how to treat an ulcerated (breast) tumor

Yes, because being concerned about other women - or about abigail having a fungating tumour - is an insecurity. What? I am not sure what to say about the practice of criticizing others for personally attacking abigail...by personally attacking those others.

I have nothing to "defend" about myself or my choices to even trigger a defensive mechanism, I feel empowered by my own choices (noting I have not had to have treatment for breast cancer, but I have certainly had conventional treatments for other issues, and my mother certainly has had conventional treatments for her own cancer). I hope anyone will also be empowered by their decisions, whether they choose conventional or alternative treatments. I also spend far more time in the conventional areas than the alternative forums!

I didn't see anyone "ridiculing" abigail, but rather expressing concerns that she is self-diagnosing herself and treating based on that self-diagnosis. Self-diagnosing is not an "alternative medicine" as far as I am aware. That is like me feeling a little under the weather, declaring I have malaria, joining a malaria board, and going on about the treatments I have decided to give myself (be they alternative or conventional).

Sometimes it is like the Twilight Zone in here. Any discourse, questioning, constructive input, is treated as a personal attack which is so far removed from my experiences in daily life with my own peers and where engaged discourse is welcome, even if opinions are different.

Please explain how steve jobs pancreatic cancer was curable but swayze was not

what Divecat said: Any discourse, questioning, constructive input, is treated as a personal attack".

beesie

I suspect that a lot of the reason Abigail is not dx'ed is due to lack of health insurance, which she has mentioned on here several times.  While it is certainly possible to get a free or low cost mammogram, I'm not so sure about the rest of it.  I know that for the uninsured, the cost of a biopsy is about  $1000-5000, and you also have to go to a primary care physician to get a referral for this test, which will cost many more dollars.  So, let's say Abigail somehow collects the $1000-5000 plus whatever she needs to pay the primary care doc and I'm not sure if the U/S is included, what will she do with that information exactly?  Probably whatever she's already doing, so I don't see the point either.  FWIW, there are many many people in this country (USA) and in the rest of the world that are in the same boat.  My heart goes out to them--at least I had options and a choice to make.    

Piper, although it is not my place to speak for Abigail, she refuses to see doctors, for the most part, due to childhood traumas inflicted on her by doctors.

She has also stated that she hasn't wanted a diagnosis because there is nothing in conventional medicine that she is willing to do.. She also stated that she is now 77 which is another reason. 

Natty, True about the bullying. I wonder how constructive my input would seem if there were many more like us who went to the conventional threads telling people why their choice is not acceptable, telling them that their doctors are quacks, insulting their intelligence, telling them they are not caring about themselves enough, and ganging up and trying to pressure them out of making their own choice, telling them how wrong they are for polluting their body w/ chemo  and post research about how it could cause the cancer to grow. Is that what the conventional forum is for? the "constructive input" from alternatively minded folks? Wonder if anyone would want to engage in a constructive discussion about alternatives on the chemo thread? I'm sure they would not like it if the shoe were on the other foot.

what are the rules and the guidelines of the alternative forum for?  Is there is no place, no space to express our views without having to defend them? Is this how it is going to remain here?

I had thought that the mods had reminded everyone that this is the alternative forum where alternative choices are to be respected. However many of you are refusing to do that. Aside from disrespecting Abigal and her choices, many of you are disrespecting the mods, and the rules and guidelines of the forum.

suzieQ60- the whipple procedure is the surgery that had been recommended for SteveJobs. There is a 20% chance that he would have been alive in 5 years following that surgery and serious complications and death that could have resulted from the surgery alone. Steve Jobs lived 8 years with pancreatic cancer. He must have made some smart choices to live that long w/ that diagnosis. Patrick Swayze went downhill  following chemotherapy and died of pancreatic cancer w/n 2 years. 

I have no dog in this fight, but lightandwind, you're comparing apples and oranges with Jobs and Swayze.  I can't even say that it's like comparing my ER+, HER2-, grade 1 breast cancer to a grade 3 triple neg or HER2+ as they had totally different kinds of cancer arising from totally different cells that just both happened to manifest in the pancreas.  Please stop using it as a good example of the advantages of alternative vs. conventional treatments.  Here is a good description of pancreatic cancer...

There are two types of pancreatic cancer: exocrine tumors and endocrine tumors.

Exocrine tumors are the majority of pancreatic cancers, and the most common form is called adenocarcinoma, which begin in gland cells, usually in the ducts of the pancreas. Swayze died from this kind of pancreatic cancer. These tumors tend to be more aggressive than neuroendocrine tumors, the kind that Jobs had, but if caught early enough they can be treated effectively with surgery.

Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors constitute only 1% of all pancreatic cancers. They can be benign or malignant, but the distinction is often unclear and sometimes apparent only when the cancer has spread beyond the pancreas.

The five-year survival rate for neuroendocrine tumors can range from 50% to 80%, compared with less than 5% for adenocarcinoma.

More advanced tumors have a higher risk of recurrence, and can spread to the liver, said Dr. Steven Libutti, pancreatic cancer expert and director of the Montefiore-Einstein Center for Cancer Care in the Bronx.

OMG...can we just get along...live and let live.

Abigail doesn't have to do anything as far as I'm concerned to post wherever she wants. My only objection is to her claiming she has bc, when she has never been dx'ed with it. Different philosophies? Yes, I am way too grounded in reality to subscribe to the "because I believe it, it's true " philosophy. Most of all, my heart lies with all the women who really do have breast cancer.

I would not like to be so grounded in my own reality to not see clearly that there are other realities and know that they are as valid as my own.

No, a cancer dx does not give you cancer ( and I don't think that anyone has suggested it does). I totally agree but what it does do is confirm that that's what you actually have. Armed with that knowledge, you can then choose to treat it any way you want.

empathy for breast cancer, yes!  I will bet you dollars to donuts Abagail has nothing more than a nasty boil. And by the way, she has Medicare....very much insured.