How to deal with prostate cancer in the family? How to find last resorts?

My 76-year-old father has had to battle prostate cancer for 4 years now. He’s had 2 surgeries the past couple of years, and another 2 two years before the recent one. We thought he was saved after the fourth surgery (which really was a corrective surgery because the stupid surgeon ‘accidentally’ cut my dad’s lymph node and he had to undergo 2 surgeries in 2 days).

Lately my dad’s prostate has swollen up again… he went to the doctor (I wasn’t there as I go to school/university and work almost 24/7)… the problem is my parents don’t speak fluent english. They know basic English. And especially when the doctor talks to them in medical jargon, they probably have no complete idea of what the doctor’s really saying… but according to my mom, the doctor told my mother that my dad’s liver, kidney and lungs have cysts growing in them. I asked my mom what alternative medication/surgery/therapy can my dad have but my mom said he has little time left and that he can’t undergo another surgery because he’s old…

The problem is this is my mom panicking and most likely just speaking from hopelessness… But I asked my mom if the doctor mentioned anything about chemotherapy treatment. My mom said, “no.” And I asked what the doctor suggested, and my mom just stayed quiet. I can’t talk to my mom about finding treatment for my dad because she’s too emotional and she keeps everything a secret.

I need an advice. A psychological, technical or medical advice. Anything. Because I’m not in the medical field. And I’m stressed out enough as it is with my job and full time university. And now, this.

could you check my essay please? It is for IELTS. ?

We have been living in the nuelear age now for over half a century. Since the first
atomic bombs were developed, nuclear technology has provided governments with the ability to totally destroy the planet. Yet the technology has been put to positive use as an energy source and in certain areas of medicine.
To what extent is nuclear technology a danger to life on Earth? What are the
benefits and risks associated with its use?

Today, the use of nuclear has spread widely since its birth in five decades ago. Once, it has proven its disastrous effect. However, it is believed to have merit as it is implemented in these days. This essay looks into how this technology can be very unsafe and the beneficial itself.
To begin with, its use as military weapon is commonly thought by people in general as the most horrible in the human history ever. The atomic bomb which was exploded in the previous century is one of the very obvious examples. The development of nuclear as military weapon in the purpose of defending system for country is very alarming. It is believed, if the war happens again, people will be facing an unimaginable suffering life.
However, there are also some benefits that nuclear has provided for us. Previously, nuclear has been proven as an energy source that is very promising due to energy crisis. It forms to be an energy that is efficient. Nuclear does fold the energy it produces. It is also observed as a source of energy that does not produce pollutant that contaminates our environment. It is also believed will be one of the alternative energy sources that is highly recommended.
Yet, it has been categorized to be very useful in Healthcare. The radioactive it owns, can now be used in medical treatment. For instance, people who suffer from cancer in early stage are able to be cured by combating with the radioactive as mentioned before.
To sum up, in my point of view, the use of nuclear is very appropriate for us, although, it is not unproblematic at all. However, it has proven its efficiency and effectiveness as an energy source.
Hi..
thanks for the reply, I thought there would no any responses..

num3ro1 ?
How can I pm you?

I’ve visited your page, but I couldn’t find your contact.

What are some alternate high strength pain medications? Cancer patient. Please, please help.?

I am in no way, shape of form a doctor so I do not know any medical terms at all, but allow me to provide a little back story. Somebody I know has recently gone through ovarian cancer. She has an allergy to chemo of any strength. She learned this the hard way, and is trying to avoid chemo at all costs. As it stands right now, she is completely clean. She got her uterus and right ovary removed leaving the uninfected left ovary. Her doctors gave her a 25% chance of a recurrence right now, because she had the surgery with no post treatment chemotherapy. Removing her other ovary (the place it is most likely to come back) will reduce her chances to an 8-10% chance (according to her doctor), however nobody at her hospital seems confident in performing that operation because she is a very heavy bleeder. She is considering having her ovary injected with chemo which will have less of an affect on her body and more of an effect on the spot of infection. Her only problem is the pain. She is allergic to all of the pain medications they have tried on her and I am desperately looking for an alternative. According to her doctors she is allergic to aspirin. So my official question is:

what is a professional/strong medical painkiller that is free of aspirin that can deal with the pain she will experience from the chemo eating away at her ovary?
were not looking for something to try without her doctor, we are looking for something for her doctor to give her, they have no ideas so its up to us to find something for her

army invading hospitals? what do you think of this?

if i was lying in a hospital bed and the doctor started to speak about bomming the cancer and ripping out the enemy of the patiant i would be scared. what do you think and what are your toughts on this artic in the times???

