by Christiana Care

Question by May Kadoody: Is anyone else upset that breast cancer is the only publicized awareness month?
I’m all for cancer awareness but why is breast cancer the only publicized cancer awareness month? Many people suffer from all types of cancer daily and I’ve had family suffer from both Leukemia and Pancreatic Cancer. It’s seems that if a celebrity is diagnosed with a cancer or has died from a cancer that’s the only way awareness will be publicized. Now that Patrick Swayze has passed I’m sure Pancreatic cancer will be well known coming this November (Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month) Does anyone agree?

Best answer:

Answer by lollipop
One theory is that breast cancer has more survivors than most other cancers, so more people to form support groups and to be be activist for the disease. Not a whole lot of lung cancer survivors. I feel a little left out of the awareness hoopla.

Add your own answer in the comments!

I felt it was important to post this item on the final stages of cancer. Keeping this blog current naturally means constantly looking for videos, news and other useful content which aids people to be more aware of the implications of cancer. Be sure to look closely at it all. Don’t forget to offer your opinions so the rest of us can appreciate your thoughts:

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Cancer – Final Stages

When a cancer reaches its final stages, also known as advanced cancer, it’s usually no longer treatable. In these stages, the cancer has spread from where it started to other parts of the body. It is called “locally advanced cancer” if it has spread to only adjacent or nearby areas. If it has spread to distant parts in the body, it is now “metastasis cancer”.

Cancer staging is the process of finding out whether it has spread and how far from the primary site. Although there are more than one system used for staging different cancers, TNM staging system is used most.

It gives 3 key pieces of information: T indicates the size of the tumor; N refers to the cancer spread to the close by lymph nodes and M notes whether the cancer has spread to other organs or part of the body. The numbers and letters after these TNM letters give more information regarding each of these factors.

The descriptions of TNM can be grouped together and labeled with Roman numerals from I to IV, a simpler set of stages. The lower the number, the less the cancer has spread and more controllable and treatable. The higher the number, it is more serious and hard to treat.

It is scary situation if a member of your family has reached the final stages of cancer. Witnessing a life that is coming to and end is heart breaking. It takes a lot of courage to be there and care for a cancer patient. At the final stages, the patient is usually very ill and dying, unable to walk but only a few steps, some time in much pain, confused and very depressed since his or her days are numbered.

He or she tends to pull away or withdraw from people, disconnecting from life. The patient is under much anxiety and so are the family members. It is very important for family members to be understanding and patient with the cancer patient. Just stay around and show that you care and are there for them. Lending your ears and listen to what they have to say or want to get off their chest.

A gentle smile or a gentle touch is all you need to do to soothe the dying person. Prayers are very helpful too. Offer to pray for them or praying with them. Your caring and sincerity can be felt and greatly appreciated.

Paying attention to the water you drink daily is one way to prevent cancer development.

About 70% of the bodies’ weight is water. It is the very thing the body needs most. Water is accountable for many body functions. Drinking enough clean and fresh water not only improves your overall health and well-being, it may also prevent you from many ailments and sicknesses.

Give your body the quality water it deserves and in turn, it will serve you with the optimal health and appearance you have always desired. For the best possible water for your health, right from the faucet, for pennies per gallon, please visit Drinking Water Safety. After all, who wants to fill 70% of their bodies’ weight with impurities, toxins and chemical treated water?

There was a movie in the 1990′s called ‘The Medicine Man’, where a scientist discovers the cure for cancer; whilst it still continues to kill people, it is not always the death sentence it once was. Think about that for a moment; can you even imagine the impact this would have on our world if the suffering of so many people could be put to an end? The causes for cancer seem to be many but despite all the knowledge we gain, it is still almost impossible to know if or when a person will contract it.

Of course many researchers belief that we are in effect born with cancer which is just waiting for something to set if off, but just what is cancer? Well, it is a disease that’s characterized by a large number of cells that continue to grow and divide; they invade and destroy adjacent tissues and may even spread to other anatomical sites through a process called metastasis.

