Category Archives: Living with Cancer

After Cancer, Cancer Survivors, Living with Cancer

Valerie Harper on Cancer: Prepare for Tomorrow But Live for Today! – Part One

Surviving Cancer
Surviving Cancer

Valerie Harper refuses to be cowed by cancer. Battling incurable cancer, the 74-year-old Emmy-award winning actress is living each day to the fullest. She’s prepared for the inevitable end of life but has already outlived doctors’ predictions.

“This diagnosis makes you live one day at a time, and that’s what everyone should do: Live moment to moment to moment,” Valerie told AARP Magazine in an interview.

Although never a smoker, in 2009 Valerie was diagnosed with lung cancer, the same cancer that killed her mother (also a non-smoker). After surgery to remove the tumor, she returned to acting. While rehearsing for the Broadway show Looped early in 2013, she started having memory problems. Doctors in New York found cancer cells in the meninges tissue that surrounds the brain, leading the press to report that she had brain cancer. When she returned home to Los Angeles, Valerie’s oncologist diagnosed her condition as inoperable metastasis of her earlier lung cancer.

Since then Valerie has been treating her cancer with a combination of traditional and alternatives at an alternative cancer treatment center and says she is so far holding her own. “This diagnosis makes you live one day at a time, and that’s what everyone should do,” Valerie counsels; “Live moment to moment to moment.”

But Valerie has also insisted on preparing for the end of life whenever it comes. That part of dealing with cancer has been difficult for her husband of 26 years, Tony Cacciotti. “Valerie is a realist,” Tony told AARP. “And she worries more about others than herself. She worries about what’s going to happen to us when she’s gone.”

To be continued

Living with Cancer

Immunotherapy May Improve Adult Outcomes for Childhood Cancer Survivors

From Childhood to Being an Adult: Cancer Problems
From Childhood to Being an Adult: Cancer Problems

One in every 640 adults between the ages of 20 and 39 is a childhood cancer survivor, according to the U.S. Institute of Medicine. About 70% of those cancer survivors will experience serious, life-altering health problems as adults that are directly related to their cancer battle and, more often, the cancer treatment they underwent decades ago. To these childhood cancer survivors it seems a cruel twist of fate that cancer up-ends their lives not once, but twice.

A recent University of Florida study on the long-term effects of childhood cancer found that many survivors suffer physical, mental or social effects as adults that can drastically impair daily function and quality of life. Working with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Florida researchers analyzed data from 1,667 childhood cancer survivors.

According to a report on Medical News Today, “The most common symptoms the survivors reported were head pain, back and neck pain, pain in other parts of the body, sensation abnormalities, and disfigurement” (such as hair loss). Other symptoms included heart problems, lung problems, mobility issues, learning and memory issues, depression and anxiety. Seventy percent of childhood cancer survivors reported at least one negative adult-onset symptom with 25% reporting six or more. With each additional symptom, survivors reported a noticeable decrease in their quality of life.

It is possible that using integrated immunotherapy to bolster the immune system during and after childhood cancer treatment, either as a primary treatment or with traditional treatment may decrease adult-onset symptoms for childhood cancer survivors. There may also be benefit in continuing immunotherapy treatments beyond initial cancer treatment to optimize immune system benefits throughout life.

 

Cancer Survivors, Living with Cancer

Childhood Cancer Survivors at Risk of Adult Health Problems

Childhood Cancer
Childhood Cancer

In 2003, the U.S. Institute of Medicine released a report on the special challenges faced by childhood cancer survivors after they entered their adult years. While citing a remarkable 78% improvement in survival rates since 1970, the report noted that, “More than two-thirds of childhood cancer survivors will face complications, disabilities or adverse outcomes directly related to their cancer, its treatment or both.”

As we’ve been discussing in social media lately, childhood cancer survivors frequently face serious medical problems and chronic illnesses during their adult years that can significantly diminish their quality of life and even decrease their life expectancy. A new movement designed to call attention to the unique challenges faced by survivors of childhood and adolescent cancer is building steam. The Society of Adolescent and Young Adult Oncology (SAYAO) recently held its first annual meeting at the University of California at Irvine with the goal of building awareness and improving the quality of life for childhood cancer survivors.

Not long ago, we reported on a new St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital study that linked the use of chemotherapy to treat childhood cancers to the survivors’ development of chronic, life threatening diseases during their adult years. Increasing the severity of the threat, the St. Jude’s study found that 90% of the heart conditions and 55% of the lung problems that childhood cancer survivors developed went undetected until the condition had reached an advanced stage.

