Cancer Blog

I may have run 6 marathons, the last one 7 months after surgery and chemotherapy for cervical cancer, but I am no Lance Armstrong. Lance, as many of you know, was diagnosed ten years ago with testicular cancer that had spread to his lungs and brain. He survived surgery and gruelling chemotherapy to come back and win the Tour de France, arguably the world’s toughest cycle race. He won it not once, but 7 times in a row. Now that guy is a legend.

As for me, I am a back of the pack runner: slow and steady. I was never going to be running up the front with a double D cup chest size. I think even Lance would struggle should he have been so endowed.

I run not to win the race, but to celebrate life, living, and being alive. This is ironic really because after running for 5 hours you really do feel half-dead!

Seriously though, it is a real privilege to be here. There are so many other people who could have stood up and told their stories.

If you’re like me, you feel that cancer is everywhere. Every day it seems someone new is diagnosed with some brand of cancer. And it’s not a nice disease.

My good friend’s brother in law has recently had a tumour removed from his neck. The surgery affected function in his left arm and the radiotherapy killed his saliva production. He finds it difficult to swallow and can’t taste anything ever again. No more red wine, no more chocolate, no more Krispy Kremes. I guess the up side is that if you can’t taste it, you won’t have cravings for red wine, chocolate and Krispy Kremes.

As for me, I was diagnosed with cervical cancer four days after my gorgeous husband Rob proposed. There I was – 35, first proposal, never been married, excited to get married, to start a family. Then the doctor says, “You have cervical cancer. You may need a hysterectomy.”

I felt like I stepped in to the middle of a silent hurricane. There was a roar and a rage that spun my life in a direction I had never anticipated.

I had surgery – an operation called a radical trachelectomy – removal of the cervix. It is a very new procedure, reserved for young women who want to preserve their fertility and whose cancer has not spread. In theory I can still fall pregnant, though not without some careful management.

After surgery I lay on my hospital bed with tubes sticking out everywhere. The surgeon came in, sat down on the bed, and patted my knee. You know it’s bad when a surgeon, usually clinical and dry to a fault, sits down and pats your knee. He told me they found cancer in one of the lymph nodes they removed. I was going to need four rounds of chemotherapy.

Chemotherapy, for those who have not experienced it, is no picnic. There are all sorts of chemicals they use to poison the cancer cells. My particular form of chemotherapy consisted of a 9am to 5pm experience. I had an hour of fluid dripped through my arm, and then a couple of hours of cysplatin –the drug – then another hour of fluid to help flush it through. Cysplatin, like many other chemotherapy drugs, is so toxic that the nurses put on protective eyewear, enormous rubber gloves, and a mask just to hook it up. And then this drips directly in to the vein.

People often ask me, “What was it like? What did the chemo experience feel like?” I tell them, imagine your worst hangover ever, and nothing you do makes it feel any better. Not drinking, not sleeping, not eating. And this lasts for ten days.

No doubt about it – cancer sucks.

In my mind, the worst bits of cancer are:

1. Being told you have it

2. Waiting for test results

3. The treatment itself

4. After treatment.

Once treatment was over, it was the strangest thing. As I walked through those electric sliding glass doors after my last round of chemo, I felt like I was wandering out in to a giant wilderness. What now? What next?

You don’t ever really get an “all clear” after cancer. It is not like appendicitis where you have it out and it is all done. Instead you live and wait between checkups to see if the cancer has returned or not. Each check up is one step further away from the chance of recurrence. But there are no guarantees.

How do you live like this? How do people cope?

Really, you just go on. You live each moment as it happens.

However there are gifts in cancer too, strange as it may seem… Lance Armstrong says he would never regret having cancer for the gifts it gave him, how it helped him to grow as a person. I, too, discovered some unexpected gifts in my cancer journey.

These are the gifts I discovered through my cancer journey:

1. I have never felt so loved. I had so much support from my friends, colleagues, and family. People gave me books, CDs, movies, flowers, brought me soup, chocolate, and plenty of other goodies. I experienced a real tsunami of love. People around the world were praying for me, some I had never met. I felt connected and cherished.

