FYI Suzanne Somers admits to lumpectomy and radiation

wondering7

Hi Ladies, I'll be brief.

I am a mets Cancer survivor 4 years and not out of the woods yet so I feel it is important to pass along that Suzanne  Somers has finally admitted that she had a lumpectomy and radiation in spite of her illusion that she had holistic treament or nutrional treatment to treat her cancer. An acquaintence at work gave a multilevel marketing mag article about her and a new approach to breast reconstruction which I am not commenting on, and it was in that article, black cover. The back of the mag was full of vitamins for sale which makes me think it was MLM and I have been down that road before. Anyhow, I just want people to be aware. Really intelligent people give me weird advice all of the time. Learn to trust your doctors or find new ones, but there are no simple answers just the will of the fight and the love of your family. I was very shy to inherit a team of cancer professionals but they are taking excellent care of me and I am not NED. Conquer your fears. Don't wait. I don't hang out here very often since I work parttime and keep running to the doctors but I will check back so feel free to comment on this and pass it on. I just want all of us to be on the winning team of correct information not misinformation

W

bluedahlia

Why the caps?

Beesie

Wow, Zeda, new to the board and already jumping into these heated debates on just your first post?

For clarification and for my education, how exactly do you know that it was "the chemotherapy and radiation along with the Tamoxifen" that killed Suzanne Somer's girlfriend after just four years?  This would suggest that this woman did not die as a result of breast cancer metastasis but instead died of some condition that could be directly related to her having had chemo, radiation and Tamoxifen. I'd be really interested to learn more about this.  I did try to find information about this on-line but the only friends that Suzanne Somers mentions died of breast cancer, not from conditions that were side effects of breast cancer treatment.  

TAPPY

I dont pay attention to "The Stars" and what they post about their treatments...because I think it is a PR wheel for their careers and we are not getting ALL the information.

You want to know what real women go thru - go to a cancer support group or just come to this board..

dreaming

Sommers is not the brightest light in any room, she keeps inventing , breast, lung, all over no name cancer.

All the personalities that were diagnosed when we started our advocacy in 1991, would not admit they had breast cancer and 3 years down the road, they wanted to be paid , and since we still would not accept, they found a way to get paid to give interviews.

Few have done anything for the cause.

Lulu22

Zeda,

First, Suzanne Somers had a stage 1 breast cancer, among the most treatable with surgery alone. She had no lymph node involvement, and her prognosis for long-term survival was already excellent. Please read http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/suzanne-somers-knockout-spreading-dangerous-misinformation-about-cancer-part-1/  for more information.

Those of us with aggressive stage 2 and 3 cancers have a greater need for treatment beyond surgery to prevent recurrence, and to try to dissuade us from getting this treatment does us a grave disservice. For instance, if without anything beyond surgery one has a 88% chance of making it to year 10 without a recurrence it may not be hard to forgo a treatment which will improve ones chances by 1/3 or 4%. If that same treatment can take one's survival rate from 24% to 48%, I hope you can see why many of us would be happy to spend a few months feeling like crap and risking osteoporosis and other nasty SEs to double our chances of seeing our kids graduate from high school.

For those among us with stage 4 breast cancer these toxic treatments may be the only thing keeping us from a short-term date with our maker. Coffee enemas and vitamin therapy are all well and good, but until I see scientific evidence that they in any way improve survival among BC patients I'll stick with conventional medicine.  

Second, there is no such thing as "the exact same cancer". While it may have been the same type, grade and stage as SS's we all have different risk factors and respond differently to treatment.  

