Cancer Treatment

Friday, July 8, 2011

I need to know about radiation treatment for cancer

I need to know about radiation treatment for cancer?
I am writing a book about a cancer patient and I need to know about radiation. Whats the proccess? How long does it take? What are the side-affects? What does it feel like? Anything. Thanks!
Cancer - 7 Answers
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1 :
go to the following links and you will soon know the real truth.......
2 :
It would depend on the site of the cancer. 4 siblings in my family have had radiation treatment for cancers, 2 in similar locations, the other 2 quite different and we have had 3 very different experiences. Breast cancer, 4 dot tattoos were made to line up treatments with to ensure each treatment went to the correct place. 5 days a week for 5 weeks, the treatment was given, took about 10 minutes to ensure everything exactly right position and about 30 seconds for the treatment. by week 4, burns to the surface skin in the area and skin peeling away, last week very painful with ointment being applied after each treatment and covered in plastic wrap to keep the area moist - yuk! Tonsil cancer, a clear mask was made to fit the lower face & neck, molded to patient, with a grid on the mask for lining up treatments. Skin surface was tender, so it was lucky that the radiation caused hair in area to fall out as it would have been too painful to shave. Internally, throat was too painful to swallow and a naso-gastric tube was used for feeding in the last week of treatment. Uterine cancer, radiation was applied internally, with the patient needing to lie completely still in isolation for 24 hours. Treatment was suspended whenever anyone (nurse etc) had to enter the room or if the patient needed to move. Patient reported worst experience of her life. Hope that helps.
3 :
My husband had neck cancer, maligant neoplasm of oropharynx,unspecified. He had a laryngoscopy, a tonsil taken out and a biosy of his tongue. 90% of it was cut out and a nerve was taken out of his shoulder.The other 10% was too close to the main artery to take out. My husband had the strongest radiation there is twice a day for 7 weeks. A porter cath was put in his chest for the kemo treatments. He had 2 8 hours kemo trearments. One time after a radiation treatment, the conbination of the meds, crashed his blood pressure and he fell on the floor. After the first 3 weeks he was so weak he could not walk. he threw up bile. He choked a lot. He was in the hospital under 24 hour skilled nursing care the last 4 weeks. He was fed threw a feeding tube, sticking out of his belly. It took hours for the liquod to drip into his stomach. He could not swollow because the radition fried his throat. ruined his salava glands and taste buds. His neck was burned and cream was put on his neck. When His kemo doctor saw him, she said no more kemo. He was given morphine for pain and for nausa, phenergan and antibiotics. His immune system was down, so he developed herpy sores in his mouth. The antibiotic was changed. Before the ambulance drivers took him for his treatments, he was given morphine and nausia medicine. He was given morphine and phenagen on a regular basics.And he lost hair on the back of his head and on the left side of his face. His voice started sounding froggy. There is a lot of pain and nausia with these treatments. He had regular pet scans to check to see if the cancer came back anywhere. He had radiation damage to his shoulder. Later a spur grew on that shoulder and it had to be removed. That was 3 years ago. He still has a hard time swallowing, tasting and no salava. He has pain in his shoulder. The day will come when he will have to have a balloon procedure to widen his throat.
4 :
You can find some of the answers on www.after-cancer.com Look up Aloe Vera (helpful gel) - this could give you ideas of what can help during treatment. Good luck with book Verite R
5 :
To get your facts straight I would go to an onocologist and ask your questions. Don't know if they will charge money to talk t them, but if you are writing a book, you really want to get the facts. I don't know if a cancer yahoogroup will let you join, as some of them are very picky about who joins. They really protect. I am on the lung, and thyroid cancer groups. Thyroid cancer patients receive radiation. I just went through that less than two weeks ago. My mom has lung cancer and went through a different type of radiation (10 treatments) in all. I just had to take a couple of pills.
6 :
There are many treatments and they vary based on the type and location of the cancer. An oncologist will request a certain radiation dose (a measure of energy deposited into the tumor) be given, then medical physicists and dosimetrists will develop a treatment plan that details how and when the radiation will be delivered. The treatment plan is developed to minimize the radiation dose to healthy tissue as much as possible while delivering the desired dose to the tumor. The radiation dose will be fractioned over a period of weeks to allow the healthy tissue to heal. Some cancers (primarily thyroid) are treated with radioactive material, Iodine-131, that is injected or taken in pill form. This is usually a single dose and is done as an outpatient procedure. However the patient has to take care to limit the amount of time they spend around others, especilly children for the first week or so following the trreatment. In some cases if the patient can not avoid being around people at home they stay in the hospital for a few days. You could talk to an oncologist or a medical physicist to get more details. The physicist will generally have more time, as they do not have appointments with patients all day.
7 :
Mine was to my head for brain cancer. I had a mask molded to me head so I couldn't move during the treatment. I laid on a table, they hooked my mask to the table and left the room. It took all of 5 minutes to complete my radiation. 5 days a week for 6 weeks. A lot more mucous in my throat and a metallic taste. It doesn't feel like anything. My hair fell out where the radiation went in and came out and it turned the skin on the side of my face and skull brown, which went away about a month or so after my treatments were over. To the TD moron who is following me around again, are you saying MY treatments were not correct? Idiot.

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Monday, July 4, 2011

Does the government GAIN or lose money from cancer treatment equipment and operations

Does the government GAIN or lose money from cancer treatment equipment and operations?

