suggest that the nutrient lycopene found in tomato based products such as ketchup can provide some protection against contracting .

According to a study in the British Journal of Urology International, men that have been diagnosed with who take supplemental lycopene (is found in very high amounts in tomatoes) and still get their testicles surgically removed are likely to experience less bone pain, less disease and stand more chances of living longer than those who have only had surgical removal of their testicles.

In the end, a partnership with your medical doctor is the best way to remain healthier longer. By taking some responsibility for your health, changes in your lifestyle are much easier to make.

Abigail Franks writes on a variety of subjects which include family, health, and home. For more info on Living with visit the sites at prostate-cancer-treatment-expert.com/more_articles/prostate-cancer-support.php prostate-cancer-treatment-expert.com/more_articles/prostate-cancer-support.php and prostate-cancer-treatment-expert.com prostate-cancer-treatment-expert.com

Tags: , ,

Related posts

Tags: , ,

Raising Eyebrows to Cure Leukemia - Six Personal Factors in Determining One’s Outcome

November 29th, 2008 by admin | No Comments | Filed in Uncategorized

Six years ago, my husband Devin was diagnosed with Acute Lymphacytic Leukemia. In the midst of Devin riding the roller coaster of relapse and remission, I began to write. I had no other outlet for what I was feeling at the time, nor did I have the energy to seek one. Three years later, Devin succumbed to the disease though we were the ones who were supposed to “make it.”

To begin with, we had the love and support so often associated with success in cancer diagnoses. When Devin was first diagnosed, we were living in Oregon, 2000 miles away from our home state of Ohio. Devin’s parents had recently retired and lived in Oregon only three hours away. My parents too were retired and spent weeks at a time with us, just to be near. Socially, Devin was well-liked, strong, healthy and generous with his time and energy.

Second, Devin and I had been astute enough, and financially successful enough, to invest our salaries and bonus monies in life insurance policies and other long-term strategies. Eventually, due to his rank within the company and his past earnings, the disability checks we received during Devin’s treatments allowed us to balance our checkbook.

Alongside those first two aspects, we had a reason to get up in the morning and his name was Davis. Despite his premature birth, Davis had turned out healthy and became our inspiration for everyday living.

Next, Devin was being treated under the watchful eye of Dr. Keith Lanier in Portland. Later, after moving back to Cincinnati due to a job consolidation, Devin had been referred to the practice of Dr. Philip Leming. When the insurance company considered dropping this physician’s group from their coverage, Dr. Leming wrote a persuasive note to convince the company otherwise.

In conjunction with the above, Devin had access to stellar insurance coverage. When we did embark on a bone marrow/stem cell transplant, we were presented with the option for Devin to undergo this process in the Pacific Northwest at a “blue chip” facility - Seattle’s Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. As Dr Leming put it at time, “That’s what they do, and they do it well.”

Finally, we had attitude. Devin maintained a positive outlook on life, this disease, and how this could help make him a stronger person – I quote from his diary - “God has a plan for me in all of this – and each day (it’s only been 5!) I learn more about what the plan might entail.”

Outside of the disease itself, the above are crucial factors in the successful treatment of a . But there are instances when insurance, caregivers, money, love, and medical care simply do not matter. Ours was that instance. The only thing that would have mattered at the time was a cure.

It took six years of writing a book, illbeinthecar.com I’ll Be in the Car, to accept the fact that we had all the means for success and in the end, it did not matter. I’ll Be in the Car is the story about Devin and me. But more so, about how our lives were impacted. I wanted others to witness that we fought over money, in-laws, child-rearing and lawn-mowing, in the midst of fighting . I wanted others to know even during Devin’s down days, we held bridal showers, went on vacation, and watched movies and read Tuesdays with Morrie, before the notion of Devin dying had even crossed our minds.

Two weeks after Devin died Davis and I began our journey of fundraising for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society by attending our first Light the Night Walk, surrounded by more than fifty family members, friends and neighbors who were still in shock and needing to grieve. Over the years, we continued our participation, walking with friends, sisters and brothers and finally just Davis and me.

Two months ago, I married a wonderful man whose first wife also died of cancer. He brought three motherless daughters into our marriage. The other night as a family, we had been out spooking the neighborhood, leaving tricks and treats and laughing all the way home. Later, while putting my son to bed, I saw that he had been crying. “Davis what’s the matter?” I asked. And he just burst out, “I didn’t get to say goodbye to Dad.”

