Calling all triple negative breast cancer patients in the UK
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Hello adagio,
I was glad to know that your mammogram is clear and that your oncologist feels that you can now go until next January before seeing here. That is good news. You will slowly adapt to this. It is strange at first but I am now so glad that I am free of the hospital visits.
I was interested to know that you and your husband are going to Australia and New Zealand for three months in September. This will give you something to which you can look forward.
I do hope you will have good news from the DEXA scan at the end of March. Please let me know how you get on. Like you, I do not know what is happening to my bones and with our NHS in dire straits, I shall probably not be able to have another DEXA scan. I try not to worry about this and just continue taking my Solgar bone support supplements, along with my vitamin D. Like you, I try to get as much calcium from my diet by eating nuts and green vegetables, along with plain soy yoghurt enriched with calcium and plain unsweetened almond drink by Alpro.
I do admire you doing all those steps. I must get back into walking more and to doing some gardening.
I was glad to know that you like Justin Trudeau. I have watched him on television and he does come over as a good and decent man. His father Pierre was fascinating and I never tired of following politics when he was Prime Minister and I was living in Ottawa not far from the Parliament building and where he lived on Sussex Drive. It was all so much more modest than we have here.
It is good to know that you are enjoying the empty nest. It must be interesting having your children in different parts of the country and in the States. Where in Quebec does your son live? We spent a few years living in Montreal and found it all very interesting.
It sounds as though we are all very happy that spring has arrived.
That is all for now. Keep well and look forward with optimism.
Fond thoughts.
Sylvia xxxx
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Hello Hanieh,
Thank you for all those lovely photographs. They tell us how much you are enjoying yourself. It is good that you have all these travelling plans for the future. It is so much easier to travel around when you are young. I am sure you will get to all those countries you want to see.
I was interested to know that you had met a young American man and had been able to talk in English. It is true that there are many different accents in the UK and in America. Here in England the accents in the south and north are very different. There are quite a lot of differences between American English and English English, but I think you would know some of this. When I was teaching in Morocco there were two American men who were also teaching English and the students used to tease one another about the differences. My students always used to say my English was the 'true' English! They used to tune in all the time to the BBC World Service and learnt English very quickly. I so enjoyed teaching them. One day one of the Americans and I put our classes together and taught the students the words of a song by the Beatles and they enjoyed it so much. They had a real thirst for learning.
I was interested in what you said about haft sin. Is it similar to what we do here on the last night of an old year? We usually have a celebration and sit up until midnight to welcome in the New Year.
That is about all for now.
Fond thoughts.
Sylvia xxxx
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Sylvia - my son lives in Mt Saint Hilaire which is east of Montreal on the south shore of the st Lawrence River. It is a quiet suburb about an hour and a half from Montreal. I have been to visit them only once since it is a long journey from Vancouver, and very costly.
I spent some time in Ottawa last year, and it definitely has a charm all of its own. What years did you live in Quebec and Ontario? Sounds like you have fond memories of your time spent there. Canada is a grand country, and I would like to see a lot more of it particularly Newfoundland. But like all countries - we are changing and we have a lot more people now than when you lived here - still not as many as the UK though!!
Are you planning on doing any travelling yourself? It is much more challenging now than it used to be. I personally can live without travelling, but my husband loves to travel, so I will go with him while I am able and certainly in the first few years of his retirement while our mobility is good. My husband has dreamed about this upcoming year of travel for a long time, and I am just hoping and praying that my health remains stable so that I can enjoy it with him. Perhaps one day we may even make it to Exeter, and I can visit you and have a cup of green tea with you!
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Hello adagio,
Thank you for your post. I shall respond later this evening when I have finished my busy day.
Best wishes
Sylvia xxxx
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Hello everyone,
Someone from the UK (Smodge) was posting on behalf of her sister diagnosed with TNBC. She wanted to know about the use of carboplatin with other chemotherapy drugs for treatment. If any of you viewing from the UK are going through treatment or have recently been through treatment, had carboplatin or any of the platins, in addition to a regime such as ECT, please let us know.
