My Great Breast Cancer Adventure

Exercise Called "Wonder Drug" for Cancer patients

(CBS) The latest "wonder drug" for cancer isn't a drug at all - but exercise. That's what a British cancer charity had to say in a new report detailing the benefits of exercise for cancer patients. . .

. . . ."Cancer patients would be shocked if they knew just how much of a benefit physical activity could have on their recovery and long term health," Ciaran Devane, chief executive of Macmillan Cancer Support, said in a written statement.

Macmillan's "Move More" report looked at 60 studies and surveyed over 400 health professionals to show how important exercise was to cancer treatment.

The report said doing recommended levels of 150 minutes per week could reduce a breast cancer patient's risk of recurrence or dying by 40 percent. . .

Read full article here:

via www.cbsnews.com

Compassion & Choices: End of Life Care

Here's a copy of an email I got today from an organization that I "joined" and have a lot of respect for. So I am passing it on to you:


Dear Jane,

Margaret Furlong went to the hospital armed with her advance directive. It stated her wishes clearly: she wanted no elaborate, invasive treatment at life’s end.

But her doctor and his hospital refused Margaret’s wishes. They delivered invasive treatment and forced Margaret to spend her final days in intensive care, tethered to machines and pleading for it all to stop.

The treatment didn’t stop until Margaret died. Her final wish—to have a peaceful, dignified death—was denied.

Do Mammograms Really Make a Difference in Survival?

Are screening mammograms effective in reducing deaths from breast cancer? The mainstream media and the medical-industrial complex would have you believe that mammograms are the best thing you can do to diagnose breast cancer at an early stage. The theory is that an early diagnosis leads to a better treatment outcome.

via drdavidbrownstein.blogspot.com

Health Writing - DeMystifying Medicine for the Masses

Given my six-year intensive foray into the land of doctors, medicine, and disease, I've been reminded of how important it is for SOMEONE to deliver GOOD health and medical information to "the masses." Much of what we read in mainstream newspapers and magazines regarding the lastest medical studies, controversies, and "discoveries" is too often reported by media people who have no idea what they're talking about - not really. They have neither the knowledge nor the expertise that would enable them to responsibly report on the medical and scientific issues of the day. Ditto for television reporters.

Here's one small example. You pick up the newspaper and read an article that says "the study shows that hormone replacement therapy increases a woman's risk for breast cancer."

What the article doesn't say, however, is that this risk was not shown to be  "statistically significant." In other words, if the risk increases by  a very very small percentage, researchers and doctors do not consider it significant. But when lay people read the article, all they think is, "Oh my god, I can't take estrogen because it will increase my risk of breast cancer!"

Wrong. It's WAY more complicated than that.

It's no big deal if you make a mistake reporting on the lastest fashion trend in shoes, but it's a pretty darn big deal to mislead the public if you're reporting on the latest national breast cancer study.

 

Iodine Treats Breast Cancer, Overwhelming Evidence by Jeffrey Dach MD

Dr. David Brownstein Reports Spontaneous Regression of Breast Cancer After Iodine

via jeffreydach.com

I wrote about iodine and breast cancer early on in this blog, but it's time to do another post on it for newcomers. I hope you'll read this article. You can also read about iodine supplementation (and order the iodine) at breastcancerchoices.org. Iodine supplementation is not a difficult or expensive thing to do.

From Lhasa: Soon This Space Will be Too Small...

Yesterday my friend Alexandra sent me a link to this YouTube video of her daughter Lhasa. She sent it she said, because the second-to-last paragraph of my yesterday's blog post reminded her of it. To me and to many others - fans, friends, and family - Lhasa was an astonishing person, wise beyond her years, I think. A wise old soul.

At the end of this video are links to several other ones of Lhasa, mostly of her singing. One is of her singing "A Small Song." It's my favorite Lhasa song.