A cancerous tumor keeps growing but a benign one is self-limiting and generally won’t cause any harm to the body. There are rare occasions when a benign tumor changes to a malignant one. It causes more deaths per population than any other illness and the older you get the more prone you are to contracting the disease; cancer is responsible for about 13 percent of all deaths worldwide. Nearly all cancers are caused by abnormalities in the genetic material of the transformed cells; these abnormalities may be caused by other poisons within the body from smoking, radiation, chemicals or other infectious agents.

For some people the problem lies not with any form of external poison although faults with their parents DNA or genetic makeup can result in a person being born with the diseased cells. However this does not mean you will contract it as the relationship between carcinogens and an individual’s genetic makeup is a complex one.

Owing to this ongoing, worldwide research, we do actually know a considerable amount about cancer even if we are some way from finding a complete and consistent cure. Once scientists discover the reason behind why some individuals are more likely to contract a disease than others, we may be closer to creating a cure. We all want to know more about the causes of cancer what we can do to help prevent this illness from striking.

The food you eat on a regular basis will have an effect on your health, especially in the future. Some believe it may even be causing a large number of cases in certain groups of people. People are generally eating too much of the wrong things such as an excess salt intake, too much saturated fat and certain dairy produce. Studies have shown that there is a connection between dairy produced calcium and prostrate cancer.

Cancer does not have any prejudice when it comes to invading a person’s body as it can strike anywhere. Some people can have cancer for several years before they have any symptoms and this does not help their chances of being cured. However, mortality rates from cancer are decreasing and although a cure may not be possible, there are treatments available to slow its spread. Cancer is not the certain death sentence it once was and although many of its various forms are incurable at this time, medical science continues to improve.

There is a great resource that I have found that has methods to treat cancer naturally at: www.cancer-natural-treatments.info you can find a lot of useful information there.

Article Source: ArticleSpan

Day and night are a natural rhythm of life. For millenia before the electric light was developed people had to live largely by the natural cycles of light and dark. It is to be expected therefore that the human body has used these cycles in ways that encourage health and that varying from them too far might have negative consequences. It seems that this is the case. Sleep disorders, depression and even ageing and cancer are some of the conditions that are affected by poor “light hygiene”.

Each person has a master biological clock which regulates the production and release of melatonin from the pineal gland. Melatonin helps us sleep and more is produced at night than during the day time. It also has two other very important roles. Melatonin is part of the serotonin pathway – this is one of the “feel-good” hormones and a lack of it is known to contribute to depression and seasonal affective disorder. Melatonin also contributes to a well-functioning immune system and it has a recognized role in controlling at least some cancers and reducing the impact of ageing.

Melatonin is a particularly strong antioxidant, it reduces cancer’s ability to grow and it stimulates the immune system to increase its ability to deal with cancers and infections. It has been subject to a huge range of animal and human studies with the knowledge of its usefulness in inhibiting cancer going back more than 30 years.

So you can see it is a very desirable hormone. Unfortunately modern society does not have good “light hygiene” which encourages substantial melatonin production – in fact, just the opposite.

Culturally in the western world it is considered more socially desirable to be a person who likes to party well into the night, than to be a person who enjoys getting up at dawn. Nowadays it is much more common for city people to spend most of their work day indoors regardless of the time of the year. Heating in winter and air conditioning in the summer also contribute to our indoor lifestyles.

We also have a medically induced fear of being out in the sun because of the risk of skin cancer. We have been strongly encouraged to stay out of the sun. [However do note that far more people die from low vitamin D caused cancers and heart disease than ever die from skin cancer. We get most of our vitamin D from the sun.]

In addition to the social desirability of staying indoors a many people routinely wear dark glasses when they venture outside in the sun which prevents the eyes from getting the strong dose of light we need to maximize the production of melatonin at night.

Perhaps it is time to rethink our lives. Here we have a natural treatment for cancer, depression and ageing – one that the body produces on its own as long as we give it the raw ingredients – and most of us do not even know about it.

Our body needs regular bright light. Even the winter light of those places closer to the poles often have greater light than we have inside. Our body also needs regular darkness, deep darkness of the kind that occurs when there is no moon.

Our bodies do learn to adapt to the environment we live in. However it appears that adaptation is only possible up to a point.