Best wishes
Sylvia
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Hello Smodge,
I have been looking up about the platins. You might like to look at the following link.
http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/cance...
Best wishes
Sylvia
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Hello adagio,
When we lived in Montreal, Raymond and I lived on the West Island. First of all we lived in Pointe Claire and then in Dollard des Ormeaux. This is where we began our Canadian life in January 1977. We arrived in the bitter cold and snow! We stayed in Montreal for three years and often drove into the centre, which was mainly French speaking. Old Montreal is very picturesque. In April 1980 we moved to Ottawa (Nepean) where we stayed until July 1989. I really liked Ottawa and did a lot of gardening there during spring and summer. In 1989 we moved to London, Ontario and stayed there until November 1993 when we made the decision to come back to the UK. It was very difficult to get used to being back in our own country. We did take out Canadian Citizenship, having studied the requirements to pass, went before a Citizenship Judge, passed everything and became Canadians.
We do have fond memories of our years there. It is a country of which you can be proud and we liked Canadians. We did visit Quebec City when we lived in Montreal and, of course, found it quite exotic. In Ottawa we went several time to Niagara Falls. We went to British Columbia (unforgettable) and of course Vancouver, not to mention Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island (before the bridge was built). We did not get to Newfoundland. We missed out the middle bit unfortunately but we did go through the Rockies. We still keep in touch with some friends.
I do not think we shall be doing any more travelling, and compared to how people travel today, we do not think we are well travelled. While in Canada we did go into the US and we went to New York, Vermont and New Hampshire.
When I was much younger I lived and worked in France and Morocco and went often into Spain, Portugal, Germany, Holland, Sweden, Denmark and Norway. They are all a bit of a distant memory now.
When I read of all the places you have visited, I think you are more well travelled, as is Mary and now our young Hanieh has a yearning to see the world.
As you say, it is more challenging as you get older and I feel that the world is such a dangerous place. Today I have been tuned in to all that has been going on in Belgium.
I can understand your husband's desire to travel when he retires. Lots of people go off travelling in retirement. Here in the UK people seem to have bucket lists of wishes and everyone seems to love cruises.
Like you, I just hope to remain stable in my health.
I do hope you will make it to the UK one day soon and that we shall have that cup of green tea!
Sending you fond greetings.
Sylvia xxxx
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Hi, Adagio
I think the stem cell shoulder repair method fascinating also. Yes, the procedure is fairly simple, done in a clinic and then home. They retrieve plasma from blood, and then stem cells from fat in rear or thigh, I guess wherever is best. If there is also arthritis in area, they will also retrieve stem cells from lumbar region of back. (I think that is expected to cause some pain.) This is all done quite quickly, and then they inject the mixture, (or separately) into the affected area. That is all there is to it. There is a numbing agent injected at the same time, so there is no pain for an hour or two. Then I think pain is expected for 3-5 days. This is caused by the inflammation which is a necessary part of the process. During this time, and before, and for some time after you are not allowed to take any anti-inflammatory pills, such as Advil or Motrin. Only Tylenol, or hydrocodone, something like that. Then begins the proliferation phase, as the stem cells begin to rebuild the damaged tendons. I think you are expected not to do anything extreme with arm for a short while, and then business as normal, gently. They do not use a sling or anything like that, they want the arm moving so it doesn't become frozen. The process goes on and they consider the "rebuild" complete in about a year. But it is supposed to feel better much before that. The only therapy I would be expected to have would be a few visits to a posture specialist, because I tend to slump and put undue pressure on my shoulder joint.
The only fly in the ointment: If you have had cancer, and if there is a chance that you have active cancer, they will not perform the procedure because there is a chance of spreading cancerous stem cells around the body. They asked me if I had active cancer, I said "not as far as I know!" The docs there think it will be fine to go ahead, but then the doubt was planted in my mind; and I am not sure how to proceed. How do any of us ever know for sure if there is not a cancer cell roaming around? Sure don't want to wake it up if there is. Nothing is ever simple!
