The Big C, From A to Z
So you’re in pain. The doctor says “describe it,” and you’re stuck for words.
See Page 269 of the big, friendly new encyclopedia called “Informed Decisions: The Complete Book of Cancer Diagnosis” (Viking), edited by Dr. Gerald P. Murphy, Lois B. Morris and Dianne Lange, and put out by the American Cancer Society.
Here, you’ll find a word list that runs the pain gamut, from “flickering” and “throbbing” to “radiating” and “piercing.”
The glossary is just one small illustration of how unstuffy this big book is.
Its goal is to explain and define every little thing you ever wanted to know about cancer--and were afraid to ask.
Starting quite literally at the top of your head and ending at your soles, “Informed Decisions” spells out and diagrams what symptoms to look for, what to do if you find them, and where to go from there.
The book’s dust cover is a ghostly, uninviting, antiseptic white, not at all in keeping with the plain-spoken warmth of the writing inside.
But if you fear cancer, or have cancer, or know someone who does--or if you’re just an information junkie who wants to be informed and prepared--this could be a good read.
Also covered are explanations of all the treatment options for each form of cancer, how to select the best for you, cure rates and survival statistics, how to deal with the HMO, and all sorts of other potential questions that people usually don’t think about until they’re confronted with them.
Among these: sexuality after radiation or chemotherapy; how and why you should seek a second opinion after diagnosis; what kind of foods to eat.
But the most important and optimistic thing to know about cancer, says Murphy, former chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society and lead editor of the book, is that “we are entering an era of new therapies never available before.”
Immunotherapy, or cancer vaccine therapy, has been introduced in the last 12 months in lymphoma, melanoma and prostate cancer, he says. “And I’m sure that as we speak, it is being advanced into other areas.”
Immunotherapy is the injection of body products, such as proteins, or of tumor antigens, which exist on the surface of cancer cells.
“With new delivery systems now available, we are able to stimulate the immune system to respond to these antigens to destroy the tumor,” he says.
It was the absence of such delivery systems that “bugged up” the whole immunotherapy field for years, the doctor explains.
And the same can be said for gene therapy, he adds. “Gene therapy will work when the proper mechanism is found to place a particular gene at a particular spot, to regulate the system it is designed to regulate.”
Suppressor genes normally regulate cell growth, he explains, and since cancer is out-of-control cell growth, these genes can make order out of the cellular chaos that is cancer once the delivery system is perfected.
These new therapies and others are just around the corner, Murphy says.
Even today, he says, there are many more treatment options than just a few years ago. And patients have a new attitude.
“A few years back, everybody sat and waited for the doctor to tell them what to do. You never questioned his opinion. Nowadays, people are more informed. They are more able to discuss cancer and more willing to ask the doctor to tell them all the treatment options that exist. That is essential for patients to do,” Murphy insists.
“So get into that discussion,” he says. “Ask, ‘What are my other options? What else might I be able to do?’ Most physicians are used to handling that sort of discussion.”
And if you happen to have one who isn’t, do yourself a favor and take a meeting with someone else.
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The Faces of Cancer
TEN LEADING SITES OF NEW CANCER CASES, 1997*
Men:
Melanoma of skin: 3%
Oral cavity and pharynx: 3%
Lung and bronchus: 13%
Stomach: 2%
Colon and rectum: 8%
Kidney and renal pelvis: 2%
Prostate: 43%
Urinary bladder: 5%
Leukemia: 2%
Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma: 4%
All other sites: 16%
*
Women:
Melanoma of skin: 3%
Breast: 30%
Lung and bronchus: 13%
Pancreas: 2%
Colon and rectum: 11%
Ovary: 4%
Cervix uteri: 2%
Corpus ad uterus, NOS**: 6%
Urinary bladder: 3%
Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma: 4%
All other sites: 21%
* Estimates
** Not otherwise specified
TEN LEADING SITES FOR CANCER DEATHS, 1997*
Men:
Esophagus: 3%
Lung and Bronchus: 32%
Pancreas: 5%
Stomach: 3%
Liver and intrahepatic bile duct: 3%
Colon and rectum: 9%
Prostate: 14%
Urinary bladder: 3%
Leukemia: 4%
Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma: 4%
All other sites: 21%
Women:
Brain and other nervous system: 2%
Breast: 17%
Lung and bronchus: 25%
Pancreas: 5%
Stomach: 2%
Colon and rectum: 10%
Ovary: 5%
Corpus ad uterus, NOS**: 2%
Leukemia: 4%
Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma: 4%
All other sites: 23%
* Estimates
** Not otherwise specified
Source: CA, A Cancer Journal for Clinicians; January/February 1997. Excludes basal and squanmous cell skin cancer and carcinoma in situ except bladder.