It might be useful to go out in the middle of the day regularly to get some bright sunlight, both to increase melatonin and vitamin D levels (vitamin D is another natural anticancer agent). Think also of going to sleep earlier in the evening and waking up at dawn – nature and natural cycles can have great health benefits.

Dr Harriet Denz-Penhey is an internationally recognized health researcher who has done groundbreaking research into patient self care in serious illness. The web site http://www.cancerremedies.org discusses aspects of natural cancer treatment and remedies for good general health.

Article Source: ArticleSpan

For more extensive information on Natural Treatments and Remedies go to:

Herbal and Natural Cancer Treatments

The staging of a cancer is a term used to describe its size and whether or not it has spread beyond its original site. Knowing the particular type and the stage of the cancer helps the doctors to decide on the best treatment for you.

* Stage 1 The cancer only affects the skin covering the penis, the head of the penis (glans) or the foreskin.

* Stage 2 The cancer has begun to spread into the shaft of the penis or into one of the lymph nodes in the groin.

* Stage 3 The cancer has spread deep into the shaft of the penis or to many lymph nodes in the groin.

* Stage 4 The cancer has spread to lymph nodes deep in the pelvis, or to other parts of the body.

If your cancer comes back after initial treatment, this is known as recurrent cancer.

Grading

Grading refers to the appearance of the cancer cells under the microscope and gives an idea of how quickly the cancer may develop. Low-grade means that the cancer cells look very like normal cells; they are usually slow-growing and are less likely to spread. In high-grade tumors, the cells look very abnormal, are likely to grow more quickly, and are more likely to spread.

Treatment

There are many types of treatment for penile cancer including surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Surgery of the penis has now advanced to a stage now where it doesn’t mean the loss of the penis. It is also possible to now reconstruct a penis that has been operated on.

The type of treatment that you are given will depend on a number of things, including the position and size of the cancer, whether or not it has spread, the grade of the cancer, and your general health.

Men with cancer of the penis should be treated in a specialist cancer center.

Surgery

Small, surface cancers that have not spread are treated by removing only the affected area. The cancer can be removed with conventional surgery, using laser or by freezing (cryotherapy). Cryotherapy is carried out with a cold probe, which freezes and kills the cancer cells.

If the cancer is affecting only the foreskin, it may be possible to treat it with circumcision alone.

All the above treatments can usually be given to you as an outpatient. They may be done under local or general anesthetic, depending on individual circumstances.

Wide local excision If the cancer has spread over a wider area, you will need to have an operation known as a wide local excision. This means removing the cancer with a border of healthy tissue around it. This border of healthy tissue is important as it reduces the risk of the cancer coming back in the future. The operation is done under general anesthetic and will involve a short stay in hospital.

Removing the penis (penectomy) This may be advised if the cancer is large and is covering a large area of the penis. Amputation may be partial (where part of the penis is removed) or total (removal of the whole penis). The operation most suitable for you depends on the position of the tumor. If the tumor is near the base of the penis, total amputation may be the only option.

The surgeon may also remove lymph nodes from the groin if there is evidence that cancer cells have spread to these nodes, or a possibility that they may have.

Re constructive surgery It is often possible to have a penis reconstructed after amputation. This requires another operation. The techniques that may be used include taking skin and muscle from your arm, and using this to make a new penis. Sometimes it is also possible for surgeons to reconnect some of the nerves, to provide sensation and the necessary blood flow to allow the reconstructed penis to become erect. This type of surgery is carried out by surgeons who have specialist experience, and you may need to travel to a specialist hospital to have the surgery done.

Radiotherapy

Radiotherapy treats cancer using high-energy rays to destroy cancer cells, while doing as little harm as possible to healthy cells. It can be used before or after surgery. Radiotherapy may also be given to treat symptoms, such as pain, if the cancer has spread to other parts of the body, like the bones.

External radiotherapy is normally given as a series of short daily treatments in the hospital’s radiotherapy department. High-energy x-rays are directed from a machine at the area of the cancer. The treatments are usually given from Monday to Friday, with a rest at the weekend. Each treatment takes 10-15 minutes. The number of treatments will depend on the type and size of the cancer, but the whole course of treatment for early cancer will usually last for up to six weeks. Your doctor will discuss the treatment and possible side effects with you.

