Question
But honestly, the things I post or ask are very even natured things. USUALLY. The responses I get are so wonderful and very needed. I appreciate them and embrace them. My family knows I have this site to go to. I do share with my family too, but the deeper, most personal fears I don't want to give to them...I bring here.
The thing that troubles my heart is that I feel like I can't be totally honest with all of my feelings or questions unless I want to unleash a parade of accusations, you said, they said.
I feel like if I have a question or a need, then its about me at that time. Maybe that is selfish but I was thinking thats what this board was all about. If I have the need at the moment and allow others to respond, that means I wanted to know. Not fair if I can not have the opportunity to hear the different opinions. But without straying from the subject to the point of practically outcasting someone because they have a certain belief. Maybe I want to hear them all.
The only other time I asked a question about "other things I could be doing" the same thing happened to my post as did the "Gerson" post. I feel bad for that person that asked an honest question. So now I feel like I have to ask those questions privately so the importance of my thoughts is not torn down by others. There are things about me that you all may not know. ....I love the idea of helping my body recover from what the cancer/chemo/radiation/surgery did to me, and giving it the opportunity and right invironment or terrain to flourish as much as possible. That is with a healthy diet, exercise, and a healthy open attitude to myself and others. I'm only touching the beginning of something I know will become an important way of living to me and I'm going to need people that can help and support me because this is what I want to do not argue my attempt with why I shouldn't. Different opinions are fine, but we should all be respectful.
If I weighed 400 pounds would it also be said that diet and exercise and a healthy attitude toward life would never help my cells, system, and structure recover and regenerate to a more healthy body? That is what our bodies were made to do. Regenerate and recover if they can.
Last night I was thinking I'm probably done with CSN. But this morning I know I'm not. There are going to be new people on here that will have questions and seek opinions from people with a variety of experience and I will be here to speak up to give it. Even if I don't have much experience yet, they will know different possibilities.
My question is this. Can I only talk about what my symptoms from my treatment did to me here, my fear of cancer coming back, family things,...very general things that everyone here has done in one way or another as being a member of the cancer club. Or can I trust that my belief of eating organic foods, decreasing the sugar, meat and dairy, exercising my body...all to push it in a healthy direction will be treated with respect because it is what I believe? And that I know I can get first hand experienced people helping me and guiding me here. I'm still new at my cancer. This is my first year. I need John, Lisa, Emily, Lisa,Pete and many others. I remember Kerry that was loved so much, and I can not imagine him participating in the things that go on about health, even if I remember right he enjoyed his steak and potatoes but did not get aggressive about anothers choice of options.
plh4gail, peacelove&happiness
Comments
-
Sad
Gail,
I am so sad to hear that you feel that you can't ask the questions that are on your mind. My advise, do what your heart tells you to do. Eat what you want, drink what you want and if it helps you then who cares what others think. We are all individuals something might work for me and not you and that is what it is......your battle and mine will be different but might be similar in some ways. I would love to know what does work for all so that I can determine if it is a road that I might want to try. So I hope that you continue to share and reach out to others and the few that are angry and need to crush other's spirits are bullies and most likely scared and want others to feel like scared and angry too.0 -
Gail,
I think it is so
Gail,
I think it is so important to follow what you believe about what you need to get well. Your beliefs, what you affirm, put that message out to your body. I am in the same boat as you are in that I am newer to the cancer journey than many others. Like you, I do want to hear what's out there, what people are trying. And my belief is that it is worth trying to do what I can to be healthy such as maintaining a healthy diet (when I am finally able) and exercising. I am interested in hearing about supplements and alternative treatments so that said, I hope you will continue on the forum. You have always responded to my questions and I have so appreciated it.
Sending you light,
Laura0 -
You Know Gaillauragb said:Gail,
I think it is so
Gail,
I think it is so important to follow what you believe about what you need to get well. Your beliefs, what you affirm, put that message out to your body. I am in the same boat as you are in that I am newer to the cancer journey than many others. Like you, I do want to hear what's out there, what people are trying. And my belief is that it is worth trying to do what I can to be healthy such as maintaining a healthy diet (when I am finally able) and exercising. I am interested in hearing about supplements and alternative treatments so that said, I hope you will continue on the forum. You have always responded to my questions and I have so appreciated it.
