Tag Archives: Radiation therapy

How dare researchers say cancer patients worry too much

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heredity and cancer, breast cancer, inherited ...

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Medical arrogance

makes this cancer

patient fume

 

Recently, medical publishers Wiley produced an article that made me furious.

If you are happy with your medical team, are being well treated, and don’t worry about the future – please don’t read on.

But if you are worried – the article stated:

Certain Breast Cancer Patients Worry Excessively About Recurrence.

Published in the online medical journal CANCER, the report was written by medical people – of course.   

And went on to say that “worrying about cancer recurrence can compromise patients’ medical care and quality of life”.

I don’t know about you, but this made me fume.  We have every right to worry.  Admittedly, most of us are strong enough to try and put these worries at the back of our mind – but they are always there:  a small black cloud hovering.

Any tiny chance of us having to go through the same horrible treatment again, wrapped in an impenetrable fog of medical arrogance that tells us nothing when we try to find answers, is enough to worry anyone.

Many doctors don’t seem to realise most of us are realists;  we try to face what happens to us with fortitude.  But if we might have to have surgery, chemo and radiotherapy again, carried out with the same level of unfeeling arrogance with which we had to go through the production line experience the first time – WE HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO BE ANXIOUS.

Why we worry

As patients, we struggle to get on with life.  We do what we are told, but often we are given sparse or no information, particularly about possible side effects from the drugs we are prescribed. 

When I went blind in one eye from ‘my’ drugs, my unfeeling Oncologist dismissed my concern with, “I’ve never seen this before”, couldn’t suggest what I could do, and left me crying in the Ladies, trying to think where I could find out what I could do to find the cause, and if I were ever to get my sight back again in that eye.  (I did, but it took French medical care to sort it out).

Shortly after, painful, bloody skin lesions all over my body were dismissed by one of his colleagues with a shrug, and ”it’s your age”, as he swept out of the room, leaving me to deal with the blood and pain on my own.

We can be treated as though we have no brain, that we should ‘put up with embarrassing incidences of hot flushes, incontinence, vomitting, etc. without a murmur, and when we get tired and anxious, no-one has any time for our concerns, or even any help to offer.

However much we try to remain positive, the sheer impossibility of getting information and helpful answers out of the ‘Team’ who are supposed to be looking after us, but are always in ‘meetings’ when we want to talk, can be frightening.

When it happens to them

Surprise, surprise – doctors and nurses who experience breast cancer themselves are often the most vehement in condemning the appallingly arrogance with which medics treat us.  One doctor I know wrote me a very accurate and feeling diatribe against the medical establishment;  every word she wrote found an echo in experiences recounted to me by non-medical patients.  If it could happen to her, we are not alone.

Those lucky enough to be treated by caring, feeling professionals, can feel smug.  There are some wonderful, professional medics out there who really reassure and comfort patients.  But so many hide behind the pompous attitude that says we are lucky to have been treated, and we really shouldn’t worry our little heads about a small chance of recurrence.

What the report said

According to the article, ”most women who are diagnosed with early stage breast cancer have a low risk for cancer recurrence. Despite an optimistic future, many of these women report that they worry that their cancer will come back. While some worry about cancer recurrence is understandable, for some women these worries can be so strong that they have an impact on what treatments women choose, how often they seek care, and their quality of life as cancer survivors.

All of us know of fellow patients who didn’t come under the ‘most’ category – but their cancer returned.  And when you know what has happened to a friend, it can’t help but cast doubts in your mind.

To a pompous medic, ‘low risk’ can be 5% chance of return.  To a cancer patient that can mean “one in 20 of us will have cancer come back”, and for many that is TOO BIG a chance.  If cancer is going to return for some – what are the professionals doing to reassure us that it won’t be us?  Apparently my blindness only happens to one in 500.  Well, it happened to me - ,statistics didn’t help.

Why isn’t there a trained doctor or nurse to whom we can go when we get worrying symptoms?  All we can do is look these symptoms up on the Internet.  Often the best websites will note that symptoms we are  experiencing should be “checked out by your Doctor”.  And how many doctors then dismiss our concerns?

We never expected to get cancer in the first place.  Many of us had to fight to get doctors to take our symptoms seriously, so we would expect that they would listen to us more sympathetically next time, but ’tain’t so.

Who wrote the report?

Nancy Janz, PhD, of the University of Michigan School of Public Health in Ann Arbor, and her team, found that women who had greater ease in understanding clinical information that was presented to them, who experienced fewer symptoms, and who received more co-ordinated care, reported less worry about recurrence.  Er – yes.  So why don’t we all get the same level of care?

