Chemotherapy Is Big Money
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Chemotherapy, in its most general sense, refers to treatment of disease by chemicals that kill cells, specifically those of micro-organisms or cancer. Chemotherapy works by destroying cancer cells; unfortunately, it cannot tell the difference between a cancer cell and some healthy cells. Chemotherapy may be given in many ways. It can be administered through a vein, injected into a body cavity, or delivered orally in the form of a pill, depending on which drug is used. Chemotherapy is sometimes used along with other cancer treatments, such as radiation therapy, surgery, or biological therapy (the use of substances to boost the body’s immune system while fighting cancer). Chemotherapy was formed from mustard gases, which was in use as chemical- arms during the 1st World-War. Chemotherapy for the treatment of cancer began in the 1940s with the use of nitrogen mustard.
When cancer treatment includes chemotherapy, patients have many questions. More than half of all people diagnosed with cancer receive chemotherapy. Chemo works by destroying cancer cells; unfortunately, it cannot tell the difference between a cancer cell and some healthy cells. So chemotherapy eliminates not only the fast-growing cancer cells but also other fast-growing cells in your body, including, hair and blood cells.
Your course of therapy will depend on the cancer type, the chemotherapy drugs used, the treatment goal and how your body responds. Adjuvant chemotherapy and radiotherapy are often given following surgery for many types of cancer, including colon cancer, lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer, and some gynaecological cancers. Over time, cancer cells become more resistant to chemotherapy treatments.
Patients who are better prepared tend to have fewer side effects and a higher emotional ability to handle the chemotherapy treatments. Patients receiving chemotherapy are more likely to get infections. Under certain circumstances, your doctor may decide your body is too weak to receive chemotherapy. You may have breaks between treatments so that your body has a chance to build new healthy cells. The side effects of chemotherapy come about because cancer cells aren’t the only rapidly dividing cells in your body. Radiation therapy directs high-energy X-rays at a person’s body to kill cancer cells and shrink tumors. Radiation therapy also attacks quickly growing cells in your body, but unlike chemotherapy, it affects only the specific area where treatment is concentrated. Biological therapy, also called immunotherapy, consists of treatment with substances that boost the body’s own immune system against cancer.
Receiving chemo during childhood also may place some kids at risk for delayed growth and cognitive development, depending on the child’s age, the type of drug used, the dosage, and whether chemotherapy was used in addition to radiation therapy. People who receive radiation therapy before having chemotherapy may notice that involved skin may turn red, blister, and peel once chemo begins. When a cancer has been removed by surgery or treated with radiation therapy, chemotherapy may be used to keep the cancer from coming back (adjuvant therapy). Given after surgery or radiation, the goal of adjuvant therapy is to eliminate any cancer cells that might linger in your body after earlier treatments. The combination of radiation and chemotherapy can further increase your risk of heart damage.
Chemotherapy is usually administered for approximately 6-12 months or until a patient achieves a plateau response or stable disease, especially if the therapy is well tolerated. Chemotherapy can be frightening to think about. Chemo may cause short term (acute), long term (chronic), and permanent side effects, some of which may be severe. Chemotherapy can have many unpleasant side effects, such as nausea, vomiting, hair loss, mouth sores, Anemia (decreased numbers of red blood cells; may cause fatigue, dizziness, and shortness of breath) Leukopenia (decreased numbers of white blood cells; may lower resistance to infection), Thrombocytopenia (decreased numbers of platelets; may lead to easy bleeding or bruising), gastrointestinal symptoms, and even heart disease.
There are other options to chemotherapy that are successful in treating cancer but perhaps more important, there are steps we can take to prevent cancer and to avoid the horrible effects of chemo and radiation.
Watch the video related
A consultant medical oncologist explains the chemotherapy process and patients talk about their own experiences of the treatment
Help answer the question
How long after starting chemotherapy does it take to lose your hair?
My girlfriend just started her first cycle of chemotherapy for her Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Her chemotherapy regimen includes doxorubicin, vincristine, cyclophosphamide and prednisone. I was just wondering how long it will take for her to lose her hair. Is it a week after the start of treatment? A month? Thanks.
chemotherapy
18 Comments
August 3rd, 2009 at 5:07 pm
I love your vivid imagination. We have very similar humoristic/slightly-sarcastic writing skills……doesn't it feel good when you can unload a literary composition of this sort and know that people will laugh just as hard as you did while you wrote it?
More Power to Ya!
Best of Luck!
August 3rd, 2009 at 6:24 pm
The biblical tithe was an old covenant requirement. The old covenant was a "contract" between the two parties, God and Israel. Christians were never a party to that covenant, and that covenant ended upon the death of Jesus Christ on the cross, seeing as Jesus is identified as the God of the old covenant/testament. Covenants end upon the death of either party to a covenant, as explained by the apostle Paul in Romans chapter 7, where he uses a marriage covenant to explain this.
A tithe was the tenth of the increase of produce and livestock. No one was ever commanded to tithe on their wages. Only land owners who had livestock and crops tithed.
Old covenant points of law were not to come forward into the new covenant. To do so was described as being a subversion of the Christian’s soul as brought out in Acts 15.
