Welcome to this blog. I hope you find useful information here, as well as links to personal stories that may be of help to you as you face cancer and treatment.
I received this comment on an earlier post yesterday, so I figured I would answer it here:
"My dad has been diagnosed with Parotid Gland Cancer and was advised to have radiation/chemo over the next seven weeks - OR - go into a nursing home or hospice. I believe that there are alternative treatments that can be done instead of these deadly forms of treatments. Is there anyone out there who has survived this type of cancer? My dad is 75 and otherwise in relatively good health. Thanks in advance...Terri H. "
There are a lot of different cancers that appear in the parotid - a good entry that outlines the many things that can turn up in salivary glands is in MedlinePlus: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/salivaryglanddisorders.html . If you know of the particular cancer that was identified, I can look up specific information on it. Alternative treatments for cancer are being studied by the scientific community - personally, as a cancer patient, I did not find any with enough actual research for me that showed successful eradication of cancer, so I went the traditional route, using the updated radiation treatment. Radiation is tough - it is up to the patient and the health professionals to decide if that is the best route to go. Believe me - they look hard at the patient to see if they can take the span of treatment and the after effects. You can find information on some of the complimentary and alternative medicine treatments on this page at the National Cancer Institute: http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/treatment/cam . The healthcare team that is taking care of your father should be told of his wishes to explore alternative/complimentary treatment options - they may have clinical trials going on in your area that would accept your father for treatment studies.
After you and your father talk with the health care team about his wishes, take the information they share to your local medical library and get more information from evaluated, qualified (in other words, REAL) sources of biomedical research information. You can locate a library near you in this directory: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/libraries.html.
It is rough to get a cancer diagnosis, both for yourself and those that care for you. Working as a team to approach the cancer and treatment can help with coping, and coping leads to healing. I am thinking of you both, and anyone else facing cancer for the first or repeating time.
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1 comment:
Teri--good answer, as always.
It's so tough to be newly diagnosed. I feel like those of us who are living with cancer and who've been dealing with it for awhile have a responsibility to help those who are newly diagnosed. And you do this so well.
Jeanne
www.assertivepatient.com
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