However the gift was not that cancer caused love to flow; rather it was the realisation that this love had been around me all the time but I had been so busy, so focused on my narrow little life, that I did not feel open to it. Like a sledgehammer, cancer cracked open my awareness to giving and receiving an abundance of love. I feel it flow effortlessly in my life now.

2. Compassion. I gained a lot more compassion for people – you just never know what they have been through. My own doctor, the one who diagnosed my cancer, told me that she too had gone through the cancer merry-go-round. She was diagnosed 7 years ago with breast cancer. 3 weeks later her husband was diagnosed with liver cancer. He promptly died, leaving her with four kids to look after while undergoing chemotherapy.

I felt such a deep compassion for this woman who had hitherto just been a busy G.P. to me. I now treat every encounter with another person with a lot more grace and care. I approach them from a foundation of compassion. This is a much more gentle and peaceful way to engage with others.

Most important of all, I gained compassion for myself. I stopped judging myself so harshly, stopped trying to be perfect. I came to enjoy all the lumps, and bumps, and bits and boobs that before had caused me so much grief. I loved my body, my imperfections, because it was alive – I was alive.

3. In facing death, I learned about life. After round two of chemotherapy I lay on my bed, feeling dreadful, gazing out the window at the trees. I just wanted to hide under the doona, terrified of dying. I just wanted to hug my mummy and daddy.

Instead I started to notice the sunlight on the leaves, the blue of the sky, the rosellas on the grass. It was magic. And I realised that everywhere there was a compulsive and unrelenting push for life.

Miracles were everywhere: the birds looking for a meal, the kangaroos nibbling on grass, spiders in their webs, the miracle of a baby in the womb growing without any help at all – these miracles were happening without any conscious thought from any of us. I realised I was part of that. This unrelenting push for life was part of me too. We are all part of that.

I felt this realisation fill all the cells of my being. I felt peace descend upon me. I was part of this; I am part of this; we are all part of this life. No matter what happens to our bodies or to things around us, it will be ok because we are all part of this enormous surging river of life that is so beautiful and so amazing and so full of miracles.

And that was what cancer gave me – an awareness of the true nature of life itself.

I know there are some of you here tonight who are living with a cancer diagnosis and undergoing treatment. I know you are terrified. I was too. But whether you have cancer or not, none of us knows what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, or in five years from now. You can choose to live in fear, or you can choose to live in possibility and joy.

All any of us ever have is now, this moment – right here right now. And those moments are magic.

If you take a message away with you tonight, it’s not that there is life after cancer, but that there is life. Make sure you live it.

Copyright 2006 Zoë Routh, Inner Compass, www.innercompass.com.au

Former President Clinton had a basal cell skin cancer removed from his back while he was in office, attracting national press attention to this common form of cancer. There are three main types of skin cancers. President Clinton did not have a melanoma, a skin cancer that starts in moles and can spread rapidly through your body and kill you. Moles that have irregular borders and multiple colors should be removed to be checked for melanoma. Moles that have smooth circular borders and are of one color are almost never melanoma cancers.

President Clinton did not have the second type of skin cancer called squamous cell cancer. The can occasionally spread through the body and kill you. He did have a basal cell skin cancer that rarely spreads through the body and can be cured just by taking out 100% of the lesion. They are called cancers because they keep on growing through everything around them until they are completely removed. Basal cell skin cancers fall apart and feel like marshmallows when they are scraped. All a doctor has to do to cure it is to inject an anaesthetic into the lesion, scrape the basal cell cancer until he feels the hard resistance of normal skin. Then burn an area of normal skin around the lesion to guarantee the removal of the entire cancer.

You can suspect that you have a basal cell skin cancer when you develop a red scaly area on the surface of a light-exposed area of skin. That is probably an actinic keratosis that can often be removed just by applying a special cream. However, if you leave the red area in place, it can go deeper and became a skin cancer. You can suspect that the actinic keratosis has gone deeper when the surface feels rough like sandpaper. If you let it grow further, it can become an elevated area with a fine pearly border.

