Category Archives: Stage Four Cancer Treatment

Living with Cancer, Stage Four Cancer Treatment

The Tough Questions – Should I Travel for Cancer Treatment?

To Travel For Treatment
To Travel For Treatment

Perhaps you’ve just received a cancer diagnosis, and you can’t help but wonder if getting cancer treatment close to home is really the best choice for you. If that sounds familiar, you’re not alone. Many of the patients we serve here at Issels® will tell you that they understand how you feel. The fact is that this is a decision that only you can make. Still, we would like to offer you some information that will help you make the choice that’s right for you.

Treatment Options

The fact is that many oncologists and cancer centers depend on traditional treatment methods when they treat cancer patients. You’ll probably hear words like surgery, chemotherapy and radiation, because these treatment options are the most popular ones being used. Even so, coming to a treatment center like Issels® gives you many more options that just aren’t available everywhere. Cancer vaccines and immunotherapy are just two of the treatments we offer, but your treatment plan will be tailored according to your needs.

Excellent Results

It’s also a good idea to choose a treatment center that has a good reputation for excellent results and remission rates. Remission rates are a good indicator of what you can expect for your cancer treatment, although not all results are typical for every patient’s case.

No matter where you decide to have your cancer treatments, at Issels®, we want you to know that we’re there for you. Our caring staff of professionals is willing to work with you to determine a treatment plan that will work best for you. If you’d like more information about how we can help you, please contact us today.

Cancer Care Tips, Living with Cancer, Stage Four Cancer Treatment

Tips for Telling Your Family You Have Received a Diagnosis of Cancer

Telling Your Family Of Your Diagnosis
Telling Your Family Of Your Diagnosis

Discussing cancer with your family is akin to walking in an emotional mine field. Once you make it known you have been diagnosed with cancer, you must be prepared to navigate carefully in response to different reactions.

What to Do

Take time to come to terms with how you feel. If you’re angry and afraid, that’s okay. Don’t hold it in. It’s important to have someone you trust to talk to that will listen and be supportive.

Don’t attempt to go through it alone. Decide who you will tell, first, and how much information you want to initially share. The news will have a decided effect and those you tell may not react in the same way. You’ll need to be prepared, as best as possible, for addressing each individual.

Discussing your condition, within your comfort zone, is beneficial. By talking about it, you can move forward with a plan of action.

Don’t be afraid to let people know the limits you’re willing to discuss your condition. Repeating the same information over and over can become tiring and emotionally draining for you. Delegate a friend or family member to relay the news to others.

While you may not want to talk to your closest family members, it’s important that you talk to someone. If you’re not ready to let your family know of your condition, join a cancer support group where you can discuss your feelings, ask questions, and get advice from others.

Keep your daily routine as near normal as possible and encourage and support your family in doing the same.

Contact Issels Integrative Oncology Centers for any questions or information about available treatments.

Living with Cancer, Stage Four Cancer Treatment

Planning Ahead – 3 Tips for Those with Stage Four Cancer

Planning Ahead
Planning Ahead

If you or a loved one have been diagnosed with stage four cancer, your initial reaction is no doubt an overwhelming mix of emotions. Once your thoughts begin to settle, you’ll begin to wonder what comes next. Developing a plan of action plays a big part in maintaining a positive outlook, which benefits you physically as well.

First of all, keep in mind that remarkable advances in immunotherapy and natural cancer treatments are allowing many stage four patients to live longer. These three tips will help you stay strong by dealing with your health care needs proactively.

  • Your comfort is of utmost importance. Be honest with your physician or caregiver about any pain you feel so you can discuss ways of dealing with it. Sharing accurate information about your discomfort will also enable your doctor to treat you more efficiently.
  • Make sure you and your physician are on the same page regarding levels of communication. Do you want to know every detail, no matter how small? Would you prefer that your doctor talk to your spouse or other family member? People can’t honor your wishes unless you make them known.
  • For most patients, family is their greatest support system. Talk to your loved ones so you can decide together how they will deal with ongoing information and any decisions to be made.

We have been providing cancer patients with non-toxic and effective alternative cancer treatments for more than 60 years. Visit our website to read and hear testimonials from people who have achieved remarkable results with our individualized immunotherapy programs.

Living with Cancer, Stage Four Cancer Treatment, Stress Management

The Tough Questions – How Long Will I live?

How Long?
How Long?

