Cancer Talk....

miranadobe

I'm just putting out a good wish into the Universe for my co-worker's father who just had bladder cancer surgery yesterday at 88yrs old and is all clear now and already at home.  Wishing Mr. M good healthy years ahead.

Adding my good vibes for Mr. M.  When my DH was going in to have his colostomy reversed, I met the family of a woman who I think was in her mid 80's and she was going into surgery to have a mastectomy.  I heard her doctor tell her family that there was no reason she wouldn't completely recover and live for many more years.  Age is just a number. :)  But it sometimes makes my joints ache. lol

Good thoughts for those who lost people they care about to cancer, know someone with cancer, have cancer or may in the future have cancer.

 Jackie made some really good comments that I also agree with.

I've avoided commenting in this thread mostly since I work in cancer research and have a different view of things.  I will make a few comments and leave it at that, but feel free to ask my opinion for anyone who is interested.

The need to have failed the standard of care before entering into a clinical trial is, IMO, important even though it does mean that any drug worth its weight will need to be that much better to help patients that are that much sicker.  It's there because we live in a society where we are comfortable trusting a federal agency to deem drugs safe and effective.  You would have a hard time getting patients to take a drug initially without any indication that is has worked, whereas with known treatments, you have at least some chance of treatment (not without risk and side effects, but still).  Once a clinical trial has shown efficacy, even if the trial is not complete, it can be halted and the new drug generally available to all the participants. 

 Our current therapies leave a lot to be desired, I understand that.  Cancer is a terrible disease.  But there isn't ever going to be one cure.  Each and every cancer is different and even within one type of cancer, there are tumors that arise from different cells of each organ, necessitating a different type of treatment.  Finding a drug is part of the battle, and determining which cancers this drug will work on is the other part.  For example, breast cancer.  Cancers positive for BRCA mutation respond differently than ones that aren't.  Well, we don't have markers such as BRCA to test for each cancer, drug or therapy.  As another example, I can think of one treatment that can effectively cure cancer for maybe 10% of the patients who receive it.  The other 90%, it makes terribly ill and many will die from the treatment, let alone the cancer.  So far, I don't know of a great detection method for figuring out why those 10% are special, and only give it to them.  We work every day to find a way to increase efficacy to lower the side effects but we're just not there yet.

Nicole, thanks for posting and thanks for the valuable work you and your coworkers do every day. 

Thanks from me as well Nicole.

Thanks Nicole.  It's always good to have the opinions of someone working in cancer research!  I was hoping you'd chime in eventually. 

Just out of curiosity, does the research you (where you work) do revolve mostly around pharmaceuticals?  Also, where does the funding come from?  (if you don't mind me asking)  I'm kinda new to all this and am just wondering. 

I highly value your input.  Thanks.

ETA:  The purpose of this thread IS NOT to bash sides.  I was just hoping for a place to share stories if you had them AND for others to post cancer related information and or links.  Just absolutely anything.  I'm open minded and will read anything.  Example:  You came across a new research article....well if you don't mind....post it here...etc. 

Opinions are welcome! 

So I work for a university that is affiliated with a cancer research center.  We do not focus on pharmaceuticals, necessarily, but of course we can't avoid them.  Our lab focuses primarily on pancreatic cancer.  Our funding comes from private donors, the federal government and the university, for the most part.  A lot of what we study is making chemo more effective (which = lower dose = less side effects) by doing a combination therapy. 

Mostly, I look at a lot of stories with a critical eye.  There was something going around FB about a "miracle cure" for cancer but the site it linked to had no clincial trials and no peer-reviewed papers nor had been updated since 2007.  If it was such a miracle cure, where's the proof?  I'm by no means an expert at all, but I have picked up a few things along the way! 

I'm more than willing to share a lot more detail via email or PM (email should be on FB or thru here and is preferable).  While I have access to a lot of articles, you guys wouldn't be able to get to them without a subscription so most anything I post in that regard would be pointless. 

I'm by no means trying to say that the guy in the video isn't on to something -- and he does have articles about it --  but the video was entirely one-sided and a bit misleading in that it made it sound like conventional therapy = bad, his therapy = good.  Each case is individual and no one thing would work the same for two people.  I just would like for folks to be open to everything, understand the reasoning, and feel comfortable with whatever you choose. 

NicoleS

There was something going around FB about a "miracle cure" for cancer but the site it linked to had no clincial trials and no peer-reviewed papers nor had been updated since 2007.  If it was such a miracle cure, where's the proof?

I think that was from the University of Calgary???  My memory is bad so perhaps I'm wrong.  that was the first thing I noticed when I read it was the year!  LOL...the news i think it was labeled it the CURE!  hehe  That's media for you.