We would all love to have medics who gave us more information, answered our questions promptly and informatively, and helped with strange and uncomfortable side effects.  Give us the time and answer our fears, and we will be happy. But apparently cancer patients were vulnerable to high levels of worry…… when we were ”younger, being employed, experiencing more pain and fatigue, and undergoing radiation treatment”.

“How much women worry about recurrence is often not aligned with their actual risk for cancer recurrence,” says Dr. Janz. “We need to better understand the factors that increase the likelihood that women will worry, and develop strategies and appropriate referrals to help women with excessive worry”.  Dr. Janz noted that programs to assist women must be culturally sensitive and tailored to patients’ differences in communication style, social support, and coping strategies. She also stressed the importance of appropriately presenting risk information to women with breast cancer so that they can understand their risk and effectively participate in treatment decisions.

It’s not rocket science

A few weeks ago I had been sent a report on research undertaken at one of the top American cancer research  centres.  It seemed to highlight the concerns I was having about symptoms that were occuring in my body – so I email it to my Oncologist and asked if we could discuss this at my next appointment.

I wasn’t too happy when I turned up and mentioned my email, to have this dismissed with “I have about a 100 emails I haven’t replied to”.  He was busy,  wanted to get the next patient in, so I try not to worry.

For the future

The charity Breast Cancer Care realises that secondary, returning cancers are a big worry, and last Autumn saw the birth of a very effective campaign on this issue.  See more info on http://after-cancer.com/researchsurveyspetitions/breast-cancer-care-prove-lobbying-and-campaigns-work/

They understand how we feel.  They offer practical solutions and support, especially on their helpline – so I have ditched the report in CANCER – and thank heavens for Helplines run by BCC, Breakthrough Breast Cancer, Cancer Research UK, etc.

And perhaps, if Conferences, reports, meetings etc. involved genuine patients, rather than just professional medics, we might get some more helpful and useful information out of these reports.  We are the patients – we know what is happening – we need to be told accurately what medics find out about our bodies.

Further reading:

Another Wiley report might give readers more hope that there are medics that understand our fears:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pon.614/abstract

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Is this why our cancer statistics are so bad?

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...of course, this was prior to the actual zap...
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Thousands of cancer patients are not being given most successful treatments


BBC reports radiotherapists claim too few people are getting radiotherapy because GPs and the public see drugs and surgery as better options.

They warn this could explain why the UK has lower cancer survival rates

Estimates say 52% of all cancer patients in the UK should receive radiotherapy, but actual figures are:

  • England and Wales 38% of patients get radiotherapy
  • Northern Ireland  35%
  • Scotland 43%

Experts say that suggests approximately 30,000 cancer patients are not getting what they would consider the best treatment.

What is radiotherapy?

It is a treatment for cancer using radiation, usually X-rays, to damage the DNA in cells. Healthy cells can repair the damage. Rapidly dividing cancerous cells cannot, so they die.

Dr Jane Barnett, president of the Royal College of Radiologists, says “radiotherapy is still a magic bullet.”  Especially now with the use of computer imagery.

Why is it under-used?

Money.  Professionals admit anti-cancer drugs, backed by the pharmaceutical industry, were better promoted than radiotherapy.

Dr Barnett said GPs were also poorly informed about the subject: “Radiotherapy plays a very small part in a doctor’s training, unless you’re going to be a clinical oncologist, compared with drugs and surgery which play a part in many fields.”

The National Radiotherapy Awareness Initiative is trying to improve radiotherapy’s reputation, saying radiotherapy cures more people than chemotherapy, is 13 times more cost effective and is targeted to within millimetres.

Professor Tim Maughan, oncologist at the Velindre Hospital in Cardiff, criticised the government’s decision to set up a cancer drugs fund worth £200m a year.

He said: “It’s the wrong decision. I don’t understand how we can chose to spend money on drugs which have not been deemed cost effect by NICE (the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence).

Professor Mike Richards, national clinical director for cancer, says “The recently published national cancer strategy clearly recognises the role of radiotherapy and commits additional funding.”  So why so coy?

What’s to come?

New technologies, such as Intensity Modulated Radiotherapy (IMRT), are more effective at targeting the radiation at the tumour, minimising damage to nearby tissues and reducing side effects.

But UK lags behind Europe:

approx. 20% of European patients have access to IMRT

approx 7% have access in UK

One reason could be NHS’s lack of proper administration.

A radiotherapy unit uses very expensive – but cost-effective – machinery.

