Our Cancer Friends Become Most Important
After years of living in cancerland, I have learned our cancer friends become most important. Before cancer, you meet someone with a cancer diagnosis, and you can get stuck in this awkward pause thing.Am I supposed to ask how they are doing? Or will they think I am prying? Do I mention cancer, or not? Do ask I when they are going to a hospice? Do I ask to bring them a casserole? You aren ' t really sure. And you really do not want to offend them, because, well, they have CANCER! And you cut them some slack if they aren ' t up for socializing.... is cancer catching?Once you have a cancer diagnosis under your belt, you under...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - February 18, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: cancer bonds friends idiots Source Type: blogs
Breast Cancer Fake News
The ' secret ' breast cancer cure, that the pharmaceutical industry has known about and hidden from patients in an effort to make money, has been revealed and been approved by the FDA. Now you can just get an (side effect free) injection and are immunized from any potential cancer diagnosis. One lifetimeCures are also in the works for congestive heart failure, emphysema, Alzheimers, AML, MS, rheumatoid arthritis, and fibromyalgia. These should be approved by the FDA by the end of the year.As a result the world ' s population is now increasing at an exponential rate. NASA is developing new plans for colonies on Mars in the ...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - February 16, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: fake news wishful thinking Source Type: blogs
Chemo Without Losing Your Hair!?!?
I had heard about these when I was in chemo -cooling caps to prevent hair loss. They were knew and being tested and not really available. Now new research shows that wearing a cooling cap seems to prevent hair loss for most patients during chemo for breast cancer. Sounds easy doesn ' t it? No pills, no real side effects. I could wear a hat during chemo easy, peasy.I think (based on what I have heard and am not sure I remember all the details correctly) that patients wear a cooling cap during their chemo session and then keep it on for another 45 minutes or so. Small studies have shown that women who wear the cooling cap, l...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - February 15, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: breast cancer treatment hair side effects Source Type: blogs
More Evil Cancer Cells
So I didn ' t know (or maybe I kind of knew and was pretending I didn ' t) that some cancer cells go hide in your body to come out later as metastases. However,current research has been working on this issue." ...researchers have discovered the conditions by which specific signals in primary tumors of head and neck and breast cancers can pre-program cancer cells to become dormant and evade chemotherapy after spreading. "How nice. Or actually how evil! I think it is pretty nasty when cancer cells hide so they can recur and try to kill you. The elude conventional treatments including chemotherapy.However I think its pretty d...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - February 14, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: breast cancer treatment cancer cells cancer recurrence cancer research Source Type: blogs
Exercise, or Reducing AI's Side Effects
All of us ' lucky ' people with hormone positive breast cancer, get the ' benefit ' of being able to take hormone therapy or aromatase inhibitors (AIs) such as Femara, Aromasin, etc. These lovely little pills potentially reduce your risk of breast cancer recurrence (that most dreaded of all possibilities).However these aforementioned lovely little pills cause nice side effects such as bone loss and joint pain. I have friends who had to discontinue AIs because of these side effects. They can be THAT bad.So anew research study (because we always need more research) has come up with a cure for these issues: Exercise. Parts of...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - February 13, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: breast cancer treatment exercise hormone therapy side effects Source Type: blogs
Every One's Cancer Is Different
I now know many women, dozens, probably more like hundreds, who have been diagnosed with breast cancer. Sadly not all are still with us.The one thing I have learned is that everyone ' s cancer is different and presents differently. A case in point is a friend went to see another friend who was newly diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer. Two months after her diagnosis she cannot walk with out a cane because of the mets in her hips and her arm is huge with lymphedema. Two months! Her first symptom was hip pain.I have a friend who was diagnosed with breast cancer at stage IV about four years ago and she was gone within 8 wee...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - February 12, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: breast cancer breast cancer treatment outcome Source Type: blogs
Sleep Deprived
I have had this ' dumb a$$ ' CPAP machine for 12 days now. I hate it. I hate the little mask over my nose that squishes it even though I have loosened up the strap as much as I can.I hate the way the hose from the mask to the machine comes from the back of my head so I can ' t sleep on my back without the pillow under my shoulders and neck so the hose is off the pillow so it doesn ' t stick into my head.I hate the little online app that is like big brother and tracks how long I use it, if the mask is sealing, how many apnea ' incidents ' I have each hour and how many times I take it off and on each night. It also has a lit...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - February 11, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: advances lack of sleep medical crap Source Type: blogs
Deciphering Test Results