Sending you light,
Laura
I have always felt that this place should be a "safe haven" where people can express thoughts, concerns, feelings, questions, etc. Unfortunately, as you said in the "other post", this place gets like high school sometimes. Or even worse, like adults in an office setting where they should be grown up enough to know better. A couple of years ago, I made a post regarding something about Johnnybegood(can't remember exactly what it was), but one member replied with what I interpreted as an unkind remark. It hurt my feelings at first, but then I realized that many others had responded with caring remarks. Because this board has such a diverse population, I guess we have to learn to accept the bad with the good.
In this game of life and death(and I'm not using this phrase as a joke),anyone has a right to disagree with another's treatment plan, just use a little common courtesy when doing so.
So go ahead, express what you feel or provide the information you have to someone who asks.
There will, most likely, always be two sides. And perhaps,in a perfect world(lol), both sides will be represented in a positive manner without hostility.
I appreciate you and your friendship.
Luv,
Wolfen0 -
please don't leave
I am also a newbie here and I have learned so much from the posts on this forum. As a stage IV'er finished with "all standard treatments", it's been great to read about others who have been on this journey a long time whatever treatment they've decided to take. I didn't know about any of the alternative therapies until I came here. I also didn't know about many of the "western" treatments for stage IV either.
Thank you all for sharing your journeys.
I truly hope no one leaves because of the Gerson thread.
Hugs to all.
Tricia0 -
I'm not going anywhere.th_in_canada said:please don't leave
I am also a newbie here and I have learned so much from the posts on this forum. As a stage IV'er finished with "all standard treatments", it's been great to read about others who have been on this journey a long time whatever treatment they've decided to take. I didn't know about any of the alternative therapies until I came here. I also didn't know about many of the "western" treatments for stage IV either.
Thank you all for sharing your journeys.
I truly hope no one leaves because of the Gerson thread.
Hugs to all.
Tricia
I
I'm not going anywhere. I will be around sharing with my journey for quite some time I hope. Just not going to keep so quite about the things I feel are important for others to know, especially those that ask.
plh4gail0 -
question
I agree with you completely. We need different views from others like Emily, Lisa John and Pete. When my husband started 6 months of chemo the first of this year we knew nothing about alternatives. It would have been nice to have a choice of chemo or alternative. My husband had serious heart problems from chemo. After his first treatment he spent 12 hours in ER. The chemo was then reduced but he continued to still have some heart pain during the entire treatment. His onc considered stopping the treatment completely. He now has a blood clot in his liver from the chemo and the usual problems with neuropathy. Chemo has worked for many but some have done well without. We need to respect everyone's opinions or ideas. We are into organic foods, juicing, exercise and anything that will build up the immune system.
Linda0 -
Hi Gail
I'm glad that I read further down that you will be staying but I understand your frustration. It used to be that talking Religion or Politics were sure-fire ways to start arguments. It's very sad to see that now talking about how we've done well with our choices with how to deal with our cancer has become a topic that starts arguments.
I had not followed the Gerson post other than reading it the day it was posted. I felt I had nothing to contribute to it so I didn't. (Oh how I wish others felt the same way...) Haven't tried it so I can't pass judgement on it. I did read it after seeing your post here. It sure got nasty. I really don't understand how we can argue about how we battled cancer. Rarely do I see where anyone says "you MUST do as I do" but at times it gets close. There are possibly as many ways to beat cancer as there are ways to get cancer. And in both cases, one size doesn't fit all. People who smoke all their lives do not get cancer while people who never smoke get lung cancer. There are always the exceptions to the rules. While a good diet doesn't guarantee you won't get cancer it certainly can't harm you to watch what you eat. And yes, chemo can be tough on a body. It's also helped millions of people beat cancer.
Not everyone by any means but the same can be said for diet.
Go figure...
I can understand how people are very passionate about their choice when they've had good results. Yet I've never understood how people can be so judgmental and/or against something that they've never even tried. How can someone say something is so wrong when they didn't do it? Maybe it's wrong for them but to condemn what may have been a cure for many because they don't approve of it is just ignorance (IMO).
