BREAST CANCER RESEARCH RIGHT NOW! 13: Does EVERYONE, ALWAYS Need Radiation After A Lumpectomy?

From the first moment my wife discovered she had breast cancer, there was a deafening silence from the men I know. Even ones whose wives, mothers or girlfriends had breast cancer seemed to have received a gag order from some Central Cancer Command and did little more than mumble about the experience. Not one to shut up for any known reason, I started this blog…

Every month, I’ll be highlighting breast cancer research that is going on RIGHT NOW! Harvested from different websites, journals and podcasts, I’ll translate them into understandable English and share them with you. Today: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/264999.php

One of the most AMAZING things about consistently looking at current breast cancer research is that the discoveries seem to be never-ending. I can’t imagine ever stumbling across a headline that reads, “Scientists Know Everything About Breast Cancer, Research Centers Closed”…

Aside from the shock to breast cancer researchers if they actually reached their ultimate goal, I wonder what the next frontier would be? Certainly the world of research changed when smallpox was finally vanquished or we conquered polio.

At any rate, there’s news now that breast cancer treatment may be taking another turn – women who contemplate a lumpectomy typically follow up with both radiation and some sort of chemotherapy.

One research team is now proposing that treatment centers and doctors WEIGH the advantages and disadvantages of subjecting a woman to sometimes debilitating treatment with radiation. “The most contentious issue surrounds radiotherapy and whether all patients undergoing breast-conserving surgery should receive it. The authors believe that if toxic effects of radiotherapy exceed any oncological gains amongst DCIS patients, it is likely to lead to a higher all-cause mortality rate.”

In other words, it’s a case of “if they don’t need it, don’t do it” school of medicine.

While the research DOES NOT SAY RADIATION TREATMENT IS A WASTE OF TIME OR HARMFUL IN ALL WOMEN, they do note that “Present treatment options for DCIS [ductal in situ carcinoma – the most common form of breast cancer] are acknowledged as being excessive for many patients, and the aim of molecular profiling is to ensure that additional treatments such as radiotherapy are restricted to patients at highest risk of invasive recurrence."

What is molecular profiling? “Molecular profiling [looks at] the [patient’s] genetics and... [looks for] molecules found in the blood, other body fluids or tissues. Based on the information gathered from a patient’s tumor, doctors are able to identify the appropriate therapies that target[s that] patient’s cancer cells.”

So doctors are working to first detect breast cancer as early as possible, then treat the cancer effectively using ONLY what is needed to heal the patient. This would include the recent push to only remove SENTINEL lymph nodes that test positive for cancer rather than entire lymph node structures along with recent research that indicates that it MAY be possible to reattach the lymph ducts from a limb back into the blood stream if a large number of nodes were removed, thereby reducing the incidence of lymphedema...but that’s the subject of another post!

Targeted treatment for maximum impact with minimal damage? Sounds like a good plan to me.

Resources: http://www.cancercare.org/publications/166-molecular_profiling_personalizing_treatment_for_breast_cancer

Image: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRVkFRtGA5UXZVtD-Eyd1tVlU6EOv90F8h-L7P9D3RqyJKBGJxTGYN2t5RqLuz-x62MCoQuYC1Alc6jdAAD4NzuNdHhr2lpqi9De7HsH6aDEwBEwrNl6IQQRGHUHWn_aR7zPBZPvDP_b0/s200/breast-cancer-s14-radiation-for-breast-cancer.jpg

Random Thoughts On Breast Cancer, Reconstructive Surgery, Lymphedema, Pain, Work, Suffering, and Joy

Yeah, I added the last word today (plus lymphedema and work) because things are changing some more and I need to reflect on a lot more things…

So today I’m headed for the Great Minnesota Get Together! While I have not attended the State Fair for seventy-five years (http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/220067891.html), I’ve gone to the Fair since I was about 13 and only missed a few in there because I was out of the country. My family makes SURE I get there at least once – no matter how tight the budget.

I also turned to this Bible verse recently (yes, I am a religious person, Christian by choice, and have been all through this breast cancer change in life):

“I will extol You, O Lord, for You have lifted me up,
And have not let my enemies rejoice over me.
² O Lord my God,
I cried to You for help, and You healed me.
³ O Lord, You have brought up my soul from Sheol;
You have kept me alive, that I would not go down to the pit.
⁴ Sing praise to the Lord, you His godly ones,
And give thanks to His holy name.
⁵ For His anger is but for a moment,
His favor is for a lifetime;
Weeping may last for the night,
But a shout of joy comes in the morning.

