- Aug 24, 2000
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- Aug 24, 2000
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@Madwand1
Thank you for that link. Very interesting stuff.
In light of that, as the OP I would like to request steering this thread in a different direction.
If anyone has any experiences to share or knows of any ongoing clinical trials showing promising results treating end stage colorectal cancer, now would be a good opportunity for me to at least conduct some research that I'm sure my friends don't have the time or energy to do at this very moment while dealing with everything else...
I found that link to the Reolysin study particularly intriguing. I'm off to find more stuff like that on my own buy if anyone has some little-known something or other to add information is appreciate and I will be checking back from time to time...
TYTY!
Thank you for that link. Very interesting stuff.
In light of that, as the OP I would like to request steering this thread in a different direction.
If anyone has any experiences to share or knows of any ongoing clinical trials showing promising results treating end stage colorectal cancer, now would be a good opportunity for me to at least conduct some research that I'm sure my friends don't have the time or energy to do at this very moment while dealing with everything else...
I found that link to the Reolysin study particularly intriguing. I'm off to find more stuff like that on my own buy if anyone has some little-known something or other to add information is appreciate and I will be checking back from time to time...
TYTY!
IMHO, one must not focus solely on colon cancer, but must also look at other types of cancers as well.
- Aug 24, 2000
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Very true but they've already determined that this originated in the colon and the fact that it's stage 4 metastatic already implies that there are other areas involved.
They have to treat the type of cancer and when it involves other areas like that, and mind that I'm no expert, but I believe it becomes all-encompassing at that point.
So if it's a trial targeted at stage 4 colon cancer patients, it must take into account the other areas that the cancer has spread to because you don't get to a stage 4b diagnosis unless other distant sites are already involved. Liver, brain, and lungs being the most common.
At least that's my (very) limited understanding
The b diagnosis generally involves the omentum.
The omentum often because the method of transit among distant organs. 4a implies the method of transit was the lymph system.
This was how it was explained at Mayo clinic by the head of oncology.
4b is much more devastating in that the fat around the organs also contains the cancer so removal is an impossibility.
crashtestdummy
Platinum Member
- Feb 18, 2010
- 2,893
- 0
- 0
OP, I'm really sorry to hear about your friend. I watched my wife's mother die a couple years ago, and it was heartbreaking.
What I'm about to say is going to be hard to take, but I don't want you to be blindsided by it as it comes.
Your friend is going to have to make some very hard decisions in the next couple months, and I'd advise you to stay out of them but be supportive. Chief among those will be whether to undergo chemo.
Since the cancer has metastasized, surgical removal or radiation are not likely to do much. I'm oversimplifying a bit, but chemo in almost all its forms is an administration of poison that you hope kills cancer cells a bit faster than healthy ones. (See here for a good explanation of why cancer is so hard to reverse.) For late stage patients, it will often extend life, but at the price of quality.
If she chooses hospice care instead of heavy treatment, she will likely be much more comfortable, but may die a little bit sooner. Nearly every oncologist you'd ask would tell you that they'd go straight to hospice if diagnosed with late-stage, likely incurable cancer, as they've seen how hard chemo is on people.
Whatever your friend chooses, the most important thing is that you are supportive of their path, and you do everything you can to make her as comfortable and fulfilled as possible. I know that you want to save her, and you feel that if you work hard enough, fight hard enough, and gather enough money, she'll live. Cancer, frankly, doesn't give a damn how hard you're trying.
I don't know specific trials, but here's some thoughts on entering a clinical trial to begin with:
1) Regardless of anything I post below, there's only a 50% chance that your friend would go on this particular drug. The "placebo" would be some other established chemotherapy treatment that is likely to actually be more effective than the average clinical trial.
2) There is no guarantee of any kind of effectiveness. That is at the core of why these clinical trials exist. It's one of those funny things, for example, that we've had enormous success reducing tumors in mice, but that many of these promising drugs don't do much to help humans because our physiology is different enough that the cancer behaves different. The result is that many of these trials are unsuccessful.
3) Side effect may be harsh. All chemo treatments have unpleasant side-effects. Someday in the future, we may view chemo the same way we view leeching now: as a harsh method that doesn't really do much. The drugs that have been approved, though, at least have well-established side-effects and ways to minimize them. A drug in trial is likely to be harder on her than one that's already been approved.
