Cancer News Information

There are lots of children being diagnosed with cancer everyday and the ratio of patients has always been on the rise. The only positive thing about cancer is treatment facilities and treatment methods. Over past few decades, treatment methods have been evolved a lot and people have become more aware of cancer symptoms and treatment. Cancer was tagged more as an adult's disease but these days children are the victims of this deadly disease. It is very important that parents should be fully aware of the symptoms, complications and treatment methods of cancer because any child can get this disease. The good new about cancer in children is that it is diagnosed very early. Early diagnosis makes it possible to cure and ultimately survival rate of children with cancer is very positive.

Lots of people and organizations are helping children with cancer to cope with the complexities and problems of this disease. Treatment of cancer has always been expensive and children always need financial help to get proper treatment. Help can come from an individual or an organization but if you look around you will see many people helping children with cancer. It is not just about money that you can donate in helping children with cancer but your passion matters even more. You can contribute even without money by just making the parents more aware about the state of their child with cancer. Lots of parents are in a state of shock when they have a child with cancer at home and you have to keep their hopes up.

You can devote your weekends to helping children with cancer and during the entire weekend, you can help suffering children and their parents to understand cancer more deeply. You always need to keep their frame of minds positive because positivity will boost their treatment and they will recover quickly. Treatment methods of cancer are always tough and painful but your words can make parents satisfied. Lots of parents hesitate for choosing a painful treatment method and you can help them to choose the best and most effective method. Awareness is the key in helping children with cancer and when parents know that their child with cancer can get a normal life then they will do everything to ensure a healthy life. Encourage parents to get their children examined for cancer regularly because early and timely diagnosis is very important in cancer.

One of the common side effects of cancer treatments is dry mouth, or xerostomia. The treatments for dry mouth are fairly easy to perform, but complications can arise if you're not careful. That's why it's important to speak with your doctor and your dentist before you start any regimens that involve the effects of your cancer and dental treatments from unverified sources.

So what dry mouth treatments can you do on your own?

• Keep hydrated. Drinking water is important to a healthy diet, but it also helps to loosen up your saliva, or any mucus in your mouth or throat.

• Puree your foods. Eating liquefied food might not seem terribly appealing, but it may be easier on your mouth and throat. Plus, it gets you the nutrients you need to get better. And if you want to know how to improve your oral health, you'll need to learn how to improve your overall health - and vice versa.

• Try an ice pop. Dry mouth treatments aren't all pureed carrots and mashed potatoes: an ice pop is a nice treat, and can soothe sore throats and dry mouths. Just make sure to choose sugarless ice pops, lest your dentist give you a lecture.

• Chew sugarless gum. When you chew gum, you stimulate salivary flow. Chewing gum is an easy (and inexpensive) way to eliminate the dry mouth effects of cancer and perform a healthy dental treatment at home.

• Suck on sugar-free candies, especially lemon or lime flavors. The candies stimulate salivary flow and the tartness of the lemon-lime increases saliva as well.

The best person to tell you how to improve your oral health is your dentist, and s/he may recommend different treatment methods that require a prescription or medical supervision. It's important to keep your oncologist and your dentist in the loop about what each doctor has advised.

The Side Effects of Cancer, and Your Dental Treatment Options

Undergoing treatments for cancer is stressful enough, so it's understandable that chemotherapy and dental care aren't necessarily the first things on your mind. But studies have proven that people with poor oral health often suffer with other maladies. Besides dry mouth treatments, your dentist may recommend you start keeping an eye on your mouth and jaw in general. Mouthy sores can be common in cancer patients, and can making eating painful. Since a diminished appetite is a side effect of cancer, you risk losing valuable vitamins and nutrients and a sore mouth or gums keeping you from eating. To minimize the discomfort, try:

• Avoiding salty, sweet or too-tart foods
• Brush your teeth gently every day
• Floss when possible
• Stick to softer foods
• Eat foods at room temperature
• Moisten dry foods to make them easier to swallow
• Consider fluoride treatments to help improve the health of your teeth

The most important thing to do is keep your dentist and your doctor abreast of any changes in your mouth, jaw or eating habits. Osteonecrosis is a rare but serious side effect of cancer, and there are dental treatments specifically tuned to handling this type of severe complication.