Congratulations on your good oncologist visit. It is a strange feeling to be cut loose; I experienced it after I did the treatment for my liver disease. After my second visit back after finishing the post-treatment tests, he declared me cured and said I did not have to come back unless I had a problem of some kind. After so many years of regular visits, it is a strange feeling; I felt glad of his confidence, and yet somewhat bereft. Like a security blanket had been taken away. I guess I will get used to it.
I have not been to Michigan, it is only a few states away from me, to the northeast. I am in Missouri, in the geographical center of the country. I have friends who regularly go to N. Michigan and stop at Mackinac Island to the north in Michigan; they love it there. When my husband was still alive, he never wanted to travel east much, only west to mountains and sightsee and south to warmer climes. He did always want to travel to Australia, we did not make it there in time for him. New Zealand looks very beautiful as well, it is a very long flight for us here, however. I am not too crazy about flying these days. Necessary at times, though!
Sounds like you have been on every U.S. coast, and also Illinois and Michigan. Every area is quite unique, and the cities have much different attitudes than the more rural parts. Guess you could say that about anywhere! I am in a more rural part of Missouri. I was in D.C. years ago, went to Smithsonian and made it through a small part of one building in a day; overwhelming, there is so much there! It is wonderful that you have a travel partner, I find myself now able to travel at my desire, but there is not always someone to travel with. So I am trying now to think of places I can visit alone, or more inventive ways to visit friends and family. Trains, for instance.
We celebrated Palm Sunday last Sunday too, tomorrow is Holy Thursday, then Good Friday, then Holy Saturday leading to Easter Sunday. I am also on our choir. I attend a very small Catholic church in a very small community and we have a very small choir! I have not been to an Episcopal service that I can recall.
Have to close for now; I wish you happy travels, Adagio, and happy Easter!
Talk soon, Mary
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Hello everyone,
I saw a post from ForeverOptimistic on a newly created thread, entitled Frankincense, and thought it might be of interest to you. This is what I put on there:-
Hello ForeverOptimistic,
I have just read your post with great interest and was sorry to read that your cancer had come back.
I was diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) with triple negative receptors in June 2005. It was high grade (grade 3) as are most TNBC cancers. It was a large tumour. Initially I decided no to have orthodox treatment and tried alternatives. I saw a well known herbalist and was prescribed wormwood and astralagus.
I also saw a well known nutritionist cancer doctor and she advised a diet which included bitter apricot kernels. I have been taking them ever since.
My breast cancer consultant at the hospital referred me to a breast cancer consultant working homoeopathy. She examined me and told me she could provide adjuncts to orthodox treatment but told me I needed to have the orthodox treatment. The nutritionist had said the same.
In October I returned to the hospital and agreed to the orthodox treatment. I had six months of chemotherapy, followed by a mastectomy, followed by three weeks of radiotherapy.
During all this time I worked with the homoeopath and was on oral Iscador throughout my treatment and for some time later. At each stage of my treatment she gave me homoeopathic medication to help me. I had no side effects during treatment, except for hair loss and there are now ways of preventing this.
I think that the alternative treatments were good adjuncts to the orthodox treatment, but I do not think I would have survived with alternative treatment alone.
I have read about frankincense, but I do not know how effective it is. If it is a good immune booster then it can do no harm. I also took an immune booster called pycnogenol throughout my treatment in addition to astragalus.
A Canadian woman, adagio, on the thread I created, Calling all triple negative breast cancer patients in the UK, takes or was taking frankincense.
I do not know about oil of oregano, but I do use oregano daily on my food.
Did you have a lumpectomy or a mastectomy for your surgery?
You might want to look at Cancer Active and join up for the Chris Woollams email. He has a lot of information about breast cancer and different treatments. You might also like to look at Ty Bollinger's website. Not so long ago he did a series of videos promoting alternative treatment and showing successful outcomes. There are also alternative threads on bc.org.
I hope this helps. You are welcome to post on my thread and might also get help and information on Calling all TNs.