-Lulu 

angelsister

Who is Suzanne Somers?

rosemary-b

She was in Three's Company and did ads for Thighmaster.I do not know of any other credentials she has.

angelsister

Oh! I'm glad she was lucky enough to survive breast cancer which causes incredible suffering to so many men and women who don't deserve it. X

rosemary-b

I am happy that she is still alive. I will always remember her in Three's Company. It was a really funny show.

bluedahlia

And by the looks of it, didn't really have to act much for her role.

painterly

John Ritter was the "star" of that show! The show was based on the British Show "Man about the House." The original British version was by far superior to the American one, however, John Ritter was wonderful and, in my opinion, made the show enormously popular with his humour.

bluedahlia

I agree.  His death hit me hard.  He was underrated IMO.

angelsister

Man about the house was a very funny show. I've never seen 3's company which is suprising as they air a lot of good american shows here in the uk!

calamtykel

Thank you Lulu - I'm so tired of people saying that "Suzanne Somers survived breast cancer without chemo!"  Well, big deal - stage 1 hormone positive  is NEVER recommended chemo anyway so it wasn't even an option for her!  sheesh....  

For her to say that radiation and chemo killed her friend is ridiculous without details.  Yes, adriamyacin can cause heart failure; usually years down the road, but I seriously doubt that her friend died from the combination of "radiation, chemotherapy AND tamoxifen".  It had to be one of the three and not all three, as each has a different risk factor.  Sounds like another spin to me.

I'm all into holistic healing.  I don't even see my regular doctor for myself or my children (just the oncologlist for me) - we go directly to our naturopath for our illnesses.  I happen to think that cancer is a huge cash cow for our government and I'm skeptical that they really want to EVER "cure" this disease. But honestly - for Suzanne Sommers to come out so vocally against treatment that she never needed in the first place is ridiculous and very careless -people who could really benefit from chemo blindly following her advice may well have died in the past 10 years because of her, and that is scary!~

Jellydonut

She also took Isador (mistletoe) and perhaps still does, along with at least 80 vitamins a day.

I do recall her stating the lumpectomy and radiation.

The way I see cancer treatments is that each of us has a right to choose.

Hope she remains well.

jteach

I loved JR in "8 Simple Rules...", too!   I hate the thigh master.  I wish us ALL well.   Janice

Zeda

SUZANNE SOMERS HAS WRITTEN 22 BOOKS PRIMARILY ON WOMEN'S HEALTH; MOST ARE NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLERS. 25 MILLION BOOKS ARE IN PRINT GLOBALLY.

THEY FEATURE INTERVIEWS WITH MD'S AND SCIENTISTS WHO ARE LEADERS IN THE HEALTH CARE WORLD, NEVER MS. SOMERS' PERSONAL OPINIONS.

MARGINALIZING MS. SOMERS AS A SITCOM ACTRESS WHO SHOULD STAY SILENT ON

IMPORTANT INFORMATION ON HEALTH, IS ONE'S PERSONAL FOLLY AND USUALLY IS INDICATIVE OF LOW SELF ESTEEM ISSUES.

SUZANNE SOMERS PROVIDES 'THE OTHER SIDE OF HEALTHCARE'. THAT BIG PHARMA

AND MEDICAL SCHOOLS (MOST OF THE CHAIRS ARE PAID FOR BY DRUG COMPANIES THAT INSIST ON ONLY TEACHING ALOPATHIC MEDICINE RATHER THAN CONVENTIONAL

PROTOCOLS THAT HAVE FAILED MISERABLY FOR GENERATIONS.

EVERYONE IN ENDOCRONOLOGY KNOWS THAT ASIDE FROM CHILDHOOD LEUKEMIA, TESTICULAR CANCER AND NON HODGKINS LYMPHOMA, CHEMO THERAPY RARELY WORKS.

BUT IT'S TOO BIG A BUSINESS AND ALL ENDOCRONOLOGISTS ARE IN ON THIS DEADLY GAME.

DOCTORS CAN BUY CHEMO DRUGS WHOLESALE AND MARK THEM UP BIG TIME AND SELL THEM TO THE PATIENT. IS IT ANY WONDER THEY WANT TO GET THEIR PATIENTS ON THE CHEMO HAMPSTER WHEEL IMMEDIATELY.

