Let thoughts flow forth!!!!  Since beginning this blog, I have had aspirations of getting the word out in social media.  Creating a FB page, possible web-site, and word of mouth.  I have created this blog as I have had both parents, sister, misc. other relatives and friends pass away due to cancer or complications thereof.  The idea is to create a place where you the people can gather to find news, data, share stories, etc... as long as their clean. 

Things began when I was a child... let's just say several years ago.  All I recall is walking to\ from local swimming pool and mom telling me dad was ill and in hospital.  At that age I was unable to visit or understand terms, meanings, etc... Years later, I find my dad suffered from lung cancer as he had smoked cigarette's.  Was on his death bed during that time undergoing tests, treatment, etc...twenty some years later in 1990's.... while at home he reached a body temp. of 100+ and directed to go to local hospital.  Biopsies were taken of lymph nodes and he remained in ICU where he eventually passed as fluid continued to enter his lungs and taken off life support as living will directed. 

Almost to the day, one year later my sister hadn't felt good and went to different local hospital where she was diagnosed with breast cancer.  Not long afterwords, she had mastectomy and reconstruction surgery.  During the course of months afterwords, she continued visits to hospital complaining of not feeling well.  Doctors natuarally continued looking at breasts, meanwhile the fluid from implants had leaked and spread throughout her body covering vital organs.  As a few years passed, she became severely ill and entered hospital for more tests\ surgery.  After attempts trying to install shunts, search for other possible cures... doctors advised us there was no hope and her days were numbered.  As she was a computer programmer and used to sitting at a desk, not eating a healthy diet, and lack of exerecise....doctors advised family members to begin a regimen of all the above so WE don't have similar instances.  Day's later, I visited hospital while on lunch from work to comfort my mom and sister.  En-route back to work, mom called and said she had passed.  I felt terrible as no sign was given while I had just been visiting and mom left there  alone to deal with matters by herself.  Especially after suffering from dad's loss, burying your own child.... no parent should have to go through.  While this gave her the time and experiece of comforting my sister and time to themselves, I felt quilty of this for years.  Thankfully, a dear friend of mine who is a mother herself whom has dealt with trauma\ children\ etc... explained to me that mother\ daughter time at this particular moment was a somewhat bonding experience and not to feel at least as guilty as I had.   More later dealing with mom and her illness. 

Please feel free to comment with your stories or notes on my posts.  All are welcome

Healthy Living

Whether you are preventing, fighting or surviving cancer, making even the smallest lifestyle changes can help you live cancer-free. There’s much more to healthy living than medication and weight control. In fact, placing too much emphasis on taking medicine and losing weight can cause us to forget about the other equally important aspects of our health.

Living healthy is about taking many, small steps. Add some fruit to your morning bowl of cereal, meditate or pray for a few minutes before work, drink a glass of water instead of a can of soda, pick up an inspirational book… these are just a few examples of small steps that you can take to start living healthy.

Radical lifestyle adjustments rarely address the entire self. Certain Paleolithic Diets, namely the Atkin’s Diet, exemplify a radical lifestyle change that may support one health factor, while neglecting or even worsening other health factors. Thus, a balanced diet in conjunction with regular physical and mental exercise is at the core of good health. Health is balance.

We believe that healthy living must address the entire self: the physical self, the mental self, and the spiritual self. Medicine alone cannot satisfy the needs of the body, mind, and spirit. By combining knowledge and wisdom with treatment (medical and holistic), we can all walk a healthy life-path.

It’s amazing how far we’ve come in understanding how to live healthy. Today, many restaurants offer low-carb and vegetarian menu options; grocers carry a wide array of organic and locally-grown foods; and most communities have studio environments designed for the practice of yoga, palates, and other mind-body disciplines.

Health awareness and proactive living are fairly new concepts within our society. We must continue to nurture them in order to cure any, and hopefully every disease.
 

Preventing

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Knowledge and the momentum of positive thinking are the core principles of cancer prevention. A healthy, cancer-free life is rooted in the awareness of how you treat your mind and body.

Fighting

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With the wide range of drugs and alternative therapies available, it can be difficult to identify the best way to treat your cancer. Finding a good team of doctors and maintaining a positive outlook are the two most important factors in the fight against cancer.

Less conventional cancer-healing approaches are also widely available. These approaches, implemented alongside modern medicine, may help boost energy, vitality and overall health. Mental and physical exercise, and certain focused diets have proven themselves as effective cancer-fighting therapies.
Surviving

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Over the last 20 years, cancer has become progressively more curable. Today, certain types of cancer have a 70% survival rate in adults. With survival increasing, a wide variety of medical and social programs are available to help ex-patients get back to leading regular, healthy lives after closing that final chapter of treatment.