I think the secret to getting through cancer treatment and surviving is a healthy diet (the rainbow/Mediterranean diet), regular exercise, avoiding negative stress and taking vitamin D. I eat bitter apricot almonds and drink plenty of Clipper green tea.
Please let me know how you get on.
Fond thoughts.
Sylvia xxxx
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Hello Mary,
I have just read your post to adagio with great interest. I was concerned about the risks of possibly stirring up cancer cells and that would put me off this treatment.
I hope all is well with you.
Fond thoughts.
Sylvia xxxx
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Hi all
Hope everyone is doing well.
Not getting the time to post much, but still reading the posts. One thing I do feel should be commented on was this post regarding Chris Woollams:
You might want to read the March edition of Chris Woollams newsletter. I have got to go into all the details but there are some interesting headings, one of which, number 10, is "Ginger can fight cancer; Taxol is all but useless". If you sign up for the email, read the different headlines and the headings underlined underneath, you will learn a lot.
http://www.chriswoollamshealthwatch.com/
I'm not signed up to Chris Woollams newsletter (and nor do I wish to be!) but that single comment "...Taxol is all but useless" is complete nonsense and why people like Chris Woollams do more harm than good. The introduction of taxol has been a major game changer in breast cancer treatment, in particular TNBC. Many women are alive today thanks to Taxol being introduced into chemo regimes. The published data is out there for anyone to read, the drug is cheap and is highly effective. Statements like "taxol is all but useless" are not only dangerous and misleading but are not based on scientific fact.
My wife has read Chris Woollams book, i have also read it to. He certainly makes some very good points, but a lot of what he writes is also completely inaccurate and sometime false. He is not a recognized cancer expert, he is not up-to-date with current advancements and treatments. certainly take his advice and opinions on board - but do take him and other like "experts" with a pinch of salt!
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Hi Hanieh,
It is great to see all your pictures, we get a glimpse of an exotic city. And of your very attractive family!
I am glad you are having a good time. It must be much different to be there, than just to hear the stories on the news as we do. It is so sad that we have this cancer of extremism to deal with, it changes our perception of the world and I guess that is the purpose of it. In my part of the world we have our issues; there was rioting in one of the large cities in my state some months ago, and for a while when people heard of my state, they immediately thought of that. When actually it was occurring in a couple of small areas in a large state.
I hope and pray one day we can all move about the world as we please with no fears. In the meantime, I hope you are having a great holiday, and a happy new year!
By the way, you look lovely, I hope your head is feeling much better!
Talk soon, Mary
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Hello Tom,
It was nice to see you back on the thread. I am not sure which post you are referring to about Chris Woollams. Do you mean the one I posted on here to ForeverOptimistic. If so, I merely pasted it from a thread created by her entitled Frankincense, where I was interested to read that she was asking about this and saw she had refused orthodox treatment and had had surgery and then gone through alternative treatment with mistletoe injections. I was merely telling her about my own experiences and how I thought that these treatments were good as adjuncts, but that I thought without my chemotherapy (EC and Taxotere) I would not have survived.
I have to go out but I shall write more later. Chris Woollams is a microbiologist.
Hope all is well with you and yours.
Best wishes.
Sylvia
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Hello Tom,
I am resuming my post after having had to go out. I think those of us posting on the thread have all read the March email for Chris Woollams newsletter and have discussed it at length in earlier posts. I think it is good to have an open mind about everything. Information is power and we can always agree to disagree. I know that Mary and I discussed a lot of things from that newsletter. We have to draw our conclusions about everything.
I do hope one day that we shall be able to move on from these chemotherapy drugs. We who have been through cancer treatment know how toxic they are and we are still living with the side effects. Although I went through my chemotherapy treatment with no nausea, sickness, neutropenia etc., I did witness other women being really ill. I only ever felt tired and was able to carry on as normal. After finishing treatment I had a problem with my feet and my oncologist told me it was peripheral neuropathy from docetaxel (Taxotere) and that there was no cure. Many women on the threads have this problem, caused either by docetaxel or paclitaxel (Taxol). My oncologist also told me she had chosen Taxotere because it was less toxic on the heart. She also told me they had fatalities from the chemotherapy drugs!
