Coming to the end of the week, the weather outside is bleak.  So I am taking advantage of the autumn mood and going through some recent communications.  below is an interesting link to an important message about the relationship between chemicals and cancer.

I hope this finds you well.

Given the enormous reach of your blog platform, I wanted to share this with you and hopefully your readers as well. Are you already familiar with the connection between chemicals and cancer? Studies are regularly being conducted that demonstrate an environmental linkage to cancer, and that rates have increased alongside the use of synthetic chemicals. The Breast Cancer Fund annual completes a report on the matter: Victories

Do you know that over 80,000 chemicals on the market today that are included in products have never been adequately safety tested? Science has been showing for years that exposure to these chemicals are linked to major illnesses including cancer. And last year the President’s Cancer Panel finally decided that exposure to toxic chemicals is an important and under-recognized risk factor for cancer, and recommended that the government take immediate action to reverse this trend.

The Panel advised Congress to reform the Toxic Substances Control Act, commenting that this law is “the most egregious example of ineffective regulation of chemical contaminants” and noting that weaknesses in the law have constrained the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from being able to properly regulate known and suspected carcinogens.” It has also been found that the increase in childhood cancer parallels the proliferation of toxic chemicals.

So why does this matter? I work with Environmental Defense Fund and over 300 health and environment organizations that are working to get Congress to do just what the President’s Cancer Panel advised, that is to overhaul our flawed policy for chemicals – and make chemical companies ensure their products are safe BEFORE putting them on the market.

I’d love to see if there’s a way for us to share this information with your readers whether it’s by syndicating one of our blog posts on here: What do detergents and fragrances have to do with breast cancer? – Not a Guinea Pig – Environmental Defense Fund, or providing you with information that someone there might be interested in pulling from, or writing something specifically for your website.

Thank you in advance for considering. Look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Rachel Pappas sent me a note about her informational website: 1 Up On Cancer.  It is an excellent resource on a number of different cancers.  I especially appreciated her section on “Freebies and Discounts for Cancer Patients”.  I sent the link to our BMT social worker.

Trish DeFosse, a student at Endicott College in Massachusetts, wrote to me about her new, one entry so far,  blog Cancer.  Her first post is reprinted below.

My Father’s Battle With Cancer

My dad was the kind of person who hated going to the doctor’s office, or any other check-up for that matter, and he was extremely stubborn, so it was nearly impossible to get him to do anything that he did not want to do. My dad took care of himself, but in his own way and on his own time. Little did he know, however, that for the last two years of his life he would spend the majority of his time in one the places that he hated the most- the hospital.
During my freshmen year of high school I remember my father complaining about a tooth ache for months, but when we suggested that he go to the dentist to get it looked at, of course he refused. My sister, Danielle, and I finally got him to go, but we were completely unprepared for what the dentist was about to tell us. The painful tooth ache that my dad had been complaining about was actually oral cancer caused from smoking cigarettes.
My sophomore and junior year of high school consisted of many trips to Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary in Boston, as well as the local hospital in my hometown, called Central Maine Medical Center (CMMC). At Mass. Eye and Ear, my father underwent surgery to remove the cancer from his mouth and to reconstruct his jaw using bone from his leg. He was cancer free for a few months, which is when he visited CMMC for radiation and chemotherapy. Unfortunately, the cancer came back, now in his lungs, and began spreading throughout his entire body. On February 13, 2009, four days after my mother’s birthday and two days after mine, my dad passed away. He fought long and hard for his life, and for that I am so thankful and proud. My dad is, and will forever be my hero.
I cannot even begin to imagine the pain that my dad went through, but I know that he is in a better place right now, watching over me and protecting me to this day. Experiencing my dad’s battle with him, along with the rest of my family, has really opened my eyes and made me realize how precious life really is. Many people do not realize this and take many aspects of life for granted until they are faced with their own death or the death of a loved one. Everyone should life live to the absolute fullest, because life truly is too short to be anything but happy.

This entry has to come under the “Shameless Plugs” category.  It is an email from Andrea, a double cancer survivor, whose post “Fear of Death” was reprinted here on Monday, the 26th.  It is always gratifying to know that our little website can have some impact in this complicated world.

