15 Cancer Symptoms Men Ignore

Alex Comments:  The earlier cancer is caught the better.  It is the little aches and pains, unusual bleeding or skin changes that may be nothing but also may be a harbinger of cancer growth.  Since it is a lot easier to cut the grass while it is still short go get it checked out.  You deserve it.  It could make your life a whole lot easier.  So go get the colonoscopy or blood test or what you need!  Don't delay.  

15 Cancer Symptoms Men Ignore

Men, heed these possible clues and find cancer early, when it's more treatable.

By Kathleen Doheny
WebMD Feature

Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD

Some men are notorious foot-draggers, especially when it comes to scheduling doctor visits. That’s unfortunate. Routine preventive care can find cancer in men and other diseases in the early stages, when there are more options for treatment and better chances of a cure. Some men, though, would never go to the doctor except for the women in their life. According to Leonard Lichtenfeld, MD, deputy chief medical officer for the national office of the American Cancer Society, women are often the ones who push men to get screened for cancer.

Experts say that men could benefit greatly by being alert to certain cancer symptoms that indicate a trip to the doctor’s office sooner rather than later. Some of those cancer symptoms in men are specific. They involve certain body parts and may even point directly to the possibility of cancer. Other symptoms are more vague. For instance, pain that affects many body parts could have dozens of explanations and may not be cancer. But that doesn’t mean you can rule out cancer without seeing a doctor.  For the rest of the story click here

Herbs and Cancer

Alex in the Hospital July 2nd 2010

The use of herbs and supplements with cancer patients is an area that is fraught with misunderstanding and poor information but the need is so great.        

Prevention
To nourish and rebalance the body so that cancer will not grow by  eating plenty of vegetables and fruit, monitoring Vitamin D, getting the right amount of omega 3 fats, keeping mineral ratios in balance, leading a healthy lifestyle and detoxification are a few examples.  There are many others.


Combining Herbs with Chemo. and Radiotherapy
Herbs can work well with chemotherapy and radiation to sensitize a tumor to the biomedical treatments, and nourish the body without interfering with chemo. and radiation.  In China, they have a lot of experience in combining east and west.  Their reserach shows when the two are combined together the outcomes are better than either one alone (please see an article I wrote about combining herbs with radiotherapy).  In my own case, my pathology report revealed a 99% dead tumor.  This means that there was no living tissue found in my large mass.  Though I cannot prove it, it is my belief that the herbs I took, custom formulated for my body condition, the type of tumor I had and my symptoms, were of tremendous benefit.  I don't think my pathology report would been as good without them.  Below are two examples of the multi-function nature of my herbal formulas. 

Radiation according to Chinese Medicine is understood as a toxic heat.  Radiation causes skin burning.  I took herbs during my own radiation treatment that have radiosensitizing effects, combined with other herbs that have anti-cancer effects, combined with herbs that have hematopoetic properties (blood building) , combined with cooling herbs that promote fluids.  In addition I used a topical burn cream.

Chemotherapy in Chinese Medicine is understood as a cold toxin to fight a heat toxin (rapidly dividing cancer cells).  When I was in chemotherapy I was always cold.  I took a multi-function formula to help reduce blood stagnation that had anti-cancer properties and chemosensitizing properties.  The formula also had immune system strengthening herbs along with supportive herbs to strengthen digestion and absorbtion and protect the bone marrow. I was able to eat through all of my chemotherapy. 

Direct Anti-Cancer Effects
Many herbs do have anti-cancer properties but are nowhere near as strong as pharmaceutical chemotherapy.  There are many instances in which a cancer patient may want to take herbs like this.  For example, inbetween treatments, when the Oncologists wants to "watch and wait", or in early stages before treatment begins.  One dramatic story of the use of herbs in this regard was a lymphoma patient who refused a bone marrow transplant after refractory cancer occurred 6 months after a clean PET scan.  I was able to keep her cancer from growing for two years until she developed some toxicity to the herbs.  She did have a life-saving bone marrow transplant but in the ensuing two years the techniques of BMT improved.  She still takes herbs and supplements.  I must add the disclaimer: That herbal medicine is never a substitute for a proper diagnosis, monitoring and biomedical treatment from an oncologist. 