I was wondering which book your wife had read, as Chris Woollams has written quite a few. I think his book The Rainbow Diet is very useful. It is good that the medical establishment is at long last recognising the connection between what you eat and illness.
Chris Woollams has never claimed to be a cancer expert. The Cancer Active thread makes it quite clear that it is an information thread and information never killed anybody. I started reading icon magazine back in 2005 when I saw it at the hospital where I was having my treatment and where it was freely available. I have kept up to date ever since and I very much doubt that he is not aware of all the current advancements and treatments. On the contrary I have found him to be in the forefront. I think we all need to be left to make up our own minds about what we believe and about what we do in order to prevent cancer or stop it from coming back for those who have had it. From start to finish with my own treatment I listened carefully but always made up my own mind about what I would and what I would not do. I am nearly eleven years out since my diagnosis.
Wishing you all the very best and good health to your wife.
Best wishes.
Sylvia
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Hello Mary,
I was re-reading your post and was wondering if you have made up your mind whether to go ahead with that treatment of your rotator cuff.
It has gone a bit quiet here about the American primaries, but of course the attacks in Brussels have pushed everything else out of the headlines.
We had a beautiful sunny day yesterday in Exmouth, but today is miserable with rainy cold weather.
Thinking of you.
Love
Sylvia xxxx
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Hi Sylvia, Mary and all
Mary, thank you so much for your kind words. Now I'm back to Tehran, but during our one week stay in Istanbul ,despite one terrorist attack, everything was calm and people went on with their normal lives. The only difference was that the police was everywhere which was somehow peace of mind. My trip was terrific. I suggest all of you take a visit there. It was the combination of Asian and European cultures. I went to Hilton Bomanti hotel in which all the rooms had the view of all the city and Bosphore strait. It was a lively city but it had extremely narrow allays with lots of old apartments. I think modernity does not exist in average people's lives and it was mostly seen for tourists in hotels, malls and anything related to that. Their five star hotels and airport were much better than our five star hotels and airport, yet modernisation is more included in our everyday lives. Our city state ,houses and apartments and are far better than theirs. The people were nice and friendly. They also have high quality products with good prices which make shopping enjoyable. Their historical places and museums were interesting too. As a whole I liked it very much
Love
Hanieh
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Hello Hanieh,
It was nice to hear from you and to know that you are now back in Tehran. It must feel strange to be back home again. It is awful that these terrorist attacks are happening, but the population has no choice but to carry on calmly, albeit with vigilance. I was glad to know you enjoyed the trip despite the terrorist attack. Of course, we have now had the one in Brussels, Belgium, which has taken an awful toll.
I can understand how in Turkey there is the combination of Asian and European cultures. This is because Turkey is a huge country with part of it nearer to Europe and the other part nearer to Asia. We have to remember how strong the Ottoman Empire was at one point in history.
It must have been interesting for you to compare Tehran to Istanbul. All in all, I get the impression that your holiday was a positive experience.
I hope you will continue in this positive frame of mind. Are you back to your teaching now?
Here in the UK it is a bank holiday weekend. Lots of people will be going off on holiday breaks and I can already see the difference in Exmouth, as people arrive for a seaside break.
Sending you fond thoughts.
Sylvia xxxx
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Hello everyone,
I just wanted to wish you all a happy Easter weekend and hope you get to relax and do the things you enjoy.
For those of us who are not religious have a happy Springtime break. This is a lovely time of year with the renewal of Nature.
Special hellos to Mary, adagio, Amanda and Hanieh. You have made a huge contribution to the thread.
Fond thoughts.
Sylvia xxxx
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Happy Easter and happy Springtime to everyone.
Sylvia
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Hi, Sylvia
I am still on the fence about the stem cell treatment. If it wasn't for the stem cell implicated in possibility of spreading cancer cells if there are any, (which, as far as i am concerned, is an unknown factor), I would proceed right away. I really like the idea of using my own body's cells to do the work of rebuilding the damaged part. I don't know if I am being paranoid or just cautious. I get a bit down in the dumps when thinking about things like this, nobody can really advise me what to do.
