Treating estrogen responsive cancer naturally

Dear Flavia Rose

I'm very sorry to hear of what happened to you.  Thank you for writing.  I can only repeat what I've said all along that a Thermogram and Ultra-sound are, for me, the way forward.  They measure and show different things.  Also that if you are at all interested I strongly recommend you get yourself a copy of The Promise from rosa@medscans.co.uk  A dvd all about the efficacy of all three types of monitoring led by senior medics in the UK  - the pictures I have taken are sent to USA for the report/interpretation, so thermograms are available in the States much more easily than over here in the UK.

One of the Docs on this dvd says that if you have a mammogram every year it will give you cancer, as you so wisely surmised.  It does seem to me that from some of the stories I have seen on this website, that in the States, you do seem to go overboard in surgery and invasive procedures.  If that is the socially acceptable way to go, then I can see how diff it must be to buck the trend.  It's not that different here to be honest.

According to the dvd a woman can have DCIS, which is wrongly treated as if it were full blown cancer which it is not, for years without it affecting her health.  It's not really cancer, it's calcification.  This may be hard for many of you to take as so many of you have had surgery on account of this, but these are the facts.

If you think I'm talking baloney I can tell you that my BS who is very high up in the eschelons of power in the BS world made the point, after I gave him a copy of the dvd which he found "compelling", that of course the radiographers don't want to lose their jobs!

If you have half a mind to buck the system then eyes need to be opened and the surprises and cover ups that appear can be very shocking indeed - the results are what we poor women have to put up with.

The idea of gross mutilation and the biblical idea of "if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out" does not sound like 20th never mind 21st century medicine to me, which is why I have not had surgery of any kind.  My diagnosis was 3 years ago and I am still fit and well.

If you're dreading another mammogram, don't have it!  Crikey, you've had more than 30 of them and look where they got you?  Have an ultrasound, and an MRI with a non-radioactive dye and thermograms and you will be fine - in my opinion.  I am not a Dr myself, but I have read lots and these are my choices that I put down here.  Try the dvd, I implore you, and then make up your mind yourself.

Best wishes to everyone  

Dear Momine

I am so pleased to hear this.  Yes, there are many +ve stories of women who have survived surgery - clearly you are one of them.  I hope you're doing well on the Femara - I ended up with debilitating side effects which even my (ex) consultant hadn't even heard of and he was top man at the hospital he was at.

Stage 3B sounds a bit serious I have to say and for you, you have made the right decision.  I've met women who have no sensation from their collar bone downwards and are happy about it.  There are so many stories, I've had real bad luck with my first consultant and the AIs and I am once bitten, twice shy. 

We must follow our own path, which is why exchanging views on this absolutely fantastic website is so very helpful. I may well end up with surgery, but not just yet I hope; not until I have actually made up my mind what end result I could live with. 

BTW your avatar - is that the right word??? - your picture.  Is it Dutch 16th century?  It's very interesting and so small that I can't really see the detail.  Could you let me know what it is?  Presumably puddings on a plate made to look like breasts - interesting choice ;-)

Best wishes

Just want to chime in about ultrasound ... My lobular tumor was barely detected in both mammo and ultrasound.  The MRI was the only scan where it showed up clearly. Some have the opposite result. It's too bad there doesn't seem to be one definitive imaging test that will detect all the different types of breast cancer tumors within varying types of breast tissue. 

Thanks Momine.

I'm not skipping surgery as such, just prevaricating.  As long as it doesn't grow, then he's happy to leave me as I am.  No lymph nodes involved, no vascularity in the tumour itself, so basically, it's dormant.

I'll look up the picture :-)

Momine, I don't mind when we respectfully disagree, but I don't think we should be criticizing one another's medical care, no matter what we think, b/c a good percentage of anyone's healing is their belief in their doctor and their medical care overall and I feel that I'm getting good care, if the way I feel is any evidence at all.  Even if you're totally right and I'm totally wrong, I still don't think it's a good idea and  I don't know what I think of this cleanse yet, but as I said, a great many people swear by it and have for a good many years--it's not just a fad.  

Two comments:

1)     Chacun a son gout.........................Each to his own

2)     Don't forget the placebo efffect.

If standing naked in Trafalgar Square with my knickers on my head would get rid of this cancer - I'l be off there right now!

We're all different, as is our flipping cancer.  If it works for you, then.....................it works 

Ladybird, Agatha did not have breast cancer.

Piper, I meant no offense, truly. What I posted is simple factual information. My impression was that medicos get questioned and criticized plenty around here. Again my apologies.

Extrapolating is what I meant to write - damn these spell checkers.  Ha!

Momine, your choice of avatar is just brilliant.  It has lots of characteristics of an icon, inviting meditation on our breast/body/feminity/humanity issues.  Thank you for explaining it.

The placebo effect is very real, and makes me think of Lourdes and similar shrines.  So many go there with real expectation of cure, but the result is typically more a psycho/spiritual healing rather than a physical effect.  I happen to be a big fan of that kind of wholistic healing, with or without (hopefuly with!) a bodily healing.  As some of you have noted, I consider stress reduction to be a significant factor in our health.  Acceptance and perspective are difficult to reach, but can have a huge effect on how someone with a major health problem addresses life, friends, family.

Ladybird-Dancer, dormant is certainly where we want any and all of our nasty little cancer cells to be.  While I'm the queen of prevarication, I'm in awe of your comfort.  Me?  I'd be there with calipers, measuring my tumor every other day.   Well, I see you're three years out--maybe by now I'd have dropped down to weekly!

Hi Ladybird,

This is simply out of curiosity, and I mean no offense. Did you have a lymph node biopsy? If not, how do you know if it is or isn't in your lymph nodes?

How is the tamoxifen treating you? I'm about to start up again with it.

Ladybird, I do not mean to be a downer, but I had ILC and on U/S, MRI and CT, my nodes were clean. On the pathology report, however, they were not. 

May I ask why you chose hormonal therapy over surgery?

Also, Momine, don't forget that we all have cancer cells throughout our bodies, even apparently "healthy" people..........maybe that's what you had?

I wish I had taken hormonal therapy before surgery even though it was never mentioned as an option, but in retrospect this is what I would have done - I am still so not ok with being one breasted, I hate it and never feel normal

Ladybird, ok, I see. No, I did not have a few cancer cells. I had 7 lymph nodes full of cancer.

Dear Lily

So sorry you feel so bad about things at the moment.  No wonder you feel bad.  Have a look at the forum I started: "How do you choose which reconstruction to have?"  There is a lot of info on there.  I am looking at Fat Grafting or Implants at the moment.  I have shied away from massive scars all over the body possibly leading to numbness throughout.

Have a look at my forum and see if that helps you, and get back to me.

Best wishes.