  • In private sector these units run for a minimum 12 hours per day.
  • Most NHS units are still governed by old-fashioned administration, and run 8 hours a day.

One of the newest forms of treatment, proton beam therapy, fires particles at a tumour rather than using radiation waves.

If you think this might benefit you, DEMAND to be sent to Europe for treatment;  patients are being funded by NHS to go abroad – but NHS is keeping quiet.  Natch.

Make sure if radiotherapy could help, that you demand to be given a course.

And call La La Lansley’s bluff – he keeps on spouting mantra that we lag behind Europe, so use his words to get best treatment for yourself – abroad if need be.

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Going in the right direction – abroad

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Good news about treatment abroad

If your cancer requires Proton Beam Therapy to treat it, then the NHS will now, in certain circumstances, fund treatment abroad.

With all the despondent news I get in my email Inbox, I had to pinch myself when I received this letter:-

Our ref: DE00000545998

Dear Miss Reilly Collins,

Thank you for your emails of 27 September and 4 October about proton therapy treatment abroad.  I have been asked to reply.

You can download a patient information sheet entitled ‘Proton Beam Therapy Abroad’ from the NHS Specialised Services website at:

http://www.specialisedcommissioning.nhs.uk/doc/proton-beam-therapy-information-adult-patients
Yours sincerely,

Edward Corbett
Customer Service Centre
Department of Health

So what next?

This shows that it IS possible to get treatment funded abroad, if unavailable in Britain.  And so this should be good news for those who can’t get treated here.

Patients who need this therapy perservered – wrote letters – went on and on – and eventually the NHS has seen sense.

So don’t give up – and good luck if you are trying to get treatment funded abroad.

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Andrew Lansley still repeating cancer treatment lags behind Europe – so why isn't he doing something?

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Lansley repeats tired mantra

Before the election, David Cameron was promising to bring UK’s cancer treatment up to European standards.

Last week, when he gave the keynote speech at the Britain Against Cancer conference, Andrew Lansley, Sec. State for Health, trotted out what has become a very tired slogan -  cancer care lagging behind Europe.

Immediately after the election, I asked Dept. Health Press Office, “who had been asked to oversee raising our cancer treatment standards were on a par with Europe’s”?

Officials became unbelievably coy, but I eventually prised out an answer from one shy damsel in the Dept. Health Press Office, who emailed me

“These questions (sic) cover a wide range of areas, and would involve me speaking to five or more policy officials, taking up a great deal of mine and my colleagues time, in order fore to get answers for you”.

Er – isn’t that your job, dear?

“And, once we have answers, you are likely to have follow-up questions.”

Well, if your bosses keep on repeating this mantra – you’d better find out who is the official.   Or was this an election promise which sounds good – but everyone hopes will go away?

The Patients’ Association (PA) say a study shows the majority of cancer patients in the UK are not receiving the latest types of cancer radiotherapy,  and that the UK lags  behind European standards.

Radiotherapy is an important treatment for many cancer patients, involving the use of ionizing radiation to control malignant cancer cells.  It has been estimated that 50% of cancer patients would benefit from the treatment.

However, the PA say

  • It is estimated that only 38% of cancer patients receive radiotherapy in any form, leaving a large proportion of patients who may benefit from the treatment, unable to do so.
  • The form of radiotherapy has also been shown to be falling short of the required standard
  • only 7% of the patients receiving radiotherapy receive the new forms of the treatment.
  • In comparison, this figure is at an average of 20% in Europe.

PA say “differences in staffing levels mean that the care offered is variable across the country, with variation in rates of treatment as well as waiting times.

At the B.A.G. conference there was frequent mention of differences in survival between the worst and best performing areas, with NHS Trusts in the South of England regularly outperforming those in the North, but as mentioned at the  conference, overall our survival rates are still below those in Europe.

Saving Money

Staring the NHS in the face is one way they can save money.

It is obvious that there is a shortage of radiotherapy machines.  Each machine costs millions, yet  if the NHS wanted they could easily increase patient use of these without buying any more.  All they have to do is copy the private sector.

In private hospitals these machines are running 12 hours a day.  It is usual for staff now to work 3 X 12 hour shifts a week.

In NHS hospitals many machines work an 8 hour day, although staff say they can still work 12 hour shifts.  So would using the machines 12 hours a day and utilising staff time to the maximum not mean more patients could be treated every day?  Simples – surely?

For more information see http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-11213724

and http://info.cancerresearchuk.org/news/archive/pressrelease/2010-09-07-radiotherapy-awareness-low.

