15 years later, the internet, networking, and medical progress has taken the scary word “cancer” to the mainstream. Ignoring this scary word and idea isn’t at all as possible with the prevalence of these 3 things, and the
15 years later, the internet, networking, and medical progress has taken the scary word “cancer” to the mainstream. Ignoring this scary word and idea isn’t at all as possible with the prevalence of these 3 things, and the prevalence of cancer itself. Especially, I think, with an aging, “sickening” population – awareness and anger are both exploding. Here are some of the more blatant facts published by the Alberta Cancer Foundation, Ovarian Cancer Canada, and the Canadian Cancer Society that I have found interesting:
- Nearly 1 in 2 people will be diagnosed with some form of cancer in their lifetime (ACF)
- In 2011,1750 women died from ovarian cancer in Canada (CCS)
- In 2011, 2600 women were diagnosed with ovarian cancer in Canada (CCS)
- While 1 in 9 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer, only 1 in 70 women will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer (CCS)
- Most women diagnosed with ovarian cancer will be diagnosed with Stage III or IV because of the poor screening options and very subtle side effects. (OCC)
- 75% of women will see a recurrence of ovarian cancer. Longer treatment-free intervals coorespend to a better prognosis
- Breast cancer treatments are diverse and unique to each individual but may include:
- daily radiation 5 days a week for a month (in addition to:)
- chemotherapy IV
- complete mastectomy
- Ovarian cancer treatments are diverse and “case-by-case”:
- Standard protocol:
- 6 – 8 hours of a chemotherapy cocktail one day over a 21 day cycle
- Repeat for 3 cycles
- Complete abdominal hysterectomy and hope for “ultimate debulking”
- Continue with 3 additional cycles
- Wait. If >1 year before recurrence, then “standard protocol” is deemed effective and patient might benefit from this treatment again
- At time of recurrence, other chemo drugs might be viable alternatives whether > 1 year cancer free or not
- Clinical trials are good but may or may not be available depending on: stage of cancer, previous treatment, any number of other things...
- Treatment is defined as being free from any sign of cancer after completing treatment for 5 years:
- Ovarian cancer 5 year survival rates is 15th out of a list of 23 cancers (Stats Canada)
- Breast cancer 5 year survival rates is 5th out of a list of 23 cancers (Stats Canada)
Family. These are the people who love you. Who take the time out of their own lives to stop and think about what's realllly, realllllly important in life – especially in adverse, tragic times. Some family is incredibly interested in learning about the intricacies and challenges of my Mom's cancer. So much of our family has been nothing but supportive and wishing they could only do more. Others would like to do more – at their own convenience. And some family have just outright ignored us. The more frustrating situations are when family members might ignorantly suggest, or have their own ideas about how the person living with cancer is, could be, or should be doing. Some people are clueless. Or selfish. But mostly, family has been great.
Friends are great. Friends are the ones put into terribly awkward situations. Friends are the ones that never think it’s going to be their friend who gets sick. To me, it makes sense that friends would be more comfortable being perhaps a further step removed than the family that is typically there for the person going through any type of hardship. My comrades have been great. People from work, people from outside of work – they will try and distract me with positive energies or they will offer to help me do things to make life easier. Oh, and my Mom's friends are my friends too, and they have all been really damn' terrific. I couldn’t ask for better friends.
Mom has been incredibly strong. She talks about how exhausted she is and I believe her. I think she is even more exhausted than she appears at times. This round, chemo treatments are weekly for 3 weeks in a row then 1 week off, so we really look forward to that 1 week off. She is still active and wanting to do more, but 