⁶ Now as for me, I said in my prosperity,
“I will never be moved.”
⁷ O Lord, by Your favor You have made my mountain to stand strong;
You hid Your face, I was dismayed.
⁸ To You, O Lord, I called,
And to the Lord I made supplication:
⁹ “What profit is there in my blood, if I go down to the pit?
Will the dust praise You? Will it declare Your faithfulness?

¹⁰ “Hear, O Lord, and be gracious to me;
O Lord, be my helper.”
¹¹ You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;
You have loosed my sackcloth and girded me with gladness,
¹² That my soul may sing praise to You and not be silent.
O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever.”

Psalm 30

 

The relationship I’ve have with God these past two-plus years has been up and down. Not from God’s side -- God’s been there the entire time. From my side, I’ve been an on-again-off-again follower. Anger has been an issue, but fortunately, God is the God of the UNIVERSE and has taken my anger, absorbed it and then given back solidity.

Not so much me.

While I have YET to do any dancing about breast cancer, the mourning is pretty much past and the sackcloth has definitely been replaced by...well, not gladness, but THANKFULNESS.

My wife has been getting expander fills in the months since they were placed and in both looks and feeling, she is rounding out beautifully! So while my soul may not be singing God’s praises, I’ve been humming them more often lately. My heart may not be healed yet, but I don’t feel as if I’m bleeding any more.

And I’m finally working on forgiving God for including breast cancer in my wife’s life experience. I continually tell myself that as God of the Universe, God knows a lot more than me and knows a lot more about the future.

Right now, I’m learning to be at peace with that.

Image: http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6229/6292705512_b1b0e5011a_z.jpg

BREAST CANCER WISDOM 4: From Others and From Life Here…

From the first moment my wife discovered she had breast cancer, there was a deafening silence from the men I know. Even ones whose wives, mothers or girlfriends had breast cancer seemed to have received a gag order from some Central Cancer Command and did little more than mumble about the experience. Not one to shut up for any known reason, I started this blog…

There AREN’T ANY BLOGS BY MEN, FOR MEN.

Does what I am trying to do here – pass on information, hope, and experiences.

I took another pass through the blogs the involve men – husbands, brothers, boyfriends, friends – of women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer. I was unsurprised to find few current, regular sites. Of the two I did find (both listed below), one is the home site for a foundation – which is good, but impersonal; the other is the advertising site for a former writer for US News and World Report and a current National Geographic editor – which is fine, but while urging me to “buy the book”, offers little in the way of current interaction. (The message board has been “coming soon” for at least a year – when I first visited the site).

This one’s dead: http://www.breastcancerforhusbands.com/ and hasn’t been maintained since 2009.

And so I come back to me. I’ve worked hard to keep this up to date and positive. My readership has grown steadily and while I rarely get comments, I know people are reading the articles. I just don’t know WHO is reading them.

At any rate, I can still share words of encouragement from men whose women have been diagnosed with breast cancer:

“Even though many publishers told me that ‘men don't buy self-help books,’ I was sure this was one book that guys would buy–and if they didn't, their wives would buy it for them.” – Marc Silver (New York)

“‘I tried to stay positive so I didn’t add to her stress,’ says Dan Wackershauser, 37, a communications specialist at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. ‘My focus was to get her better.’” (Wisconsin)

“I shared with my new breast cancer husband friend a verse I find strengthening and inspiring, Hebrews 4:16, ‘Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.’” – Mitchell (his site hasn’t been updated since 2009)

“We felt our family and friends didn’t understand how serious things had become…I started making these photos, because we felt people needed to see…The words weren’t working.” – Angelo Merendino (New York)

“‘From a male's point of view, all you want to do is fix it,’ he says, supporting the release of a National Breast Cancer Foundation report on a gap in resources and support for male partners of women living with breast cancer.” – Brian Brady (Australia)

“Thankful that he caught his cancer early, Mr. Bush is now raising awareness in his local church community about the importance of checking for symptoms. ‘Men need to know. It's not just a woman's disease. This is now my mission,’ he said.” – Ron Bush (South Carolina)

“It is often said that good things come from bad situations. I can endorse this wholeheartedly. From the moment I realised that Ann’s life was potentially at risk, my emotions ran riot, but most importantly, I realised just how much Ann means to me. It’s an old cliché but people do take relationships and life for granted, and, although not welcome, this was a wake up call for us. My attitude to life and in particular life with Ann has been brought back into focus. I have learnt much about myself, mostly good, and have seen Ann in a completely different light. I admire her strength, courage and honesty in dealing with this crisis. Her attitude has made it easier in some ways for me to deal with. My role in supporting Ann through the coming treatments is clear and uncompromising.” – Barry Hyde (United Kingdom)

All good stuff. All powerful words and images…but still no blogs…

I will continue my search.