Post Treatment Recovery
Cancer treatment is harsh on the body and a person can have many side-effects, really unwanted effects, that can sometimes last a long time.  Herbs and supplements can improve chronic bone marrow suppression, fatigue, accelerate healing from surgery and recovery from chemotherapy, mitigate hot flashes,  help treat a dry cough from chest radiation, prevent neuropathy, improve liver and kidney and digestive function all to improve health. These herbs are always individually chosen based upon specific symptoms. 

A few other notes on herbs:  When you are getting diagnosed or in active cancer treatment it is like learning to swim by being thrown into the deep end of the pool.  The anxiety, stress in addition to physical problems can be overwhelming.  Taking herbs is empowering.  They are something that you choose to do that can have a significant impact on outcome.  Under the "hammer of fate"  all tools are important. 

Second, Professional advice from someone you trust that is experienced in combining herbs with Oncology patients is important.  This person must understand the potential herb-drug interactions as well as the synergies between herbs and drugs so that the hippocratic oath can be made manifest in your body: "First do no harm".  Do not go to a health food store and ask what to take.  Further the marketing of "miracle" products can create so much confusion that it is difficult to make rational choices.

In my own case, I was as fastidious about taking herbs and supplements and it paid off for me.  I see herbal medicine as an integral part of any cancer fighting plan. 

My Sentiments Exactly

Alex writes:  This is an amazingly worded article published in Vanity Fair by the author Christopher Hitchens.  He was recently diagnosed.  I highly recommend it.  Hat tip to Suzan Woodruff who sent it to me. 

Topic of Cancer

One fine June day, the author is launching his best-selling memoir, Hitch-22. The next, he’s throwing up backstage at The Daily Show, in a brief bout of denial, before entering the unfamiliar country—with its egalitarian spirit, martial metaphors, and hard bargains of people who have cancer. For the whole article click here. 

By Christopher Hitchens•

Photograph by John Huba

September 2010

I Can Walk! I Can Walk! Alex Marches Upon The Earth Again!

April 6, 2010

One month and a few days after my "limb sparing surgery"  the strength and coordination in my leg is good enough again to take steps unassisted.  I am not fast and not without weakness or pain but the healing is picking up speed and so are the steps.  The numbness is abating as is fear and anger.  Now a few more "insurance" rounds of chemotherapy and I will be done.  Done! Done! Done!

There is no going back to the old ways of cynical, self-denying thinking.  I strongly believe that this medical odyssey was about getting the message about this.  I never believed it was meant to kill or mame me.  If I can maintain these lessons than I think I will actually be done with this cancer for this lifetime and will have fulfilled this idea that "cancer patients are the lucky one's".  The trite assumptions that there are no guarantees in life and that we take our health for granted can no longer be overlooked. 

Miracles abound.  It is miraculous that my leg was not made dysfunctional by the tumor.  It is equally miraculous that I did not have the tumor type that invaded my bone.  It is a third miracle that the tumor did not metastasize.  A further miracle was that the tumor was removed without destroying my nerves or blood vessels and was 99% dead.  For all of these miracles I am so very very grateful.

I would like to say that my stalwart approach to this odyssey helped me; it did in many ways.  I also must acknowledge there were so many dark and difficult days when negativity and cynicism overtook me, when my spirit felt defeated, when hope was in very short supply and I just felt like crap.  I also must acknowledge that I did the best I could with the tools I had under some very trying circumstances.  The fear and anger was so high for months.  While I was in it nobody could say what the outcome was going to be.  My Dr's, to my chagrin, were always guarded and never hinted to my progress as they didn't know either.  This left me to twist in the wind for months, following their program and my beliefs both good and bad without knowledge of success or failure. 

It was like a one hour TV dramas like CSI except the outcome was not known.  At a certain point we all know a show like CSI has to resolve itself because that is how that show always goes in a  specific time frame.  In reality we don't know the outcomes of our life and my medical odyssey provided plenty of drama as to how all of it would end up.  

I am so glad and grateful the hardest parts appear to be behind me now. 

Many thanks to all who have supported me through all of this chaos.