I'm not singling out one option for treatment, this goes both ways.
I hope that we can still continue to discuss the options that are out there for everyone. It's a scary thing for us all at times and to leave the dialog to ONLY this or ONLY that helps no one. Sometimes we all need a break from this site. It's tough to see people lose their battle or have to go through hard times. People, not only us, suffer on a daily basis all over the world in a variety of ways whether it's starvation, genocide from civil wars, disease from poor sanitary conditions, and the list goes on...
Peace and all that stuff
~phil0 -
Well, I hadn't read the Gerson post...
but now that I have, I must say that maybe we all need to spend an hour or so in my son's 2nd grade classroom. Big sign on the wall with a list of ideas for how to make the classroom a happy place for everybody. Things like.. be respectful, use kind words, treat others how you would like them to treat you, etc. Really pretty basic stuff, but I think that sometimes in the relative anonymity of the Internet world we forget to put forth our better selves. I suspect that if you took everyone who commented on that post, and put them together in a room, very few of them would speak so harshly and without thought for the feelings of others. Makes me kind of sad...cancer is enough hardship for most of us, do we have to create more sadness and pain for our fellow warriors with our words? Doesn't seem like it's a good thing for anybody. Love to all-Ann0 -
Phil- the voice of reasonPhillieG said:Hi Gail
I'm glad that I read further down that you will be staying but I understand your frustration. It used to be that talking Religion or Politics were sure-fire ways to start arguments. It's very sad to see that now talking about how we've done well with our choices with how to deal with our cancer has become a topic that starts arguments.
I had not followed the Gerson post other than reading it the day it was posted. I felt I had nothing to contribute to it so I didn't. (Oh how I wish others felt the same way...) Haven't tried it so I can't pass judgement on it. I did read it after seeing your post here. It sure got nasty. I really don't understand how we can argue about how we battled cancer. Rarely do I see where anyone says "you MUST do as I do" but at times it gets close. There are possibly as many ways to beat cancer as there are ways to get cancer. And in both cases, one size doesn't fit all. People who smoke all their lives do not get cancer while people who never smoke get lung cancer. There are always the exceptions to the rules. While a good diet doesn't guarantee you won't get cancer it certainly can't harm you to watch what you eat. And yes, chemo can be tough on a body. It's also helped millions of people beat cancer.
Not everyone by any means but the same can be said for diet.
Go figure...
I can understand how people are very passionate about their choice when they've had good results. Yet I've never understood how people can be so judgmental and/or against something that they've never even tried. How can someone say something is so wrong when they didn't do it? Maybe it's wrong for them but to condemn what may have been a cure for many because they don't approve of it is just ignorance (IMO).
I'm not singling out one option for treatment, this goes both ways.
I hope that we can still continue to discuss the options that are out there for everyone. It's a scary thing for us all at times and to leave the dialog to ONLY this or ONLY that helps no one. Sometimes we all need a break from this site. It's tough to see people lose their battle or have to go through hard times. People, not only us, suffer on a daily basis all over the world in a variety of ways whether it's starvation, genocide from civil wars, disease from poor sanitary conditions, and the list goes on...
Peace and all that stuff
~phil
I agree with what Phil says- a voice of reason. I have definitely stated my alternative viewpoints on some of the new things I'm doing. I wish everyone could remember to put kindness and people's feelings first above squashing what others say because they are skeptical or don't agree. During the first two years or so after my diagnosis, I was also quite skeptical of treatments that weren't standard western medicine. Since then, however, I've done a lot of research and have taken some chances. Some didn't work out, but I'm still searching. Some people don't feel comfortable doing that, and I respect that. Respect is the key here- I wish people who are ready to pounce on those who they don't agree with would just keep their thoughts to themselves.
It makes me sad and frustrated to hear that people leave CSN because that "respect line" is too often crossed. Some have to go and ruin it for everyone, even when they don't always want to realize the damage they've done by the "tone" of their responses.
I usually let things roll off me, so I'm not going anywhere. I have, however, lost some of my zeal for responding to as many messages and threads as I used to. It's tiring, I guess. I'll be around.