It seems that one of the requirements to become either president or vice president of the United States is to have a skin cancer. Lyndon Johnson, Ronald Reagan and the elder George Bush all had skin cancers removed when they were president. Vice president Al Gore also exposed too much of his body to sunlight and had a skin cancer removed in 1996. Vice president Dick Cheney also had a skin cancer removed. Should we conclude that exposing your skin to too much sunlight is associated with becoming president or vice president of the United States?

If you find yourself heading outside frequently, and who doesn’t, you need to take basic steps to prevent skin cancer. In this case, we are talking about sunscreen the proper use of it.

Skin cancer is often given short shift when cancer is discussed. In truth, it can be deadly in some forms and thousands of people suffer from it. Many of them don’t even know until it is too late. Fortunately, skin cancer is preventable and easily so. It is all about using sunscreen. There is more to it, however, than just applying sunscreen once at the beginning of the day and then forgetting about it. Here are some tips on how you should use it.

1. Early Application – Sunscreens work in different ways. Some work immediately, while others much sit on your skin for a bit. As a general course, you should apply sunscreen 30 minutes prior to going out in the sun.

2. Reapplication – Sunscreen protection is dependent on it being on your body. From time to time, you will need to reapply it during the day. How often? Well, read the instructions first. Also, reapply it anytime you go in the water or sweat profusely. This is true even for “waterproof” sunscreens. As an overall general rule, reapply every two to three hours.

3. Cloudy Days – Don’t be fooled by cloudy days. The vast majority of harmful rays from the sun penetrate the clouds. You should still use sunscreen on cloudy days and follow the reapplication guide above.

4. Your Scalp – For many of us, we don’t have as much hair up there as we perhaps think we do. If you have thinning hair, your scalp is going to take a beating from the sun. Now is not the time to be proud. Use sunscreen or where a hat to keep your scalp from being cooked.

5. Lips – Finally, nothing is worse then burned lips. Use a lip balm with sunscreen to protect the delicate lip skin.

When heading outside, it is often easy to get lazy and forget to apply sunscreen. Skin cancer is a serious thing, so show some common sense and protect yourself.

Late stage lung cancers are some of the hardest to treat, but in the future scientists maybe able to grow human lungs and simply remove and replace the damaged lung. So far it appears that major steps have been made to make this feasible for lung transplants. In the United Kingdom a specialized team of researchers at the Imperial College London used embryonic stem cells and had them grow into cells found in the lungs of adults. Lung cells, which allow oxygen to cross into the blood stream where made. Although this maybe a decade or so away, it is possible to make this procedure a simple process. It is also theoretically possible to make these tissues from other types of adult stem cells, which avoids the political stem cell debates, which have been a firestorm of controversy, between religious doctrines and modern bio scientists. Currently it is hard for a lung cancer victim to get a transplant, which is a close enough match for a viable risk of rejection, but this could change all that some day.

Master cells or stem cells can be coaxed into becoming any number of types of cells you want them to be with proper directions. It is also fair to say that this research could lead to repairing damaged sections of the lungs after cancer treatment and restore the lungs to full capacity. There is obviously significant work to be done, but this of course is a major step indeed. Modern Medicine is moving along extremely fast and we are solving many of the problems we face in beating cancer. For now we must all live strong and soon the human race will no longer have to worry about cancer. Think on this.

Researchers and experts are concerned about the possible impact of the 9/11 disaster on mesothelioma in the coming years and decades.

It is generally agreed that the large amounts of asbestos released during the 9/11 disaster will have a substantial impact on the number of new mesothelioma cases in the United States in years to come.

9/11 concerns over new mesothelioma cases are further complicated by the fact that it usually takes 20 to 40 years after asbestos exposure for mesothelioma cases to start developing. Currently there are about 3,500 mesothelioma cases being treated annually in the country.

And even where mesothelioma does occur, it is not known exactly how many of these patients will be actually treated because there is usually a large number who are misdiagnosed as having metastatic adenocarcinoma which is another different form of cancer. This could further worsen the impact of 9/11 on new mesothelioma cases over the next couple of decades.