NicoleS

I'm more than willing to share a lot more detail via email or PM

Johnny&Tessy

ETA:  The purpose of this thread IS NOT to bash sides.  I was just hoping for a place to share stories if you had them AND for others to post cancer related information and or links.  Just absolutely anything.  I'm open minded and will read anything.  Example:  You came across a new research article....well if you don't mind....post it here...etc. 

Johnny, I apologize for taking the thread in that direction and coming across as argumentative or whatever, but I don't regret that it brought about a discussion about theses issues.  I'm sure one reason I reacted to the video so strongly is because when my mother had lung cancer, I had some family members begging me to take her to another country for some sort of bizarre treatments.  It seemed like everybody had heard of a "cure" and it was the source of a lot of distress. My mom pretty much turned over all decisions about her treatment to me. I spent hours and days and weeks and months researching the type of cancer she had.  At that time, there was nothing to be done except slow the progress.  She died ten months after the initial diagnosis.  She moved in with us and I was able to finally get to know my mom in a way I never did before.  The chemo and radiation she received prolonged her life and she did want to live, even with the crummy side effects they caused.  This may sound strange to some but I've never really feared cancer after that experience.  It's one of the many things that can kill us but at least nowadays there are many cancers that can be treated and cured. 

I didn't really think beyond that video link you shared because it came across to me as a sales pitch, which took me back to those bad old days. Whenever I think someone is trying to elicit a certain response from me by pushing certain emotional buttons, I back off.  The first thing on that vid was designed to do just that and it put me right off the whole thing.  I watched about five more minutes after that and then googled Dr. B.

 I still feel the same about bashing drug companies and doctors but I respect others right to feel differently.  We all come by our opinions and beliefs based on what we've lived and what information we've taken in and believed, so there's no way any of us will ever feel exactly the same about anything.  

JackieG

Johnny, I apologize for taking the thread in that direction and coming across as argumentative or whatever

No problem.  I like hearing peoples opinions.  I was just fearing it might turn into one of those threads where people choose sides.... alternative medicine vs. traditional medicine....which is not what i was hoping for. 

While I don't think the cure to cancer lies within chemicals i DO believe they have a place in treatment.  Heck, if i didn't Tessy wouldn't be here right now. 

With regards to the video...i'd recommend people to watch it.  Yup, the first half hour or more makes it sound like it's all about this guy and his treatment (which i don't believe would be considered alternative...is it?) and i was even starting to get bored with it but once they started explaining the process and role the NCI, FDA and government played in the whole process...and how the pharmaceutical companies tried to steal his patents....this is what caught my attention. 

If there's over a 5 billion dollar budget (just in the usa) to research cancer don't we think a very very very small amount of this cash could at least go towards exploring some of these methods...not just Dr. B's protocol but all other so called "cures".  I think we at least owe it to the loved ones we've lost to look at and research all potential cures for cancer...whether they be alternative or traditional. 

I'd love to see the scope of research widen more.

Johnny&Tessy

I'd love to see the scope of research widen more.

We are using some non-traditional things to treat cancer.... we haven't published everything yet so I don't want to share too much on here but it's not all drugs, drugs, drugs.  You just need to know where to look, a lot of the research wouldn't show up in media until it's progressed far enough along but it's out there. 

My aunt Vivienne died from breast cancer at the age of 44 in 2003, at the end of her sickness the cancer had spread all through out her body even to her brain days before she finally let go her lungs collapsed she had tumors, very sad. Before she got very sick she warned all her girls to never let the doctors keep opening you up. R.I.P Aunt Vivienne. 

I'm so sorry about your aunt. 

daisyprincess

Before she got very sick she warned all her girls to never let the doctors keep opening you up

^^^ this totally is situational, IMO.  At least at the cancer center I'm at, our surgeons are able to do some amazing things for people who never had much of a chance. I understand that surgery sometimes may only prolong suffering and not prolong quality of life, but doctors really do want to help their patients.

Daisyprincess, I am sorry about your aunt, though I am glad Nicole posted again. 

IMO, the generalizations can do more harm than good because they scare people into doing nothing and that can be a bigger tragedy.  Cancer is a horrible disease that we can only hope to cure through continual education and research.

sharismom

Cancer is a horrible disease that we can only hope to cure through continual education and research.

Amen. 

My aunt has gotten her tattoos last week and starts chemo & radiation next week.  5 days a week for 6 weeks.  There isn't much sense that it will truly shrink the tumor enough to make it operable, but she wants to go forward with it, so it's her life and her choice and we're all supporting that.  I hate to think how she'll be feeling after all that, but I hope there's some way she can feel better from it.