As a result of my RA and its treatment, I need to get blood work done every two months, or more often. How fun.Yesterday I went for my first blood work of 2017 to find out that the doctor ' s standing orders in the hospital ' s computer system ended at the end of 2016. I had to call my doctor to get them reinstated. Then the tech tried three times in my elbow (I have little scrawny veins and only one available arm after chemo) before trying twice in the back of my hand before getting in.Now I have the results back and I am trying to decipher them. What exactly do they mean? I know a few of them, but not all:My red blood co...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - February 9, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: blood tests doctor questions Source Type: blogs
Breast Cancer Update 2017
Several organizations have posted their latest information on the status of breast cancer in the US in 2017. I just foundthis overview with links to various resources for more information. So go read up on (Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog)
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - February 8, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: breast cancer breast cancer treatment Source Type: blogs
Research for Cancer People
I would be happy to participate in research that might benefit other cancer people in the future. However, I am always told that I have too many other ailments and am not eligible. Insert ' Unhappy Face ' here.But I was overjoyed to find out that there will be a program on this Friday February 10 at 12 pm ET that will talk about how people with cancer can participate in research. Its a webex session meaning that you can participate remotely.I learned about this program by being subscribed toJohns Hopkins Artemis (which provides the best information on new breast cancer research). If you have breast cancer and aren ' t subs...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - February 7, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: breast cancer cancer research Source Type: blogs
The Difference With A Good Doctor
This morning I had a wonderful experience having injections in my spine around T8 and T9 where I have a couple of desiccated discs. (Apparently I did something to my back in the previous years - my money is on the time I knocked the wind out of myself in front of the upper ski lodge with a deck full of skiers.) Desiccated discs are common in older adults (70+). Once again I am proving I am less healthy than most people 20 years old than me.Today my new pain management doctor did the procedure. He was nice and talked to me first. Then he asked me during the procedure if I could feel anything and he would add more pain meds....
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - February 6, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: back pain doctors medical adventures pain management Source Type: blogs
World Cancer Day - Was Yesterday
I forgot. Well maybe someone said something yesterday but I missed it. Yesterday was World Cancer Day. Iblogged about it in 2014 and have since forgotten about it. (Maybe chemo brain?) Its supposed to be a day to debunk the myths surrounding cancer among other things.But if us cancer people can ' t remember it, its not going to work. I almost feel like its another ' Hallmark ' holiday. I don ' t think it has much significance to me. Especially when I can ' t remember it and have to go look it up every year.I guess its just not working for me. (Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog)
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - February 5, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: holiday Source Type: blogs
The Bigger Problem Than Lack of New Cancer Treatments
I constantly read articles on the advent of new cancer treatments. I think they are wonderful. But they are not always instituted.In 2014, new guidelines started to recommend sentinel node biopsies instead of full axillary node dissections to detect cancer spread. They are told not to do axillary node dissections (AND) if the patients cancer is under 5 cm and if breast cancer was only found in one or two sentinel nodes." Sentinel node biopsies are done on early-stage breast cancer patients to stage their cancer and determine if it has infiltrated the lymph node system, a common signal of cancer spread. "Axillary node ...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - February 4, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: breast cancer treatment cancer research uncertainty with doctors Source Type: blogs
A Really Good Reason For Not Eating Tofu
I have been aided in avoiding tofu by the confusion over whether eating soy contributes to breast cancer growth. I really hate tofu. My mother fed it to us as children and I didn ' t like it then and I don ' t like it now. I might eat a little bit in my hot and sour soup but I will never order a dish which is tofu based.But now (finally) we have clarification on the soy or no soy for women with breast cancer:The issue is eating soy products seems to give women protection from breast cancer. Asian countries where soy products are eaten regularly have much lower rates of breast cancer than the US. But the estrogen-similar st...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - February 3, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: breast cancer cancer recurrence cancer risk soy tofu Source Type: blogs
Coping With Breast Cancer with Friends
After living with breast cancer for nearly 10 years, I have some thoughts about how we all cope with it. I know personally I have gone from total, sheer panic to somewhat calm acceptance with a large dose of humor.Humor has always been my ' go-to ' when coping with anything. If I am not cracking jokes, I am really stressed. I mean I sometimes crack really bad jokes when stressed but if I get to the point where I am too stressed, my sense of humor vanishes. That means trouble.I have noticed that most of my cancer friends do the same thing. We all have kept our sense of humor as we cope with life with breast cancer. We have ...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - February 2, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: breast cancer breast cancer bonds coping Source Type: blogs