If you're concerned about your chemotherapy and your dental care, it's time to call your dentist. S/he can discuss your particular case with you, and offer suggestions for making your dental hygiene regimen more manageable. If you notice that your dry mouth treatments are no longer effective, you should call your oncologist immediately to rule out any additional complications. Together, you and your doctors can find a health plan that works for you.

It has been awhile since I last posted an article having to do with my journey through "cancerland" and my survival of Small Cell Cervical Cancer. It has been a bumpy road, but never a dull moment. My hope is that anyone reading this will find the information laid out here in this article, helpful and supportive and any woman facing this diagnosis will find hope and a place to walk this journey with others who have been where she is going. So much has happened; it has been a truly remarkable journey so far.

Flash back to November 2008. I had found my partner in crime and we had found a way to help women you had been diagnosed with SCCC. There was no information on the web at that time, and we were so happy to have put something together were women could find resources, but more importantly, others sharing this connection. I was personally told that I would never find or meet another living soul diagnosed with SCCC, as it is so rare and the prognosis is so poor. Yet, by November of 2008, we had connected with more than 16 women and/or their families who had been diagnosed with this disease. Mel and I also found out something about ourselves; we were deeply connected to each of these people and could not let them go. The emails were daily and plenty to keep in touch with each other and the members. It was getting harder and harder to keep up, but we were managing. Finally Mel came up with the idea to open Facebook pages of our own and that way we could keep up every day, real time connections with our members. From there we quickly grew. We also suffered our first losses within a year. Instead of deterring us, it made our resolve even stronger. Although broken hearted, we kept it going.

During this time of growth, I was having an issue of my own. My cancer had come back! In January 2009, I was re-diagnosed with Small Cell. It had spread to my right ovary, my peritoneum, and there was a tumor inside the opening of my vagina, which they suspected may actually be in my bladder and bowl. Not a good sign. There was also a hotspot in my inner thigh muscle, but they weren't sure what that was. I was facing another round with this stupid cancer and not at all happy. But this time I wasn't alone. I had Mel... and all the others as well. But I was reluctant to share this information as I wanted to give hope, not scare the hell out of women who were newly cancer free, or going through treatment. I worried how it would affect Mel, but she was a trooper. Mostly I was worried as it had already devastated us financially and pulled the "safety rug' out from under my children. Could we take much more? They told me the first time around, that if it came back they could not save me, merely prolong my life. I had a decision to make; treatment or prepare to go HOME. I had so much outpouring of support from my family and friends, but the biggest game changer came from the women in this group that I had grown so close to, even if only knowing them virtually. They supported me 100% and I think we all held our breath, while I made the decision to go ahead with more treatment, then surgery.

Flash forward to December 2012; You can guess the outcome of my treatment with the recurrence as I am here today, writing this article, 3 and 1/2 years cancer free from the end of treatment! I beat it again. It was hard on the family and finances. The children are much older. The stress and worry have come out in many ugly ways over the years, but as a family, we are doing well today. Every day it gets better. Financially it has been horrible; but again we made it through and many lessons have been learned. This too gets better all the time. We will survive. The most amazing aspect of this journey, besides beating something twice they told me I probably wouldn't beat once, is all the amazing women I have met along the way and all the fabulous work these women have done to spread awareness, raise funds for research and help grow this group.

As our numbers continued to grow on Facebook, it soon became a topic of our discussions what the next step would be. One of our strongest, most devoted women in the group, created what is today, our main private support group for women diagnosed with Small and also Large Cell Cervical Cancer. Through the presence on the web, many women have found us. Today our numbers are more than 90 women surviving and/or fighting as well as about equal that number in supporters. We also have information for the public to help spread awareness.. This was the key source for reaching out to an organizer at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Texas and getting their backing to start a fund for research. Our group has become a Model for the use of Social Media to gather the much needed information on patients when looking to do research on rare tumors such as ours. Before this, there was no way to do any type of research and our group, along with MD Anderson, are making medical history. But the most amazing thing I have been a part of was when 20 of our "sisters" met for the first time in Vegas and were able to take our virtual love and support to a whole new level, bringing the resolve of the group to much higher heights.