Resources: http://www.menagainstbreastcancer.org/,  http://www.nextavenue.org/article/2012-07/how-be-good-husband-when-your-wife-has-breast-cancer, http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/04/08/husband-documents-wife-battle-with-cancer-through-stunning-photo-series/#ixzz2cDpi3wrRhttp://www.breastcancerhusband.com/, http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health-fitness/husband-shares-breast-cancer-journey/story-fneuzlbd-1226669861145#ixzz2cE6ziM4R, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2325720/Meet-husband-battled-breast-cancer-alongside-wife--HE-undergo-mastectomy.html#ixzz2cE8MkNB6, http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/cancer-help/coping-with-cancer/tips/emotionally/breast-cancer-a-husbands-perspective
Image: http://topnews.ae/images/Paul-Cross63.jpg

A Fantastic Cancer Voyage Chapter 2 I

From the first moment my wife discovered she had breast cancer, there was a deafening silence from the men I know. Even ones whose wives, mothers or girlfriends had breast cancer seemed to have received a gag order from some Central Cancer Command and did little more than mumble about the experience. Not one to shut up for any known reason, I started this blog…

One of my fondest memories as a kid is watching the movie FANTASTIC VOYAGE. In it, a group of scientists and their ultra-futuristic laser-packing “submarine” are reduced to cell size and injected into the blood vessels of a world diplomat in order to destroy a blood clot in his brain.

What would a FANTASTIC VOYAGE: Breast Cancer look like? I’m going to write a novel here, short chapter by short chapter and I’m going to include the latest research and I’m going to imagine the entire story here for your delectation. If you want to start at the beginning, look left. Scroll down to LABELS. The first one is “A Fantastic Cancer Voyage”. Click on it. Scroll to the bottom and you will find episode on. Let me know what you think after you’ve read the whole thing!

Dr. Nwagbara looked up, clearing the virtual work screen that had been shielding her from having to talk to the Reverend Isamar Noor directly. The blackest man she’d ever met, he was an Ethiopian Jewish convert first to Islam as a boy – in order to fight against Somali terrorists – then to Christianity at a London research hospital where he’d had his lost leg replaced by an experimental “living” prosthetic. He’d completed his first degree there, then transferred to Weill Cornell Medical College in Rehabilitative Medicine.

He was now an evangelist to secular Americans – as well as a poster boy for the prosthetic surgery. He was intelligent, persuasive – uncommonly charming when he felt like it – and did a wildly popular weekly podcast explaining science to the masses. He was the bane of her existence both personal and professional.

Ohloo glared at him now and said, “What do you mean, ‘...if Kim Lin Ghandi is the incarnation of Anti-Christ and you help her  live, you may very well be labeled the Great Whore of Babylon.’?”

He shrugged broad shoulders. “Since the resurgence of faith in the States – faith separate from politics, I might add,” he paused and she granted him a nod. THAT split had been welcome. “I have tried to be realistic in my explanation of the limitations of science as it has an impact on everyday life.” He paused, she nodded again. He had done some good for America. But... “But I am not the only one to find the religious mumbo jumbo espoused by this woman to be offensive. How is it she feels she can merge the Hindu faith with

Ohloo looked at him and said, “Do you know the origin of that phrase?”

He started. “What phrase?”

“‘mumbo jumbo’.”

“I don’t see how...”

“Of course you don’t – sometimes, Dr. Noor, you toss around phrases you haven’t really dug into,” she said, smiling to take the edge off her jibe.

“It’s not...”

“It’s very relevant.” Ohloo stood up and strode around her desk then to the window as solitary snowflakes fell beyond, drifting slowly from a leaden sky. She said, “During the latter part of the eighteenth century, a wealthy Scotsman name Mungo Park was ‘exploring’ western Africa, specifically the Niger River. Along the way, he came into contact with the Mandingo people and in addition to learning their language, recorded his explorations in a book called  Travels in the Interior of Africa. In it, he came across the practice of the men of the Mandingo tribe solving intractable domestic problems. While later writers made it seem like the men used the Maamajomboo to keep the women under control. Recently, his lost journal was discovered in the keeping of the monks of an obscure African Catholic monastery. In it, Park talks about the diversity of work performed by the masked dancer who took part in religious ceremonies. He describes Maamajomboo – the same one later writers butchered into the phrase ‘Mumbo Jumbo’ – as a character, complete with “masquerade habit” as a complex cross between a marriage counselor, a judge and a sheriff.” Ohloo paused, but Reverend Noor watched her, now captured by the vision. “You should read it. The third to the last entry held what became the title, An End To Travels in the Interior of Africa and the Failure to Find the End of the Niger. It’s illuminating.”