This is six years later. And that one moment sends me backwards in time, wishing there had been a cure. If we cannot have a cure, if we cannot raise millions of dollars, then we must raise eyebrows while finding other means of comforting those affected. We must tell the story of little boys who still miss their dads, of young women who still grieve for a mom I can never replace. We must talk about mothers and fathers who still yearn to see their son walk through the door at Christmastime. And we must be the voice for friends and lovers, husbands and wives whose light we carry inside.

Annette Januzzi Wick is author of I’ll Be in the Car: One Woman’s Story of Love, Loss and Reclaiming Life, available from ThreeArchPress.com ThreeArchPress.com or nationwide. She speaks passionately about comforting the bereaved and finding a cure through cancer organizations such as the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, book clubs, church groups and Women Writing for (a) Change. She lives with her newly blended family in Cincinnati, OH.

Tags: , ,

Related posts

Tags: , ,

Pain Control And Cancer Sufferers

November 29th, 2008 by admin | No Comments | Filed in Uncategorized

Pain control is a common issue when you are dealing with cancer patients. Most of the time the pain is caused from a tumor, but there is the chance pain begins somewhere other than the cancer itself. Surviving cancer and the treatments needed beat cancer can be extremely difficult, especially when excruciating pain accompanies the situation. Finding a way to manage the pain of cancer can help an individual persevere through the ordeal.

Pain can be acute or chronic. Acute pain is severe, but short-lived and chronic is pain that lasts for longer periods of time, and can range from mild to severe. Sometimes patients will experience breakthrough pain, which is pain that breaks through medications prescribed to the patient.

According to the National Comprehensive Cancer Network’s (NCCN) August 2005 pain prevention report, one-third of cancer patients experience pain with their treatments. The NCCN also reports that nearly two-thirds of patients with recurring cancer or advanced stages of cancer experience pain.

Pain control is possible, even for those suffering from cancer, and it can give a patient a better quality of life. Pain in cancer patients is most often a result of the cancer itself, but sometimes it can result from a specific treatment, such as radiation therapy.

Pain can be relieved through several ways. For example, pain control can be through medications, relaxation methods, acupuncture or mental therapy sessions. Each patient is unique and pain can be evaluated through a cancer team made up of specialists such as an oncologist, anesthesiologist, pain specialists and your physician.

It is important for you to discuss any pain you experience with your doctor or medical professional so they can figure out what methods would work best for you. The earlier pain is ministered to, the easier it will be to handle it during your cancer treatments.

If you experience pain that is unrelated to your cancer diagnosis, it is important to find the best method to stop the pain before beginning your treatment. For example, arthritis pain prevention can be found through physical therapy sessions, water therapy or oral medications.

If a patient suffers from cancer in the spinal cord, he or she may need to learn about back and neck pain control. This type of pain occurs because the cancer causes the spinal cord to compress, causing sharp pains in the back and neck regions.

Pain control means finding a way for you to live a functional life, especially when you are trying to battle cancer. There are several methods used today to help alleviate pain in patients. The National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) web site discusses medicines used to alleviate pain, such as antidepressants, morphine or over-the-counter pain relievers.

The NCI also mention certain treatments that don’t involve medications. These methods use massages, acupuncture treatments, rhythmic breathing and biofeedback to find a solution for a patient’s pain. All of these treatments can assist with treating swelling or severe aches often associated with cancer.

Every individual is different, and their bodies are going to react differently to medication and therapy. You should always inform your doctor of recurring pain so he or she can give you advice given on finding a pain-relieving treatment that fits your particular situation.

Your doctor can find a means to administer pain control when you are taking treatments for cancer. All that is needed is some basic information from you about where the pain is and how long it lasts. Fighting cancer does not have to be a never ending uphill battle. Instead, it can be made a more manageable experience thanks to proper medications and therapies administered by a physician.

Andi Michaels has worked in healthcare and now runs health related websites on topics including notesoncancer.info treating cancer as well as sites on -knowledge.info lung diseases

Tags: , ,

Related posts

Tags: , ,

Cancer - Fifteen Warning Signs

November 28th, 2008 by admin | No Comments | Filed in Uncategorized

1. Losing weight at a rapid rate (among people not being on a diet), gasses, discomfort, digestive disorders, anorexia, recurring diarrhoea, constipation – are the symptoms occurring most frequently in case of lung, stomach, kidney and large intestine cancer. If accompanied by a feeling of weakness, it can be a sign of blood loss or lack of proper elements building it.

2. Pain of unknown cause – long-lasting stomach-ache can be the symptom of large intestine cancer, lumbalgia can be the sign of kidney cancer, pain in the chest can result from . Bone aches can be caused by metastasis.

