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Cancer can strike anyone – the young or the old, the celebrity or the common man, the rich or the poor. Most people need to share their experiences to be able to cope as a patient, family or friend.
I saw a movie that does just that on DVD. The title of the movie is 50/50. The title was based on the doctor’s verdict of survival of the characters. This means the 50 percent chance of survival and the 50 percent of death. more…
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Fall is here! This the season for hunting big games – deer, moose, elf, bear or croc! We prepare the territory to lure the big one and practice our art of shooting so we get our marks.
What about hunting cancer? The big difference is – we’ve to hunt for that beast the whole year long. Like hunting for a huge moose, we need to prepare the terrain. The terrain is no other than our bodies where cancer develops and grows. When we groom our bodies, we clean the surroundings much like we do when we hunt that elusive elk. This preparation is a 30 minute exercise every single day. Exercise burns the extra energy that cancer utilizes to nourish itself and survive. Sweating it out at less 30 minutes daily decreases the general inflammation. And when our bodies are rid from that inflammation, it concentrates the immune system’s action only at a very specific sites – wounds and the cancer
site! more…
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Cancer patient? If you are, fatigue is a familiar feeling. This is the most common side effect of cancer and cancer treatment. 90% of cancer patients who are undergoing standard cancer regimen i.e. chemotherapy, radiotherapy, hormonal therapy and surgery experience this unique kind of fatigue.
Fatigue as a result of cancer and cancer treatment is different from the tiredness we feel after too much physical activity or after a day’s work. This fatigue develops slowly over time and is related to cancer growth.
It’s like we have zero energy. It looks like cancer has sapped every ounce of energy from our being. We struggle to accomplish our normal everyday activities. It takes a gargantuan effort to perform fun things we’re used to doing. We become sloppy with our appearance and relegate it at the back of our lives. We feel irritable and we’ve lost our sexual desire. We’d just want to sleep more than usual. But that constant tiredness hounds us even after a good night’s rest. more…
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Apart from the emotional pain cancer inflicts upon its survivors, it produces physical pain. The pain can be excruciatingly painful and debilitates most patients. And that’s not to be taken lightly.
Chemotherapy for breast cancer patients involves treatment with aromatase inhibitors. In estrogen dependent breast cancers, aromatase inhibitors prevent sexual hormones to be converted into estrogen. Where estrogen, on the other hand, supports cancer growth. Nevertheless, most breast cancer survivors on aromatase inhibitor chemo complain of skeletal and joint pain, muscle pain and weakness. These painful symptoms are interpreted as side effects of chemotherapy. more…