Survivors face unique physical and psychological challenges when they readjust to “normalcy”.  The following measures may help support a healthy, happy, and fruitful life:

• Maintain a positive mental and emotional outlook, no matter how dismal and negative the circumstance.
• Treat your body like the wonderful gift that it is. Your body is the vessel in which you will experience this life. Nurture it. Respect it.
• Utilize social support from professionals and loved ones.

Scientists may not have found a cure for cancer yet, but these five drugs could be the next best things:

Denosumab

Denosumab—a human monoclonal antibody targets RANKL, a protein essential for bone cell formation and normal function. In June, the drug, was approved to treat osteoporosis. New research shows that the drug could also be effective against breast cancer.

Scientists have found that the RANKL protein appears to play more than a role in bone formation; it may also be activated by progesterone to cause breast cancer. Scientists discovered that blocking the protein in mice, blocks mammary tumour formation via a direct effect on mammary epithelia, Denosumab is currently in a Phase 3 clinical trial in breast cancer patients—a separate trial is also examining the drug’s potential in patients with other types of metastatic cancer.

Aptocine

Aptocine,  is a drug that includes a tiny array of LED lights. In a procedure similar to a biopsy, the array is inserted into the tumor. The drug is then injected into the body. When light is directed at the array, this activates the drug. Aptocine does not cause the severe side effects associated with chemotherapy and radiation therapies because it destroys tumors from the inside out. Phase 3 trials have been completed for liver cancer and colorectal cancer that has metastasized to the liver. The drug is now in clinical trials for benign prostatic hyperplasia, and it is being developed for the treatment of at least nine other cancers.

Crizotinib

Targets a protein called anaplastic lymphoma kinase, or ALK for short, that is part of a pathway in the body that scientists believe to be important for cancer cell survival. Not all patients carry the mutation, but for those who do the drug could be a more effective alternative to chemotherapy, and it may prolong survival.

Crizotinib is in Phase 3 trials for patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer. In a presentation at the American Society of Clinical Oncology, researchers showed astounding preliminary results. Crizotinib shrunk tumors by more than ninety percent.

Imetelstat

Imetelstat targets telomerase, which is an enzyme that plays a role in cell aging. Cancer cells have more telomerase than normal cells, which enables the cancer cells to survive. Scientists believe that by blocking telomerase, imetelstat will kill cancer cells without harming normal cells resulting in fewer side effects compared to chemotherapy.

In preliminary studies, imetelstat was shown to be effective against breast, prostate and lung cancers. Phase 2 trials of imetelstat began in July for non-small cell lung cancer. Maintenance therapy with a telomerase inhibitor is an attractive approach to potentially reduce the cancer stem cell population after initial debulking of the tumor by chemotherapy.

Metformin

Unlike the above four drugs, metformin is not new. It is currently prescribed for people with type 2 diabetes, but new research shows it may be able to do much more than control blood sugar. Recently, a team of researchers in the United Kingdom reported an association between metformin use and cancer risk. Their review,  looked at several thousand diabetics over a period of a few years. Of those individuals taking metformin, seven percent were diagnosed with cancer compared to eleven percent who had not taken the drug.

Previous studies in animals have shown that metformin can delay the onset of tumors and reduce the incidence of pancreatic cancer.  Rresearch shows the decreased incidence of cancer is due to metformin’s regulation of a protein called AMPK. This protein manages insulin levels in diabetics, but also inhibits tumor growth. Research  concludes that there is sufficient epidemiological evidence that metformin reduces the risk of cancer to make further investigation a high priority.

Career's helping others

Perhaps you are interested in being a bright spot in someone's troubled day. Or you want to serve the public,  by doing acts of kindness as a volunteer, you can help people improve their lives or be there in times of crisis. However, it's nice to get paid for the work too. Here are some to consider if you would like to help others and also earn an income.

Consultant

1. If you want to help people transform their appearance and improve their confidence, you should consider a career in image consulting. Image consultants help others by advising them on clothing or makeup options using seasonal color analysis to match their skin tone. Also, they accompany their clients on shopping  to help them pick out the appropriate clothing and accessories. The average income for image consultants, based on U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics, ranges from $50 to $500 per hour.