Copying Europe

As they say, this isn’t rocket science.  To copy many of the sensible treatment it just needs someone who understands the NHS and the European system.  If Gerry Robinson isn’t available, I am!

Fresh from a battle with my local hospital ovr treatment for osteoporosis,  they tried to get me to do the same exercise programme they run for elderly people  (that’s me!).  During classes  I kept on pointing to the two pieces of exercise equipment which Villa Eden had majored on for osteoporosis (trampoline and treadmill), and tried to use them as they stood idle against the wall.

http://after-cancer.com/osteoporosis/exercise-is-good-for-treating-osteoporosis/

Seven physios were sent to try and get me to desist.  They pointed out that the programme I was on wasn’t for osteoporosis; I couldn’t find out when they would be running one, so suggested as everyone was exercising for different conditions, what was to stop me doing those proven to be beneficial for osteoporosis?

Eventually they gave in, but why-oh-why do patients who understand what is needed have to argue and argue?  If we make a stand we are made to feel trouble-makers.

We are not – we have had the benefit of treatment in Europe and seen IT WORKS!

Now I have found an NHS dermatologist who has worked with La Roche Posay, the French skin treatment centre that restored my horrid skin when I was nearly crazy with the pain – and NHS Prof. tried to blame “your age”.  But it has taken since September to get a referral – and I don’t see the specialist until January.  One GP argued about giving me a referral latter, saying that I should see Prof.  XXX.  I had already told him that this prof. had tried to blame my skin lesions “on your age”, and been proven wrong.  “He is an excellent doctor”, replied this man – and it took me two more weeks of pleading before the letter was faxed over.   (This might have been NHS cuts starting).

If anyone knows of European cancer hospital treatment (not prescribed drugs) that could be adapted at little or no cost to NHS – please email me at verite at greenbee.net.

Cost Incidentally, one of the exercise programmes I was put on pays Royalties t1o University of Otago, in New Zealand. These exercises are repetitions of those we did in kindergarten – jump up and down on spot;  walk sideways;  rise up on toes;  kick back leg at right angles etc. etc.  This programme is being rolled out across NHS, and for every patient on it, the NHS pays a rotalty to Otago Uni.  Any qualified physio in the NHS could have devised this – so who ever signed the contract?

Tell NHS administrators to go back to school and learn basic economics – Simples!  And tell Dept. Health to stop what Gerry Robinson calls “the game that gets played” using the NHS and patients’ lives as counters.

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Even Natratilova with her determination felt vulnerable during radiotherapy treatment

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Martina Navrátilová
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Celebrities suffer on an emotional roller coaster too during cancer treatment


Recently Martina Navratilova commented that she had overcome her breast cancer,  saying “I dodged a bullet.”

Although she admits radiotherapy makes one tired: “the hard part was the emotional side, lying there on the table every morning before the French Open.  And she likened it to a ” six-week prison term that you have to serve out.”

Cancer survivors will be able to relate to her experience undergoing radiotherapy;  as she says ” you have no freedom.”

Perhaps her well-documented comments might make oncologists think again when devising treatment regimes, and spend a little time allaying our fears, as we lie on the table – abandoned and closed off from human contact.  Survivors know it is only for ten minutes, but the equipment can deliver such devastating rays, even the toughest people like Martina have worries.

Now Martina has a huge staff surrounding her, but even so it took a lot of determination to go out into the Stade Roland Garros and win  the senior women’s doubles at last month’s French Open, with her partner Jana Novotna, even though she was “having problems seeing the ball” after a session in a Parisian hospital.

“When you get diagnosed with something like that, everything stands still,” Navratilova said. “You’re ready to give up everything to get healthy, because making long-term plans is irrelevant if you’re not sure whether you’ll be around.

But this remarkable woman isn’t standing still.  Her next project involves climbing Mount Kilimanjaro – but not until  December – raising funds for the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation.

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A patient passport will help cancer patients feel less 'abandoned'

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Time Stamp on Every Document
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Going Forward

Labour started the idea of  a ‘passport’ for cancer patients, and the details were being worked out as the election was called.  This was in answer to the many patients who had complained that they felt let down and abandoned when their treatment finished.

At a press conference called by NICE to explain what the organisation had done for breast cancer patients, there were two obligatory patient representatives, perched uncomfortably at each end of the platform – one sneeze and they would have fallen off;   obviously there to show NICE’s commitment to ‘inclusion’.

NICE’s Chairman spoke, then got his panel to talk about what they had achieved.  As an afterthought he asked the two patient reps.  for their thoughts.