3. Haemoptysis, long-lasting hoarseness (over 3 weeks), persistent cough or change of its character – can be caused by lung or larynx cancer.

4. Change in colour of moles and warts, ulceration and itching, ulceration of open wounds, burns and scalds can be the signs of .

5. Excessive production of urine, backlog of urine, painful urinating, slow, time-consuming flow of urine, lumbago as well as backache can be the signs of .

6. Pain, vertigo, nausea, sight distortions (oversensitized sight, astigmatism), hearing impediment, upset balance and mental disorders can result from brain cancer.

7. Swallowing difficulties – can be a symptom of throat, larynx, oesophagus and stomach cancer.

8. Feeling of fullness in epigastrium, aches and digestive disorders – may be due to stomach cancer and other kinds of alimentary canal cancer, sometimes ovary cancer.

9. Blood in faeces, black faeces, alternating diarrhoea and constipation, mucus in faeces, narrow (pencil-like) faeces – are the symptoms of alimentary canal cancer, especially of large intestine and rectum.

10. Blood in urine (without the symptoms of urinary tracks inflammation), dysuria (compulsive urination, difficulties in urination) – can accompany the urinary tracks cancer.

11. Improper bleeding from the genital tracks, pink or dark-red vaginal discharges, hypogastrium and lower limbs ache can be the signs of vagina, uterine cervix and uterus cancer.

12. Marks on skin and mucosus membrane (lips, oral cavity, genitals): not ulceration, change in mark’s appearance, occurrence of new skin marks of some specific features (irregular distribution of pigment, vague line between the mark and healthy skin, quick growth of the marks, bleeding, dripping).

13. Breast tumour (by approximately 15% - 25% can be impalpable), ulceration, the retraction of nipple, asymmetrical nipples, change of size or the shape of a nipple, its swelling and the marks around it, enlargement of lymphatic glands in the armpit, extension of veins in the breast skin, ulceration of breast skin, shoulder swelling, flat efflorescene in case of the so called advanced inflammation nipple cancer – are often the symptoms of .

14. Fever, tiredness, bones and joints ache, inclination to temporary anaemia and bleeding, impalpable tumour of abdominal cavity, as a result of spleen enlargement, that can be detected in gastro-bowel test.

15. Pain and pressure in the upper right part of stomach, tiredness, anorexia and at a further stage of rhe disease a palpable tumour in the upper right part of stomach, inclination to jaundice and bleeding can be the signs of liver cancer.

Copyright 2006 Radoslaw Pilarski

Radoslaw Pilarski is a PhD candidate working on anticancer properties of Uncaria tomentosa - uncariatomentosa.com uncariatomentosa.com - at PAS, Poland. mLingua Worldwide Translations, Ltd. - mlingua.pl mlingua.pl - provides professional language translations.

Tags: , , , ,

Related posts

Tags: , , , ,

Asbestos Attorneys Online

November 28th, 2008 by admin | No Comments | Filed in Uncategorized

There are a multitude of websites dedicated to asbestos-related lawsuits. They provide information such as how to file an asbestos case. These websites even help you find good asbestos attorneys. It is easy to find asbestos attorneys online, as almost all good attorneys list themselves in various websites. Many law firms also boast their own websites. Attorneys who do not have their own websites usually register with a bar association website.

There are numerous websites dedicated solely to law and related issues. These websites contain online resources such as articles related to asbestos lawsuits. Online resources also tell you where to find a good , how to approach him, and what points to discuss in the initial consultation. Additionally, there are online articles related to asbestos-related ailments such as and the medical costs involved in treating them. Private websites that are owned by law firms and attorneys contain information on previous lawsuits handled by them. They tell you the case histories and the compensation amount won in each of those cases. Well-qualified and experienced asbestos attorneys usually have a good track record of winning large compensation amounts for their clients. These compensation amounts, usually to the tune of millions, are displayed on these websites to attract more clients.

Most law-based websites feature online search tools to find asbestos attorneys. Asbestos victims usually prefer attorneys from their own states, so, websites provide online searches that can be narrowed down to a state, county, or city. Websites belonging to bar associations generally maintain databases containing information about their members. They also give information on attorneys’ success rates.

e-AsbestosAttorneys.com Asbestos Attorneys provides detailed information on Asbestos Attorneys, Asbestos Cancer Attorneys, Asbestos Litigation Attourneys, Asbestos Mesothelioma Attorneys and more. Asbestos Attorneys is affiliated with e-AsbestosLawyers.com Asbestos Trial Lawyers.

Tags: ,

Related posts

Tags: ,