Notes Along The Way

One thing I learned is that having cancer can be nearly as difficult for those around you as yourself.  At first I found this insulting.  Wasn't I the one going through all the really hard stuff of chemotherapy and radiation and surgery?!  Now I see that Caregivers have it very rough also.  At the Wellness Community, for example, there are support groups for Caregivers.  When I was in a wheelchair for four months I could not do much of anything except receive my treatments and take care of the basics.  My wife, Denise, in particular, shouldered a very heavy load. Aside from the emotional burden, she was working a lot. 

Many people, I found, do not know how to talk to me about my situation.  It is amazing how many people are cancer experts recommending alternative treatments, a certain type of water, bad-mouthing chemotherapy etc...  At some stages of the treatment (actually nearly all) I could not hear any of that.  Not that I wasn't interested in alternatives but I had chosen a course, had lined up my team of experts both conventional and integrative and I had to keep my focus on that.  The time was not right to take suggestions. 

In recognition that everyone is trying to help and how difficult it can be to talk to people who have cancer I am republishing this from The Nick and Friends Sarcoma Foundation about what to say to someone who has cancer.  I found these recommendations very good. 

Do’s & Don’ts

Do you ever wonder what you should say to someone who has cancer, or to the parent of a terminally ill child? Most of us want to say something that will help ease their pain and encourage them. Unfortunately, the “helpful” things we say are often very hurtful. Sometimes we do not know what to say, so we don’t say anything at all, which is also hurtful. Your friends do not want to be treated differently or like there is something wrong with them. Yes, they have a terminal illness, but, they are still human beings who want to be treated as such.

Since we encourage people to visit our sarcoma friends and leave messages, we decided that we should offer some sort of training. Several sarcoma families helped us compile this list of Do’s & Don’ts based on actual comments. As you will see, some comments are very uplifting and supportive, others not so much.  To read the rest click here.

The Dream

 It has been difficult to write about my experiences over the last month.  The run up to the surgery was very stressful not knowing how my leg would be injured in an effort to save my life and remove the tumor.  The post surgery hospital stay was full of  emotional low points.  When I should have been ecstatic I was deeply distraught.  The emotional and physical stress of the surgery and anasthesia stripped me of any defenses I had and laid me bare and vulnerable.  I cried a lot.  

I was a bit like an addict hitting bottom.  In terms of spiritual growth it was perhaps a good thing.  I would rather not have that kind of "enlightenment at gunpoint".   I am will be absorbing the lessons for a long time.  I do feel a much deeper sense of compassion towards myself and others.  There are many other feelings yet to be sorted. 

Then I awoke in the recovery room as if time had stopped.  June 30, 2010.   where was I?  What had happened?  Denise came in showing me a picture of what she later described looked like a lamb roast.  These were the pictures the surgeon had taken.  She was smiling and excited.   "This is what came out of you", She showed me a picture of a watermelon sized object but I was in such a haze I couldn't really register it.

Denise gave me a kiss and explained to me in my stupor that the surgery was successful.  She told me they got the tumor with clean margins.  It weighed about 15lbs. according to the surgeon.,  and that my nerves and blood vessels were not damaged.   I think I cried.  If I didn't then I certainly did over the next few days.  I didn't realize how emotionally shattering the whole experience had been.  But I couldn't keep the same level of denial that I had used to maintain before the surgery. 

The next thing I recall was the hospital room. I am pressing the button for the morphine pump.  1 beep meant I got some.  2 beeps meant I was pressing the button more frequently than 8 minutes and I didn't get any.   It was all hazy.

Over the next few days I would learn to move from the bed to a chair next to the bed.  Then I started using a walker and eventually crutches.  One morning I got a call from my Oncology nurse, Suzan.  she sounded very excited.  She explained to me that the tumor was 99% dead on the pathology report with clean margins.  This was as good an outcome I could have had.   I happily called my family to break the news.  Later that day the oncology nurse came to my room to bring me the pathology report.  "I am done with my cancer treatment right?"  I asked expecting agreement. 
"Well not exactly" she explained.  "Since you responded so well to the chemo.  Dr. Forscher is going to recommend three more rounds."  My heart sank.  Apparently it was not yet time to leave behind cancer patient consciousness just yet.  The hardest part was over.  My leg was intact I am cancer free and am aiming for a good recovery.

After 7 days I was discharged deemed to healthy to be moved to the acute rehab. unit.

Anger update and the upcoming surgery

I had this exchange with the woman who runs fightsarcoma.org.  Her husband died of a Ewings Sarcoma.