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/health/2009/0113/1231738219539.html

if you cant access it ive copy and pasted it. arnt i a nace man LOL so any way what are your toughts???

MEDICAL MATTERS: Do terms like ‘killer cells’ and ‘vaccine shots’ actually help the patient? asks MUIRIS HOUSTON

TONY GREGORY, the long-serving Dublin independent TD, has rightly been the subject of many news reports and obituaries marking his passing. But I wonder how comfortable he would have been with some of the military language used to describe his experience of cancer?

“Gregory loses long battle with cancer” and “he fought bravely till the end” are the sort of cliched phrases that rolled off the presses and criss- crossed the airways when the TD died after a long illness.

Gregory will be best remembered for his pioneering work against substance abuse in deprived areas of our capital. In a tribute, the North Inner City Local Drugs Task Force’s Joe Barry said: “Tony Gregory led the way in relation to our country’s efforts to tackle drug misuse and has proved an inspiration to all working to improve the lives of individuals, families and communities most seriously affected by drugs.”

What makes this tribute stand out is the lack of military language used to describe Gregory’s contribution to the drugs issue. Between the war on terrorism and the battle against drugs, the rhetoric of war is firmly rooted in the lexicon of the 21st century. And it has crept into healthcare too: we read of the “collateral damage” of chemotherapy to describe the side effects of cancer treatments.

Yet the term is defined by the US army as “the unintentional damage or incidental damage affecting facilities, equipment or personnel occurring as a result of military action directed against targeted enemy forces or facilities”.

How did we get from this to: “A new strategy in the war on renal cell cancer: hitting multiple targets with limited collateral damage” – the title of a 2008 research paper. Perhaps the author succumbed to the temptation to use military jargon to spruce up his manuscript.

Clearly military life cannot be distanced from the rest of the world, but do we really need terms like “killer cells” and “vaccine shots” when talking to patients? I worry about the effect of such language on patients. We ask them to “beat” illness and to “keep up the good fight”. Doctors talk of building up the person’s “resistance” and of prescribing “magic bullets” to kill off cancer cells, all of which may suit those with determined personalities.

But what of the meek, the mild or those who are depressed? They may be neither inclined nor able to respond to exhortations to fight back. And unable to respond, it is possible that certain people will feel they have “failed” themselves, their families and their medical team.

What about the notion that engaging a fighting spirit will protect you against a cancer recurrence? A large UK study suggests this is a fallacy: a long-term follow-up of cancer patients at the Royal Marsden Hospital found that a high fighting spirit confers no survival advantage on those who displayed extreme fortitude.

There are alternative approaches when we face serious illness. One of the best is to view the process as a journey. There will be bumps along the road; some parts will be downhill while others will take more effort. The journey will offer alternative routes and it may be appropriate at times to rest a while.

Another advantage of the journey analogy is that you can take a travelling companion with you. Tony Gregory died at St Francis Hospice on Dublin’s north side. I suspect he was facilitated on his final journey by the wide range of health professionals who work there. After all, the word hospice is derived from the Latin, hospes, and it originally referred to the tradition of giving shelter to those on a journey.

George Orwell wrote about the powerful role of words. “Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent,” he said. His advice is especially apposite when it comes to the use of military jargon in healthcare. I’d like to think Tony Gregory would approve.

Dr Houston is pleased to hear from readers at mhouston@irishtimes.com but regrets he is unable to reply to individual medical queries
heres an easier version of the on line articial:

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/health/2009/0113/1231738219539_pf.html

My wife has just been diagnosed with secondary breast cancer that is in her bones and liver. Can anyone help m?

I am looking for real help in my search for possible medical trials or alternative treatments.

Medical Questions – Diagnosed with Cancer?