Please, everyone- let's respect each other & at times agree to disagree without arguing about it. I want to feel free to share what I feel is helping my cancer. The jury is still out if my stage IV cancer is going to be helped by what I'm doing or not. I'm actually 10 days into a new nutritional approach, but won't get into the details because someone will end up telling me it's a bunch of bunk and read about it on quackwatch. So, I'm hoping and praying for good things with the scan I'll have in about another 2-1/2 months after being on this. If my results are good, then I'll be shouting about it from the rooftops & you will all hear about it then.
Hugs to all,
Lisa0 -
From the end of the conversation under discussion:
Answering a question about an alternative therapy is never easy, and will always involve two sides. It is very different from a question about whether or not an abdominal CT is the same as a virtual colonoscopy. The subject itself it rife with controversy, and an expectation that the only ones who respond are those responding in the positive is unrealistic.
As to first hand knowledge, here is an odd example:
Pete43 has first hand knowledge of lymphatic massage, which he did when he was informed it is a cancer treatment. What he does not have first hand knowledge of is lymphedema (a side effect of both cancer and cancer treatment), for which lymphatic massage is a treatment (and why it is a cancer treatment). So, were someone with lymphedema to ask about the effectiveness of the massage, is Pete qualified to respond? Would it be outside the realm for someone else to question the relevance of Pete's experience? Lastly, would such a response be a personal attack on Pete?
No one answered the last bit there, wonder if anyone can here?0 -
I truly don't want to butt
I truly don't want to butt in where I don't belong but I would like your opinion on something I wrote earlier as well. If I am out of line with my thinking, please let me know. Here is my repost:
When people come on here asking questions and seeking advice, they do deserve to have their questions answered. And I believe they have the right to both sides of a given subject, with as much truth as possible explained. There needs to be balance.
If someone comes seeking generic information about an alternative treatment, such as this person(on the Gerson diet thread), they, I believe, should get to hear from those who had success as well as those who did not. That is only fair, I think.
I know this is not popular, but stage 3 cancer is very different from stage 4. If we use John's statistics, stage 3 colon cancer is curable one fourth of the time by surgery alone. So, unless a stage 3 person has evidence of active cancer after surgery, it can be concluded with a certain amount of accuracy that the surgery was the curative element in their outcome, if they have no recurrence. So, people can follow up with dramatic changes to their diets like some have done or they can continue eating potato chips like my dad and their cancer may never return. I think that new people have the right to know this information when trying to decide on a treatment program.
When a stage 4 person with active cancer has it disappear, that can cause one to take notice because that is not to be expected. However, I corresponded with a woman whose stage 4 cancer disappeared after less than 6 months of chemo. I asked her what she had done to bring this about and she said absolutely nothing. It is a statistical fact that some advanced cancers go into remission to never become active again. That needs to be understood as well so that if we have one person with advanced cancer who claims success with an alternative method, we need to take spontaneous remission into account. Now, if several people post that they did a certain thing and their stage 4 cancers went into remission, then we have something to look into!
This is what I have had to do when trying to sift through all of this information. We are bombarded by people offering their opinions of what should be done to treat this disease. In my husband's case, his cancer is so aggressive, we have to be very careful before each decision to make the very best one that we can. We cannot afford to make the wrong choice because two months can be the difference between life and death for him. It is a scary tightrope that we are walking and we are learning that we HAVE to be very discerning.0 -
Lauretta -laurettas said:I truly don't want to butt
I truly don't want to butt in where I don't belong but I would like your opinion on something I wrote earlier as well. If I am out of line with my thinking, please let me know. Here is my repost:
When people come on here asking questions and seeking advice, they do deserve to have their questions answered. And I believe they have the right to both sides of a given subject, with as much truth as possible explained. There needs to be balance.
If someone comes seeking generic information about an alternative treatment, such as this person(on the Gerson diet thread), they, I believe, should get to hear from those who had success as well as those who did not. That is only fair, I think.
I know this is not popular, but stage 3 cancer is very different from stage 4. If we use John's statistics, stage 3 colon cancer is curable one fourth of the time by surgery alone. So, unless a stage 3 person has evidence of active cancer after surgery, it can be concluded with a certain amount of accuracy that the surgery was the curative element in their outcome, if they have no recurrence. So, people can follow up with dramatic changes to their diets like some have done or they can continue eating potato chips like my dad and their cancer may never return. I think that new people have the right to know this information when trying to decide on a treatment program.