“We felt abandoned“, was their damning verdict.  The press grabbed them afterwards, leaving NICE officials standing chatting to each other.

So there were obviously strong voices calling for some sort of programme post-hospital, and someone came up with the idea of the Patient Passport;   a written record of a patient’s medical history from the time of diagnosis, through  surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, up until the time they finished these treatments and were told they only had to worry about follow-up appointments in three – six months.

This is when patients feel they are abandoned, as there is no-one officially they can turn to with the many, many worries they have about side effects if they are on hormonal drugs, possibility of a recurrence of cancer, joint pain, hot flushes and other after effects.

Now, the passport will be given to the patient, who then takes it to their GP.  It will then be up to the GP to offer advice and care in-between hospital check-ups – and the average GP is probably going to say they know nothing about cancer – and won’t have received any training to answer the multitude of questions that they will be expected to discuss and provide answers.

So Breast Cancer Care hosted a meeting of patients and doctors to discuss how this would work.  One major stumbling block that came up was the amount of QOFs GPs receive for an appointment with a cancer patient.

QOFs = quality outcomes framework.  Yes, another stupid NHS ‘quango-speak’ term, but it is important, as it is the number of points a doctor accrues to claim fees paid them by the NHS.  A GP gets 6 QOFs when a cancer patient has an appointment;  someone with diabetes, etc. gets 90 QOFs.  The stupid system goes on – ever wondered just why doctors are so keen to give us flu jabs, but won’t discuss the pros and cons in case one of our drugs might react with the jab?  Yes, they get paid for giving us a jab.  No, they don’t get paid for discussing if this is right for us.

So, for me, the most important part of the session at BCC’s office was discussing with doctors the practicalities of explaining to GPs if they were or weren’t going to get more QOFs now for dealing with cancer patients.  When I tackled Mike Richardson, the Cancer Czar about this, he brushed it aside saying” QOFs aren’t on the agenda until 2012″!

Now, even in the shortest possible form, a ‘passport’ will contain many pages, much of which will be highly complex information about degree of cancer, type of operation, what radiotherapy was administered, and details of chemo drugs.  We might understand this after we have lived with the ‘doctor-speak’  for so long, but the average GP ….?  And when will they get time to read and absorb the pages of information?

As the passport idea goes forward, will it be yet another idea put forward by mega-expensive consultants, and doomed to failure? Or will doctors be given more QOFs, and training in how to understand cancer treatment?  I don’t think so.

The passport is a marvellous idea in theory, but practicalities have to be ironed out before millions of NHS money is spent – and expensive documents end up in the recycling bin.

So ….

In the meantime, it might be worthwhile looking at WHAT’S NEXT – a booklet written by Breast Cancer Nurses in the West London Cancer Network, and an American website, Journey Forward.

WHAT’S NEXT is a loose-leaf file full of practical advice, which is to be given to cancer patients at certain London hospitals when they finish with hospital treatment.  Victoria Harmer, Breast Care Nurse Specialist at St. Mary’s Hospital, and one of the most practical, sensible and helpful people I have come across, helped write it for the West London Cancer Network.

Talking to Victoria is like being privy to a fantastic Aladdin’s box of useful and practical information about cancer, and since she handed me this file, I have been diving in, thinking “why wasn’t I told this?”

e.g. I was NEVER told about the importance of being alert to the possibility of Lymphoedema, and what to look for.  When I developed it, in typical British fashion I thought if I ignored it, it would go away.  Now, thanks to non-advice, I have it in arms and legs, and it is a devil to manage.  No-one in ‘my’ medical team said anything, and it wasn’t until I went to Germany for treatment for some cancer side effects that they picked it up, gave me a lecture about managing the condition, and said I needed to seek treatment when I returned home.

Journey Forward is an online passport, which can be zipped across to any doctor or specialist whom you have to see.  Not only will it save you having to fill out countless forms each time you see a new medic, but it will keep your data stored when you might have forgotten what happened to you.

Designed for the US market by National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship, UCLA Cancer

.Survivorship Center, Wellpoint Inc. and Genetech, it has some good ideas that we could adapt -

.if the will were there at the Dept. Health.

www.JourneyForward.org

but

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What I would tell Martina about handling cancer treatment

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Martina Navratilova
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Martina Navratilova is going to France for Radiotherapy, but worries about burns

Martina has decided to come out in the open and say she has Breast Cancer. She realised she could help others by going public and raising awareness that early detection can help save lives

With her fitness regime, no-one would have ever suspected that she would get cancer.  The health gurus continually make us lesser mortals cringe, telling us our unhealthy life-style contributes to getting cancer – but Martina ? No, she would be the last person, one would think.  But cancer can happen to anyone.