Then there are the usual problems that hinder treatment of mesothelioma like the medical community not bothering to refer patients to centers where potentially curative treatment can be given because it is generally believed that the disease has no known cure. The truth is that although mesothelioma experts are far from having a cure for all patients, recent developments of more effective treatments including radical surgery and advanced radiotherapeutic modalities now offer much better odds for longer survival to patients suffering from mesothelioma.

Before 9/11, researchers had expected the number of new mesothelioma cases to peak in the next few years and probably begin to fall. More so because of the major asbestos control initiatives of the 1970s.

Mesothelioma is a rare form of cancer that has developed through exposure to asbestos. This deadliest disease affects the lining of the various organs like lungs, heart, abdomen and other regions. Every year around 3000 people are reported to have mesothelioma. The rate of mesothelioma-infected people is increasing constantly every year. Mesothelioma may take several years to develop in a person who has been exposed to asbestos.

The compensation can be awarded in millions of dollars as the best compensation to a person who has developed mesothelioma. A mesothelioma lawsuit offers you many regulations and procedures to receive compensation. A well-specialized lawyer who deals with the mesothelioma case type can help you to receive the maximum compensation. There are various law firms with well-specialized top lawyers who offer you the best service in receiving maximum compensation.

The National Law Journal named Baron and Budd, P.C. as the plaintiff’s hot list. That firm is considered as one of the top most law firms for mesothelioma case types. There are several law firms with well-specialized lawyers for this case type. Hackard and Holt are some of the top lawyers in the Sacramento area. KazanLaw, Brayton Purcell, and Clapper & Patti are a few of the major lawyers in the San Francisco Area.

Mesothelioma litigation compensates people who have developed mesothelioma due to exposure to asbestos by some irresponsible company or distributor of asbestos. Hiring the right lawyer can help you in getting the right compensation. An asbestos attorney can be consulted for further litigation if the person is adversely affected by mesothelioma.

The various top lawyers from the law firms available are Paul, Hanley and Harley LLP; Cooney and Conway; Simmons Cooper LLC; and Lewis and Scholnick; they are available in the state of New York. Several top law firms that are well specialized in mesothelioma are also available in other states which provide excellent service with maximum compensation.

Some of the most promising cancer research going on today involves the use of green tea and its ability to prevent cancer and even treat cancer in patients who have already been diagnosed with the disease. Researchers are examining many possibilities for how green tea might be used, and working to determine the cancer types for which it holds the most promise.

Over the last few years, scientists have learned a great deal about the importance of a diet rich in anti-oxidants. Anti-oxidants are a powerful tool in slowing down the aging process and preventing disease. They are even more important than even with the number of processed foods we consume. Fresh fruits and vegetables are rich in anti-oxidants, as is dark chocolate and green tea. Coffee is also a source of anti-oxidants, though it is not nearly as rich in them as green tea.

The process our bodies go through to convert our food to energy creates free radicals each day. Free radicals are oxygen containing molecules that damage our cells and DNA. If we don’t combat them, the make us age more quickly, they contribute to the development of blocked arteries and the make us more susceptible to the diseases and problems of aging.

So, it’s certain that we all need to consume a high level of anti-oxidants as part of our everyday diet. But, of particular interest are the anti-oxidants in green tea. Asian cultures consume a large amount of green tea, and have espoused its healing properties for centuries. And, it just so happens that they have a much lower incidence of cancer and heart disease.

There are, of course, other differences between Asian culture and ours. Notably, we are far more likely to be overweight; and research has shown us that obesity is a significant risk factor for many diseases including cancer and heart disease. However, one other interesting fact; Asian cultures, particularly Japanese men are far more likely to smoke than we are, yet they still have a much lower incidence of cancer and heart disease.

So, green tea is of significant importance in our quest to live longer and be healthier. There are hundreds of studies that have shown that green tea is a good cancer preventative and can increase the effectiveness of cancer treatments.

One important study is linked to skin cancer. According to the American Cancer Society, skin cancer is the most common of all cancers. Melanoma is the most deadly form of skin cancer. While only 4% of skin cancer cases are melanoma, it causes more deaths than any other type of skin cancer.

