Advice on going out of area for cancer treatment

As an eight year survivor of advanced breast cancer and Network volunteer for the Unversity of Texas, M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, I received an email today asking all volunteers to offer personal experiences on how they overcame the challenges of traveling away from home to get cancer treatment.

Here’s the query, followed by my reply:

Hello, Networkers,

Your experiences as a patient, either at M.D. Anderson or elsewhere, can be a big help to others who are following in your paths. I’m writing to ask your help by responding to either (or both!) of the questions below. We will compile the answers we receive, which will be printed as a House Call column in the ONCOLOG.

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Breast Cancer: Treatments for early, confined cancer

The following article is from The University of Texas, M. D. Anderson Cancer Center publication, OncoLog, January 2009, Vol. 55, No. 1 :

Choosing Treatment for a Common Group of Early, Confined Breast Cancers

Overview

By definition, ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) is a cancer arising from and pathologically confirmed to be confined to the terminal duct lobular units of the breast. It is therefore considered a noninvasive breast cancer. Each year in the United States, about 64,000 women are diagnosed with DCIS, representing 30% of women diagnosed with breast cancer.

Three decades ago, DCIS was found in patients relatively rarely, typically co-existing with invasive cancers in mastectomy specimens. In the even rarer instance in which a patient presented with clinically evident DCIS—a palpable mass or nipple discharge—she was treated with mastectomy.

Today, it is still unusual for DCIS to present symptomatically;

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Study repudiates 'chemo brain'

New research, reported in the latest issue of Mind, Mood & Memory (Massachusetts General Hospital) suggests that the widely reported memory and cognitive problems reported by breast cancer patients and blamed on chemotherapy - including yours truly, Maven - may more likely blamed on the more general effects of the diagnosis and treatments that saved our lives.

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Nutrition helps keep cancer patients alive

This is a shocking statistic: nearly one in five cancer deaths have malnutrition and weight loss as a  contributing factor. Yet, as I’ve watched fellow cancer patients slog through their treatment, darn few get any serious counseling on diet and nutrition as it specifically applies to cancer, as I did during my treatment at the University of Texas, M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. During my time there I met with a nutritionist at least twice.

Unfortunately, cancer can really take a toll on appetite.

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Critical thinking in approaching cancer treatment

As a survivor of Stage 3a breast cancer, with my seventh anniversary coming up, I’ve heard about a lot of ‘treatments’ and ‘cures’ that at first glance might seem wonderful, but upon further research a either found lacking or possessing outright criminal intent.

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10 pieces help solve cancer puzzle

I’ve had a couple of opportunities to speak with Dr. Mendelsohn, president of M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, in Houston, Texas during my days as a breast cancer patient there.

Like all the people at MDACC, Dr. Mendelsohn is an amazing person and passionately dedicated to curing cancer once and for all. This article is a wonderful primer on just what you need to know about cancer, and how to prevent it. Another important point: to cure cancer we need great doctors, researchers and technicians. That requires a good education and a solid background in mathematics and sciences in our schools.

If you think that because your children or grandchildren are grown and gone - and therefore you don’t need to worry about paying for education in your community - what about the kid that might excel at math and science to become the doctor that puts your cancer into remission and perhaps cures it ( See item #5 below).

Is that worth the price? I was for me and still is.

Read what he has to say:

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Lung Cancer Gene Discovery A Sign of Cancer's Future

Science is tackling gene-caused flaws, cancer stem cells, and earlier detection of tumors

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Radiation Therapy for Breast Cancer

Tour of the University of Texas, M. D. Anderson Cancer Center