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Sailor

G'day there There are lot's pf stories around about animals instinct, dogs being able to detect cancer and so on. I know there have been a few trials on using trained dogs to detect certain cancers, not sure of the results. However, I do have a personal experience. We have a rather large Moggie, a real gentle giant, but all of 8 kg. You know it when he jumps up on you in bed! The first time carrot-top and blondie, the twin grandsons stayed overnight with us. I was woken by Moggie not only jumping up on me but walking up and down until I got up. Carrot top had somehow or other got on top of his bed clothes, was cold and was whimpering slighty, but still asleep. Both of them needed a nappy change. Did all the necessaries, put them back to bed with Moggie in charge. Cheers Sailor. Earth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and rivers, the mountain and the sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach some of us more than we can ever learn from books. John Lubbock

Sailor

Hi there There are a number of combination pain killer drugs out there that have solved this problem. One of them the government tried to, as a cost saving measure, defer from going onto the PBS early last year. Basically these drugs contain a pain medication, usually codeine based, and an antidote. The antidote is not absorbed through the gut and binds to the bowel receptors blocking them. The pain drug is absorbed and relieves the pain. No need for laxatives, prunes, pears, etc. Ask your oncologist if you can have a session with a pain management specialist. Cheers Sailor Thought is the wind, knowledge the sail, and mankind the vessel. August Hare

Sailor

Hi There Raising the temperature of either part or the whole of the body to fight cancer has been around for a long time and various attempts have been made from time to time to use it. Techniques have included some weird and wonderful ways to raise body temperature, as well as using radiofrequency and ultra sound to deliver energy to selected parts of the body to raise the temperature and kill off cells. You don't need to raise temperatures a lot to kill cells, which is why the body has very effective temperature regulating mechanisms. Problem number one from history is that results were never consistent. Problem number two is that it would be difficult to do a randomised controlled trial, particularly as the side effects of raising whole body temperature are well known and pretty awful. I think most of the medical profession would caution attempts at self treatment in this area. Cheers Sailor An incorrectly identified mark is a hazard, not an aid, to navigation. Alton B. Moody

Sailor

Hi Tim That is really good to hear. A bit of good news goes a long way in this area. Cheers Sailor As we sail thru life, don't avoid rough waters, sail on because calm waters won't make a skillful sailor. Anonymous

Sailor

Hi JS Once you have had cancer treatment fatigue never really leaves you. I don't want to be negative, but it is the reality and we all end up with our own way of coping with it. One of my friends describe her chemo treatment as being like having your head in fog and your feet in treacle. Both the fog and treacle thin a bit after a while, but they are always there. Find times you can catnap during the day. Look at ways to do things so that they require less effort. Above all look after yourself. Don't be afraid to indulge yourself a bit more. Cheers Sailor And inspirations that we deem our own, The rushing of the sea-tides of the soul; And inspirations, that we deem our own, Are some divine foreshadowing and foreseeing Of things beyond our reason or control. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Sailor

Harker You say it so precisely that I have nothing more to add. Agree entirely. Sailor An incorrectly identified mark is a hazard, not an aid, to navigation. Alton B. Moody

Sailor

G'day there fellow travellers. Haven't been too active on the site for a while - been a bit busy for the last few months. As you all know I have been living with prostate cancer for the last thirteen years. Had aggressive therapy over the years and also been on intermittent hormone therapy. That is you are on medication that stops you producing testosterone for a while, then off it until the blood results indicate the cancer is moving again. Side effects of hormone therapy - a really bad case of menopause; hot flushes, irritability, mood swings, weight gain, fluid retention, the lot. Well I've been through menopause eight or nine times now and it doesn't get better each time! Well back in March I started to not respond, so onto super strength hormone ablation. That didn't work either, so now I am, what is called in medical terms "castrate resistant". I keep telling the medically qualified that I have been castrate resistant for well over fifty years now and I prefer the term hormone refractory. When you get to that stage, and it hasn't spread to bone and other parts of the body, being given cytotoxic chemotherapy is a bit of overkill, so I wasn't interested in that. There are some new drugs being developed for this stage of the disease, so I tried to get on a clinical trial. Learnt a lot about clinical trials in the process but failed on a technicality. So my medical oncologist and my radiation oncologist got together and decided that the areas where it had spread could tolerate some more radiation, so I went in and had three weeks of radiotherapy. That was rather amazing - technology ion this area has advanced incredibly. X-rays were being taken from two directions whilst I was being zapped, so that if I relaxed or the target mass shifted slightly, the bed I was on moved to reposition me and ensure that the tumour and not surrounding tissues was getting the full dose. So no side effects at all! Has it worked - you bet it has. Saw my oncologist today, after tests were done last week. All results good. Don't need to see him for three months. Cheers Sailor I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving: To reach the port of heaven, we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it, -- but we must sail, and not drift, nor lie at anchor. Oliver Wendell Holmes, The Autocrat at the Breakfast Table

Sailor

Hi Everyone Cancer connect is a great thing - but in many States you don't have to dial option 3. When you ring 13 11 20, you get straight onto a person and then you can ask about Cancer Connect. Cheers Sailor The acquisition of the knowledge of navigation has a strange effect on the minds of men. Jack O’ London

Sailor

Hi Bev Congratulations! Cancer Connect is a great service and all newly diagnosed cancer patients should be made aware of it. Well done Sailor

Sailor

G'day Rearlyseen Yep radiation induced cystitis. - like peeing needles of glass! Know it well. Your specialist or clinical practice nurse should have warned you about this and suggested what to take. There is stuff you can buy over the shelf from the pharmacist that are sachets you mix in a glass of water that fizz up and you drink it. Ural is one brand but there are others. Cranberry helps with some people, so you can get some cranberry capsules or cranberry juice. There have been clinical trials done on this and apparently the cranberry juice creates a coating on the lining of the bladder. However, sugar negates it so don't get sweetened cranberry juice. The fizzy drinks like Ural basically are sodium citrate which neutralises the urine so it is not as acid and doesn't sting. Problem is that if you have high blood pressure the sodium is not too good for you. When travelling in the UK one time I ran our of Ural so went into Boots the Chemist and asked for some. They didn't have it but sold me a bottle of Potassium Citrate - tasted awful, worked wonderfully. So when I got back I made a few enquiries and found that it used to be available here but the fizzy drink sachets were more convenient. So I found a friendly pharmacist who was prepared to make the potassium citrate up according to the Australian Formulary. I was on that for quite some time getting over the cystitis. Cheers Sailor Many emergencies involving the crew or vessel can be avoided by preliminary and on-going physical and mental preparation. Before embarking on an off-shore passage, you ought to be in good physical shape, properly garbed, and psychologically prepared. Richard Henderson

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