The number of new cases of melanoma is on the rise in the US- an estimated 62,000 Americans will be diagnosed in 2006, and about 8000 people will die from melanoma in the US this year. Nonmelanoma is extremely common. It is estimated that about one million people develop nonmelanoma cancer each year; this is about the same number of people who contract all other types of cancer combined. However, people rarely die from nonmelanoma – only about 1000 each year in the US.

Since skin cancer is so prevalent in our country, it’s critical that we spend time and money researching how we can treat this cancer. Of course, skin cancer is, in part, preventable. So, as part of a healthy lifestyle we should be diligent about protecting ourselves from the sun, because this is the most important aspect of preventing both types of skin cancer.

To reduce your risk of skin cancer, be sure that you are always protected from the sun, even on cloudy days, and even in the winter. Cover as much of your body as possible with clothing, and use sunscreen with an SPF of 15 or higher on any areas that you cannot cover. Be sure to follow the directions on sunscreen closely; many people do not use enough sunscreen and do not reapply it often enough.

As scientists are researching ways to prevent and treat skin cancer, the results involving green tea are promising. One particular study reported by the Alternative Medicine Review showed excellent results in skin cancer prevention and treatment in mice with the use of green tea both applied topically and given orally.

In this study, mice were exposed to about seven different kinds of carcinogens, all of which are known to cause or contribute to skin cancer. The mice were divided into groups. Some of the groups were treated with green tea by substituting it for their drinking water. Others were treated topically with green tea extract. Some of the groups of mice were already suffering from skin cancer, as well.

The research was conducted so that mice undergoing exposure to each different carcinogen were treated with green tea in both forms. For example, some of the mice being exposed to UVB rays were treated with only oral green tea, while others were treated with only topical green tea extract.

The research concluded that all of the mice benefited from the green tea treatment, whether it was given orally or applied topically. In every group, the green tea was effective at preventing skin cancer. The study found that green tea applied topically seems to scavenge and destroy skin cells that are likely to become cancerous before they can mutate.

The green tea, whether given orally or applied topically, slowed down the cancer growth in the mice that were already infected. In addition, green tea given orally seemed to cause some regression of existing skin cancer.

Of course, these results are very promising. If this research is a good indicator of how green tea might work in humans, as well, then topically applied green tea may become the new trend in skin products. In addition, these findings support other findings that conclude that drinking green tea is effective in preventing and treating many forms of cancer.

The next step, of course, is to conduct human trials to see if the same results prove true. It certainly seems that we have enough information to suggest that green tea should be part of everyone’s diet for its ability to slow down aging and prevent disease.

The most exciting news from this study is the idea that we might benefit dramatically from the simple step of applying a form of green tea to our skin. Addition of green tea to our sunscreens, lotions and moisturizers could have a dramatic effect on the number of skin cancer diagnosed each year. And, even for those already diagnosed with skin cancer, green tea applied to the skin might prove to be an effective treatment to kill the cancer cells, or at least slow down their progression.

Philip Parham (in Letting God) wrote about two men who contracted tuberculosis around the same time. They both went to the same sanatorium. One went home after eighteen months, fully recovered and healthy. The other man was dead within six months. The disease was the same but the outcome was different. Why? William Osler, a famous American physician said: “What happens to a patient with tuberculosis depends more on what he has in his mind than what is in his chest.”

Many people may have the misconception that the brain is synonymous with the mind. It is not. A dictionary’s definition of the brain is that “part of the vertebrate’s central nervous system that constitutes the organ of thought and nervous coordination.” On the other hand, the mind is defined as the “complex of elements in an individual that feels, perceives, thinks, wills and especially reasons.” Henri Bergson, a French philosopher said: “The mind exceeds the brain and is larger than the body.” Our body is only a part of our total existence and our mind is actually bigger and better than the body. E. Straus said: “It is the human being who thinks and not his brain.”

One important point to note is that the mind exerts a tremendous influence on the body and controls the ways we behave and perceive things. Read what other people say about the mind.

Ralph Emerson said: “We become what we think about all day long.”

According to Shakespeare, “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”

Abraham Lincoln said: “People are about as happy as they make up their mind to be.”

The founder of Rational Emotive Therapy, Albert Ellis said: “People and things do not upset us, rather we upset ourselves by believing that they can upset us.”

