| Part 6: One woman’s story: Contemplating chemotherapy
Editor's note: The Montana Standard has asked health and fitness correspondent, Paula J. McGarvey who was diagnosed with breast cancer in August 2007 to share her own story. This is a continuation of stories Paula has shared with our readers over the last several months. The other stories have also been reposted online and are available at http://www.mtstandard.com/healthfitness/.By Paula J. McGarvey for The Montana Standard Jan. 17, 2008 Today I received the last of eight scheduled chemotherapy treatments. Since early October I have gone to the local cancer center religiously every two weeks. There, I would be hooked up to an IV and infused with toxic drugs, whose mission was to seek out and destroy any rogue cancer cells that dared to linger in my body after surgery.I haven't felt such a sense of accomplishment and relief since giving birth to my first child after 17 hours of labor one summer evening back in 1993.
Coming to a young neighbor's rescue
Four years ago, Caiti Brown, now 17, was diagnosed with osteosarcoma and has battled the bone cancer ever since, including a relapse in the summer of 2006 that forced doctors to surgically remove half of a lung. Feeling like they've exhausted every traditional medical option, her parents, Michelle and Brian, now plan to take Caiti Brown to Envita Medical Center in Scottsdale, Ariz., for nontraditional therapy. According to Envita's Web site, the center integrates cutting-edge technologies from around the world to establish a comprehensive and customized treatment plan for patients. The treatments which are not covered by the family's health insurance are expected to cost at least $100,000, Michelle Brown said. With a crowd numbering 250 people, the group raised $18,000.
Focal Therapy Considered As Prostate Cancer Treatment
Gold Supplement is focused on a series of 12 peer-reviewed studies on the use of focal therapy in the treatment of prostate cancer.The studies were conducted by a group of leading urologists and radiologists led by David Bostwick, M.D., a pathologist specializing in urology, and Gary Onik, M.D., an interventional radiologist, both of whom served as co-editors of the supplement. This is the first published scientific compendium dedicated solely to focal prostate cancer treatment. One of the leading focal treatment methods is cryoablation, or the minimally invasive freezing of the cancerous tumors to destroy them.The studies presented in the supplement cover a broad range of issues related to focal therapy for prostate cancer including cancer volume; patient selection; biopsy techniques to adequately find and diagnose the extent of the cancer and the long-term effectiveness of focal treatments.In basic terms, focal therapy for prostate cancer, also known as "the male lumpectomy," is a new method of treating prostate cancer where the primary objective is to destroy the cancerous tissue in the prostate gland and avoid damaging the healthy tissue including the nerve bundles at the base of the gland that control potency and continence.
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