Very fast

We were advised by the urologist April 26th that Steve had Prostate Cancer.  Within weeks Steve saw doctors and technicians, by early May he had an appointment with the Prostate oncologist and within a week of that he had MRI's, bone scans, radiologist appointment and prostate educational seminar.  It was all very quick leading up to his surgery on May 31st, just over 1 month.   You tend to hear horror stories about our medical system, however I must say that both myself and Steve have obtained first class care from everyone involved.  Very fast!

Crap Shoot

My wonderful husband is recovering really well from his prostatectomy on May 31st. They removed some lymph nodes and tissue as the tumour was outside the capsule of the prostate.   The nodes and tissue came back clear, however the tumour was rated a 9 on the Gleason scale (aggressive) so they are recommending radiation treatment.  This is a big decision, kinda of a crap shoot, if no cancer cells moved outside the area then radiation would not be necessary, however the big question is what if they did?  Radiation has very damaging affects.   Steve will make a decision in the fall once everything has healed from the surgery.   Meantime he is doing great!

Anguish!

Well my mouth biopsy came back negative - great news! However, my husband was not so fortunate.  A prostate biopsy came back positive for aggressive prostate cancer.  Why?  Causes of prostate cancer are not defined.  There is no history in my husband's family and he had absolutely NO symptons.  I had insisted he go for a routine check-up.  Now we wait!  The doctor is referring us to a specialist, but told us an immediate prostatectomy was required.  Learning the news made it a tough weekend on everyone.  We now have another fight on our hands!

Waiting

I had a biopsy taken off the roof of my mouth yesterday.  A white patch, not too large and I am not sure how long it had been there.   I was aware of it, however I didn't really take a close look at it.  I could feel it with my tongue, has it was slightly raised.  Now I wait.  It could take 3 to 4 weeks to get the results back.  My fear is all the chemotherapy I had.   I am hopeful that they cut out what was there and that will be the end of it.  The cutting sensation was really weird, I could hear it, like cutting frozen meat.  Yikes, didn't hurt, but I didn't like it! 

The goodness of vitamins!

I believe vitamins and minerals are very important to our health, especially if we are not getting what we need from our diet.  Recently, Dr Oz had on a Naturopathic doctor that talked about 4 supplements that fight cancer. They were IP-6, Selenium, Black raspberry and Vitamin D.  There has been a lot of evidence that Vitamin D is very beneficial in fighting cancer.  I believe checking into the other 3 he mentioned could also be of benefit.  Check with your doctor before adding anything to your regimen.
And you can't beat a healthy diet and exercise - they are your best defence!

Just too much of it!

Right now I have two acquaintances struggling with cancer and a third one has lost their life to cancer.  My question is what causes so much of it?  I believe we have to do more to determine the cause.   We need to help prevent some of it, there is too much!  We know that cigarettes cause 1/3 of all cancers and I must say I know smoking is the major cause of some of my acquaintances cancer.   Genetics also plays a role, but what about the rest?  It is great to treat the problem, but we need to start to address the cause.  Hundreds of years of research into drugs and trying to find a cure, but let's start to ask the question how. How did I get this? 

Not many of us?

I spoke to a fellow Multiple Myeloma patient from the Toronto area. We had so many similarities, same age and diagnosed at almost the same time. She had a tandem transplant (2 stem cell transplants) and still has m-protein in her bone marrow. I on the other hand, had a stem cell transplant and an even riskier bone marrow transplant (BMT). I am in complete remission! She advised me they don't do BMT's any longer because of the risk of death! Hmmmm, I know I am the only living BMT transplant in Ottawa with Multiple Myeloma and they do monitor me closely. Protocols on cancer treatments change often, maybe the risks out weighed the benefits of BMT's - I am one very lucky lady!