But why go to France?  For some time the World Health Organisation has placed France at the top of the cancer treatment ladder.  And now, when she could be treated anywhere in the States, Martina has opted to have radiotherapy in France.

The 53-year-old, one of the idols of women’s tennis, told Reuters in a telephone interview from New York that she felt great physically, and did not expect her six-week radiation therapy course in Paris, during next month’s French Open, to get in the way of prior commitments.  One only hopes she won’t find that sometimes this treatment has a way of making one extremely tired…….

“My life has not changed other than I have to be in one place for six weeks to sit through radiation,” she says.   But…. she admits she is scared that the treatment will burn her skin.

France has probably the best post-cancer survival rate in the world – far better than ours.  I wonder if it is because their medical profession helps patients stay on life-prolonging hormonal drugs, by treating side effects, rather than brushing them aside?

In France, doctors work with skincare companies to develop state-of-the-art care that repairs the damage drugs do to our bodies; more than likely, she will be told to slap on Aloe Vera to prevent burns, or given an Evolife product designed to help with specific side effects from cancer treatment.

Evaux Laboratoires, that makes Evolife products,  is a French company producing

  • Evoskin = for dry face and body skin
  • Evonail = repairs cracked and broken nails from cancer treatment
  • Evoskin = red breast during radiotherpy
  • Evomucy = mouth ulcers (this was brilliant when hormonal drugs gave me horrible chemo-mouth)
  • Evodry – dry mouth
  • Evodeo = body odour (nurses delighted in telling me I couldn’t use deodorant when                                                         undergoing treatment – well, now we can).

Over the past five years Evaux have been supported by ANVAR (the National Agency for Development from Research) and part of Project Eureka in Europe. This  carries out research together with specialists in oncology and dermatology.

Evaux Laboratoires has created a Research and Development department called EVOLIFE to improve the quality of life during chemotherapy, by limiting specific side effects of some chemotherapy treatments, and providing solutions to problems patients experience with side effects.

At their conference last year they explained the on-going clinical trials that were taking place in French hospitals, and an Oncologist talked about how they were giving the appropriate cream, such as Evoskin,  to patients BEFORE they started treatment, to ‘prime’ skin.  This is a fantastic product;  the only one I know that you can use on your face and your body.  I didn’t believe this at first, but it works.

I gave some Evomucy to a friend who had mouth ulcers from chemo, and he said it was superb.

www.myevolife.co.uk

One of the best Aloe Vera gels is Equilibra – brand leader in Italy, which is now coming onto the market in UK.  It is 98% aloe vera (many cheaper brands contain much less).  It is the extract from this plant that costs – but makes it effective. Cost £6.49 (although one private hospital sells the 150 ml tubes for £12!).

Incidentally I always have a tube on hand in the kitchen. It is superb for zapping burns right when they happen as you are cooking, and preventing blisters.

Info: http://www.equilibra-range.co.uk Buy from : http://www.chemistdirect.co.uk

As she is a naturalised American, Martina may prefer to use American products, and at Washington Cancer Center they have developed and trialled iS Clinical products to help ‘cancer skin’.

iS CLINICAL® skincare has been offering help to people undergoing treatment for cancer, since launching the iS Cancer Care program at the Washington Cancer Care Institute, Washington, DC.

The program provides skincare solutions for patients undergoing chemotherapy or radiation treatments. It features a very special selection of iS CLINICAL® products that specifically address the unique skincare concerns of cancer patients. These products contain extremely powerful botanical antioxidants to protect against free radical damage, generated by the environment and as a result of certain cancer treatment therapy. Medical literature gives overwhelming support to using antioxidents during cancer therapy. They have been shown to improve the out come of cancer treatments and to reduce the side effects.

Alan Kelly, their spokesman, says “Our products also combine ingredients that strengthen cellular health and integrity such as vitamin B3 and green tea. We utilize proven cancer care preventative ingredients, and we offer the safest, most advanced forms of UV protection”.  Martina will have to use strong SPFs to protect against the sun, especially when she is reporting on tennis.

When attitude is paramount,  the iS CLINICAL® Cancer Care program offers hope and relief for those suffering with the effects of cancr treatments. Quality of life issues. like skincare concerns, are valid and real, and luckily for Martina US oncologists realise this.

