I remembered reading something like this a while back. Most doctors that prescribed chemotherapy wouldn't have it themselves or allow a loved one to undergo it if they were suffering from cancer.
That is disturbing. I wonder though, how many of them would change their mind if it actually happened to them?
My wife's oncologist received his medical training at University of Alabama in Birmingham, Alabama and completed his internship at Letterman Army Medical Center in San Francisco, California. He completed his residency at University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama. His medical oncology fellowship was completed at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Massachusetts. He is board certified in internal medicine and medical oncology, and board eligible in hematology. He would, in fact, take chemotherapy. He has. He is a cancer survivor himself. He's been there and done that from both sides and has helped many of our friends and relatives. Chemotherapy is a pretty broad term. There are myriad "cocktails" that people take to address their particular cancer. In many cases of advanced cancer, it may only stave off the inevitable. My grandfather only withered away to a shell of his former self before he died. His death was almost certainly expedited by the treatments. Perhaps it was better that way. I would not have wanted to endure any more of that than I did. In my wife's case, the chemo only makes the tumor more sensitive to the radiation which is actually shrinking the tumor. Chemo by itself is a less preferred method to "seek and destroy" cancer cells, but at present, it is all we have.
Seed implants for prostate cancer seem promising: "More than ninety percent of men who receive appropriate radiation dose levels with permanent radiation seed implants to treat their early-stage prostate cancer remain recurrence-free eight years after diagnosis, according to a study released in the February 1 issue of the International Journal for Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics, the official journal of ASTRO. Seed implants are now a widely-accepted treatment option for early stage prostate cancer. The method is less invasive than surgery and quicker than external beam radiation. The seeds, similar in size to a grain of rice, if properly implanted deliver concentrated radiation to the prostate while sparing surrounding organs and tissue. Patients treated with seed implants may avoid immediate side effects common after surgical treatment. Urinary bother may occur and persist but risk of incontinence is lessened and impotence, if it occurs, may be delayed by years. Doctors in this study evaluated the long-term results of permanent seed implants in men with early-stage, T1-T2 prostate cancer. Nearly 2,700 men were studied at 11 institutions in the United States over eight years. About two thirds of the men (68%) were treated with I-25 seeds ( median dose, 144 Gy) and the rest with Pd-103 seeds (median dose, 130 Gy) . The radioactive seeds were administered with the aid of ultrasound-guided techniques to accurately place the seeds in the prostate gland. The implant method applied is known as intraoperative real-time conformal planning technique with inverse planning optimization . All patients received the seed implants as the sole treatment for prostate cancer with no additional chemotherapy or radiation therapy."
I know two people who've gone through chemo and seem to be living normal lives. One was a young girl who had leukemia and the other was a woman who had breast cancer. I don't know what side effects it had, but personally I would take chemo if I still wanted to live after seeing these women survive.
True. If the cancer has affected an organ that can be partially removed, the success is greater. If it is contained within an organ (ie stage 1 or 2 within the walls of the colon) the success increases. Cancer that has covered more than one organ (stage 4) or is in a position that cannot be reached surgically can only be addressed with aggressive chemotherapy. Chemo kills cells. The cancer cells just are greedier and take more of it but the chemo kills any and all cells which is why it is part art and part science. It can be the cause of death or it can stave it off. It's just a risk that one decides to accept or not based on his prognosis.