Norman Peale said: “Change your thoughts and you change your world.”

Separation of Mind and Body by Medical Science

Rene Descartes was a French mathematician and philosopher who had a strong interest in medicine. In 1641 he wrote: “It is certain to me, that is to say my soul by which I am what I am, is entirely and absolutely distinct from my body and can exist without it.”

By this, Descartes proposed that the body and the mind are separate entities and that the mind plays no part in the body. To him life is the sole property of the physical body. Cartesian philosophy regards the human body as a machine that carries out its bodily functions according to physical laws. Descartes and doctors look at the human body just like mechanics look at cars. The body is just a machine. For that reason, what is faulty or seems to have no known function, can be removed and discarded. So goes your appendix, gall bladder, tonsils, uterus, etc. Doctors remove them without qualms, not realising or appreciating that the part belongs to the whole. As a result, modern medicine, which is based on Cartesian philosophy, ignores the mind and deals solely with the physical body.

Contrary to this believe, healers of oriental civilisations throughout the ages have held fast to the belief that man is a spiritual being made up of the body, mind and soul. Today, with the introduction of psychoneuroimmunology into the arena of medicine, the Cartesian philosophy is under attack — for it is inadequate and out-dated.

Today, psychoneuroimmunology has shown that the body’s immune system is not an independent entity that functions without the influence of the mind and human behavior. The body’s central nervous system (including the brain), the endocrine system (which produces the hormones) and the immune system, are intimately connected and they interact with each other i.e., they talk to each other! What happens in the brain influences the endocrine system and the immune system in various ways. Similarly, what happens at the level of the immune system or the endocrine system also affects the brain.

Dr. Robert Good, a leader of psychoneuroimmunology said: “A positive attitude and constructive frame of mind all improve our ability to resist infections, allergies, autoimmune disorders and cancers, whereas depression and pessimism decrease our ability to do so.” Dr. S.I. MacMillen in his book, None of These Diseases, wrote: “The mind could produce striking visible changes in the body … that can be serious and fatal.” Dr. Paul Martin in his book, The Healing Mind, concluded that “the mind affects our susceptibility to real physical disease by modifying our behavior or by directly influencing our immune defenses … by means of these psychological and biological mechanisms, the mind really can make us ill.”

The Power of Belief

Belief is a potent medicine. It can play a key role in generating positive or negative responses in our bodies. A patient going to his doctor must believe that the doctor can give him the best possible help and the medicine that he is prescribing is going to work well. The doctor himself must also believe that what he is doing and giving the patient will work. In addition, the interaction of the two reinforces a summation of belief that makes an effective brew for a cure. There must be confidence of a positive outcome based on a strong belief. Without belief, a cure is not likely to result.

It is for this reason that we request patients who seek our help to give their full commitment to their healing; they must also believe in the “working” of herbs.

Numerous studies have reported on the power of belief and mind over body. A study was done with asthmatic patients at Downstate Medical Centre in Brooklyn, USA. Patients were asked to inhale a substance and were told that it would make their asthma worse. Indeed, when the patients inhaled the substance, they suffered breathing difficulty and had wheezing. Actually, the substance given was only harmless saline water. The patients were subsequently asked to inhale another substance, which would restore their health. After inhaling this substance, the wheezing and breathing difficulty stopped. This second substance was also the same saline solution.

In 1950, Dr. Stewart Wolf studied a group of women who suffered nausea and vomiting during pregnancy. The women were asked to take a solution and were told that this would stop their nausea and vomiting. Indeed, the vomiting and nausea stopped after they took the solution. What the women took was a “vomit-causing” solution. The women believed that they were given anti-nausea/anti-vomiting medicine. This goes to show that power of belief has the proven effect of a drug.

During the Gulf War of 1991, many Israeli civilians died not of war casualties but because of what went on in their brains. As the Iraqis prepared for the Mother of All Battles, the entire world was primed to expect the worse. The Israelis were issued with gas masks, etc. and were war-ready. On the first day of Iraq’s missile attack, 147 deaths were reported, 54 more deaths than during normal times. This represented a 58% increase of deaths. After the first Iraqi strike, it was found that it was not as deadly as it was made out to be. The fear and anxiety of the civilian subsided. The death rate declined. Dr. Paul Martin wrote: “Evidence consistently pointed to one conclusion: the sharp rise in death rate on 18 January 1991 was primarily a consequence of severe emotional stress brought on by fear of the Iraqi bombardment. It was the psychological impact of the scud missiles, not their physical impact.”