When a stage 4 person with active cancer has it disappear, that can cause one to take notice because that is not to be expected. However, I corresponded with a woman whose stage 4 cancer disappeared after less than 6 months of chemo. I asked her what she had done to bring this about and she said absolutely nothing. It is a statistical fact that some advanced cancers go into remission to never become active again. That needs to be understood as well so that if we have one person with advanced cancer who claims success with an alternative method, we need to take spontaneous remission into account. Now, if several people post that they did a certain thing and their stage 4 cancers went into remission, then we have something to look into!
This is what I have had to do when trying to sift through all of this information. We are bombarded by people offering their opinions of what should be done to treat this disease. In my husband's case, his cancer is so aggressive, we have to be very careful before each decision to make the very best one that we can. We cannot afford to make the wrong choice because two months can be the difference between life and death for him. It is a scary tightrope that we are walking and we are learning that we HAVE to be very discerning.
This is the second time I'm correcting the same misquoted
dialog you insist on posting.
Re:
"If we use John's statistics, stage 3 colon cancer is curable
one fourth of the time by surgery alone."
There was absolutely no mention of "curable". The "statistics"
indicated that 26% of the stage 3 cancer patients that did nothing
at all after surgery survived up to 5 years or beyond, while
28% those that received chemo after surgery survived for the
same amount of time.
Doing "chemo" did not lengthen life according to that
report, it only increased the odds of surviving by that (2%) margin.
The 2% "gain' was markedly offset by the second cancers
and permanent neurological problems presented by the
harsh chemicals used in treatment; both maladies exhibiting
greater than a 40% incidence rate.
If you're going to quote someone, please do so with some accuracy.
Thank you.
Best wishes,
John0 -
The Gerson post is sad
I get what you are saying Gail, when I see people getting attacked it saddens me. Many of the people that really inspired me when I 1st came here have died from their cancer. But like you said, there will be new people and they will need someone to help them. I do not think I can stop coming here for that reason, but I also need to know how people here that I have come to think of as friends/family are doing. We will always finds things to debate, I just hope we can keep it from becoming mean spirited.0 -
Sorry, John,John23 said:Lauretta -
This is the second time I'm correcting the same misquoted
dialog you insist on posting.
Re:
"If we use John's statistics, stage 3 colon cancer is curable
one fourth of the time by surgery alone."
There was absolutely no mention of "curable". The "statistics"
indicated that 26% of the stage 3 cancer patients that did nothing
at all after surgery survived up to 5 years or beyond, while
28% those that received chemo after surgery survived for the
same amount of time.
Doing "chemo" did not lengthen life according to that
report, it only increased the odds of surviving by that (2%) margin.
The 2% "gain' was markedly offset by the second cancers
and permanent neurological problems presented by the
harsh chemicals used in treatment; both maladies exhibiting
greater than a 40% incidence rate.
If you're going to quote someone, please do so with some accuracy.
Thank you.
Best wishes,
John
some of my language comes from many, many years ago when we dealt with cancer the first time. At that time, five year survival was considered a cure. Am so sorry to have used the wrong term for today's conversation.0 -
anyone who quotes your statsJohn23 said:Lauretta -
This is the second time I'm correcting the same misquoted
dialog you insist on posting.
Re:
"If we use John's statistics, stage 3 colon cancer is curable
one fourth of the time by surgery alone."
There was absolutely no mention of "curable". The "statistics"
indicated that 26% of the stage 3 cancer patients that did nothing
at all after surgery survived up to 5 years or beyond, while
28% those that received chemo after surgery survived for the
same amount of time.
Doing "chemo" did not lengthen life according to that
report, it only increased the odds of surviving by that (2%) margin.
The 2% "gain' was markedly offset by the second cancers
and permanent neurological problems presented by the
harsh chemicals used in treatment; both maladies exhibiting
greater than a 40% incidence rate.
If you're going to quote someone, please do so with some accuracy.
Thank you.
Best wishes,
John
is in danger of being inaccurate.