If you receive a cancer diagnosis, it is normal to ask, “How long will I live?” Despite the tremendous strides made in battling cancer and extending the life expectancy of cancer patients, The Big C still carries the death stigma.

An Unanswerable Question

None of us can know how long we will live. Whether or not you have cancer, life eventually comes to an end. Sometimes cancer hastens those final days, but more and more frequently it does not. There is no magic calculator that can predict with 100% accuracy when your last day on Earth will dawn.

Prepare for Tomorrow; Live for Today

The advice of people who have faced fatal illness is to prepare for the worst but live with hope. Survivors say knowing your affairs are in order and your loved ones are taken care of frees you to live each day to the fullest.

Many Will Outlive Cancer

Today, many people with some of the most common and most prevalent forms of cancer, such as breast and prostate cancer, can realistically expect to beat cancer, live long and happy lives, and die of old age or other causes. Certain forms of cancer are now considered so slow growing and unlikely to impact patients’ lives that testing and treatment are no longer recommended. You’re more likely to die of something else before you feel cancer’s effects.

Revolutionizing Cancer Treatment

Scientific progress in genetic and cellular research and recognition of the immense value of immunotherapy are revolutionizing cancer treatment and increasing life expectancy. In Issels’ more than 60 years of experience, many stage 4 cancer patients have achieved long-term remission with integrative immunotherapy.

Immuno-Oncology, Living with Cancer, Stage Four Cancer Treatment

The Tough Questions – What Should I Tell My Kids About Cancer?

Telling Kids About Cancer
Telling Kids About Cancer

Naturally, you to want to protect your children from bad news. The instinct to shelter them may make you reluctant to tell them about your cancer; however, it is best that you do. It will be difficult to continue hiding it and children are often able to sense when something is wrong. They may be more worried if they feel that important news is being kept from them.

Explain the Illness
Find a time where you will not be interrupted or distracted.  Younger children will not need as much detail as older ones; too much information may confuse and distress them. Phrase answers to questions so that each child will be able to understand. Children up to age eight may be given a short explanation. Tell them that cancer means a part of your body that is not doing what it is supposed to do. There are bad cells in your body that can spread, so they need to be kept from growing or to be removed.

Prepare for reactions such as the child thinking that they caused the cancer (“magical thinking”) or that it is contagious. You may have to explain that cancer cannot be transmitted to them or the other parent.

For older children, name the illness so that they do not misunderstand. They may need a more detailed explanation and may ask questions about your specific type of cancer. If they have more information, they are less likely to feel helpless.

Explain to the child that there are treatments available that can help and that it is much rarer for people to die from cancer than it used to be.

 

Alternative Cancer Treatment, Stage Four Cancer Treatment

Stage 4 Cancer: From Desperation To Hope

There is Still Hope
There is Still Hope

No other disease carries the aura of fear and panic associated with cancer. Until recently a cancer diagnosis was considered a death warrant. But new discoveries and a move toward integrative cancer treatments have pushed back the shroud of death, extending the average cancer survival rate from 5 to 10 years – and many patients are living decades longer. Cancer deaths in the U.S. have been declining steadily over the past 20 years. Today, integrative immunotherapy offers even stage 4 cancer patients real hope of long-term remission.

Stage 4 Transformation

Many stage 4 cancer patients turn to Issels alternative cancer treatment centers after traditional cancer treatments have failed. They arrive at our clinics sick and in despair. Many are too ill to walk or talk. Moving beyond standard treatments is an act of desperation — a final grasp at life – as it was for Jim Gibson. Jim’s decision to seek integrative immunotherapy for recurrent small cell lung cancer was a last resort that proved to be both life-saving and life changing. Four weeks after beginning Issels Treatment®, Jim achieved complete remission. Now 10 years cancer-free, Jim leads a healthy active life.

From Desperation to Hope

Jim’s story is not unique among Issels’ patients. We urge you to listen to our patients’ stories. Each story is a tale of desperation transformed by hope under the care of Issels compassionate staff. While each patient’s story is unique; many, including patients with stage 4 cancer, have achieved complete and long-term remission of their cancer as a result of Issels non-toxic individualized immunotherapy.

The positive results being achieved with integrative immunotherapy are leading more cancer patients to choose immunotherapy as a primary treatment. As our patient Nicole revealed in her video, “It would be so nice if I had come here first.”