Posts Tagged ‘Chemotherapy’

The Basics of Chemotherapy

Comments: 0February 25th, 2011 by admin



Before we go through the basics of Chemotherapy, let’s first give a quick explanation of what cancer is. Cancer is caused by an uncontrolled growth of cells that may spread from its original location. When a cancer spreads or invades adjacent tissues, the cancer is considered malignant. Benign tumors are those that do not grow uncontrollably and do not invade and spread to other tissues. It should be noted that benign tumors may still become malignant.

How does chemo work?

Let’s keep in mind that Chemotherapy is an area of treatment that is always changing and evolving. Chemo interrupts the way cancer cells multiply themselves. The drugs travel the blood stream, which allows them to reach the cancer cells. At the same time, this process also produces side effects. If the therapy is successful, the cancer cells should completely disappear permanently and any damage done to healthy cells should become a thing of the past.

What Side effects are there?

The side effects can be different depending on the individual and on the exact therapy given. Some of the most common side effects include: Hair loss, Tiredness, skin sensitivity, sore mouth and mouth ulcers. There could also be some effects on your blood, bone marrow, kidneys and liver. The good news is that the side effects are not long term and should completely disappear when the chemo therapy ends.

How is chemo administered?

Depending on the type of therapy given, chemo can be administered orally, intravenously (through the veins) or some times through the spine. When administer orally, it could be given via a pill or in liquid form. When given intravenously, it could be injected with a needle or syringe through the skin and into the veins. When administered through the spine, a needle carrying the chemo drugs is inserted into a space in the spinal cord.

Does chemo hurt?

Besides the sensation of needles going through the skin or the spine, chemotherapy in itself should not hurt. When people refer to how bad chemo feels, they mostly refer to the side effects of the procedure and not the actual moment when the drugs are administered.

What is the success rate?

The chances of survival cannot be given with an accurate number. Some studies point to a success rate of as low as 1% to as high as 50%. The reason for this is because there are many variables to take into consideration. Some of the variables include the type of cancer, how far is the cancer, a person’s age and a person’s current health. It’s best to speak to your doctor about your particular case.

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Why Should You Monitor Your Blood Levels

Comments: 0June 3rd, 2010 by admin



You need to be vigilant about low as well as high white blood cell count. A low count may be brought on by treatments for cancer. If you have cancer, your oncologist and your hematologist will monitor your white cell counts very closely. Low white cell counts can bring along with them the risk of complications.

What is your physician looking for when he does blood work? When he checks your complete blood count, he is looking for:

Platelets – these help your blood to clot. A low count in platelets may mean your body’s blood won’t be able to clot itself.

Red Blood Cells – these carry oxygen through all the parts of your body. Their ability to do this depends on your body’s level of hemoglobin. If your hemoglobin count is low, it makes your system work harder to take oxygen to all the parts of your body, and results in anemia. You may feel short of breath and overly tired, if you are anemic.

White Blood Cells – these help your body to cast off infection and disease. A low white count means your body is more susceptible to disease. A high white blood cell count means that your body is probably already fighting an infection somewhere. Your doctor will determine where the infection is, so it can be treated.

At times, your physician may want to run what’s called a CBC on your blood. This is called a complete blood count, and is useful in telling your physician what is happening in your body.

In addition to a high white blood cell count, your health care provider will also check your blood for low white blood cell counts. Sometimes this is caused by some chemotherapy drugs, which can cause damage to your bone marrow. Bone marrow is responsible for making blood cells, and chemotherapy kills cells within your bone marrow. Your physician will be able to tell you if the treatment plan that he is putting you on could result in a low white blood count.

If your white count is high, that will tell your health care provider that your body is most likely fighting an infection somewhere, and he will then isolate it and treat it with medications, where possible, so that your body does not need to produce the excess of white blood cells.

If you have a low red count in addition to a high white count, you may be suffering from anemia. If you are often short of breath and fatigued, anemia may be the cause. Ask your physician to test for anemia if you are experiencing these symptoms. In some cases, your fatigue will be so severe that you may need to adjust treatments you receive for cancer or other diseases, in order to allow your body to produce more red cells. The white cell count may increase if infection is present.

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Posted in anemia

Cure For Leukemia From Nature

Comments: 0November 29th, 2009 by admin



Many people are now looking for natural cures to things such as leukemia. This is becoming more and more common among those that are suffering from this disease. There are many different reasons that people have for looking for natural cures for their illnesses. Some of them are because the patient may not like the chemical treatment that the doctor is offering. There can be severe and dangerous side effects and the patient may not find it worth the risk. If this is the case then they may turn to natural treatments to help them with their battle. You should certainly have hope because there are options for those seeking a cure for leukemia from nature out there.

Medical Treatment for Leukemia

The main medical treatment for leukemia is chemotherapy. The effects of chemotherapy may be detrimental to the patient in many ways. The patient may get fatigue and feel like they don’t want to get out of bed. This can lead to depression and depression is far from good when you are trying to get your body to heal. Chemotherapy can also cause nausea or vomiting this is a side effect that many people simply do not like. It can make you feel very ill and that is not always good for getting your body to want to heal either.

