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How to Help part 2

Chemotherapy is over and you are wondering how you can help your family or friend going through this. For many people chemotherapy is just one step of the journey. For me I also had 33 days of radiation therapy ahead of me. Honestly I thought the radiation was going to be a piece of cake, I mean isn’t chemo supposed to be the hard part? My radiation therapy started about a month after chemo ended, first you get little blue tattoo’s placed on you so they can line the machine to every time. If you are trying to think of … 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 →

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 →

Cancer: Local Spread vs. Metastasis

One of the most insidious things about cancer is the way it can spread. I’m not especially a fan of the way it can keep coming back after treatment, either, but that’s a story for another day. The American Cancer Society talks about two different types of spread: local or regional spread and metastasis. Local or regional spread is when a cancer extends beyond the organ in which it started. For example, a very large breast cancer could spread into the lymph nodes in the armpit or the lungs. Metastasis means that the cancer has moved to an entirely new … Continue reading →

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 →

Reconstructing Natalie – Laura Jensen Walker

I didn’t feel well over the weekend and so I got a lot of reading done. Out of the six books I’ve read since last Friday night, “Reconstructing Natalie” was by far my favorite. Natalie is twenty-seven and unmarried, but she thinks that might be about to change – there’s a new man in her life and he seems to be perfect in every way. She’s got a good job working in her parents’ company, and she’s living practically rent-free in her parents’ guesthouse. She has good friends and she loves her life. But one day while trying on a … 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 →