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What is leukaemia and how is it treated? Leukaemia is a cancer of white blood cells .This occurs in the bone marrow where all the blood cells are made. Sometimes young white blood cells grow rapidly but do not mature properly. Other times old white cells do not die off naturally. These young or old abnormal cells build up in the bone marrow and prevent normal blood cells from growing. All the various types of blood cells are made by the bone marrow .The bone marrow is the spongy material that fills the middle of some bones and produces cells called stem cells. These cells mature into white cells, red blood cells and platelets. red blood cells carry oxygen to all the cells in the body white blood cells are essential for fighting infection platelets help the blood to clot and so control bleeding. All these cells normally stay inside the bone marrow until they are fully developed (mature). They are then released into the blood to circulate around the body and perform their functions Leukaemia's are divided into two main groups acute and chronic and then further divided by the type of white blood cell which is affected. Acute leukaemia's come on suddenly, often within days or weeks, progressing quickly and need to be treated urgently. Chronic leukaemia's develop more slowly often over many months or years. Some of the signs of leukaemia may include tiredness and some people become anaemic and need blood transfusions. They may be more vulnerable to infection because their immune system fails or they may bleed and bruise more easily because the little bits of blood cell called platelets, which make blood clot, aren't produced. Some types of leukaemia can be managed very well for long periods of time and many others are potentially curable. There are four main types of leukaemia: chronic myeloid (CML) acute myeloid (AML) chronic lymphocytic (CLL) acute lymphoblastic (ALL) Another type of leukaemia is the less common hairy cell leukaemia Each disease has its own characteristics and treatment. Because there are different types of leukaemia each type behaves differently and responds to different types of treatment. The main treatment for most types of leukaemia is chemotherapy. Other treatments that may be used include: Bone marrow and stem cell transplants ( Treatment of high doses of chemotherapy to kill off the blood cells and leukaemic cells in your bone marrow donated from a suitable donor, so that you are able to produce new healthy blood cells) Radiotherapy (A treatment for cancer using high energy x- rays) Monoclonal antibodies (A treatment where you receive special protein drugs that attach to the surface of the abnormal white cells and cause the cells to die) Targeted therapies (drugs to stop the growth and spread of cancer) The aim of the treatment is to stop the bone marrow producing abnormal white blood cells. Often, it is necessary to start treatment as soon as possible but sometimes, for some types of leukaemia, it is better to put off treatment. For some people this can mean not needing to start treatment for months or years until symptoms appear.

What is Cancer of the Thyroid Gland and what Treatment is Given? The thyroid is a small gland in the front of the neck just below the voice box (larynx) The thyroid is sometimes known as the “activity” gland because it produces hormones, which help to control various functions. Thyroid cancer is rare and usually affects middle aged to older people. The causes of thyroid cancer are unknown but there are some risk factors involved which may include :- An enlarged thyroid (goitre), thyroid nodules (adenomas), Inflammation of the thyroid (thyroiditis) An inherited faulty gene A diet high in fat and low in iodine Thyroid cancer can develop many years after exposure; for example, following the nuclear explosion surrounding Chernobyl in the Ukraine Children who had radiation treatment as a child may be more at risk in later life of developing thyroid cancer Treatment Surgery, radiotherapy, radioactive iodine treatment and thyroid replacement therapy can be given alone or in combination Radioactive iodine is a substance taken as capsules or a drink or injected into the vein in your arm. The thyroid cancer cells absorb the iodine and receive a very high dose of radiation, which will help to destroy the cancer cells. Many types of thyroid cancer can usually be treated very successfully and many patients are cured.

Hello, My name is Javier Barba.I am a foreign student who studies Journalism and Visual media at Griffith College. For one of my lectures i have to do an edited video, I decided to make it about prostate cancer. I want to show people what prostate cancer is as well as how widely spread it is. So I need people who have suffered this illness in order to tell their story. It is going to be easy and it takes only a few hours. I really need someone. If you wanna participate please send me an email to javito_21187@hotmail.com I would like to have an answer as soon as possible, because next week I have to give my treatment. Kind regards, Javier Barba Fernández

My mum died 12th sept 2008, i miss her so much.... I want to thank the cancer society for providing us with a night nurse during my mums final days. Breada was her name, she was an angel. She was so caring and treated mum like she was her own. She also gave us alot of support, we were very scared, we did not know what to expect and Breada helped us through it all. Thanks to the help of the society, mum died at home with all her family around her. We are very greatful for that. I know that mum would have been so happy with that.