The brain cannot distinguish external or internal reality. As far as the brain is concerned, what it perceives to be true is real. Knowing this, it becomes imperative that healers understand that it is their responsibility to encourage positive, hopeful expectations in their patients while at the same time steering them away from beliefs that can be destructive.

The Left and Right Brains

The brain is the channel by which the mind manifests itself. It would be useful to understand how our brain works. The brain, which is in the head, is divided into two parts — the left and right hemispheres. They function in different manners and likewise perceive the world differently.

The left brain perceives the world in a linear, more systematic manner. It is objective, logical, rational and is more concerned with details. This is the reasoning brain. On the other hand, the right brain is more subjective, intuitive, holistic, spiritual and artistic. It is not too interested in details and appears to be more happy-go-lucky. The right brain is not a reasoning mind and tends to accept more freely and readily what is given.

One important fact, which we sometimes fail to appreciate, is that both brains are one and they coexist even though they seem to have opposing functions. It is just like the brake and the accelerator in the car, they do opposite functions but are harmonious. We should also realise that the world that operates today is a reflection of the left brain. Science and modern medicine are products of left brain function — rational and assertive. From the days we were born we nurture the development of the left brain, perhaps because we thought that it is the correct thing to do. We tend to neglect the development of the right brain! Perhaps it is time to reflect again and realise that to develop a holistic personality, we need a good balance of both.

The dichotomy of the brain is also reflected in a person having both a rational and an emotional mind. We need to remember that a seriously ill person is an emotional person. So, it is the emotional mind that is at work. G. R. Heyer in Praktische Seelenheilkunde wrote: “The rational mind is illiterate when it comes to emotional affairs.” At the same time, the emotional mind does not understand rational thinking. Have you ever tried to reason things out with a person who is madly in love? It would be a futile effort! This is because the emotional mind is not for knowing or reasoning — it is only good for action. The emotional mind feels while the rational mind reasons.

When at odds with the rational mind, the emotional mind always wins. The rational mind takes a back seat and only offers advice and criticisms but remains silent, while the emotional mind pushes us into doing what we have to do.

The understanding of the emotional mind is important in the healing of cancer. Cancer patients are under extreme emotional stress and the emotional minds are conditioned to believe in anything and accept any suggestion. As a result, cancer patients will “swallow anything” without hesitation or question! Because of this, cancer patients must be aware that a wrong emotional mindset would be destructive and could lead to early death. Caregivers and those around them should also be made aware of this. We need to take counter measures to help these patients whose emotional mind is irrational.

Mesothelioma is a form of cancer located in the lining of either the lungs, abdomen or the heart. These linings are thin layers of tissue covering the organ.

The pleura is the tissue covering the lungs and the wall of the chest cavity which cushions and protects the lungs. The peritoneum lines the abdominal wall and surrounds most of the organs in the abdomen. The pericardium is the tissue surrounding the heart.

Mesothelioma is a rare but very serious cancer. There are three types of mesothelioma based on the types of cancerous cells. The most common type is epithelioid and consists of 50-70% of total cases and has the best prognosis. The second type is called sarcomatoid, consists of 10-20 % of mesothelioma cases and is more unpredictable in nature. The third type of mesothelioma is called biphasic, it is a combination of the other two types and consists of 20-35% of all cases.

There are an estimated 2000-3000 new cases of mesothelioma in the United States every year. The majority of these cases begin in the chest wall (pleural mesothelioma), a few start in the abdomen (peritoneal mesothelioma) and very rare are the cases starting in the lining surrounding the heart (pericardial mesothelioma).