It’s me, Andrea (see above post), I’m back to thank you for everything that you’ve done for me, for taking the time to read my blog, for deciding to feature it on your site, for giving me the oportunity to have a voice.
English is not my first language and writing that blog is difficult, and I’m in pain, I’m fighting my tumours and I’m sick, and it’s not easy. By sharing my experiences my only hope is that I might, one day, be able to help a worried woman, someone, somewhere, even in the smallest way.
I’m so grateful for what you’ve done for me, Dennis, thank you!
In only 2 hours I had over 140 views! This is the gift that your site and your reputation has given me, the joy of sharing, the feeling of being useful and the voice to educate and inform.
Thank you, Dennis
Very grateful, forever.
Andrea

Most blog entries look inward.  We write for ourselves in hopes that others may benefit from our inner meditations.  Occasionally I come across sites that look more outward, that adopt a frankly more political outlook.  This is one of those.  It was actually written last May, during Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  The site, written by Dawn, is Desiderata.
A later post discusses how only about 25% of the money raised by the Komen foundation actually goes towards breast cancer research.  I encourage you to read more of her blog.  In this piece she also references another of our favorite blogs The Cancer Culture Chronicles.

Maybe I should make this entry pink, pink lettering on a pink background, totally unreadable, just a sea of pink.  Why would I want to put all this effort into writing a blog entry just to have it unreadable?  Why do people keep making breast cancer seem like a happy, fun, feminine, cool, trendy disease?

The facts aren’t that happy.  Sure, it’s not the death sentence other forms of cancer are.  Let’s face it, some cancers are quick, brutal, and rapidly deadly.  For those cancers, the question isn’t “if” but “when.”  I have a friend who has a specific type of cancer that has a 0% five year survival rate.  ZERO percent.  I don’t know what the one year survival rate is, but it’s not great.  Another of my friends was told she’d live 12-18 months.  She fought hard. She battled mightily.  She lasted 15 months if I count correctly.  Compared to those types of cancer, sure, breast cancer rocks.

But do all of those people who are so happily pink, festooned with ribbons and feather boas and running and dancing and doing all those fun things for a cure really aware of how great breast cancer is?  How survivable it is?  How much progress has been made?

For starters, when we talk about “surviving” with breast cancer, we speak of surviving five years. The term is “the five year survival rate.”

Pardon me for not being too chipper about that.  I’m coming up on my second cancerversary.

If a woman happens to be Hispanic, which I am not, she’s more likely than other women to get aggressive breast cancers and die from breast cancer.  Were you aware of that?

I’ve heard people, endurers as well as the non-effected, say, “At least the tumor is estrogen (or progesterone) receptive.  There’s a pill for that.”  Yes, indeed there is.  And those tumors tend to grow more slowly.  See how aware we all are?  Yet, not 100% of all those hormone receptive tumors respond to medication.  In fact, for people who are progesterone positive, under 20% respond to hormone therapy.  Oops!  Wasn’t aware of that fact.

Many people are also aware that another type of cancer, the type I had, is particularly aggressive.  It’s called HER-2+ breast cancer. But joy of joys!  Herceptin cures it!  And if it does come back, “you just do herceptin treatments for the rest of your life.”  Well, that’s probably correct.  As long as the herceptin continues to work.  Of course, Tykerb is also an option.  But sometimes that doesn’t work, either.   And, the woman dies.

We are also all aware that breast cancer is curable.  And that’s true.  To an extent.  Most women don’t die from the cancer in their breasts.  They die from the cancer that has spread to other places, their brains, their livers, their lungs, their bones.  If the cancer just stayed in our breasts, we’d be fine.  Cut it out, chop ‘em off, radiate ‘em.  End of story.  However, that’s not how breast cancer works.  There’s never, ever a guarantee that even the smallest spot of cancer hasn’t sent cells out into the blood stream or lymph system, so many (most) women have cells, lurking, waiting to come to life.  Yippee.