Some products Alan recommends for differing skin conditions are:

  • Tightness & Pulling, Radiation Dermatitis we would recommend our Poly-Vitamin Serum which has intensive healing and rejuvenation properties.
  • Dry & Cracked Nail beds we would use Hydra-cool Serum, a light but powerful hydrating and soothing serum.
  • Scar Tissue: Super Serum Advance, reduces scar tissue and boosts healing.
  • Redness, Acne and inflammation we would use Pro-Heal Serum Advance, this formula is anti-inflammatory and reduces Erythema.
  • Dryness : Facial – we recommend Moisturizing Complex, moisturizes and offer a protective barrier. Cracked, dry skin on arms etc we use Body Complex, again offers a moisturizing action and offer a protective barrier.
  • Dark under eye circles, puffiness we use Eye Complex to lighten and hydrate the area.
  • Prevention and treatment of radiation burns our SPF25 treatment sunscreen to offer the ulimate UV protection

https://www.mbnsclinic.co.uk/store/

And whilst she is in France, the hospital will more than likely recommend that Martina uses products from the French skincare company La Roche Posay. At its ‘mother’ centre in the town of Roche Posay, they treat over 8,000 patients with skin problems every year.  They make a wide range of suitable products, which they sell at major chemists in over 80 countries. including John Bell and Croyden in Britain.

www.johnbellcroyden.co.uk

We all wish her well, and as a patient she will find a great deal of understanding and help over the side effects that are bound to happen as a result of radiotherapy, and when she will be put on hormonal drugs.

Kylie, Martina and other celebs say screening is important

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Martina Navratilova, Kylie Minoque and other celebrities send alert on importance of screening

They probably didn’t mean this to happen, but when a celebrity gets cancer it is news.

And when it is someone like Kylie Minogue, who was considered too young to have breast cancer, the story is covered worldwide.  She went on publicly to say that at first she was mis-diagnosed, and was told she was too young – even with so many well-documented cases.

She persisted in her fight to get the diagnosis – but her fight helped thousands of other young women who have breast cancer, but found difficulty in convincing doctors to take them seriously.

Martina Navratilova is the latest celebrity to discover she has breast cancer, and the news is surprising.  One would have thought with her healthy life-style, exercise and food regime, she would be the last person to get the disease.  Talking to Colin Murray on BBC Radio 5, she says she is exhausted, but is learning “to take care of yourself – both inside and outside”.

Because she knows she is such an iconic figure, she has decided to ‘come clean’ and tell everyone about her diagnosis and treatment. She is hoping this will encourage others to go and be screened.  She warns “not to let these mammograms slide, like I did”, admitting that although she thought it had been two years since her last one, actually it had been four:   “I just figured I could wait”.

As “very much a person who takes charge” and gets on with things, one definite decision she has made is to wait longer than normal to have radiotherapy.  She didn’t say, but obviously her medical team has told her that France is the best country in the world for cancer treatment;  so she is waiting until May, when she will be working  in France at the French Tennis Championships, to have six weeks of radiotherapy.

Martina says she is worried about getting burns” from radiotherapy, but she is lucky.  French hospitals have a battery of clinically-trialled products which they prescribe for patients, and talking to Oncologists at the last Evraux conference (one of the companies that make these products) I was told that the latest thinking is to start patients on a cream such as Evolife before their treatment.  So that the skin is ‘primed’ before radiotherapy starts.  Makes sense.  Then slap on the cream; I did this four times a day and didn’t burn once.

Martina Navratilova diagnosed with breast cancer

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Martina Navratilova has “my personal 9/11″


Martina Navratilova has had a lumpectomy for breast cancer.

The good news for the ace tennis player is that she was diagnosed with a non-invasive form of breast cancer,  called ductal carcinoma in situ, or DCIS.

In her  case this was confined to the milk ducts and had not spread to the breast tissue. “It was the best-case scenario you could imagine for detecting breast cancer,” Dr. Mindy Nagle, a good friend of Navratilova’s told People Magazine.  The disease was detected early, and the prognosis is said to be excellent.

“I cried,” said Navratilova, 53, when she told reporter about the moment in February when a biopsy came back positive after a routine mammogram revealed a cluster in her left breast. “It knocked me on my ass, really. I feel so in control of my life and my body, and then this comes, and it’s completely out of my hands.”

She had a lumpectomy and will begin six weeks of radiation therapy in May. This she will have in France;  it makes it easier for her to carry on working.  Once no American resident (she was born Czech but is naturalised American) would have ever dreamt of being treated anywhere but “the good old US of A”.  But Martina is extremely health conscious, and will have obviously gone over her options – and, like other celebrities, has decided France, with its enviable record as providing best cancer treatment in the world, is the place where she is going for her radiotherapy treatment.

