NEW TREATMENT THAT DOES NOT REQUIRE LYMPH NODES DISSECTION

NATSGSG

Hello sisters: 

I came across this very exciting article about NOT signing OFF on lymph nodes dissection that could possibly give us a better quality Of LIFE.  Since one sentinel node of mine was taken out,  I've been giving it a lot of thought.  Though I thank God it is negative,  I can't help thinking about the unnecessary loss of nodes of many of our sisters here.  Why?  As we've discovered,  the loss of these nodes affect the functions of our arms.  My right arm is starting to hurt even though the scar is healing. If I am suffering from the effects of just the loss of one node,  what about our sisters here who've lost more than one node?  And those of our sisters who've lost an entire underarm of it.....?

This article is worth reading and is food for thought for all of us out there. Since I've have had cancer, I've been questioning some of he treatments given to us cancer patients. I think long and hard about standard treatments recommended to me and asked myself if this is the right one for me - which would I sacrificed. I have clean clear margins, and negative node, yet my MO is recommending chemo. And many women seems to be getting similar treatments despite the stage and grade of cancer sometimes.The drugs that will be given to me is so toxic that it could possibly lead to a failure of nerve in my fingertips and toes...are these side effects and risk worth it? These are questions this article raised, and we have to think and weight in the advantage and disadvantages. I agree with FACT.

When I read several large clinical trials that published their findings based on half truths,  I laughed.  Especially when these half truths are  presented at conferences and symposiums. Or when clinical trials that have ended long ago,  those doctors who spearheaded it or involved in it still failed to post  their entire full results yet support and continue to claim  that certain treatment are the so called GOLD STANDARDS. And the media helped to spin it that many countries even follow suit. WOW. Yes there are breakthroughs,  and there are unfounded breakthroughs too.  Therefore,  it is imperative that we educate ourselves every step of the way if we are to protect our body from being over bombarded with too much drugs that may harm rather than heal us in the long run

Hopefully it will help new members who've just got news or confirmation of cancer to make the right decision. 

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By The Foundation for Advancement in Cancer Therapy

Non-Traditional Approaches to
      the Theories, Treatments and Prevention of Cancer

New Lymph Node Study — Progress, Sort Of... 
By FACT

There's been much hoopla in the press lately about a study which, according to the New York Times, turns standard medical practice of the last 100 years on its head! Researchers found that some women with early breast cancer (about 20% of all breast cancer patients) do not need a painful procedure that has long been routine: removal of cancerous lymph nodes from the armpit.

In our view, this is an advance from just routinely yanking out lymph nodes without regard for the severe and permanent side effects, but, sadly, the basic thinking about cancer and how to treat it has not fundamentally changed. Conventional medical thought goes something like this:

If we surgically remove a breast lump, we'd better also grab some arm lymph nodes to see if the cancer's spread. That way we'll know better how much post operative chemo or radiation to use. Okay, after this study, we won't do this so much for some women, but we still may have to take out a node or two. Even though we know the cancer often returns, at least we'll try to prevent or stave it off by chemically killing every cancer cell we can find.

First of all, the removal of any number of lymph nodes is no small matter. The lymphatics are organized into two separate drainage systems, right and left, and work in concert with other body systems to perform vital functions:

• Aid the immune system in destroying pathogens and filtering waste.
• Act as a holding system to remove excess fluid, waste, debris, dead blood cells, pathogens, cancer cells, toxins, etc. from cells, tissues and blood so that everything can function smoothly. As the body is able, this waste is gradually removed via the normal elimination channels.
• Also, work with the circulatory system to deliver nutrients, oxygen and hormones from the blood to the cells that make up all the tissues of the body.

These nodes can increase or decrease in size throughout life, but if damaged or destroyed, nodes do not regenerate and normal drainage is blocked. Excess lymph accumulates and causes swelling or lymphedema. Missing nodes under the arms can result in severe pain in the whole area. There is no cure for this, only palliative care such as massage or physical therapy to try to reduce the build up throughout the life of the patient. Patients also will need to work very hard at keeping the liver, blood, colon and kidneys clean in an effort to take some stress off the violated lymph system.

As long as conventional thinking holds that the tumor is, in effect, the disease, this kind of mutilation will go on. Treatment will continue to be focused on trying to eradicate every last cancer cell with combinations of protocols, such as chemotherapy and radiation, which can harm healthy cells as well. The patient can suffer devastating side effects and recurrence because the immune system becomes further suppressed by toxic treatments that may buy time, but have no intrinsic healing properties. The yardstick of success is the 5-year survival rate.

