Search Results for: blog chemotherapy side effects

ED Drugs Tested for Chemotherapy

Recent tests from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California may have come up with a new use for impotence drugs: treating brain tumors. A research team from Cedars-Sinai looked specifically at Levitra and Viagra (you may have heard of them). Although the two drugs get a lot of press for their powers in the bedroom, it looks like they may have another power — with the ability to help a lot of people. In laboratory tests on rats with brain tumors, vardenafil (Levitra) and sildenafil (Viagra) were able to carry chemotherapy drugs safely past the blood-brain barrier. Did you … Continue reading →

Not All Breast Cancer Patients Need Chemotherapy

Two recent studies took a look at whether or not chemotherapy is the best treatment for breast cancer — with interesting results. The studies were reported at the 31st Annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, an annual gathering of scientists from around the world. One study found that women were less likely to have a relapse or die if treated with a less harsh drug than the standard chemotherapy drug, Adriamycin. One study (from Loyola University in Chicago, IL) used a gene test to help predict whether or not a woman actually needs chemotherapy to treat breast cancer — or … Continue reading →

Treatment For Pancreatic Cancer

Are you becoming a pancreatic cancer expert? My hope for you is that you never need this information but it is here for you. We have covered symptoms, test and risk factors and now we need to talk about treatments. Pancreatic cancer is has a low survivability rate because of the fact that it is usually diagnosed after it has spread and therefor it is in a later stage for diagnosis. However pancreatic cancer does have low survival rates. For exocrine pancreatic cancer if you are diagnosed with stage 1A your 5 year survival rate is only 14% and that … Continue reading →

Teen With Cancer Gets Date With Taylor Swift

A teenager in New Jersey was concerned about not being able to find a prom date, due to the effects of his chemotherapy treatments. The creation of a Facebook page didn’t result in a prom date, but the teen did get a date with Taylor Swift. She wants him to be her date for the ACM Awards. Kevin McGuire is an eighteen year old high school student in New Jersey. He is battling leukemia. Kevin was first diagnosed with leukemia when he was thirteen years old, and in the seventh grade. This year, Kevin wanted to go to prom, but … Continue reading →

Insurance Industry Executives Shave Heads for Fundraiser

Most of the time, when you find a news story that describes the activities of insurance company executives, it reports upon their bad behavior. This isn’t that type of story. A group of eight insurance industry chief executives have shaved their heads to raise money for, and awareness of, childhood cancer. It is always nice to hear a story about insurance industry executives who are doing something good! It takes a bit of explaining in order to fully understand exactly what they did, why they did it, and how that came to be. AmWINS Group, Inc. is a company that … Continue reading →

What Treatment Hubby Was Having

Ok well the pathology results are in and my husband definitely had testicular cancer. They sent him to have an MRI to make sure there was no enlarged lymph nodes in his body this was how they were going to stage the cancer. We lucked out his cancer was caught at stage one. I say lucked out because it could have been much worse. We made an appointment with a medical oncologist who would go over the treatment plan for him but the urologist felt pretty sure that he would not need chemotherapy but that was going to be up … Continue reading →

What Not To Say

Some things you should not say to a person going through the cancer diagnosis and treatments even if you mean well. Some of these comments are just plain rude but others were said in a well-meaning way. 1. “God would not give you more than you can handle.” I cannot even begin to count the number of times I was told this. My standard reply was that God must have been looking at someone else if he thought I could handle this. I do believe in God but I don’t think that he gives people cancer. The way I was … Continue reading →

How to Help if Your Family or Friend has Cancer

If you have a family member or friend who has just been diagnosed with cancer you may want to help but do not really know how. When I first was diagnosed with cancer only my family was told, and my work but I did not really want to talk about my breast cancer. I did not want the “Poor you” cancer look. This look is the look that I kept getting when people heard I had cancer. If you ask a cancer patient what you can do to help, if they are anything like me, they will say they need … Continue reading →

Mom Who Withheld Medication Sentenced

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A Massachusetts mother has been sentenced this week to eight to ten years in prison for attempted murder. The mom intentionally withheld chemotherapy medications that her autistic son needed. Raising a child that has special needs and a serious illness cannot have been easy. It is vitally important for parents to seek out help before a tragedy like this one happens. It is an incredibly sad story that many lessons can be learned from. Kristen LaBrie, who is currently 38 years old, had son named Jeremy Fraser. Jeremy was autistic, and was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma when he was just … Continue reading →

Coenzyme Q10: Overview

You may also know it as CoQ10, vitamin Q10, or Ubiquinone… but by any name, coenzyme Q10 may have a big role to play in fighting cancer. First things first: what’s the difference between an enzyme and a coenzyme? An enzyme is a protein that helps increase the rate of natural chemical reactions in the body. A coenzyme is a compound that helps an enzyme do its job. As far as I know, the coenzyme that gets the most press is coenzyme Q10. This is a compound made by the body for a variety of reasons: to make energy needed … Continue reading →