A Christian’s giving to a ministry or church was never to be compulsory. Only through free will offerings were ministers supported. Paul, in I Corinthians 9, makes his case that those who preached the gospel were to live of the gospel. Paul did not use tithing as a means of justifying support. Rather, Paul used the example of not muzzling the ox that treads out the grain as justification.
Why then would a ministry teach compulsory tithing of wages?
Jesus warned his followers that there would come religious leaders who would declare rightly He was the Christ, then proceed to deceive people. These deceivers are also described as being deceived themselves, as well as being wolves in sheep’s clothing who do not spare the flock. Tithing serves this perfectly. Most people do not understand what a tithe really is, and most people do not understand the covenants and the difference between the old and the new. The deceivers take advantage of people’s ignorance regarding the law and a Christian’s relationship with God. The one that teaches tithing paints a picture of a God that demands they tithe. To neglect to tithe is seen as being disobedient to God; robbing God. To tithe is seen as being pleasing to God, and that God will bless those who do so. Tithing is therefore put forth as being a matter of faith when in actuality tithing has nothing to do with faith. Paul states in his writings that the law is not of faith. You don’t see these ministers who propound tithing living by faith that God will support them through the free_will offerings of their flocks.
It is not uncommon for ministers and lay people alike to offer up justifications when they alter Scripture and the application of Scripture. But there is never a justification for taking the very inspired word of God and altering it so suit one’s "needs" or the "changing times." The old covenant was designed with Israel in mind and their economy. To try and force-fit tithing into another culture and another time is unwarranted. You cannot put the new wine (new covenant) into the old wineskin (old covenant).
So what happens when one tithes, but they are not blessed financially? What is concluded if they experience further financial difficulties? It is their fault. They are lacking in faith. It is a no win situation for the poor person who was convinced by their ministry they have to tithe in order to be blessed by God.
So ingrained is tithing now in the Christian psyche that there are few who are willing to truly step out in faith and abandon old covenant points of law that bring people back under the bondage of that law. (Galatians 5:1) A Christian lives by the law of faith, also known as the law of liberty. It is a law where one is freed from the obligations of the old covenant letter of the law.
August 3rd, 2009 at 6:27 pm
I have an old friend at my old school named Andrew. He had a LONG battle with rhabdomyosarcoma. It’s a soft tumor located next to one of his shoulderblades. It was an aggressive cancer. But they only gave him one week of chemotherapy and over 12 weeks of radiation. With a successful operation, the tumor was removed and Andrew is now free from cancer.
August 3rd, 2009 at 6:37 pm
could you point me to some info on those please, i would like to read about it, thnx.
August 4th, 2009 at 4:25 am
I'm an only child as well, and I was 11 not too long ago. I was always lonely, and secretly jealous of all of my friends who had siblings. I mean, I'd hear them complaining audibly about how they had to baby-sit for their little brother or sister, and inside I'd be thinking about how I'd kill to even have a sibling.
I'd talk to your cousin a little, and tell her that you know she's lonely but she simply can't try and convince her parents to give her another sibling or to own a pet if they don't want to. Do any of her friends have siblings whom she might become close to? I think younger siblings might be better in this case, since she probably won't bond quickly with a teenager. One of my friends has three younger siblings, all of whom I absolutely adore. Even though I rarely have the time to go to his house anymore, I still visit on the holidays and I'm very close to them.
Keep in mind that kids her own age aren't likely to become close enough with her to be like sisters. She'll feel more like a friend than a sibling, even if they do become very close. I never really bonded with any of my friends who were my own age, I was just never able to really see them as a sibling figure. Aim for getting her to be closer with kids who are visibly older or younger than her. She'll have more fun being a "big sis" to little kids or acting grown-up around an older kid.
August 4th, 2009 at 8:18 am
Of the nineteen years I have been on planet earth, my mom had only been there with me for twelve. However, I’m not at all afraid to say that she has been the most influential person in my life. Among many other things, she taught me the values of being selfless, being grateful for life, helping others, being a hard worker, and taking education seriously. The relationship between my mom and me was a special one; it was based on deep trust and love for each other. She was both a parent and a friend to me. I used to love the stories she told my siblings and me as we surrounded her on our large sofa. My mom’s stories were as sweet as honey. Her stories consisted of either fables or personal anecdotes. My mom’s stories always carried hidden messages within them. Although the stories are too long to state here, their themes revolved mostly around honesty, wise choice of friends, and not passing judgment on others. It’s from these stories that I developed a great interest and respect for other cultures, beliefs, and customs. My interest in other cultures is so great that I never let a documentary or a book about other nations pass me by. I have also seen when you are with a lazy friend, you become a slob, and with a hard worker, you become honeybee. Therefore, I must say I learned a lot from my mom’s stories.
My mom didn’t have a selfish bone in her. She worked in an NGO from day to night in order to provide for her children. When she came back from work, she sat down and helped us do our homework without ever complaining that she was tired. She put a great emphasis on our education. At weekends, she always gave us little critical-thinking exercises. My mom didn’t stop at that; she was also a great cook. She was good at cooking both western and local food. Who can forget her delicious banana bread and sugar cookies? Yum! She also gave back to the community.