I wish you luck, but most of all I wish you peace. This is going to be a hard process. Please feel free to PM me if you need someone to rant to or scream at. Even the support system needs a support system sometimes.
What I'm about to say is going to be hard to take, but I don't want you to be blindsided by it as it comes.
Your friend is going to have to make some very hard decisions in the next couple months, and I'd advise you to stay out of them but be supportive. Chief among those will be whether to undergo chemo.
Since the cancer has metastasized, surgical removal or radiation are not likely to do much. I'm oversimplifying a bit, but chemo in almost all its forms is an administration of poison that you hope kills cancer cells a bit faster than healthy ones. (See here for a good explanation of why cancer is so hard to reverse.) For late stage patients, it will often extend life, but at the price of quality.
If she chooses hospice care instead of heavy treatment, she will likely be much more comfortable, but may die a little bit sooner. Nearly every oncologist you'd ask would tell you that they'd go straight to hospice if diagnosed with late-stage, likely incurable cancer, as they've seen how hard chemo is on people.
Whatever your friend chooses, the most important thing is that you are supportive of their path, and you do everything you can to make her as comfortable and fulfilled as possible. I know that you want to save her, and you feel that if you work hard enough, fight hard enough, and gather enough money, she'll live. Cancer, frankly, doesn't give a damn how hard you're trying.
I don't know specific trials, but here's some thoughts on entering a clinical trial to begin with:
1) Regardless of anything I post below, there's only a 50% chance that your friend would go on this particular drug. The "placebo" would be some other established chemotherapy treatment that is likely to actually be more effective than the average clinical trial.
2) There is no guarantee of any kind of effectiveness. That is at the core of why these clinical trials exist. It's one of those funny things, for example, that we've had enormous success reducing tumors in mice, but that many of these promising drugs don't do much to help humans because our physiology is different enough that the cancer behaves different. The result is that many of these trials are unsuccessful.
3) Side effect may be harsh. All chemo treatments have unpleasant side-effects. Someday in the future, we may view chemo the same way we view leeching now: as a harsh method that doesn't really do much. The drugs that have been approved, though, at least have well-established side-effects and ways to minimize them. A drug in trial is likely to be harder on her than one that's already been approved.
I wish you luck, but most of all I wish you peace. This is going to be a hard process. Please feel free to PM me if you need someone to rant to or scream at. Even the support system needs a support system sometimes.
Here's one obvious one that's being conducted at UCLA:
http://www.cancer.ucla.edu/index.aspx?page=51&id=11311
Also check out http://www.cancer.gov/clinicaltrials/search
A quick search turned up 21 trials in California for Stave IVb colon cancer.
- Aug 24, 2000
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@crashtestdummy
Thank you for the kind words - very much appreciated.
@ichy
thank you for those. I too looked in that section of cancer.gov Not exactly sure what your search criteria was, but from what I selected nothing turned up.
Thank you for the kind words - very much appreciated.
@ichy
thank you for those. I too looked in that section of cancer.gov Not exactly sure what your search criteria was, but from what I selected nothing turned up.
If you intend to come to the UK for medical treatment, then you need a medical treatment visa. To apply for this, you will need to provide a letter from the doctor saying how much the treatment will cost, and a bank statement showing that you have the funds available to pay.
Foreign visitors are not eligible for government healthcare in the UK, unless they are living in the UK on a semi-permanent basis (e.g. full-time student, employed in a UK registered company or by the UK government, or evidence of 12 months of continuous living in the UK with appropriate immigration paperwork).
That said, you won't get turned away from the emergency department if you aren't eligible for treatment. You'll still get emergency treatment - and although you will be expected to provide a credit card or insurance plan - it's so rare for a hospital to see someone who isn't eligible, that the staff don't know what to do, so most people get away with free emergency care.
Specialist treatment is different, and they DO check. Occasionally, they may give basic specialist treatment. E.g. a specialist cancer hospital did agree to treat a failed political asylum seeker for their cancer - but they would only agree to 20 year old chemo drugs, not the modern stuff.
For cancer type/criteria I put in colon cancer, stage IVb and put the location as California. 21 trials showed up.
A word of advice though, searching on the internet is easy. The actual criteria for getting into these trials is much more complicated and I'm almost certain that your friend or her spouse will have to do the legwork because of HIPPA rules.