Alex writes:  Right now I can only listen to a person who has lost a loved one prematurely. It may be all I will ever be able to do or anyone can do.  It is nearly unspeakable.  But I do know from my experience to allow a voice for grief and anger is a very powerful healing tool.  

She responds:  Anger can cause many medical problems.

Alex responds:  Only if it is held in.  

(I have been done a lot of preparation to get through my own anger and fear about my upcoming surgery.  In particular I credit my hypnotherapist, Lynda Mallerstein, with helping me.  Notice I wrote my hypnotherapist and not hypnotherapy.  Most of what she did was not hypnosis although that part was great too.  It was the anger and fear release process work that made the hypnosis work. )

On Tuesday June 29, I will have a vena cava filter placed so as to prevent blood clots.  On June 30th, in the morning I will have the sarcoma removed from my leg.  

It is my feeling and will that I will have 3 very important outcomes from the surgery:

1. The tumor will be removed with clean margins.
2. My blood vessels, nerves and muscles will all be left intact.
3. I will be able to return to my life again cancer free and walking. 

Acupuncture Decoding an Ancient Therapy (From The Wall Street Journal)

Alex's note:  This is a good overview article with video and interactive graphics.

Acupuncture has long baffled medical experts and no wonder: It holds that an invisible life force called qi (pronounced chee) travels up and down the body in 14 meridians. Illness and pain are due to blockages and imbalances in qi. Inserting thin needles into the body at precise points can unblock the meridians, practitioners believe, and treat everything from arthritis and asthma to anxiety, acne and infertility.

As fanciful as that seems, acupuncture does have real effects on the human body, which scientists are documenting using high-tech tools. Neuroimaging studies show that it seems to calm areas of the brain that register pain and activate those involved in rest and recuperation. Doppler ultrasound shows that acupuncture increases blood flow in treated areas. Thermal imaging shows that it can make inflammation subside.

Sweat a "B" symptom

I sweat.  when I take NSAIDS.  I sweat when I take Oxycontin and Dialaudid.   I sweat a lot.   It never used to be this way.  All this started about 2 weeks before I was diagnosed.  Near daily I get a low-grade fever with severe chills.  I( assume they are good for me.  They are certianly not infectious.  They are one of my body's way of fighting the tremendous inflammation.   The chills are that kind when you have the flu and no matter what you do, you can't warm up until the NSAID kicks in.  That takes 45 minutes give or take.   It used to be that the cycling of chills and fever would take longer and the fever higher,  now I can generally defeat the chills in a 1/2 an hour with warm tea and Motrin.  I still wear the hoodie sweat shirt with the hood pulled down tight and a wool cap underneath when I get the chills.  
One of my regular times to take Motrin is around 2:45am.   This leads to sweating while sleeping.  Sweating in bed is a problem.  Imagine sleeping in wet tissue paper.  It feels something like that.  I cover my pillows with a bath towel and literally towel off in the middle of the night as needed.  In the beginning I used to change my shirt about 6 times per night but Now I am down to 2 or 3.  There is nothing worse than be awoken by sweat dripping in my eye in the middle of the night.  

Motrin (Ibuprofen) as an anti-inflammatory is good to take also for anti-cancer purposes.   When this medical odyessy is over, I would like to again sweat when I am exercising.

My New Bed

The other week an old friend of Denise's and a patient of mine came over to visit me.  She took one look at the bed I am sleeping on downstairs and wondered aloud how do I sleep in this bed.  I was defensive at first.  What was really wrong with my bed?  A lot.  When my son graduated from his crib to a bed we went to Ikea and bought him a bed.  He is now 13 1/2 so I figure the bed is over 10 years old.  The futon mattress after 10 years became "credit card" thin.  On top of that I became so used to the foot board that I  put a towel over the wood so I could rest my leg on it.  I am 6'6".  A standard twin is 6'3".  It is fabulously lush and firm at the same time.  I dreamed I was sleeping in a fancy hotel.
Because of the new bed I have nearly stopped watching TV because there is no TV in the room where the bed is. There is almost nothing to watch on TV anyway.  The couch in our living has been used for the past ten years as a trampoline and jungle gym by the kids and it is so worn out that it is like sitting in a bucket.   Next to go is the couch.

Thank you for the bed Michelle.