I didn't sleep well last night and am tired, it does not help my mood. Right now am feeling like our election process is being manipulated and not being left up to the people.
They have announced tighter restrictions at airports because of Brussels, the terrorists seem to keep winning.
I hope you and Raymond have a wonderful Easter and enjoy the spring weather, if you have it. Here it is cold and gray, after having 2 very nice days earlier in the week.
In referral to (BCHusband's) Tom's advice on Chris Woollams. I think the very large majority of all the patients who come here have done, or are doing, the orthodox treatment. There are some of us who think we can also help ourselves with natural herbs and treatments to accompany the chemotherapy/radiation method, or, as in my case, to try to recover from the treatment and help prevent the recurrence of cancer. I don't even know for sure if that is possible, but Chris's ideas seem to offer hope and encouragement in a stressful situation. I am also sure if I did have a recurrence, I would be off to the best traditional Cancer Hospital I could get to, but I would also be armed with information on nutrition, new treatment protocols, and the awareness that patients need integrative care. As opposed to what I had, which was due to my own lack of education on the subject. The day you are told you have a very aggressive tumor, and it needs to be treated soon, is not really the day you are going to suddenly know all about this stuff. I appreciate the work that Woollams and Bollinger do to get out information, which I am free to act on or not. I think I understand your concern, which is probably for the patient who is on the fence about whether or not to proceed with the standard treatment. I think we need to use the best of both worlds, that is integrative.
I hope everyone has a happy Easter, and a nice weekend. If you have children, do they hunt for painted Easter eggs as they do over here?
Talk soon, Mary
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Hi Sylvia
Just dropping in to wish you and everyone else a pleasant holiday weekend.
I have lost tracked of when I last logged on. I have been busy doing nothing in particular. I have loads of up to date TNBC research which I was going to publish to the website but I haven't yet got permission to run the charity so perhaps I should publish a few links a day here. What do you think?
Best wishes
Michael
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Hello Michael,
I was so very glad to find you had posted, because I was really concerned that you might be unwell.
Thank you for your good wishes for the holiday weekend. It has been quite a nice day today, but we have been told to expect nasty weather over the next three days, rain, high winds and hailstones.
I was very interested to know that you have lots of up to date TNBC research and I think it is a brilliant idea and very kind of you to suggest putting the links on here, a few at a time. We all have very inquiring minds here and believe that information is power and that ignorance is not bliss!
It must be awful for you that everything is going so slowly for you to get permission to run the charity, so I hope that permission will come soon.
How are things with you? I do not know if you have been viewing, but I do know that your last post on here was January 23rd. I did mention the anniversary of Janette about March 12th and I did have a look at your website.
According to the papers, the happiest people in the UK are in Northern Ireland. How do you feel about that? The most miserable are in London, and I am not surprised. It is over-populated.
That is about all for now.
Very best wishes.
Sylvia
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Hello Mary,
I have just read your post and I always find everything very interesting. We are on the same wavelength in so many ways. Answering it will be my first priority tomorrow, as I have no energy left today.
Fond thoughts.
Sylvia xxxx
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Hello Mary,
I can understand that you are still on the fence, as you say, with regard to the stem cell treatment. It is an impossible situation because, although we have all been told that we are NED, we cannot be sure of what is going on our bodies, even years after 'successfully' finishing treatment and I would also be concerned about stirring up cancer cells. What worries me in particular is that we know, or we read, that stem cells are not destroyed by chemotherapy and can lie dormant until something wakes them up. I can understand what a big decision this is for you. Life seems to be like that. We have freedom to make decisions but this making of decisions is a constant source of anxiety. I often wonder how my life would have been different and what pathways it might have taken had I made decisions other than the ones I did make.