Many of us are aware that there are things we can do to “prevent” breast cancer.  No, not really.  Other than cutting off breast buds at birth, there really isn’t anything that “prevents” breast cancer.  There certainly are ways women can reduce their risks, their life time, risks of breast cancer.  These include staying within five pounds of a healthy teenage weight, exercising an hour a day, eating a mostly plant-based diet, breast feeding, having babies earlier rather than later.  These are not “preventative” as we’d like to think.  Breastfeeding is not the same as wearing a condom to prevent pregnancy.  A condom is, what, 99% reliable although users of them tend to be less so?  Breastfeeding your baby for a year, two years,  a total of 13 years spread over several children, does nothing more than reduce one person’s life time risk of getting breast cancer.  It’s not the same as, say, not smoking to prevent lung cancer.  Being thin, fit, young, and nursing does not mean one doesn’t have to still screen and hope for the best.  Many women aren’t aware of that.  When I was diagnosed, some ardent breast feeding person who was  touting breastfeeding as “preventative” had the gall to ask me if I had a family history, as if…whatever.  She said she was counting on nursing to “protect” her.  Idiot.  Simple stupidity.  Further proof that the USA sucks at math and mathematical reasoning.

Let’s talk about long term survival.  We are aware that a lot of women survive for years.  Women are typically over 60 when they are diagnosed.  Let’s face it, when you are in your late 60s or your 70s or older, “long term” takes on a whole different meaning than when you are in your 20s or 30s or 40s.

And none of this takes into account the negative effects of cancer treatment on a person’s general health.  For starters, cancer treatment can lead to new cancers.  We are all aware that radiation can cause cancer.  Cancer treatment often includes radiation.  There’s a double-edged sword.   Better yet, there’s the chance that treatment will cause heart, liver, or kidney damage.  The Tykerb I take now is black box labeled for liver damage, “sometimes fatal.”  Nothing like killing yourself to stay alive.

Herceptin (and Tykerb) can also cause heart damage.  My radiation treatments also got a part of my heart.  Isn’t that swell?  Oh, yes, my lung, too, was radiated.  Heart, liver, and lungs!  Oh, my!

There are also lesser, yet also life altering, long term effects, such as a change or decrease in the ability to taste, chronic fatigue, mental fuzziness to the point that some people are unable to continue in their careers, loss of mobility, nerve damage especially in the feet and hands, chronic constipation or the opposite, chronic diarrhea.

I don’t think most people are aware of this.  That to “survive” does not mean to “get better” and that life isn’t always pink and rosy are not parts of awareness.

Yet, we are aware that there’s a “cure” out there.  In fact, when it comes to breast cancer and pink, “awareness” seems to be synonymous with “cure.”  However, one would think that if an organization were really, truly concerned about a “cure” their money and focus would go to what…awareness/education? or research?  prevention or parties? I’d like my money to go to research and prevention.  Check out these charts to see where it really goes.

Just so you are aware.

~Desiderata

New Bedford harbor

Here’s a little update on my situation and on some interesting cancer news that I have received in emails lately.

Headline:  1 in 20 Americans is a cancer survivor (CNBC)

Looking for Work:

I am beginning to understand the frustration of America’s unemployed.  The loss of a substantial portion of my disability benefits has left me scrambling for some kind of part-time employment.  All the news about the aging of the Baby Boomers coupled with steady talk about a nursing shortage would seem to indicate that I should have no problem returning to the field.  Intuitively, yes.  In point of fact, no.

The economy seems to have made the healthcare industry cautious.  As an old-timer my first impulse was to search the want ads.  But the classified section is skinny even  if it shows up in the daily paper.  And cruising through the newspaper reveals more ads for training schools than for actual jobs.  A recent announcement of EMT  jobs listed a requirement for a $10 application packet fee.

My next step was to look to the web.  I have signed up for numerous nursing groups resulting in daily deposits in my electronic mailbox of a broad range of nursing positions.  Problem is all are full-time and almost none of them are local.

The whole application process has been streamlined as well.  You set up accounts with various healthcare employers, establishing and electronic application and resume.  Then you must reapply for each new listed job that you interested in.  There are generally no contact names or numbers.  In fact you are advised that you will only be contacted if you are offered an interview.  Your resume must be simple and streamlined in order for it to be correctly scanned int the company’s database.