Before each session of radiotherapy, the radiographer will position you carefully on the couch and make sure that you are comfortable. During your treatment you will be left alone in the room, but you will be able to talk to the radiographer who will be watching you carefully from the next room.

Radiotherapy is not painful, but you do have to lie still for a few minutes while your treatment is being given. The treatment will not make you radioactive and it is perfectly safe for you to be with other people, including children, after your treatment.

Radioactive implants Radiotherapy can be given using a radioactive implant. This is also known as brachytherapy. Under a general anesthetic, small radioactive wires are very carefully positioned in the affected area of the penis. The wires stay in place for about 4-5 days and are then removed. This method of treatment is usually used for smaller cancers on the end of the penis (the glans). While the implant is in place, you need to stay in an isolated room in the hospital so that other people are not exposed unnecessarily to the radiation.

Side effects of radiotherapy

There are sometimes side effects from radiotherapy treatment to the penis. Towards the end of your treatment, the skin on your penis can become sore and may break down. Long-term, radiotherapy can cause thickening and stiffening of healthy tissues (fibrosis). In some men, this can result in narrowing of the tube that carries urine through the penis (the urethra) and so can cause difficulty in passing urine. If narrowing of the urethra does develop, it can usually be relieved by an operation to stretch (dilate) the area. This is done by passing a tube into the urethra and is performed under a general anesthetic.

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy is the use of anti-cancer (cytotoxic) drugs to destroy cancer cells. It can be one drug or several drugs used together. It is not commonly used to treat cancer of the penis. Chemotherapy cream may sometimes be used to treat very small, early cancers that are confined to the foreskin and end of the penis (glans).

Chemotherapy may also be given as tablets, or by injection, into a vein for more advanced cancer. It may be given along with surgery or radiotherapy (or both).

Holly Franklin contrubutes to s site that discusses men’s issues and penis health at http://www.whatistheaveragesizeofapenis.com/. Holly’s own site on womens issues is a platform to discuss many problems facing women in society at http://www.self-pleasureforwomen.com/.

Article Source: ArticleSpan

For more extensive information on Herbal and Natural Treatments and Remedies go to:

Herbal and Natural Cancer Treatments

Back in the early part of the 1990′s a film called ‘The Medicine Man’ was released and the story revolved around a doctor working in South America who discovers the cure for cancer, only to lose it in a local disaster.

A cure would bring a sigh of relief everywhere. The causes for cancer seem to be many but despite all the knowledge we gain, it is still almost impossible to know if or when a person will contract it.

If someone were to ask you what cancer was, would you be able to give them a definition like the one in this article? They cross over to other cells and sites of the body continuing to grow and divide.

The difference between a cancerous tumor an a benign one is that malignant tumors continue to grow whereas benign ones limit their growth an many of us live comfortably with them during out lives without even knowing. It is responsible for thirteen percent of all deaths around the world. Most cancers are caused by some form of poison in the cells, which creates abnormalities in the genetic makeup of those cells.

A genetic trait may be inherited and thus present in all cells from birth. It is still not fully understood why one person will contract the disease and another be free from it but it is believed that the interactions between any carcinogens and each person’s particular DNA is complicated.

Cancer is one of the top ten diseases that is researched regularly throughout the world and the truth is we have learned a great deal from studies performed around the globe. Once scientists discover the reason behind why some individuals are more likely to contract a disease than others, we may be closer to creating a cure. After all we all want to know more about why we contract cancer and how to avoid it.

Some believe it may even be causing a large number of cases in certain groups of people. Other foodstuffs that could create problems are too much salt and saturated fat.

Cancer can strike anywhere in the body and each is a specialist type to the organ or part of the body it has infected. Long term research has helped the situation and many forms can now be treated at even later stages than could be only a little while ago. All this research is gradually leading towards more effective treatments for cancer and it is not always the terminal disease it used to be.

For More Information Visit Our Website www.cancer.superiorhealth.co.uk Or Our Blog www.cancer.superiorhealth.co.uk/blog

Article Source: ArticleSpan

For Information On Herbal and Natural Treatments Go To:

Herbal and Natural Remedies