Jesus christ, this is so full of bad advice that I don't know where to start. "Natural" treatments are at best a waste of money for people who are already facing big bills. At worst they absolutely can be harmful.
Re: time to die, you are an asshole for saying that. For someone who's relatively young it's certainly not wrong to want to try even if the chances are grim. Yeah, at a certain point it's better to accept reality and not torture yourself with barbaric treatments but even if cancer is incurable you can sometimes buy yourself months or years of good quality time with chemo & radiation.
lxskllr
No Lifer
- Nov 30, 2004
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Yea, usually it buys a few more months of misery. People die, that's life. Wasting money tilting windmills accomplishes nothing.
- Aug 24, 2000
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What the hell is that supposed to mean exactly? You got a lotta balls talking to me that way. You think that's what I'm after? A new big screen.? Like this is some kinda of self-serving joke. First of all I wouldn't steal the pen off of your desk, let alone trying to fake a good friend terminally ill with cancer just to scam some money off the internet.. I have a good job.
Jesus Holy Christ..!! The fucking nerve of some people. Why don't you take that ridiculous shit elsewhere and just stay the hell outta my thread with it.
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OMG, I seriously replied to the wrong thread. When I surf ATOT, I usually open up multiple tabs for each discussion (firefox). I am so sorry! How do I donate?
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im confused why a facility that takes her insurance isnt chosen. she could start treatment right away. i wish her the best and hope shes willing to fight it as much as you are and is successful.
- Aug 24, 2000
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LOL, no worries then. Sorry for flying off the handle. All is forgiven.
I can see how that would totally happen. If you want to donate to her cause I linked a FB page in the OP that is set up take donations via paypal.@11thHour.
Yes she is being seen now at an in-network hospital and thanks for the kind words: http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=33806663&postcount=99
I will continue to post updates as it goes. Currently I've not heard anything more from either her or her husband past what I've already shared. We're all hoping she pulls through.
- Aug 24, 2000
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I promised updates as this went by. At this time I wish I had better news to report. The cancer that Tami has been fighting has spread and consumed her far faster than anyone could have imagined.
Only a few short weeks ago she was able to move about and seemed almost normal. Today she is in an ICU and only hours or less away from taking her final breath on this earth. Since I last posted she has went through a couple of surgeries and since contracted an infection. She is too weak to fight both it and the cancer to say nothing of attempting to undergo chemo. Her liver and kidneys have failed and they're having trouble keeping her blood pressure stable. At this point they're just trying to make her comfortable as she slips in and out of consciousness.
It saddens me knowing this is how it all ends. At least she was able to go home for a short period long enough to see her two girls off for the first day of the school year.
Thank you again for those here who have shown your support and have been an ear to speak to. Tami will be remembered by those close to her. In her honor I want to re-post something here that was the last thing she had posted to facebook before going to the hospital and learning of her diagnosis. It really speaks to the type of person Tami is and it's a wonderful message.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Zl9puhwiyw
Thanks again for those here who have shown support and please pray for Tami as she passes from life on this earth that her transition will be a peacefull one. And pray for comfort for her family at this time.
Only a few short weeks ago she was able to move about and seemed almost normal. Today she is in an ICU and only hours or less away from taking her final breath on this earth. Since I last posted she has went through a couple of surgeries and since contracted an infection. She is too weak to fight both it and the cancer to say nothing of attempting to undergo chemo. Her liver and kidneys have failed and they're having trouble keeping her blood pressure stable. At this point they're just trying to make her comfortable as she slips in and out of consciousness.
It saddens me knowing this is how it all ends. At least she was able to go home for a short period long enough to see her two girls off for the first day of the school year.
Thank you again for those here who have shown your support and have been an ear to speak to. Tami will be remembered by those close to her. In her honor I want to re-post something here that was the last thing she had posted to facebook before going to the hospital and learning of her diagnosis. It really speaks to the type of person Tami is and it's a wonderful message.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Zl9puhwiyw
Thanks again for those here who have shown support and please pray for Tami as she passes from life on this earth that her transition will be a peacefull one. And pray for comfort for her family at this time.
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crashtestdummy
Platinum Member
- Feb 18, 2010
- 2,893
- 0
- 0
My sincerest condolences. Remember that she has a wonderful family and caring friends like you. It's easy to ask, "why me?' but in many ways, she has already won at life.
Krazy4Real
Lifer
- Oct 3, 2003
- 12,222
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