I am looking for 8-12 hours of professional (nursing) work per week or perhaps 20-25 hours of non-professional work.  It looks like I will only be able to secure very part-time nursing work through networking.  So if any of you out there have any connections, please let me know.  I have 25 years healthcare experience mainly in oncology but also in mental health.  I have been a clinical nurse, a nurse manager, a nursing educator, a speaker and consultant, a project developer, and I run two websites.  I can work from home on my computer.  I can travel locally.  Maybe there is a job out there that can use some of my talents.

Launchpad Winner:

From my email box came news that Anne Cheung was one of the winners of this contest which annually makes a cash award to five individuals who have designed projects to transform their community.  Anne’s Big Idea: Cancer patients face tremendously daunting tasks in managing and coping with their disease. Chinese-American cancer patients with limited English proficiency suffer additional uncertainty and emotional stress because of a lack of information and support in their native language. In a 2005-2007 survey, 65 percent of working-age Chinese adults and 90 percent of elderly Chinese in New York had English limitations. I would like to help to develop a Chinese cancer support group, which will provide information and psychosocial support in Chinese to these patients in New York.  (http://launchpad.encore.org)

Unraveling:

A while back we published our first fictional work by a woman who was inspired by the struggles of her mother and brother, both diagnosed with astrocytomas.  We are sad to announce that Marissa’s brother passed away last month.  The following is excerpted from her eulogy: I’m going to be travelling on a long trip, starting this summer. I asked Mickey what peaks he would climb if he was still able. We agreed on a list of 11 peaks, throughout the Pacific Coast of both North & South America. So, leave a message to Mickey on the sheet, and it’ll be cut into 11 pieces. I’ll leave a piece at the summit of each peak. As many of us can attest, sometimes the people that inspire us the most, are our next door neighbors, our football coaches, our siblings, or our ski instructors. So, thanks in advance for participating in this journey, dedicated to Mickey, and my luckiness to have him as brother.

But, no matter what, I feel the same as most of you feel: Mickey always wanted the best for everyone. I didn’t just lose a brother; like you, I lost a friend. A friend that knew me my whole life! - Unravel Cancer: Experiences with family battling cancer

Shared Cancer Experiences:

Terry Halsey wrote me recently.  Terry has an interesting website, an experimental resource, a repository of personal cancer stories.  Some stories are written by blog-authors.  Others are by persons who simply responded to this offer to share their stories.  What is unique here is a collection of accessible experiences organized from one cover page.  It’s a good place to start from someone just diagnosed, someone with an impulse to share.  Terry is looking for ideas and more stories.  If you haven’t had the opportunity to tell your own story, if your own blog seems like too big a step, this could be a good outlet. Even if you have your own blog, this is yet another avenue to be heard.  And the link to Steve Dunn’s work is worth the visit.  The internet is big enough for all our collected narratives.  – Shared Experience Cancer Support Database

National Cancer Survivors Day:

It’s coming up in a couple of months.  Information and merchandise at www.ncsd.org

Four days of luxurious rain, my grandkids gone (it’s Sunday), and a perfect time for writing and maintenancing my site.  This is the longest period of inactivity (blogwise) since I started.   So it’s time to get back down to business.

First off I have added a Captcha plug-in to the site.  Captcha is that feature that requires site users to correctly copy a series of letters.  The theory is that only real humans can read these.  Lately I have been getting 2-3 news users registering each day, all with questionable user names and many from eastern European countries.  Most of these, if not all, are registered not by humans, but by automated “bots” or robots, programmed to log onto multiple sites in order to market questionable products, services, or pornography.  Other “bots” are designed just to set up a link to multiple blogs in effort to artificially inflate their ranking in search engines.

Today I deleted over 300 users.  I may have inadvertently deleted some legitimate site users.  I apologize for this.  In any case any new or deleted users will have to copy the Captcha phrase in order to register or post a comment.  I apologize for any inconvinience.  The situation was just getting out of hand.  I was filtering almost 10,000 spam messages annually.

Also woefully behind was my replies to emails.   Valerie Bosserman, The World As I See It….,  wrote me to say that she is a finalist in the CureToday Extraordinary Healer Award for my essay on Megan’s chemo nurse.  Megan, her daughter, died just two years ago of ACC.  Copy and past the link below to see the story.  (http://www.curetoday.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/cureEvent.HealerOverview/id/43)  I sure support any organization that recognizes the efforts of oncology nurses.  CureToday.com – Combining science with humanity, CURE makes cancer understandable.