Of the people she has helped, I’ll never forget the destitute student. The poor student was gifted in intellect but was about to stop his education because things were not going well for him. He barely had any money to eat, let alone to pay for his education. My mom came to know this guy through a friend and decided to help him. She paid for his education throughout high school and gave him money for food and shelter. Finally, because of his outstanding results in high school, he a got a full scholarship at a local university. (He presently has graduated from the university and is working as a civil engineer.) She has also helped a troubled prostitute to get off the streets; a disabled man to be independent; and a helpless old woman get the basic necessities of life.
My mom was not rich. She had a middle-class Ethiopian income, but she managed to help those people with all she had. This is why, whenever I come across a beggar, I always want to give the few cents I have in my pocket.
Eventually I think all this giving back took its toll on my mom. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in the year 2000. My mom went to Norway to get treatment for her disease. The doctors at Norway performed a successful mastectomy on her. All went well and she returned to Ethiopia. She was told by her doctor to stay at home for a while before starting work. However, contrary to her doctor’s advice, she started to work as soon as she returned to Ethiopia. This was how hard-working she was. Unfortunately, when she went to get a check up at a local hospital, she was told the cancer has started spreading again. The doctor immediately put her on chemotherapy. My mom started to deteriorate in front of my eyes; her hair fell out, she lost a lot of weight, and she became weak. Nevertheless, my mom didn’t let this disease put her down. Although she was terribly ill, she still helped as with our homework and taught us right from wrong. While on her deathbed, her concern was especially for my two-year-old brother, as he can’t take care of himself. She hired a babysitter for him because it wasn’t possible for her to move around anymore. My mom always made sure the babysitter took good care of him. Mom knew her death was nearby, so she told my father to take care of us and made all the necessary financial adjustments before she died. Finally, she passed away in December 2002 at the age of 40. This was and still is the saddest day of my life.
After reading this, I hope you’ll understand why she had a significant influence in my life. She gave back to her community, believed in education, was diligent, devoted and kind. The values I stated in the previous sentence are the most important ones in my life. My wish is that these values act as a guide to me wherever and whenever in my life.
August 4th, 2009 at 1:14 pm
Sounds like someone is going to report you for ranting. At least I got my two points
August 4th, 2009 at 6:20 am
I liked Dr.Gerson on this subject.I used to laugh about coffee enemas but much rather those than this questionable option-
and all the organic food would cost a fortune but that still would be better than this option.However is ppl get on this treatment then its Good luck and get well..
August 4th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
One of my best friends was diagnosed with lymphoma a few days ago, and i and the rest of the the band (school) found out two days ago. He;s 15. From what i’m told he has the most curable form of the cancer, but he still must go through chemo. What can i do to help him? Is there anything?
Does anyone think he’ll be able to be in marching band this year?
August 4th, 2009 at 7:48 pm
Natural alternatives exist that work with the body’s immune system not against it & have cured many. Pharma industry does not profit though so they promote the ‘mystery’ of cancer when it can be simple to cure. Body has incredible powers to heal itself if given the right environment so that it can fight the disease & root out the cause. Chemo only treats symptoms & it breaks down body’s immune system. It’s easy to blame cancer if someone dies of this profitable but highly toxic treatment.
August 5th, 2009 at 2:35 am
my dad has stomach cancer. we learned that yesterday. He probably had it for yers but there were no symptoms. I don’t want to lose him…. he’s 47. I’m glad I’m not the only one dealing with this. I feel like I am though. My whole family is dying off two other yong relatives have cancer too.
August 5th, 2009 at 2:43 am
Sorry to hear about that bud. But really, the only thing you can do for him is be there.
August 5th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
That is one of the most beautiful stories I've ever read. I will remember this forever as a testament of friendship, honor and compassion.
You are a great person to share this.
May God Bless You
August 5th, 2009 at 5:57 pm
WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
August 5th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
Dr. David Perlmutter, nationally renound neurologist, discusses how to protect healthy cells during chemotherapy! See my exclusive video TODAY.
August 5th, 2009 at 6:09 pm
My aunt also died of breast cancer & she went through all the painful treatments for several years & was in so much pain it even hurt for clothes to touch her but she worked! Finally she went in a medicated coma & eventually died, but she had a great spirit & no one in town saw so many ppl come to another`s funeral. She was just a simple country woman yet touched so many lives. But seeing how she suffered, I don`t know if it was worth dragging out the process when the result was a slow death.
August 6th, 2009 at 4:47 am
Since you're 5 yrs cancer-free, it appears that your only hang-up is and has been the feeding situation. That should not interfere at all with what you CAN do, only with some sort of minor adjustment as to place to "eat" during your breaks.
So what can you do? Education, experience, abilities, training, etc? Go after a job! Jobs are very scarce, but with a proactive and intensive job search, you will do a whole lot better – physically, mentally, emotionally, and financially – with a job than without one. Decide what you can do, want to do, and pursue it diligently! Good luck!
August 7th, 2009 at 3:15 am