Stage II Colorectal Cancer: To Treat or not to Treat,,,Up to 40%–50% of patients who undergo potentially curative surgery alone ultimately relapse and die of metastatic disease [1]. The most important prognostic indicator for survival in colon cancer is tumor stage, which is determined by the depth of penetration through the bowel wall and the number of lymph nodes involved...,
...the administration of adjuvant 5-fluorouracil (FU)–based therapy for all medical patients with stage III colorectal cancer has become standard of care and has resulted in a 30%–40% decrease in relapse and mortality rates versus treatment with surgery alone...
Your 2% number might hold true for at least one class of CRC patients:
In contrast, the International Multi-centre Pooled Analysis of Colon Cancer Trials (IMPACT) B2 study, which combined data from patients in five separate trials, did not show any statistically significant benefit of 5-FU/leucovorin combinations over surgery alone in stage II patients [7]. Those studies enrolled 1,025 patients who had stage II node-negative colon cancer into four Canadian/European and several North Central Cancer Center Treatment Group (NCCCTG) trials. The overall survival rates at 5 years were 80% for the control group and 82% for the treatment group, suggesting that for every 100 individuals with node-negative disease, adjuvant 5-FU therapy only benefited two of them.
0 -
The actual question:
"My question is this. Can I only talk about what my symptoms from my treatment did to me here, my fear of cancer coming back, family things,...very general things that everyone here has done in one way or another as being a member of the cancer club. Or can I trust that my belief of eating organic foods, decreasing the sugar, meat and dairy, exercising my body...all to push it in a healthy direction will be treated with respect because it is what I believe?"
The answer is no, no, no, and yes (you are not restricted to symptoms/fear/family and you can discuss your belief in a healthy lifestyle and be treated with respect) it will be and, to my knowledge, has been with your posts. Some choose to take that to the next level, implying that other therapies are entirely responsible for their continued well being, and those claims deserve a bit of challenge.
If you read my first post in that thread, it was about the benefit of exercise and aspirin to post surgical, stage 1-3 patients. Personally, I find it interesting that a healthy level of physical activity reduces recurrence by as much as, or more than, adjuvant chemotherapy. I mentioned both Emily and Lauretta's, but I do not think I was attacking either of them, rather I was challenging both of them, and providing the data to back it up.
I still find the "joke" about getting the last laugh disturbing, but I also accept it was intended as a joke. It is a function of humor that what is funny to some can be disturbing to others, and it would have been nice for that to have been acknowledged.
Blake0 -
Thank you, Blake,Buckwirth said:The actual question:
"My question is this. Can I only talk about what my symptoms from my treatment did to me here, my fear of cancer coming back, family things,...very general things that everyone here has done in one way or another as being a member of the cancer club. Or can I trust that my belief of eating organic foods, decreasing the sugar, meat and dairy, exercising my body...all to push it in a healthy direction will be treated with respect because it is what I believe?"
The answer is no, no, no, and yes (you are not restricted to symptoms/fear/family and you can discuss your belief in a healthy lifestyle and be treated with respect) it will be and, to my knowledge, has been with your posts. Some choose to take that to the next level, implying that other therapies are entirely responsible for their continued well being, and those claims deserve a bit of challenge.
If you read my first post in that thread, it was about the benefit of exercise and aspirin to post surgical, stage 1-3 patients. Personally, I find it interesting that a healthy level of physical activity reduces recurrence by as much as, or more than, adjuvant chemotherapy. I mentioned both Emily and Lauretta's, but I do not think I was attacking either of them, rather I was challenging both of them, and providing the data to back it up.
I still find the "joke" about getting the last laugh disturbing, but I also accept it was intended as a joke. It is a function of humor that what is funny to some can be disturbing to others, and it would have been nice for that to have been acknowledged.
Blake
That comment was disturbing to me and I appreciate your acknowledging the fact. In my neck of the woods that is a gauntlet throwing kind of statement. I now understand and accept that it is not intended that way by all who use the phrase. Cultural differences, I am sure.0 -
Wow.Buckwirth said:anyone who quotes your stats
is in danger of being inaccurate.