I can understand that with this on your mind you did not sleep well. It is true that our mood is very much affected by whether we sleep well or not. It probably has something to do with lack of melatonin, as it is produced while we sleep. I know we have discussed this on our thread in the past about too much light at night, lack of melatonin and the possible connection with breast cancer. I remember reading all about how working through night shifts is bad for us. Very recently I was interested in a post on the TNs by BanR about the light problem. She mentioned the problem of blue light, which is in computer screens, smartphones etc.
I do understand your feelings about your elections. I think all elections are probably manipulated and that the people do not really get the government that they want. I am very weary and disgusted with the way things are being done in the build up to this referendum about staying in or leaving Europe. I think we, the people, of this country are being manipulated by the politicians and big business, instead of being left to make up our own minds. This is being conducted by the political parties more like a general election. The behaviour is appalling and there is terrible scaremongering. I think our parliament should all be sent into permanent detention!!!
I think we are going to be living with the present terrorism for a long time to come. The West has bombed the Middle East to bits and now we have warfare on our own turf and we do not know when or where these attacks will occur and it is always the innocent people that suffer.
The weather here is very changeable. Yesterday was a lovely day but today it is wet and cold. We shall probably stay indoors and catch up on our reading.
With reference to Tom, we have to remember that we are not supposed to give advice on this forum. That is one of the rules. I am always very careful about this and only say what I would do or have done. We are not doctors, and anyway doctors are not always right. I think all of us on this thread have been through orthodox treatment, but I think with all the information that has now become available, integrative treatment, a mixture of orthodox, complementary and alternative is what we probably believe in. I can see no harm in any of this. I would think most hospitals are offering complementary therapies. I know that was happening at the RD&E hospital where I was a patient, through FORCE charity, of which my oncologist was the patron. They were offering aromatherapy, and lots of counselling in groups or one to one. It was in a lovely big modern house in the grounds of the hospital. It had all sorts of magazines, including icon from Cancer Active.
Like you, I appreciate all the work that people like Chris Woollams and Ty Bollinger do to get out information. Chris Woollams has a Masters in Microbiology from Oxford and has all the experience from what he went through with his young daughter when she had brain cancer and died from it. Neither Chris nor Ty claim to be cancer experts. They ask the experts. All those doctors on those videos must be doing something right and all those patients in remission without orthodox treatment cannot be lying. We cannot know for sure what went on because we do know that people with cancer can go into spontaneous remission. This happened to the husband of a close friend of mine. She was told there was no hope and she should prepare for his funeral. She removed him from the hospital and he lived on for many years, eventually died of a heart attack and there was no trace of cancer in his body when an autopsy was done.
The post I picked up on was on a newly created thread entitled Frankincense and the lady there had been using it. She had had only surgery and I think she was asking other people about such things. I was interested in it, mainly because I remember adagio saying she was using it and I wondered about it. I also said that in my own case I thought that alternative treatments were a useful adjunct but that I thought I would not have survived without orthodox treatment and I had been told this by alternative doctors. As you say, we have to make up our own minds about what we will do and what we will not do.
I think as you say Mary, "we need to use the best of both worlds, that is integrative". I think hospitals are beginning to go that way.
We do have Easter egg hunts here. They were doing one in our local Tesco store and one in the Waterstones book store in Exeter.
I was in Exeter yesterday and was surprised to find no new books on cancer. The ones on the shelf were those that I had read in the past, notably the book by Dr David Servan-Schreiber about nutrition. It was entitled Anticancer, published in 2007 and then Anticancer a new way of life 2011. Those were excellent books. I remember we read and discussed them on this thread.
Take care and keep in touch.
Sylvia xxxx
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Hello Mary,
All our discussion about the different treatments made me think of something I read about sometime ago and I found an update about it. Have a look at the following link and tell me what you think.
https://www.cancerdefeated.com/veterinary-surgeon-finds-an-answer-to-cancer/2938/
All the best.
Sylvia xxxx
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Hello linali (Lindsay)
We have not heard from you in a while, but I hope you are still viewing and that all is well with you. I have been thinking about you today because it is the 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising which led to independence for Ireland. I am very interested in all of this.
I do hope we shall hear from you.
Fond thoughts.