DCIS accounts for about one-fifth of all new diagnosed breast cancers, but the prognosis of someone with DCIS is good.  experts say there is a one-percent chance of anyone with this diagnosis dying of breast cancer.

The good news for the rest of us is that we are constantly exorted by the experts to lead a healthier life.  No smoking, plenty of exercise and a lean body with no excess fat.  And here is a super athletic machine. whom I have never seen with a cigarette, who has people in her entourage to help her exercise, cook and prepare her lean, low calorie meals – and she still gets cancer.  Currently she is a sport ambassador for  AARP (American Association for Retired People)  and so is probably as healthy as she has ever been.

Martina, nine-time Wimbledon champion, still plays tennis and ice hockey and competes in triathlons, says she is lucky, as she had not been getting regular checkups.  “I went four years between mammograms,” she tells PEOPLE. “I let it slide. Everyone gets busy, but don’t make excuses. I stay in shape and eat right, and it happened to me. Another year and I could have been in big trouble.”

She is going to have to watch her skin.  Seeing her close to, she had a very lined, dry skin from all her years playing tennis outdoors.  With no fat to provide a ‘cushion’ or layer under the top skin, probably cancer drugs will dry up her skin even more – but luckily she earned very well during her tennis career, so will be line for top notch advice and products when dealing with side effects.

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Give us your ideas to save NHS money

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If we want to keep an NHS ‘free at the point of delivery’, WE have to fight for this.

It is no use expecting ‘them’ to sort out the NHS’s problems.  It belongs to us – and as ‘our’ service it is up to us to suggest where the cuts come.  Whatever you believe, there are going to be massive cuts, whichever party gets in.  So look around, suggest where the cuts can come – and I will pass on sensible suggestions.

Here are some ideas.  Do send more:

Being a realistic cynic, before the mad Consultants, Ministers and Uncle Tom Cobley are allowed to set up their ‘cost-cutting exercises’, perhaps we can all come up with ideas for saving money without the stupidity of cutting doctors, nurses, technicians etc.

LATEST SUGGESTION :  before the PCT/NHS outsources services, get Staff to discuss these.  One area has outsourced its Ambulance service to a private company.  Fine in theory;  in practice it meant a 101 year old patient was told at 3pm she could go home from A & E.  Sister told her daughter bad news was there wasn’t an Ambulance available until 3 AM – twelve hours wait!  Sister used her contacts, found there was an Ambulance going to another village 2 miles from the patient’s home, and arranged with the Ambulance crew to take two patients. She got stick from the dispatcher – obviously cross that his company had lost a lucrative journey fee.  Staff could have pointed out that this could happen, and something could have been negotiated in the contract.

1. One patient suggests for starters that some of the staff must know where savings could be made, and there should be  rewards for suggestions if taken up.

2. These same staff should be consulted where and when the NHS feels there is a need for change.  Currently, expensive outside Consultants are bought in – if these were ditched – this could save the NHS millions.  Professor Steve Field, Chair of Royal College of General Practictioners,  says NHS spending on external consultants is a ‘scandal’, telling his audience of around 1,000 GPs that the  money should be reinvested in services.

3. How many Ambulances have to turn back because someone has forgotten to put the patients’ notes in with them?  This happened to a friend being transferred between a South London and a North London Hospital.  Setting off at 11pm, the Ambulance finally arrived at its destination around 2.30 AM, having had to turn back for the notes. I dread to think what the overtime bill was for that mistake.   So why not tape a notice HAVE YOU GOT THE PATIENTS’ NOTES? inside Ambulance doors, to act as a simple reminder.

4. Private hospitals work their radiotherapy units 12 hours a day.  The NHS one near me works 8 hours a day.  Radiotherapy machinery is a huge capital cost – so surely it is more efficient to keep this machinery working 12 hours a day, and overheads and capital replacement  costs could be saved if the machinery was working longer hours?  And patients wouldn’t have to wait so long for an appointment.

5. And why is Friday the signal for theatres, physio depts., etc. to close down at mid-day?  Patients still need treatment, and again, private hospitals are often open until 8 pm.

Nurses, doctors, technicians, physios etc. and patients – you must have simple ideas that would save money and stop the need to employ outside Consultants.  Send these to tto@btinternet.com – either anonymously, or if you want to be acknowledged put your name at the end of the email.

And I will even send it on to the appropriate department with the suggestion that this is deserving of a monetary reward.

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