The biological or Biorepair approach, supported by FACT for 40 years, views the tumor as a symptom of a systemic problem. Therefore, there's no point in trying to kill every last cancer cell because the body will just go on producing more if the underlying chemical imbalance is not corrected. A comprehensive non-toxic healing program (Biorepair) energizes the immune system to scout out and remove cancer cells wherever they may be in the body. It rebalances and strengthens all body functions in order to restore healthy cell production and well being. The tumor may linger, then gradually shrink or disappear, but the yardstick of success is long term recovery.

We're waiting for the study that compares patients who underwent standard treatment with those who, after surgical removal of the tumor*, if surgery was called for (all lymph nodes intact!), were put on an individually-designed Biorepair program. Such a study would likely find that, in time, the vast majority of patients in the Biorepair cohort would test NED - "No Evidence of Disease," going on to enjoy their full life expectancy. No need for follow up chemo or radiation - the body did the job. That will be a study over which to have a lot of hoopla!

* * * * *

* In our view, the tumor is not the cause of cancer, but sometimes surgical removal may be called for if it's blocking a natural function, causing pain or, perhaps, has become so psychologically debilitating that the patient can't relax enough to actively participate in a comprehensive healing program. We suggest that such patients state in writing to their surgeon that they do not want removal of any lymph nodes or surrounding tissue during the operation. Instead of further weakening the body with post-operative chemo or radiation, our experience is that this would be the time to get on a good, individualized Biorepair program that will strengthen the immune system and repair whatever weak links, nutritional deficiencies, etc., caused the problem.

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Here's their link if you wish to read more

http://www.rethinkingcancer.org/resources/articles/new-lymph-node-study.php

Kicks

I did go the site - did not find any documented research/stats there. Nothing about the different types/stages/ER-PR or HER2 status/etc - there are differences in prognosis. They definitely are wanting to sell a lot of stuff at their site. Makes me think of the hyp with laetril.

NATSGSG

@ kicks and kayb ; ha,ha,

(1) you don't have to buy things from people you don't want or need LOL...No one really can force any of us to buy anything or do anything we're not comfortable....and I'm only referring to the content of this article, and something for us to think about.. @!@  hey, smile and be positive - that's one way to overcome some of the gloom we encounter each day as we progress through our journey...I know I will...in fact, I'm planning to learn a new musical instrument so that by the time this journey is passed, I would have acquired a new skill @!@  :-)))

Anyway, a wonderful friend who is a writer who lives in Laguna Woods, California (previously LeisureWorld for senior citizens) sent these quotes below that I would like to share with everyone.

"There is only one success...to spend your life in your own
way."
- Christopher Morley

"Everything that is great and inspiring is
created by the individual who can labor in freedom."
- Albert
Einstein

"A year from now you will wish you had started today."
-
Karen Lamb, community activist

"You're one connection away from being
able to change your life."
- Larry Bennett, author

"It isn't what we
don't know that gives us trouble, it's what we know that ain't so."
- Will
Rogers

"If you aim for the stars but only make it to the moon, remember
there are people who have not yet made it to the moon."
- Unknown

"As
I used to say to myself just a few days from now, 'Time travel sucks."'
-
Greg Wait

"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the
unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore,
all progress depends on the unreasonable man."
    - George Bernard
Shaw

"Millions long for immortality who do not know what to do with
themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon."
- Susan Ertz

"Anybody who is
any good is different from anybody else."
    - Felix Frankfurter,
1960

"Experience is what causes a person to make new mistakes instead of
old ones."
- Unknown

“A diplomat is a person who can tell you to go to
Hell in such a way that you actually look forward to the trip.”
-
Unknown

“Remember, people will judge you by your actions, not your
intentions. You may have a heart of gold -- but so does a hard-boiled egg.”
-
Unknown

"Forget about the people in your past... they didn't make it to
your future for a reason!"
- Unknown

"The beauty of life does not
depend on how happy you are, but on how happy others can be because of
you."
- Unknown

"At some point, you have to make a decision.
Boundaries don't keep other people out. They fence you in. Life is messy. That's
how we're made. So, you can waste your lives drawing lines. Or you can live your
life crossing them."
- Greys Anatomy

"The best day of your life is
the one on which you decide your life is your own. No apologies or excuses. No
one to lean on, rely on, blame. The gift is yours."
- Unknown

BrooksideVT

If your arm is bothering you, please seek out a lymphedema therapist. This is a physical therapist with a specialized certification in treating problems with our lymphatic system. She can determine the cause of your problem, prescribe exercise specific to your problem, and advise how to prevent problems in the future.

NATSGSG

BrooksideVT…thanks for your suggestion....it's now 7 weeks past my surgery...my right arm incision is now healed, and I've started applying the Mederma Scar Cream...so the 5 inch scar has shrank to 4 inches now, and slowing but surely fading...as are the two spots on my right breast where the skin were torn off by the tape that was used to cover the 0.5 cm incision for biopsy. The circular excision around my areola using the Round-Block Technique with dissolvable sutures too are healing very nicely. Also applies the scar cream to it...seems to be working nicely as well...