“What does it have to do with your anti-Christ?”

Ohloo snorted and said, “Nothing.” He lifted his chin as if to say that he knew it, but she continued, “and everything. She’s the one who can mediate between Beijing and New Delhi – and you confirmed it, my dear Spirit-led preacher. Without you even knowing it, God has spoken through you and rather than crushing my belief, He has confirmed it. Kim Lin Anzan Ghandi will mediate this domestic dispute.”

“I hardly think the threat of thermonuclear war is a ‘domestic dispute’!”

Ohloo shrugged, “Compared to the greater universe – whether you are an atheist or a Muslim or Christian or Jew – our little arguments are domestic, not matter how big they appear to us. If New Delhi and Beijing nuked each other, from orbit you wouldn’t be able to tell.” She paused, tapping the cold glass of the window. “I don’t know about you, but I’d rather not let us come to that.” She turned to face the Reverend Noor, “I’m going to do everything in my power to save this woman who has a better-than-even chance of being instrumental in averting war. If that means that I risk being called the ‘Great Whore of Babylon’ or if the Jews think Christianity is the ‘Great Whore’ or Islam thinks the United States is the ‘Great Whore’ – I’m going to do it because,” she turned back to the window and tapped it, “Despite the weather, I’m rather fond of this world.”

She returned to her desk, ignoring the Reverend Noor – whom Alex called The Crackpot – and replaced her virtual work screen, enlarging it and making it opaque. She worked for half an hour, working hard not to look when the chair creaked but her office door didn’t open. After another half an hour, he cleared his throat.

Image: http://medgadget.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/11/Fantastic-Voyage-200x290.jpg

The Wicked Witch of the West Is DEAD! – Thoughts On Continuing Life As A Breast Cancer Husband

From the first moment my wife discovered she had breast cancer, there was a deafening silence from the men I know. Even ones whose wives, mothers or girlfriends had breast cancer seemed to have received a gag order from some Central Cancer Command and did little more than mumble about the experience. Not one to shut up for any known reason, I started this blog…

We started celebrating our 26^th wedding anniversary this past week.

“Started celebrating” because as a teacher, my paycheck runs out at the end of the summer, a few weeks before we start work again. This has been true for the past 26 years just as it is true this year.

Because of that, we’ve never had what you’d call a “spectacular” anniversary. Don’t get me wrong, we’ve had many GOOD times! Went to a local dinner theater last year to see the musical XANADU; did a “blockbuster movie” watch the year APOLLO 13 and EXCALIBUR came out topped with supper at the then brand new local Champps. For another we spent a night at a Bed & Breakfast in Stillwater. This year my wife had a quiet day at home while I hurried north to pick up my daughter-in-law and grandkids to ferry them to a doctor appointment – my granddaughter had pneumonia. We had takeout that night from our favorite Chinese restaurant and watched OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL. The addition though is that with some old and dear friends of ours, we’ll be spending the Thanksgiving holidays in Wild Eagle, Wisconsin at a resort for a week! That will allow us to celebrate in the style we should have been celebrating all along.

So what does all this have to do with breast cancer?

While it may not be obvious to you, it is to me: we get to celebrate our 26^th wedding anniversary two and (almost) a half years after a breast cancer diagnosis! In 1911 the diagnosis would have been a death sentence. In 1961, she would have been treated with “stone knives and bearskins” with drugs that would have made her violently ill and miserable – and probably wouldn’t have made much difference at all.

Here in the second decade of the 21^st Century, the treatments she received and continues to receive cured her of the cancer and have given us a chance to celebrate...well, when I exclaimed that we could be together for another 26 years, my wife pointed out that I would 90 years old by then. Hmmm...I guess if that’s God’s plan, then so be it. But 90? Whew – that DOES seem old.

At any rate, in the here and now, the point is that we’re planning an extended celebration of our 26^th Wedding Anniversary and those plans rest firmly on the basis of the pain, treatments, research, advances, and drug regimens my wife has experienced since the original diagnosis.

So “...let the joyous news be spread, the Wicked Old Witch at last is dead!” (And no, I DON’T mean the Wicked Witch of the East with the Ruby Slippers – I mean the melted remains of her sister – the Wicked Witch of the Cancerous West!)

Let the celebration continue!

Image: http://www.scene-stealers.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/011-The-Wizard-of-Oz-1939-Dorthy-Says-Goodbye-to-the-Emerald-City.jpg