It has truly been a journey of unexplainable joys and triumphs. One, had I never been given this diagnosis, I would have never had the honor of taking. I wouldn't trade this for the world. There have been terrible losses of phenomenal women whose walk took them home and from our world. I know they are standing behind us each step of the way. They will never really leave us and have become who we are and who our future members will be as well. My physical and emotional self has changed forever. Some for the better and some not! It is a work in progress every day. I am grateful to be here and take on this challenge.

I truly hope that any women finding themselves with the diagnosis of Small or Large Cell Cervical Cancer, find this article. I have been told on a few occasions that my last two posts, brought some women to our group and gave comfort to fight this beast, knowing there was a light at the end. Knowing there is survival. They said I would never find another living soul with this diagnosis... they were wrong!

"I will be a positive force while on this earth".

It's hard to think of a more intimidating disease than cancer. Each year, 1.4 million Americans are diagnosed with some form of this deadly disease. Despite slowly declining mortality rates, well over half a million people in the US succumb to cancer each year; the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported 574,743 cancer-related deaths in 2011. Not only is cancer often life-threatening, it also an all-too-common occurrence; the American Cancer Society estimates that 1 in 3 women and 1 in 2 men will develop cancer in their lifetimes.

One of the most common treatments against cancer is chemotherapy, a process in which certain drugs are given intravenously to the patient. The purpose of such drugs is to seek and destroy cancer cells within the body. Unfortunately, chemotherapy medications are unable to distinguish between normal cells and cancer cells, and consequentially destroy large numbers of both. This "scorched-earth" approach can lead to an endless barrage of side effects, which are detailed in the following list:

• Fatigue
• Nausea & Vomiting
• Pain
• Hair Loss
• Anemia
• Infection
• Blood Clotting
• Problems involving the mouth, gums and throat
• Digestive problems, such as diarrhea and constipation
• Nerve and Muscle issues
• Problems with Skin and Nails
• Radiation Recall
• Kidney and Bladder issues
• Flu-like symptoms
• Fluid retention
• Negative impact on sexual organs

As made abundantly clear by the above symptoms, chemotherapy treatment is hardly a risk-free proposition. Given the large number of distressing side-effects, researchers have spent years looking for alternative treatment methods. A large portion of these efforts have focused on the cancer-fighting properties of certain foods - including a little-known tropical fruit called the soursop.

An Overlooked Cancer Treatment?

Upon first glace, the soursop fruit may not seem especially alluring. Originally hailing from Central and South America, this exotic import features a prickly green exterior covering a heart or oval-shaped body. Such a bizarre appearance certainly doesn't' win the soursop fruit any beauty points.

Though it may not be aesthetically pleasing, the powerful health benefits of the soursop seem to prove the old adage of never judging a book by its cover - or in this case, an obscure tropical fruit by its strange appearance. Soursop has long been valued in various cultures for its medicinal properties, earning a reputation as a potent treatment for high blood pressure, stress and depression. People have also used soursop to help clear infections caused by bacteria and fungi.

These characteristics alone could cement soursop's place as a worthwhile grocery store pickup. However, research has suggested that soursop's true calling card is its immense cancer-fighting abilities. One such groundbreaking study appeared in the February 1996 issue of the Journal of Natural Products. This reportreached an almost unfathomable conclusion: a certain compound extracted from soursop, referred to as "compound 1," was 10,000 times more effective at impeding cancer cell growth than standard chemotherapy medications.

A second study, published the following year in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, reinforced these potentially revolutionary findings. This report noted that extracted soursop compounds were 250 times more effective in killing breast cancer cells than some chemotherapy drugs. As an added bonus, soursop doesn't appear to have the onerous side effects of chemotherapy. According to the Catholic University of Korea, soursop compounds leave healthy cells alone while attacking cancerous tumors. Finally, a Perdue University research team concluded that soursop leaves contain compounds that can help treat lung, prostate, and pancreatic cancers.