Another common side effect from chemotherapy treatment is that you will often times lose your hair. This is undesirable and may be something that many are not willing to deal with. With chemotherapy you may find that you lose all of you hair and then are in need of a wig just to hide the fact that your hair is missing. You may also lose a good bit of weight as well. This could mainly be the cause of the nausea and vomiting enabling you from being able to eat or even keep down any amount of food.

Natures cure for leukemia

One of the most common known cures for leukemia is vitamin A. It is said that vitamin A has had great cure rates since the studies that have been done on it. In the studies vitamin A was injected directly into the fat of the person with leukemia. This deposit of vitamin A was said to be deposited into a “fat bubble” or into “bubbles of fat” to increase or enhance bio-availability.

There were 34 patients that were in the study and all they received was the vitamin A. Out of these 34 patients that received the vitamin A, 10 of these patients where still cancer free after five years even though none of these patients received the chemotherapy treatments. This was said to be astonishing by those who preformed the study.

These patients received only vitamin A for the natural treatment they did not receive any of the other natural remedies that are proven to help with leukemia as well. There are many other herbs and vitamins that if taken in conjunction with the vitamin A are thought to increase the success rate of the vitamin A treatment.

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Posted in leukimia

Stage 4 Ovarian Cancer

Comments: 0November 28th, 2009 by admin



Ovarian cancer is a gynecologic sarcoma, which is second most frequently diagnosed. In the United States, females have a 1.4 % to 2.5 % chance of developing ovarian cancer. The International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO), has standardized the staging of gynecological cancers. It is the most frequently used prognostic tool. Both surgical and pathological findings are taken into account. The cancer is staged according to whether it is still in the ovary or spread beyond.

Staging is generally done at the time of surgery. Samples of tissues are taken from various parts of the pelvis and abdomen and studied under intense observation. Staging is very important because the prognosis or the course of action to be taken varies at different stages in case of any cancer. It is important that the staging is accurate. It is possible to miss the spread of the ovarian cancer outside the ovary if it is not staged properly.

Stage IV is the last category of the stages of ovarian cancer. Patients in this stage typically exhibit parenchymal liver metastases and extra-abdominal metastases. Thirteen percent of patients alive are in stage IV. The most common areas where the cancer spreads are generally the liver and lungs. One-third of all ovarian cancer patients have pleural effusions and most of them contain malignant cells. The spleen also gets affected may require splenectomy. Only 0.1% of patients show metastases of the brain.

If the tumor is widespread, treatment begins with surgery, which may include total hysterectomy, followed by chemotherapy. If some tumor remnant is left after chemotherapy, further forms of chemotherapy may be needed. It is important for a patient to find out about the staging procedure and the stage. In this way the patient will and can take part in making vital decisions about the required treatment.

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Doctors Don’t Know Everything

Comments: 0May 8th, 2009 by admin



On that rainy day in September of 2001, I felt down, so I called the only person in the world who had made things better for me for the past two decades, my mother.

I began to rant about my problems, how my husband was never home, the house was a mess, the kids were fighting, looking back now, totally insignificant issues.

When I ended my pity party, I asked without any enthusiasm in my voice, “So how are you doing?”

Her response shattered my world. “I’ve got about 3 weeks to live”. And that was all she said. I asked endless questions, only to get the same response, to not worry about her, her salvation was assured and she was okay with it. The one piece of information I did get out of her was that she had advanced Multiple Myloma, a degenerative cancer of the spine.

I flew to my childhood home that night. She was unable to get up, even to go to the restroom. My father was exhausted, and could do no more. I refused to believe that she was leaving me so soon, so I consulted her physicians and got permission to bring her home to Florida with me.

Me and my sister scoured the phone books for oncologist. We were fortunate to find one of the best in the area only 8 miles from my home. He made her an appointment immediately.

To run the test, he had to hospitalize her. Confirming the diagnosis she had received in Kentucky, he gave us two options for her treatment. After she underwent radiation therapy for the spots on her back, we could put her on chemotherapy, or try a treatment that was not FDA approved, called Thalidomide. In her weakened state, I felt chemo would kill her before the cancer did, so we went with the 10 pills of this drug that had been removed from the market because it caused severe birth defects, and it had not been fully tested on cancer patients. The cost was over $5,000 a month, and with no FDA approval, we had to jump through hoops to get the medicine. But God was willing, and we got it.

After the first month, mom began to get her strength back. She was able to sit up in bed by herself, make it to the potty placed beside her bed, and eat. She ate so much she put on 20 pounds in 3 months! Not bad for a cancer patient.

When we began to see her improving so much, I finally worked up the courage to ask Dr. Ron what her prognosis was. He told me, very confidently and actually encouraged to be saying it, she had about 3 years.

Mom is still with me, and dad, and my kids, and my sisters and brother, and her grandchildren, and her great grandchildren, and who knows, if she gets any stronger, she may even see her great great grandchildren.

I’m counting on it.

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Posted in cancer