Cancer - 7 Answers

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1 :
i hope to god gain because that's my field of interest
2 :
The government hands out HUGE amounts of money for cancer research, the government always looses money.
3 :
The government neither gains nor loses money on medical treatment or equipment, unless you include tax revenues, which is nominal at best,
4 :
The Government gains, and we lose, big time ! For proof, do a search on ' A World without Cancer '.When the page comes up, click onto the 55 minute Video by G. Edward Griffin.It's probably over 20 years old, but still very relevant.And, it's totally free.Please take the time to watch this all the way through.You'll be glad you did ! Hope this helps !
5 :
im sure they gain billions thats why they do it.
6 :
They loose money. The gov has paid all of my medical expenses, my living expenses, and my food since I was diagnosed in Jan of 2005. Do you REALLY think the gov is making money when they are paying that kind of money out to treat the patients?
7 :
medical billing -radiation ocology specialists- my field not that I enjoy it -just- unfortuately there I am good neither doctors nor insurances nor government gain losses every where I have seen -in this field- equipment billed by dr and hospital -alike- may see about 20 to 30 -in percent- tens of thousands -owed- the drs in turn -write off- even more if the insurance does not par -out of network- and family -unable to pay- a dr -I worked 4- down your way designed created equipment and operates it he bills for treatment hospital bills operations -of his ingeniusness- and neither win -government- does not -either- family -of pt- and pt himself may if the treatment works

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Friday, July 1, 2011

does the gardasil treatment really help prevent cervical cancer

does the gardasil treatment really help prevent cervical cancer?
I'll be getting the treatment. Keep in mind I have a family history of cancer. My mother has been fighting ovarian cancer, her uncle had skin cancer and her father had prostate cancer. Any helpful information would be great too.
Cancer - 6 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
It helps prevent HPV, an STD many women get, from causing cervical cancer. Also, there are several different forms or strains of HPV... the vaccine protects against the most common 5? or so? There are other kinds out there... so even after the vaccine you aren't immune to HPV, just better protected. ETA - prostate cancer IS genetically linked even though someone below says it isn't (I even know a family it runs in and doctors that say it does). Although you don't have to worry about it since you're female :P
2 :
Yes it does! There is a slight chance it might not work, but don't worry with almost any shot that could happen and I think its very unlikely. I received this treatment recently. This treatment, in my opinion, is very important considering cervical cancer is hard to detect from what I hear. Hope this helps!
3 :
70% of cervical cancer is caused by HPV. Gardasil prevents most of these forms of HPV, so greatly reduces the risk of cervical cancer. BTW, ovarian cancer, skin cancer and prostate cancer are not genetically linked, so you may be at a slightly higher risk of ovarian or breast cancer, but only if your mother has the genetically linked form of ovarian cancer.
4 :
Over 99% percent of cervical cancer is caused by HPV. Gardasil protects against 2 strains of HPV (16 & 18) that cause 70% of cervical cancer (and the 2 strains that cause 90% of genital warts). With respect to those strains 16 & 18, Gardasil has shown to be 100% effective. So yes, it definitely prevents cervical cancer. Some people don't think Gardasil is that effective because it only reduces cervical lesions by about 45%. But the cervical lesions caused by other types of HPV are much less likely to progress to cancer than types 16 & 18. And acutally, Gardasil has been shown to give some protection against other strains. It's not close to 100%, but you have your chance of lesions from other types of strains reduced by maybe 20-40%. So yes, Gardasil definitely is helpful in preventing cervical cancer. Get it!
5 :
Yes in it's own way it does. It only prevents 4 types of over 100 HPV's. Only 2 of the 4 it protects cause cervical cancer. If cervical cancer is caught early, you're not likely to die. It's not a brain tumor or anything that it's preventing.Sure it'd be great to protect yourself from this minuscule little risk, but then look at all the other risks. But don't get it! You are risking ruining your life! This vaccine is HORRIBLE! In the case of Gardasil, the worldâ€™s first genetically altered vaccine, the evidence stacking up against this vaccine is striking. As of August 2007, a review of the National Vaccine Information Center revealed the following, quite alarming, statistic about this unnecessary vaccine: 2,207 adverse reactions to Gardasil have been reported. Among them: 5 girls died 31 were considered life-threatening 1,385 required a visit to the emergency room 451 of the girls have not recovered as of July 2007 51 of the girls were disabled This vaccine is also the most expensive vaccine on the market, so you can follow the money trail to find out why Merck is now trying to push this cervical cancer vaccine on boys! Getting the Facts About HPV Health care officials and the media are portraying Gardasil as the long-awaited cure for cervical cancer, and theyâ€™re telling people that the side effects are minimal. However, the side effects of this brand-new vaccine are just beginning to surface, and as time goes by, their severity seems to be increasing. Further, while cervical cancer is a serious issue, it is not the epidemic that the media is portraying it to be. Of the more than 6 million cases of HPV that occur each year, about 90 percent of them clear up on their own within two years. If you eat right, exercise, and keep stress in your life under control, your immune system should be healthy enough to clear up HPV. Secondly, the vaccine is not fool-proof. You can still get "non-vaccine" types of HPV even if you get vaccinated. Finally, remember that HPV is a sexually transmitted disease, which means that it is nearly 100 percent avoidable by modifying your lifestyle habits. If you have friends of family members who are considering the Gardasil vaccine for their daughter (or son), please forward this to them so they can make an informed decision.
6 :
Cancer in your family is not hereditary or they would all have the same kind of cancer and I think, would really need to be closer blood relations. The vaccine is for HPV. If you were to get cervical cancer that wasn't attributed to the virus, then no, it will not prevent it. Excuse me, Madelaine, but where does a brain tumor come into play in this answer??

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