SAYAO is calling on the cancer community to address the long-term issues of cancer survival. Non-toxic immunotherapy treatment at an alternative cancer treatment center may offer an important avenue not only to effective initial treatment but also to improved lifelong outcomes.

Living with Cancer, Stress Management

Improving Your Quality of Life While Living with Cancer

Improving Your Quality of Life
Improving Your Quality of Life

Cancer treatment and recovery are highly personal experiences – no two patients living with cancer have exactly the same physical or emotional response, even if their treatment is identical.

But beyond the scope of the purely clinical approach to fighting off the disease, another factor enters into the equation: quality of life. People living with cancer can take steps during and after treatment to help create a better sense of normalcy. In fact, a recent study conducted by the May Clinic confirmed that quality of life programs helped people with advanced cancer.

* Counseling for patients and their families can go a long way toward easing the burdens of worry regarding treatment cost, approaching workplace issues, supporting healthier relationships and more.

* Physical activity contributes to a stronger body, a clearer mind and improved self-esteem during and after treatment. Even something as simple as a daily walk can deliver physical and emotional benefits. Your oncologist or physician can help design a workout appropriate for every portion of your treatment and recovery.

* Mental stimulation creates a “buffer” that takes the mind off some of treatment’s more distracting or distressing elements. Anything from online courses to computer games and art classes can provide a mental workout that may improve your overall outlook.

* Spiritual approaches can lift the inner self. While living with cancer, you may find your religious beliefs fortified, which provides comfort and consistency. You may choose this time of life to investigate other spiritual paths, such as meditation or yoga, to deliver enhanced peace of mind.

At Issels we are here to help by providing information and treatment options for cancer patients and families who want to know more about non-toxic cancer treatment and how to improve your health while being treated for cancer.

Alternative Cancer Treatment, Living with Cancer

The Benefits of Exercise during Cancer Treatments

Two people running on a beach.
Exercising to Improve Quality of Life

Perhaps you’re curious about whether or not you should continue or begin an exercise regimen while you’re undergoing cancer treatments. Many patients wonder about this, and you’ll be happy to know that there are many benefits that go along with getting adequate exercise, even while you’re having chemotherapy or radiation or for that matter even the Issels Treatment.

Among those benefits, you can expect to experience:

* Improved quality of life

* More energy throughout the day

* Less fatigue

* Decreased anxiety

* Increased self-esteem

Exercise provides you with the tools you need to build a stronger body. When it’s paired with good nutrition, you’ll find that those two things alone help you feel better than you have in a long time. Check with Your Doctor Of course, before you begin any exercise routine, whether you’re currently having cancer treatments, or if you’re in remission, it’s important to check with your doctor. He or she will be able to provide you with some suggested exercises that will work well for you at the stage you’re in right now.

Workout Intensity

If you’ve been exercising for years, and you’ve been nervous about slowing down while you’re undergoing cancer treatments, don’t worry. Most likely, you’ll only have to decrease your intensity for a little while. Once you give your body an adequate amount of time to adjust to the changes, you’ll be able to build your intensity back up again. A solid exercise routine is a big part of the foundation to your good health. After all, you’re working to improve your health now, as well as in the future.

Cancer Care Tips, Living with Cancer

Helping Children Cope with a Parent’s Cancer

Cancer Support.
Cancer Support.

When a parent is diagnosed with cancer, moms and dads struggle with what, when and how much to tell their children. Immediately after diagnosis, parents are understandably struggling to educate themselves, cope with their own emotions and make cancer treatment decisions. Until they have had a chance to assimilate the diagnosis and all it entails, they may make not feel ready to discuss cancer with their children. Many parents feel a need to have some level of certainty about what will happen before trying to answer their children’s questions.

Unfortunately, there are few certainties when it comes to cancer. Individual response to cancer treatments allows for a range of possible outcomes. While statistics allow oncologists to tell their patients what is most likely to happen, your own cancer experience many not follow the normal pattern. While the desire to wait until your know what is going to happen is understandable, with cancer it is an unachievable goal.

Trying to shield your children by failing to discuss cancer may only make them worry more. Even very young children are surprisingly attuned to the normal rhythms of family life. Cancer disrupts those rhythms and children are quick to notice. Giving children an explanation for the changes cancer brings to family life and a parent’s health prevent children from imaging all kinds of horrible things or feeling guilt that they may have caused the problem.

Bringing cancer into the open allows children to express their fears and talk about their feelings. Even when there are no firm answers to their questions, being able to talk openly about what is happening in the family can be immensely reassuring to children.

You can find information about discussing cancer with your children at the American Cancer Society and Helping Children Cope.