Self-Enrichment Teacher

2. Self-enrichment education teachers educate nondegree seeking students. They instruct adults, teenagers and children in photography, creative writing, dancing and other areas. If self-enrichment education teachers work for a company or an association, they may teach skills like finance, marketing or management. Salaries and education requirements vary depending on location.

Trainer

3. If you like physical fitness and, more importantly, you like to help others improve their quality of life or health,  then consider a career as a trainer. Fitness trainers and aerobic instructors organize and plan activities to help people lose weight. They may work in gyms or people's homes. They also show people how to properly exercise or train. Salaries and education requirements vary depending on location.

PR Specialist

4. Public relations (PR) specialists represent people or organizations, such as nonprofits. A PR specialist contacts the media or prepares press releases to so a client's message reaches its target audience. In addition, PR specialists conduct fundraisers to help social service organizations and other nonprofit organizations raise money. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor, as of 2006, the median income for a public relations specialist was $47,350.

Human Service Assistant

5. Social and human service assistants are employed by agencies as other people's advocates. They help their clients receive public assistance by filling out paperwork or helping them with their household chores. They assess their clients' problems, then help fulfill their needs. Also, they may work in group homes or health care facilities. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor, as of 2006, the median income for a human service assistant was $25,580.

Daddy's empty chair

DADDY’S EMPTY CHAIR

 A man’s daughter had asked the local minister to come and pray with her father.

When the minister arrived, he found the man lying in bed with his head propped up on two pillows.

An empty chair sat beside the bed.

The minister assumed that the old fellow had been informed of his visit.

“I guess you were expecting me,” he said.

“No, who are you?” said the father.

The minister told him his name and then remarked,

“I saw the empty chair and I figured you knew I was going to show up,”

“Oh yeah, the chair,” said the bedridden man.

“Would you mind closing the door?”

Puzzled, the minister shut the door.

“I have never told anyone this, not even my daughter,” said the man.

“But all of my life I have never known how to pray.

At church I used to hear the pastor talk about prayer, but it went right over my head.”

“I abandoned any attempt at prayer,” the old man continued,

“Until one day four years ago, my best friend said to me, “Johnny, prayer is just a simple matter of having a conversation with Jesus.

Here is what I suggest.”

“Sit down in a chair; place an empty chair in front of you, and in faith see Jesus on the chair.

It’s not spooky because he promised, ‘I will be with you always’.

“Then just speak to him in the same way you’re doing with me right now.”

“So I tried it and I’ve liked it so much that I do it a couple of hours every day.

I’m careful though if my daughter see’s me talking to an empty chair,

She’d either have a nervous breakdown or send me off to the funny farm.”

The minister was deeply moved by the story and encouraged the old man to continue on the journey.

Then he prayed with him, anointed him with oil, and returned to the church.

Two nights later the daughter called to tell the minister that her daddy had died that afternoon.

“Did he die in peace?” he asked.

Yes, when I left the house about two o’clock, he called me over to his bedside,

Told me he loved me and kissed me on the cheek.

When I got back from the store an hour later, I found him dead.

But there was something strange about his death.  Apparently, just before Daddy died,

He leaned over and rested his head on the chair beside the bed.

“What do you make of that?”

The minister wiped a tear from his eye and said, “I wish we could all go like that.”

Prayer is one of the best free gifts we receive.

I asked God for water, He gave me an ocean.

I asked God for a flower, He gave me a garden.

I asked God for a friend, He gave me all of YOU…

If God brings you to it, He will bring you though it.

Happy moments, praise God.

Difficult moments, seek God.

Quiet moments, worship God.

Painful moments, trust God.

Every moment, thank God.

Career dreams

I have had the notion of creating an all inclusive physical rehab facility.  A place for those such as stroke victims, vets, accidents, nerve disorders, etc... An outpatient clinic composed of doctors, pharmacists, therapists, gym equipment, swimming pool, underwater treadmill, massage thereapists, perhaps insurance personnel.  While I don't like the term "disabled", as many who have been tagged by "society" or handicapable.  A place where such people can gather for support and comfort and receive services they require without having to run all over town wasting energy and natural resources.  I have been doing some research on this, need to locate and consult some people in each of those fields.  It has come to my attention that partnering with insurance companies may be a rather difficult challenge!! Raising capital for this campaign will take significant effort and creative idea's.  Some facilities such as this have began to sprout up around town and I will need a volunteer acting as such a person will be needed.

Please feel free to comment with idea's, suggestions, input.  Would love to hear from those in the field or know of contact's they would like to share!