My mom in law is diagnosed with the following:

Four cysts are identified within the liver with the largest measuring about 2cm in diameter in the right lobe.
Gallbladder, adrenals, pancreas and spleen are normal.
A subcentimetre right renal cortical cyst & a left renal cortical cyst measuring about 4.8cm in diameter noted. Bilateral moderate hydronephrosis & hydroureter up to the vesicoureteric junction noted.
The ureteric stents are not seen within. Nodular thickening of the posterior bladder wall (predominantly on the right) is slightly increased from previously.

Impression:
1.ca bladder (post radiotherapy) with nodular bladder wall thickening, slightly increased from previously, with bilateral moderate hydronephrosis & hydroureter.
2.Bilateral renal cortical cysts
3.Liver cysts.

Doctor advisable not to perform any surgery for the treatment. But he does not offer any alternative solutions either.
Thanks for the reply.

The report is taken by an oncologist.
The advise of treatment follow up is by a urologist.
Denisedds:
Thank you for your advise. If surgery is needed, I believe she has to go back to her urologist, right?

Spoken to urologist today. It was a Stage 3-Bladder Cancer. He advised to re-do radio-therapy as surgery to remove the whole bladder is major and will not be benefiting my mom-in-law at this point of time.

Can this cancer be curable?? Please advice and thanks you very much in advance.

My mom has cancer and I’m torn to pieces because there is no advanced health care in Nigeria.?

And since there is no health insurance I have been paying out pocket which has literally made me bankrupt, Does anyone have an idea of doctors on mission in Nigeria. I need free medical treatment for her and I cannot afford to fly her out of the country because it is too expensive. I am now at my wits end trying to think what my next step shall be because she has been in so much pain and there is no relief. Please, please, please I need all the assistance I can get right away. At this point even if alternative medicine is advised, I don’t have money at all, I am literally in debt. I love my mother, she is all I have left.

How could we know if a specific cancer treatment is fake?

Dear All,

My father has a Pancreatic cancer, spread to 3 different organs and now growing after stopping chemotherapy for his bad quality of life.

Now we are searching for clinical trials and alternative medicines that could extend his life. Searching the internet, I found two amazing Chinese medicines (Kanglaite and Tian Xian), neither approved by FDA. How do I know that they are efficient? And from where can I get them?

And some Chinese hospitals making some medical miracles as (http://www.cancertherapychina.com/) and (http://www.genetherapyhospitals.com/). How do I know that they are not scam?

Please, anyone who has experience with such hospitals/medicines, let me know more information about it. The case is very time critical, your fast response will be highly appreciated.

Thanks,
Sameh

Will this case finally end the quackery known as homeopathy, ie using water to treat illness?

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/06/14/2926507.htm?section=justin

A cancer surgeon has told the Perth Coroner’s Court a woman would have had a good chance of survival if she had agreed to have conventional medical treatment.

The coroner is examining the death of 45-year-old Penelope Dingle from colorectal cancer in 2005.

The inquest has heard she was first diagnosed in 2003, but refused conventional medical treatment and instead decided to pursue alternative therapies.

Today surgeon Professor Cameron Platell testified that Mrs Dingle was the only patient he had ever had who had refused all medical treatment.

He said if Mrs Dingle had initially agreed to surgery and follow up treatments of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, she would have had a very good chance of survival.
Angrydoc is clearly not a real ‘doc’, but clearly angry, so why would his/her opinion count for anything?
BTW, I am a real doc, and not at all angry unless it involves charlatans who pray on the vulnerable, as in this case.
Theresa

FYI I knew Pen Dingle a little AND her husband quite well. I know a lot more of the story than is in the press.

What do you do to raise money when most of your family is ill?

I’m sure you know of people who get cancer and their family has a car wash or gets a short shout out on the local news for their donation bank account…
But EXACTLY what are the LEGAL options one has to care for MULTIPLE family members in need o of medical care?

ESPECIALLY because some may need to experiment with natural or alternative treatments because they have been to really good doctors and they can’t help them (I can’t name what the conditions are called or how many people I am referring to for privacy reasons)

Can I legally ask for donations? Do I have to specify each one of their conditions? I just can’t work it into our existing budget because it is not immediate family but I want to help SO, SO BADLY.
ANY advice will help and PLEASE DO ask questions, I will read every comment and reply RIGHT AWAY!

THANK YOU!!!!!
Also, there is not a lot of support besides me so it’s not like some distant relative who has their own parents or something. This is serious and if I don’t do something, I don’t know if anyone will.