Cost Medical care for cancer is costly. In addition, there is the financial burden that patients and families face in getting to and from the best care–which may be located at medical centers far from home. The situation can seem overwhelming. Corporate Angel Network Into this dilemma, little known resources have arisen to meet this challenge. One of...
Read More
Lung Cancer Facts In 2014, its been estimated that there will be 224,210 new cases of lung cancer and 159,260 deaths in the US. Sadly, one of the people lost was a brilliant young woman that we featured last year, Jessica Rice. She died March 14, 2014, after 2 1/2 years of treatment at age 32. Lung cancer patient survival rates have not increased...
Read More
Being a Spoonie You may not know it but if you are a patient with a chronic illness, you may be a spoonie. In 2010 Christine Miserandino wrote a post called The Spoon Theory. In the post, Christine describes explaining to her best friend what it really feels like to live with Lupus. She asks her friend to hold 12 spoons and tells her that the spoons are...
Read More
Being Informed For Vilma Aleida, neuropathy was a surprise. “Neuropathy appeared in 2011 during my 7th chemo….That 7th chemo was the infusion of two treatments (taxotere and trastuzumab). The result send me to the ER, the pain was only relieved with morphine. After that, I have been living with neuropathy in my legs, from my knees down. I...
Read More
People in Beijing and in as much as 15% of China are under a blanket of smog. The situation has gotten so bad that people are told to stay indoors with their air cleaners on. They don’t dare venture outside without a mask. Particulate Matter What’s going on? One of the components of smog is particulate matter (PM). PM is a combination of solids...
Read More
“A nation’s greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members.” ~ Mahatma Ghandi Two recent articles in the Washington Post provide a disturbing portrait of hospice care in the US. Hospices that take payments from Medicare must be able to provide “crisis care” –continuous nursing care in the home or inpatient...
Read More
Many With Lung Cancer Never Smoked There’s a movement afoot–energized by parents, children, brothers, sisters, sons and daughters– to change the language of cancer prevention. Why? Because the number 1 cancer–lung cancer– is the least funded, is often caught late and has a very poor prognosis. And by the way, lots of people...
Read More
Our body consists of trillions of cells that follow a certain cycle of growing, dividing, and dying. When these cells grow out of control, they may become cancerous and invade other tissues. Cancer is a group of over 100 diseases, distinctive by the uncontrolled growth and spread of abnormal cells, and if remain untreated, may even cause death. According to...
Read More
Or Patient-Centered Cancer Care: IOM’s recommendations Last week, we looked at the recent Institute of Medicine’s report and wrote the post about “How the US Got Its Cancer Care Crisis“. This week we get more practical. With specific recommendations you can use! The general recommendations include: (1) becoming engaged patients. (2)...
Read More
Did you know… In a study conducted in 2012, 69% of patients diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer and 81% of those diagnosed with stage 4 colorectal cancer did not understand that chemotherapy was not at all likely to cure their cancer? That a national survey showed physicians asked patients what they want in their care only ½ the time? That patients ask...
Read More
So often people who undergo chemotherapy hear something like this from their family, friends or other well-wishers, “Thank goodness that’s over, now you can get on with your life. You can get back to normal.” Although it’s true that chemotherapy is over, the road that the patient is on is not smooth. There are important changes that caregivers and...
Read More
Growing up, Colleen Bronstein spent all summer at her family’s summer home at the beach and when she married they had a pool and visited the beach house twice a year. Fair skinned, freckled and Irish she loved the outdoors. Knowing the Signs “I had an itchy spot on my back for a year or so and when I went to see my family doctor about something...
Read More