Stage II Colorectal Cancer: To Treat or not to Treat,,,Up to 40%–50% of patients who undergo potentially curative surgery alone ultimately relapse and die of metastatic disease [1]. The most important prognostic indicator for survival in colon cancer is tumor stage, which is determined by the depth of penetration through the bowel wall and the number of lymph nodes involved...,
...the administration of adjuvant 5-fluorouracil (FU)–based therapy for all medical patients with stage III colorectal cancer has become standard of care and has resulted in a 30%–40% decrease in relapse and mortality rates versus treatment with surgery alone...
Your 2% number might hold true for at least one class of CRC patients:
In contrast, the International Multi-centre Pooled Analysis of Colon Cancer Trials (IMPACT) B2 study, which combined data from patients in five separate trials, did not show any statistically significant benefit of 5-FU/leucovorin combinations over surgery alone in stage II patients [7]. Those studies enrolled 1,025 patients who had stage II node-negative colon cancer into four Canadian/European and several North Central Cancer Center Treatment Group (NCCCTG) trials. The overall survival rates at 5 years were 80% for the control group and 82% for the treatment group, suggesting that for every 100 individuals with node-negative disease, adjuvant 5-FU therapy only benefited two of them.
Nice data Blake!
Re:
Stage II Colorectal Cancer: To Treat or not to Treat
Continuing down that link you provided, is the following:
"Conclusion
In conclusion, randomized controlled trials and meta-analyses
have uniformly failed to definitively detect a survival benefit
for adjuvant chemotherapy in stage II CRC.
These trials have included insufficient numbers of patients with
stage II disease to ultimately determine whether adjuvant
chemotherapy in this population is truly beneficial.
Nonetheless, there remains no clinical or biological reason
to believe that the clinical behavior of stage II tumors
should be different from that of stage III tumors.
Therefore, clinical trials in stage II CRC must incorporate
better risk stratification using molecular markers and an
adequate number of patients to define the relative disease-free
and overall survival benefits from chemotherapy. "
As a cancer victim, and as a stage four since 2006, I am tired
of doing the research only to find the same data repeated time
and time again.
Chemo can help stall or slow the progression, but at a cost....
The cost can be in second cancers or permanent neurological
problems, and the patient should not be afraid to ask before
submitting to the treatments.
Yes, I believe the good must be weighed against the bad; I had
to do that, you had to do that, and every one of us here should
have had to do that.
The decision should not be made out of haste or fear, but only after
weighing all the options.
The point is, that not too many of us knew all the options, we
only heard about the "conventional" options, and we're made to
believe that they are the only options available.
Emily, Scouty, I, and others have tried options that most individuals
did not know existed; we are still here to talk about it. Perhaps
I won't be here tomorrow, but it will not mean that it was a failure,
it will only mean that my time had come.
There are no guarantees with chemo, radiation, TCM, or any
other practice; cancer kills. And when it isn't the cancer itself
that kills, it's the after-effects of treatment (or in my case) surgery
that manages to snuff the life out of us.
There are choices available to provide life and strength to battle
cancer and other ills in life; TCM and herbal remedies are only
a small part of it.
We're here to help provide some insight and hope; to allow
others to know that if the "conventional medicine" fails to work,
or is doing more harm than good, that there is indeed other
ways to do battle without the side effects and hazards.
Best of health to you,
John0 -
You keep it going honey!plh4gail said:I'm not going anywhere.
I
I'm not going anywhere. I will be around sharing with my journey for quite some time I hope. Just not going to keep so quite about the things I feel are important for others to know, especially those that ask.
plh4gail
I can't do it anymore but trust you and others will. This board was my lifeline 2004-2007 so please keep that spirit alive. You know the feeling; genuine comraderie with compassion, caring, and respect.
Your thread made it almost 6 hours before it got hijacked and I hope that doesn't dampen your spirits.
Keep paying it forward dear and maybe one day the haters will get it.
You know how to find me if you need me.
Lisa P.0 -
Opinions
Everyone has there own opinion and you can't change that, but need to accept that which you are doing is right for you. I've asked my doctors about why, what, how. Somehow FOX news got brought into this, which I'm very surprised about that comparison. You need to do what you feel best for you and state on this board how you feel. This is a place where you can come for others opinions. You are a valued person on this board and I'm thankful that you are staying.
Hugs! Kim0
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