DOWN THE ROAD ARE NANOBOTS, THE SIZE OF BLOOD CELLS THAT WILL ROAM THROUGH OUR BODIES AND CORRECT ALL OF THE DISEASES THAT ARE KILLING US NOW; HEART DISEASE, STROKE, CANCER, DIABETES.

THE PRACTICE OF MEDICINE AS WE KNOW IT WILL BE ANACHRONISTIC.

READ 'KNOCKOUT' BY SUZANNE SOMERS AND READ INTERVIEWS WITH DOCTORS WHO ARE ACTUALLY CURING CANCER. IT MAY NOT CHANGE YOUR MIND, BUT IT WILL PROVIDE INFORMATION YOU WONT HEAR ANYWHERE ELSE.

Lulu22

Zeda,

1. PLEASE STOP YELLING! It's giving me a headache.

2. Do you have a cancer diagnosis or are you a medical professional?

3. Oncologists do not buy chemotherapy drugs and sell them to patients. Patients and/or their insurance companies are billed directly by the hospital. Oncologists do not benefit from a patient's use of chemo.

4. I'd like to live to see those nanobots. My best chance to do so is to follow the advice of my doctor, a well-trained MD who specializes in treating breast cancer. 

angelsister

I'm not marginalizing anyone, but to suggest that anyone who does not worship at the alter of celebrity has low self esteem is rather dismissive? My sister is still with us due to her tenacity and her trust in her dedicated doctors and nurses and the treatment they give her and despite her personal folly of not reading an actresses PERSONAL views. I'm still glad she is well x

pupmom

Zeda, someone who uses all caps in an attempt to grab as much attention as possible clearly demonstrates low self-esteem. Try "talking" normally and maybe, just maybe, people might pay you some serious attention. Although, probably not, since you present ZERO data to back up your outrageous OPINIONS.

rosemary-b

I still do not know what qualifications she has to give advice, in books and on television, to cancer patients.  I am not dismissing her out of hand I would just like to understand why I should follow her advice.

Who is this who is trying to sell us Ms. somers's book?

Cowgirl13

Good point, rosemary-b!  its about selling the book!!

Anonymous

http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2009/10/suzanne_somers_has_just_carpet_bombed_th.php

Anonymous

http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2009/11/blogging_suzanne_somers_knockout_part_1.php

http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2009/11/blogging_suzanne_somers_knockout_part_2.php

angelsister

Wow thanks for those links! They certainly answer my original question and maybe others will read them so this thread will have spread spme really helpful information

cp418

apple

those links, black cat, are AWESOME... that's the best internet stuff I've read for years.

Suzanne is rather low on the intelligence totem pole of life.  Anyone who uses her boobs to make money.. 

MsBliss

Error.  SS had stage 2 cancer, negative nodes, but over 2cm big.  She had lumpectomy and rads, a lot of rads, the maximum tolerable.  She later regretted this choice.  The acquaintance she refers to who died 4 years after their parallel dx, progressed to stage 4 within a year of diagnosis and chemo/rads.  They had the same markers, size, and similar histopathology so her reference to her, even if it is a wild card, is interesting.

Beesie

MsBliss, thanks for the additional info on the friend of Ms. Somers.  If this friend progressed to Stage IV within a year of diagnosis, then the odds are very high that she was Stage IV - but simply not diagnosed as such - right from the start.  And this suggests that she passed away of metastatic breast cancer, not from the side effects of chemo and rads, as had been stated in the earlier post by Zeda. I appreciate the clarification. 

Husband11

Suzanne Somers had a hysterctomy because she was experiencing bleeding and hyperplasia.  Her HRT regimine was basically a reckless self experimentation, not designed by anyone was any formal training in that area.  It likely caused the hyperplasia.  It's her body, and she is free to experiment with it, but she downplays the risks of bioidentical hrt.