how to treat an ulcerated (breast) tumor

piper's dream,

Lovely story about your grandmother. She sounds like she was a special person. That being said, I really find it difficult to "respect" anyone who joins a message board because they have decided that they have a particular disease, without actually knowing if they do. I can't imagine posting on a forum, where women are dealing with life and death issues, and saying, " yes, I have that disease too, even though I haven't been dx'ed". And, despite understanding why Abigail won't see a doctor, it is not respectful to those of us who really do have bc.

As for honoring her "belief" that she has bc? I guess my feet are too firmly planted in reality to understand how we can honor such a thing. Because I think something or believe something, doesn't make it true.

Caryn

If someone clearly has a solid ulcerated tumor on their breast that is growing in size, and they don't want to get it smashed and radiated, and poked numerous times w/ large needles leaving seedlings and more of what is likely cancer all around it, I can respect that, and I do respect that. Everyone deserves respect.  

To repeatedly insinuate, that a member on the breast cancer site doesn't deserve to be here, is disrespectful. You don't have to agree w/ her choices. You don't have to believe she has breast cancer. But you most certainly do not know that she doesn't have it. The likelihood given her symptoms is that she most definitely could. She's made her choices, she's given her reasons for making those choices, and it has been decided that she is allowed to be here, and to post on the alternative forum because that is what the alternative forum is really for, not for arguments w/ people who don't like, nor understand alternative choices, so why not just accept that?

I guess that since I have dx'ed bc, as does almost everyone else on these boards, and as I have watched many, who have been dx'ed, struggle and pass away, it pains me that someone who may or may not have this disease, is considered in the same light as the brave women who know that they do. Ultimately, the lack of acceptance of Abigail's self dx is my problem. IMO, it dishonors and disrespects people who do. I have no qualms with alternative choices, just never imagined that self dx was one of them and that just because someone says they have a disease we should honor that. 

Caryn, I do hear you and I've heard you several times now. You are insisting on taking another's own very personal choices personally. You feel disrespected, and feel you must lash out by disrespecting them in return. 

I too have grown close to people who have suffered and died from this disease and I certainly do not feel dishonored or disrespected by Abigal or her choices..and I had a diagnosis by a doctor.

Maybe you could start your own thread on another forum about your feelings regarding self diagnosis, and alternative choices, rather than taking up this space on the alternative forum?

On some level I feel disrespected by anyone who self-diagnose's their own cancer. In this particular case I didn't read too deeply until Abigail mentioned she'd had what appears to be a fungating breast tumor for "many years" (although it is unclear to me just how many).  I witnessed the horror that another member endured back in 2011/2012 when I first arrived here, as she was trying to cure her fungating tumor with an alternative treatment (I won't go into details here because this isn't about the treatment but about this person's experience).  I call it a horror because she was in excruciating pain, desperately attempting to save her life, and she died what was likely a horrible, painful death.  She honored us by sharing her journey even when she knew it would not be a positive outcome.  She didn't survive "for years" with this tumor, but rather died within a few months.

I gave no quibbles with the choices others make for their own treatment, be it conventional, alternative, complementary, whatever.  My concern is the message we leave behind in our posts here, for those who come after us looking for answers, who are Not Diagnosed But Concerned - you don't need a doctor, it's perfectly acceptable to self-diagnose, then create your own treatment plan.  Just because you believe you have cancer (or anything else) doesn't make it true.

More importantly for me, Abigail, is that I wish you would care enough about yourself to at least learn what you are dealing with so that you could use the best alternative and holistic treatments for your situation.  Any reputable doctor should be able to confirm a fungating breast tumor without invasive procedures.  Without those you wouldn't know the receptor status or type of BC - but you've made it clear you don't necessarily care about that.  And frankly, if you know more about what you're dealing with and you find alternatives that help you, we would want to hear about that.  It is hard to know if what's working for you would work for me if I don't know what you're truly treating.  I read this thread to educate myself about alternatives so if something makes sense to me, I might try it.  I appreciate having options.

light and wind,

I have no problem with alt tx, but self dx is another thing. I am not talking about any type of tx, Steve  Jobs or anything else. I am speaking only to the idea of supporting someone in a self dx of bc. Encouraging and asking for respect for that is totally beyond my realm of comprehension. I agree with Selena. If I see someone walking in to an inferno, I'm not going to ignore it and respect their choice.

I still respect any person who makes any choice. I respect that it is theirs to make. I respect people who see things differently than me, but I don't like it when people gang up and judge a person  especoally when that is supposedly not allowed here.

You know, I've never reported a post.....ever, but if you all don't let my friend rest in peace, I'm going to start. I know exactly what she went through. Seriously presumptuous and kinda ignorant, I might add, to insinuate she died because of her choices.

Edited to add: there is absolutely no reason to bring up her suffering in this thread again and again. Two totally different situations.

Steve Jobs had a curable type of pancreatic cancer. Swayze did not.  

lightandwind,

I am not speaking of chemo or any tx for that matter (I've never had chemo myself). I just can't fathom supporting the dx of bc or any other disease just because a person decides that's what they have. 

As for the woman who had IBC that became a fungating tumor. No one will know for certain what she died from, save breast cancer in the end. At the time of dx, she chose to have no conventional tx, not even surgery. Later on, when her disease was quite advanced, she did try chemo. Her doctors would not operate because it was not feasible at that point. Ultimately, she died from bc and we don't know what might have resulted if she had made different choices. Pointless to speculate.