Started chemo back on April 27th. Finish 3/9 session. Coming Tue will be my 4th. Everything OK except that this week, exhaustion seemed to set in thus requiring more sleeping time...and some mild diarrhea. Going for my free 1 hour zumba lesson in an hour's time..

Thank you and all the best to you too...

 

NATSGSG

Update:

Found this terrific article on EVERYTHING YOU WANT TO KNOW ABOUT THE LYMPHATIC SYSTEM by a group of doctors:

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/m/#publication?id=FY901  (Has fuller details)

Living without Lymph Nodes¹ (FY901)

M.C. Monroe, K. Roberts, and B.F. Shea²

Publication #FCS8831

Axillary (under the arm) lymph nodes are often used in the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer. This fact sheet helps women understand why lymph nodes are important and why sometimes it is necessary to sacrifice them. In addition, we make recommendations regarding measures women can take to prevent or minimize both infection and a condition called lymphedema, which can occur when axillary lymph nodes are removed during surgery for breast cancer.

What are lymph nodes?

 

Your body has three circulatory systems. One is the arterial system that brings oxygen and nutrients to all the tissues in the body. The other two circulatory systems—the venous system and the lymphatic system—remove waste products from the tissues. The arterial and venous systems are powered by your heart. The lymphatic system does not have such a pump. Instead, the action of muscles in your arms and legs helps move fluid and cells through lymph channels.

The venous system removes 90% of the waste products from the tissues (mostly water). The lymphatic system removes the remainder, mostly protein molecules, bacteria, and cancer cells. Through its channels and lymph nodes, the lymphatic system is able to accommodate large molecules that don't fit within the venous system. Lymph nodes exist in various parts of your body, including the armpits (axilla), the groin, and the neck. Once lymph fluid reaches the lymph nodes, it is filtered and treated. The lymphatic system is part of the body's immune system and foreign cells that arrive in the lymph nodes are attacked by immune system cells. After the lymph fluid is concentrated within the lymph nodes, it is filtered into the bloodstream where the kidneys capture the waste material and pass it over to the bladder.

You can see your lymphatic system working when you see swelling go down around an injury. Injured tissues produce excess fluid as part of the body's response to injury and then the lymphatic system pulls fluid out of the injured area, causing the swelling to go down.

 

What is the connection between lymph nodes and breast cancer?

 

The axillary lymph nodes are the ones that are most likely to drain the area of your breast that has a tumor, even though there are other lymph nodes both in your breast and closer to your breastbone. If the tumor has sloughed off waste cancer cells, the axillary lymph nodes have probably collected them. Testing these lymph nodes for cancer is one way to determine how aggressive the tumor is and whether the cancer cells have begun to travel to other parts of the body.

There are approximately 20 lymph nodes in two clumps in each armpit. Half of them are called Level 1 (the easiest to get to) and the other group is called Level 2. There are additional lymph nodes under the collarbone, and more on either side of the breastbone, but these are rarely removed in surgery.

Unfortunately, surgeons can't remove lymph nodes, test them for cancer, and put back the ones that do not have traces of cancer. In fact, they usually can't even see lymph nodes because they are so small. Surgeons usually remove a clump of fatty tissue that is likely to contain lymph nodes and have pathologists look for lymph nodes within the tissue. If they find them, the nodes are tested for cancer. A report of  "three out of nine nodes positive" means nine nodes were found and three were positive for cancer.

Because lymph nodes are important to retain for a healthy life, surgeons are cautious about removing too many. A relatively new technique called a sentinel node biopsy is being used on select breast cancer patients to reduce the number of lymph nodes removed. Doctors use a radioactive dye to identify the lymph node that is the first one downstream from the tumor. They remove this one node during surgery and test it for cancer right away. If the biopsy is positive (cancer cells are present), more nodes are removed in the same operation; if it is negative, the surgeon may decide not to remove more nodes.

Knowing the status of some lymph nodes does not give you proof of the status of other lymph nodes, but the chances are that if the first ones tested are cancer-free, the others are too. Still, testing lymph nodes for cancer is not a fool-proof method for predicting whether breast cancer will metastasize (leave the breast) in the future. In about 30% of cases, women with no positive lymph nodes will have a recurrence of breast cancer some years later. The information lymph nodes provide is not perfect.

When radiation treatment is used following surgery, lymph nodes not removed during surgery are often included in the radiation field since they may contain cancer cells. Radiation treatment may scar muscle and skin tissues making it difficult for the lymphatic system to function.