Though there is plenty of optimism about soursop's potential, researchers caution that more testing is needed to establish this fruit as a bona fide cancer treatment. As with other foods, soursop carries along its own share of risks. Soursop can disagree with the stomachs of some people, leading to vomiting. People with heart conditions or high blood pressure should avoid soursop, since this fruit has a depressing effect on the cardiovascular system. Pregnant women and antidepressant users are also discouraged from eating soursop. Finally, some research has claimed that some chemicals found in soursop are also present in Parkinson's patients, though a relationship between soursop and this nervous system disorder has yet to be proven.

Despite advances in medical technology, the scourge of cancer still plagues the world's developed nations, striking down millions every year. Though more research must be undertaken, the game-changing weapon against cancer might just reside in a little fruit from the tropics.

What is a radon and what is a radon bath? Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas that's colorless, odorless, and tasteless. Exposure to high levels of radon can cause lung cancer. Radon baths have been used to treat chronic pain associated with rheumatic arthritis for hundreds of years, and with some positive results. I manage to take a dip in these baths once a year, or so. Radon bathing has been known to treat a myriad of other diseases as well, even those associated with the heart, and so on. Radon has been used as a medical treatment for cancer here in Japan for centuries - need we mention the life expectancy rate in Japan?

The radon bath looks just like any other kind of baths, but with a machine attached to the piping that helps release radon vapors into the air. Radon baths are not hot! But, more like a comfortable warm 37 degrees centigrade.

Every now and then I head off the beaten path to a part of Japan that is not well-known to a lot of people. Yugawara City to be exact. When I say not well-known, I mean a place that most urbanites either pass right by on their way to the Izu Peninsula. Due to the fact that Yugawara City is not as overly commercialized like places in Hakone City and areas around Nagano Prefecture, traveller often times leave them out of their travel itineraries. Many Japanese travelers move like sheep in that if the place(s) are heavily commercialized and touristy, they will flock there.

Yugawara City is the kind of place that attracts elderly as the area caters to a specific kind of tourist who typically enjoys very traditional aspects of rural life. Generally people over 50 years of age who love dried fish and natural hot spas, as Yugawara is an old hot spring town and a seaport village with shops that are old and worn down. There are memories here of a bygone era relished by baby boomers and people who grew up in this tiny little quaint town. Yugawara is definitely not for everybody, but if you do come down here, try to take it all in, slowly. It's my third time here.

On this recent trip I didn't indulge in the dried fish delicacies. N.G. The shiokara (squid and assorted guts marinated) is pretty tasty and can be found all over the place down here. Instead I opted for a gourmet burger, fries, and coke, but first I had to take a dip in a little radon to get the blood and the radiation flowing.

The name of the hotel is called Shiroyama Hotel, and it's the first major hot spa hotel you'll see in the center part of town. It is very easy to find. As a quick note, one reason why some people may pass through Yugawara is because of the limited day-use facilities that are available to non-guest. In other words, there are a plethora of hotels with great hot spas, but not many of them allow day-use. When I discovered Shiroyama had offered day-use from 11am to 24:00 I was on my way.

When I entered the hotel the place was clean and had retained a lot of its original history and architectural charm. Lots of repeat customers were there it seemed, they had to be, because everybody knew each other by name and association. I paid one thousand yen [$11] and was given a bathing set with two towels, a yukata, and locker key. I headed up to the sixth floor and prepared myself then entered the water.

Entering the tub, the water was in a pleasant 32~37 degrees centigrade temperature range. This begs the question, is it better to sit longer in low temperature water or in hotter water for a shorter period of time? Perhaps, here in Japan, sitting longer in lower temperature water is more therapeutic than hotter baths. I do not know which is better, but on a personal note, sitting in higher temperature water is much more therapeutic for me, especially if I have joint pain or muscle stiffness.

When it comes to cancer treatment, radon has always been the non-invasive method of choice for centuries in Japan, with few confirmed reports of the curative effects of radon treatment, yet many people remain optimistic even still today. The thing to remember here is stress free, non invasive, and natural.