Sylvia xxxx
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Hi Sylvia
On Janette's birthday we usually meet up for a meal but this year, as it was a Saturday, I suggested that we meet at the grave, in the afternoon, bring flowers and drink a glass of prosecco to celebrate and then have a pub lunch. I hadn't thought that anyone would be uncomfortable but Janette 's sister was and I think Matthew was. I was the only one who brought flowers which rather spoiled the effect I was hoping for. Anyway, to cap it all, the service in the pub restaurant was terrible. So all in all, not what I had hoped for.
I was surprised to hear that the people in NI are the happiest in the UK. You could have fooled me, they don't stop moaning about how hard done by they are. There is a perception here that we are paying over the odds for everything. Rates are about half of the mainland charge, we don't pay for water or prescriptions and personally I think prices are lower. Anyways,that proves that I am not one of the happiest in the UK 😀
Starting with the earliest that I have here are the first of the links:
http://www.oncologynurseadvisor.com/breast-cancer/...I am going to have to post one by one as the site seems to be joining all the links together.
Michael
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Hello Michael,
Thank you for your post and the link.
I was sorry to read that your arrangements for Janette's birthday did not go as you had planned. With this kind of thing, you can never really know how different people are going to react. It could be that meeting at the grave reminded Janette's sister too much of the day of the funeral and the same could be for Matthew. I thought it was a very gesture that you had planned and it is a pity that no one else brought flowers. It was just unfortunate that the pub lunch was spoilt by the terrible service. Just put it all behind you and have your usual family get together next year. Your heart was definitely in the right place when you made the plans this year.
When you read these items in the newspaper such as people in Northern Ireland are the happiest in the UK, it does make you wonder how many people were interviewed and who was doing the interviewing. Perhaps you should go out and do a bit of interviewing!
I do find it hard to believe that in Northern Ireland the people moan more that the English. Yesterday my brother in Exmouth was asking me what was wrong with the English and I told him they had the 'moaning Minnie' gene! Nothing is ever right for them and their favourite saying is 'They should do something about it!'. Who are 'They'?
I was surprised to read that you get free water and free prescriptions. Here water is very expensive, especially in Devon, and prescription charges have just gone up to about £8.50 per item. Prescriptions are free to those under 18 and those over 60 or those on benefits. Prescriptions are free for certain chronic illnesses. It appears that 90% of people do not pay for their prescriptions here!!! Council tax (Rates) is very high and service is very poor.
I have just read the link that you posted and I think it is quite useful to post them one at a time, as it enables people to digest them more easily. I have read the link several times, and of course find it interesting, but some of it gets a bit technical. The following is one part that I found quite difficult.
"Several therapeutic targets were found for triple-negative breast cancer, including signalling proteins linked by past studies to brain tumours (EFNB3 and EPHA4), proteins that regulate cell growth pathways (MAP2K4, MAPK13), and a protein known to drive inflammation (interleukin 32).
Dozens of new, potential drug combinations were suggested by the data, including RAF/MEK and CDK4 inhibitors, EGFR inhibitors and BET-inhibitors with epirubicin and vinorelbine, and PLK1 inhibitors with AKT inhibitors."
I wonder what all these letters and numbers mean in lay-man terms.
What I found interesting was the little bits of news in plain English, such as the use of aspirin to reduce cancer risk and the now much published information about the connection between breast cancer and vitamin D deficiency. In the UK it looks as though we all need to be on vitamin D supplements, as there is so little sun.
thank you for posting all this information for us and keeping us up to date.
Raymond and I have just been watching the commemoration in Dublin for the 100th anniversary of the Easter uprising. We were very moved by the repetition of the declaration of Irish independence that was announced in 1916. What brave people they were when they knew they would be executed by the English.
Did you happen to watch it?
We are wondering when the English people will be liberated and will be called 'citizens' and not 'subjects'! I do not suppose we shall see a republic in our time.
I do hope you are doing something nice for Easter.
How is your little dog? How is Matthew's political career going?
Sending you best wishes.
Sylvia
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