The pleura is a thin lining of mesothelial cells. There are two pleuras in the chest, the parietal pleura and the visceral pleura. The parietal pleura lines the chest wall including the inside of the ribs, diaphragm and pericardium. The visceral pleura covers the lungs and filters fluid to and from the chest. If the pleura becomes diseases it is not effective at eliminating fluid from the chest resulting in pleural effusion or too much fluid in the chest.

Mesothelioma is usually the result of exposure to asbestos. Most people who are diagnosed with mesothelioma have had jobs where they breathed asbestos fibers. It may take up to 60 years from the time of asbestos exposure until mesothelioma develops.

Although rare, mesothelioma is a serious form of cancer which is often in its advanced stage when a diagnosis is made. In general, prognosis for mesothelioma patient is poor, however, some patients live with the disease for a long time. As mentioned earlier, the type of mesothelioma has an impact on the prognosis, as well as, the age of the patient, how much tumor has developed and if treatment is rendered. There are many variables in evaluating a mesothelioma case, so only the patients doctor can determine the best treatment and possible prognosis on an individual basis.

The California Cancer Registry and the American Cancer Society have just released a new booklet “California Cancer Facts and Figures, 2006″. For those of you living in California with any form of cancer, I urge you to get this informative booklet.

For this report, I will just be focusing on the stats for Lung Cancer in California. California is a leader in tobacco tax initiatives. Following the cancer trends in California will determine what measures the rest of the country must take to decrease the lung cancer rates overall.

Good News! - Basically

Basically, the news is very good. From the period of 1988 - 2002, all types of incidences of cancer in California went down by 12%. Cancer mortality declined by 19%. Thanks to Proposition 99 - the California tobacco control initiative passed in 1988, tobacco-related cancers sharply declined, much more than any other state. Tobacco-related cancers include cancers of the lung, larynx, mouth, pancreas, stomach and bladder. However, lung cancer still causes more deaths than any other cancer.

What About New Cases?

Out of all Californians alive today, about 15 million will eventually get some form of cancer, that is about two in five. Over the years, cancer will strike around three out of every four families. This year alone, there will be more than 15 new cases diagnosed every hour of every day. For men, of all the new cases diagnosed, 13% of them will have lung cancer. For women, that number is 12%.

Tobacco-Related Cancers

Presently, about 85% of lung cancer is caused by cigarette smoking. However, many other cancers are caused by tobacco as well. Overall, one of every three cancer deaths is due to tobacco. The incidence of lung cancer decreased by 26% in the time period mentioned above. Needless to say, for those smokers who have quit smoking, your chances of getting lung cancer decreases over time. After 15 years, the risk is only slightly higher than among people who have never smoked.

Secondhand Smoke

I think we all know by now that secondhand smoke has been determined to cause cancer in humans. But did you know that every year in the U.S., about 3,000 non-smoking adults die of lung cancer directly as a result of secondhand smoke? The most recent high-profile example is Dana Reeve, wife of Christopher Reeve. It is believed she may have contracted it from secondhand smoke as a result of her years as an entertainer in music clubs.

Secondhand smoke is particularly harmful to children. The good news is in 2004, more than 80% of California households with children younger than 5 completely stopped smoking in the home.

Alarming Smoking Trends

Given that lung cancer rates in California have dropped significantly, it would be logical to assume that the smoking rates have also dropped, wouldn’t it? And in fact they have, among most adults and teenagers. In 2004, 15% of California adults still smoked.

The alarming trend is the increase in 18-24 year old smokers. They are the fastest growing rate of smokers in California and the tobacco companies are targeting them as the “smokers of the future”. The smoking rate for 18-24 year olds was 18% in 2004.

What Can Be Done?

Cancer is the second leading cause of death in California. All cancers caused by tobacco and heavy use of alcohol can be prevented completely. In 2006, 18,000 Californians will die because of tobacco use.

Early diagnosis can save lives by identifying cancer when it is in the curable stage. The five year survival rate for most cancers is very good if it’s caught early. Unfortunately, the statistics for lung cancer are not so good, mostly because it is difficult to diagnose early enough.

The California tobacco control initiative has helped to put a dent in the lung cancer rate. Californians need to stay informed and aware. More cigarette tax legislation is on the way.

To get your copy of the California Facts & Figures 2006, go to: www.ccrcal.org.