I have been checking out this website and I dont find anyone talking about how they feel or how they are coping before after or during. I am a member of an American breast cancer.org and everyone their talks quite openly about how they feel, up or down and the community is their for everyone. Is it just an Irish thing that if we dont talk about our feelings they just dont exisit. I often wake up angry that it was me who got BC but then at times I feel okay about it. I dont know what I am suppose to feel some times and people look at me and say "God its great to see you got over your trouble" I didn't get over anything I just got on with living. Do you feel like this at times. Sometimes I still suffer from Chemo Brain even though I'm 2 years on. Is this normal? Do you want to tell me what's happening in your brain. I know mine is not quite up to scratch at times. Sometimes I hide and sometimes I cry for no reason and some times I just get on with it. I feel lonely sometimes wondering what am I suppose to do. Am I weird or What. let me know what you think of when you think of BC. Talk to me. Bevan

Hi, I am just wondering if there is anyone else out there thinking the same as me. I am a year down the road after my op and chemo from breast cancer, hair etc is back to normal and while it was great to see all of this happening, I seem to have come down with a bang. I was very positive all thru my treatment and now all of a sudden I feel uptight and worried. I can only explain it like panic attacks and when I recall what I have gone thru, I get this sick feeling and have it in my head I am going to get the cancer again and my time is short. I have no medical reason to think this but it is keeping me awake at night. My family and friends all tell me how well I look and I was great etc., but at the back of my mind I keep having this horrible feelings. I do not want to talk to my family about this as they have gone thru enough sleepless nights about me and they now have gone back to believing it is all over. Am I bringing this all of myself, has anyone else out there with breast cancer gone thru this or going thru it. I would be interested to head from you.

Many women suffering from breast cancer are interested in learning more about natural treatment options. This type of treatment is often referred to in the medical field and Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) treatment, and there are actually a number of different types of treatment options that fall under this category. Understanding CAM CAM is any type of medical practice, system, or product that is not considered to be the standard form of care. There are three areas of natural breast cancer treatment that fall under this category: Complementary Medicine, Alternative Medicine, and Integrative Medicine. Complementary medicines are those that are used along with standard medical treatments like chemotherapy and surgery. A common complementary treatment is acupuncture, which is used to help with the side effects associated with cancer treatment. Alternative medicine, on the other hand, is a natural treatment approach that is used instead of standard medical treatments. Special diets to treat cancer, for example, may be used rather than chemotherapy. Integrative medicine takes care of your mind, body, and spirit by combining standard medicine techniques with CAM techniques. Natural Breast Cancer Treatment Techniques Involving the Mind and Body There are a number of treatment techniques you can utilize to help ease the pain and assist in the treatment process. Some of these techniques include: Biofeedback - using machines to learn how to affect certain bodily functions you are normally not aware of, such as your heart rate. Meditation - focusing breathing or repeating words or phrases in order to calm your mind. Yoga - using special stretches and poses with special attention given to your breathing. Hypnosis - creating a state of relaxed and focused attention and concentrating on certain ideas, feelings, or suggestions to assist in the healing process. Creative Outlets - special therapy such as dance, music, and art. Imagery - imagining certain pictures, scenes, or experiences in order to help the body heal. Biological Natural Breast Cancer Treatment Options It is also possible to treat your breast cancer by taking advantage of things found in nature, such as herbal products and dietary supplements. These can include certain foods, vitamins, herbs, and special dietary plans. Soy products are one additive that have shown a great deal of promise when it comes to preventing and treating breast cancer. You should also include whole grain foods, beans, nuts, fruits, vegetables, fatty fish, low-fat dairy products, flaxseed, green tea, as many herbs as possible, and either virgin oil or canola oil in your diet. All kinds of herbs are good to add to your diet because they increase your intake of phytochemicals, which may help to fight cancer. Body-Based Natural Breast Cancer Treatment Options Body-based treatment options are those that work on one or more parts of your body. These techniques manipulate the body in order to achieve a greater level of health. Massage involves manipulation of the tissues, while chiropractic care manipulates the skeletal system and joints. Reflexology, which utilizes pressure points in the feet and hands to affect parts of the body, is another type of treatment. Deciding if Natural Breast Cancer Treatment Options are Right for You Before deciding to start a treatment program, it is important to discuss it with your doctor. There are certain foods and supplements that can actually interfere with other forms of treatment, so you want to be sure the plan you are following is safe. Your best option is to consult a professional that is trained in natural strategies. Your doctor or nurse might be able to refer you to a specialist. If not, contact your local cancer center or hospital and ask for names of professionals that might be able to help you. Before working with the person, however, make sure he or she is licensed to practice in your state. Your health is important, so you need to be sure to have the best care possible. Article Author: Sandra Clair