I added a few new blogs to my lists.  Gillian Anstey is from South Africa and writes about her breast cancer at From under my hat.   Of special interest to me is a new T-PLL patient (that’s my disease) preparing for a stem cell transplant – Curing Vancura.  Tracey Hawker writes about her husband’s esophageal cancer at CaringBridge / johnhawker / Welcome.  Selena is an APL survivor maintaining a blog at Oh My Aches and Pains! Kristal writes a blog about life after cancer and training for a triathlon as a cancer fundraiser: TriathlonKrista.  A 37 year old single mom fighting Colon cancer for 5 years, has gone from stage 3 to 4 now, has metastasized to liver, and diaphragm – I’m Still Here…

The American Institute for Cancer Research will hold its annual Conference on Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity & Cancer in DC in late October.  Check the Events Calendar above for details.  Stand Up 4 Cancer has released two new videos as part of their Innovation Research Grant Profiles.  Check them out.   (http://tiny.cc/su2cIRGDrWalensky) and (http://tiny.cc/su2cIRGDrSilva).  Click and past in your browser address bar.

Julien Lieb, MD offers the following information on the effect of antidepressants on selected cancer.  Prostaglandins are infinitesimal, ephemeral and powerful molecules regulating the chemistry of every cell in the body, including cells regulating mood, and those regulating immune function. When produced within normal limits, prostaglandins regulate the chemistry of every cell; when produced excessively, physiology becomes pathology. When brain cells produce excessive concentrations of prostaglandins, they depress mood and immunity. In 1973, David Horrobin showed that antidepressants inhibit prostaglandins, and in 1977 that prostaglandins regulate nucleic acids (DNA and RNA).1,2 Others subsequently showed that prostaglandins regulate the synthesis, inhibition, and expression of genes, and the growth, differentiation, and replication of cells, with cancer the accelerated replication of abnormal cells.1,2 Excessive synthesis of prostaglandins induces cancer, with genes determining the variations. In 1998, Brenda Penninx showed that at age 70, chronically depressed people have an increased risk of 88% of developing cancer, and 50% of dying of it.
More than seventy clinical, laboratory, and epidemiological studies have shown that antidepressants kill cancer cells, inhibit their proliferation, convert multidrug resistant cells to chemotherapy sensitive, augment chemotherapy, protect nonmalignant cells from damage by radiation and chemotherapy toxicity, and target the mitochondria of cancer cells while sparing those of healthy ones.1,2 Antidepressants have therapeutic potential in many cancers that are often treatment resistant, such as gliomas, cancers of the lung, kidney, liver, and uterus, inflammatory breast cancer, and multiple myelomas.2 Antidepressants are capable of arresting lung cancer in advanced stages, and even reversing it. That antidepressants are effective for a multitude of malignancies, decries the myth that cancer is a hundred diseases, when it is one disease with a hundred variations.
Antidepressants alleviate cancer pain, alone or combined with narcotics, remit nausea and vomiting, promote sleep, relieve anxiety and depression, and combat fatigue. Other inhibitors of prostaglandins, such as COX-1 and COX-2 inhibitors, also have potential value in defeating cancer. The components are in place for a revolution in cancer prevention and treatment, as may be confirmed by accessing �Medline� or �Pubmed,� and entering �antidepressants� and �cancer.�
The history of medicine is littered with the suppression of innovation. Today many cancer organizations rely on the opinions of medical advisors, some of whom are political operatives of vested interests disguised as healers. It is not for a lack of innovation that we are in our predicament, but the suppression of it. In â��Against Methodâ�� Paul Feyerabend wrote that suppressing a paradigm in preference to one politically favored could permanently damage society, and that resistance to progress could be so intractable that political intervention might be needed. ** This is certainly a viewpoint, if a bit out of the mainstream.  It must be assessed within a broader medical and scientific context which is beyond my expertise.  As with all such information, you should discuss it with your medical doctor.

That’s all the news that is my news.  Later this week, look for a cancer book review, cancer website reviews, and a few guest posts.  Hopefully I am back on track.