The brain is a soft, spongy mass of tissue. It is protected by the bones of the skull and three thin membranes called meninges. Watery fluid called cerebrospinal fluid cushions the brain. This fluid flows through spaces between the meninges and through spaces within the brain called ventricles. Drugs that shrink tumors in other parts of the body often fail when we apply them to brain cancer, in part because so little of the drug permeates the blood-brain barrier and in part because the drugs indiscriminately attack healthy and cancerous cells, so we're limited to lower doses,"" said Sampson, a neurosurgeon at the Duke Brain Tumor Center. ""Directly infusing drugs into the tumor cavity allows us to blanket the area with much higher concentrations of the drug - without causing toxicity -- than we would be able to with intravenous chemotherapy."" Brain tumors that result from this transformation and abnormal growth of brain cells are called primary brain tumors because they originate in the brain. The purposes of surgery are to confirm that the abnormality seen on the brain scan is indeed a tumor and to remove the tumor. If the tumor cannot be removed, the surgeon will take a sample of the tumor to identify its type. In some cases, mostly in benign tumors, symptoms can be completely cured by surgical removal of the tumor. Your neurosurgeon will attempt to remove the tumor when possible. Gliadel wafers are implanted into the cavity left in the brain after surgical removal of the brain tumor. The wafers deliver the active drug carmustine directly to the affected area of the brain. Depending on the size of the cavity, 7 to 8 wafers are implanted. Each wafer is 1.45 cm in diameter, 1mm thick and contains 7.7 milligrams of carmustine -- resulting in a 61.6 mg dose when eight wafers are implanted. Neurologists and other brain tumor treatment team member’s work together to determine the treatment approach that best meets the each individual's needs. Because new treatments continually develop, several options may be available for patients at different points in their treatment. The pros and cons of each option are discussed in detail during treatment planning. The treatment plan may include surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy. Doctors must balance removing as much of the tumor as possible without harming healthy brain tissue. In many cases, the patient is brought back to consciousness while vital areas, such as those controlling speech, are worked on, according to medical experts. Malignant brain cancer is one of the most lethal types of cancer in adults and is the second leading cause of cancer death in children. Many current ways of treating the disease fail to provide long-term management because they ineffectively target tumor cells and harm the health and vitality of normal brain cells. The three major types of conventional brain cancer treatment are surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy. In brain cancer treatment surgery if the neurosurgeon cannot remove the tumor, they will still take a biopsy and examine it to decide on other brain cancer treatment options. Moreover, patients who undergo brain cancer treatment at Cancer Treatment Centers of America work closely with a team of our cancer experts to determine the appropriate brain cancer treatment plan. Article Author: Peter Hutch Article Source: Depositarticles.com

have been checking out this website and I dont find anyone talking about how they feel or how they are coping before after or during. I am a member of an American breast cancer.org and everyone their talks quite openly about how they feel, up or down and the community is their for everyone. Is it just an Irish thing that if we dont talk about our feelings they just dont exisit. I often wake up angry that it was me who got BC but then at times I feel okay about it. I dont know what I am suppose to feel some times and people look at me and say "God its great to see you got over your trouble" I didn't get over anything I just got on with living. Do you feel like this at times. Sometimes I still suffer from Chemo Brain even though I'm 2 years on. Is this normal? Do you want to tell me what's happening in your brain. I know mine is not quite up to scratch at times. Sometimes I hide and sometimes I cry for no reason and some times I just get on with it. I feel lonely sometimes wondering what am I suppose to do. Am I weird or What. let me know what you think of when you think of BC. Talk to me. Bevan

Hi Ya Da, It feels like forever since I spoke to you but it’s only been 12 days , the night you left I was in complete shock Da cause I just would not let myself believe that you were leaving me . There are so many thoughts going on in my head at the moment which I am sure you are aware of cause I can feel you around me a lot of the time and I think the times that I am scared you have just gone to check on the rest of the clan to make sure they are ok too. It feels so strange not seeing you Wil , I hope you knew that I was there with you when you had to leave and I hope that you weren’t scared Da and didn’t have any pain. I’m trying to fill my head with happy memories Da and not sad ones Like the baileys coffees god that was so funny Da and when you brought me out for my 10th Birthday and bought me the Snow white and seven dwarfs washing game ye know the little basin and washing line and the little scrubbing board you probably don’t remember it Da but the reason I do was you were swinging my arm and singing and I begged you to stop cause I was scarlet funny how you remember these small things isn’t it. It was so hard to say goodbye to you da and If I seemed distant and quiet it was only because you wouldn’t of wanted me to make a scene in your words ( stop making a show of me ) through gritted teeth ha! Ha! Does it seem that that I act normal a lot of the time Da and I don’t miss you ? cause you do know that , that’s just me trying to block the pain of loosing you out of my head cause I reckon if I let all the emotions in Da I will just go to pieces. We are all looking after Ma for you and doing our best to keep her spirits up and she has been so strong for all of us just as you would have been. I’m gonna sign off now Da but just always remember that I love you so so much and I’ll always be your Kate. I love you always and Forever Love Katie xxxxxx