Cancer

[Guest TankerHC]

Anyone else here seen more than an unusual amount of Cancer in your and your friends families? Not saying it is for sure, but considering all the money thats been going into Cancer research over the last 50 or 60 years, seems like a lot more people are getting Cancer to me. Here is why I say that.

 

Have a friend who was diagnosed with Cancer while in Iraq about 3 or 4 years ago. About 6 other friends with Cancer.

My father died of Lung Cancer back in April.

My mother was diagnosed with advanced staage lung Cancer a little over a week ago and given days. Had up until yesterday a bleeding mass, couldnt remove the lung, doc said she wouldnt survive the operation and same with Chemo. But they are going to try radiation which might give her 6 months.

MIL diagnosed with Cancer for the second time (different Cancer) about 8-10 weeks ago, just went through surgery.

MILs sister (Wifes Aunt) disgnosed with Stage 4 Cancer about 6 weeks ago, goes into surgery Monday

MIL's other sister has Cancer

My sister got sick went to the Doctor a few days ago, found a mass on her lung, Doc thinks it may be Cancer, still waiting on test results.

A 41 year old Cousin in Georgia was diagnosed with breast Cancer last year

Another Cousins husband is going in for Cancer surgery today in Maryland.

 

More and more people I talk to are Cancer survivors or have it. Lot of Conversations lately that go like this, start talking about something, leads to talking about quitting something, someone mention's Cancer and inevitably someone says "Yea, I am a Cancer survivor" or "I was diagnosed with Cancer last year" or something along those lines.

 

Prior to I would say about 10 years ago, I only knew personally 3 people my whole life who had Cancer. Both grandmothers died of Cancer, and step grandfather had skin Cancer but didnt die from it.

 

Today, I can name right off the top of my head 25 people that I know with Cancer right now and about as many who have died from it. Used to be only old people, now, I am seeing a lot of young people.

 

Anyone else noticing or seeing this? Just seems like Cancer is way more prevalent now than it used to be.

 

I did speak to a retired Doctor friend of mine about it an he said "Almost everyone will die of Cancer of some sort. If it isnt a Heart attack or a car acident, you have to die some way, if nothing else, it will be from Cancer". He didnt mean it as "Everyones going to get Cancer and die" but as in "If you live long enough your going to get Cancer' is the way I took it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 11, 2013 by TankerHC

[Jonnin]

Not seeing any more than usual here.  One aunt had some type (unspecifided female, maybe uterine?) and that went away, returned and we lost her this year.  An ex-co-worker lost his wife this year after years of remission.  Know 3 or 4 others who have an active cancer, but thats out of most everyone I know IRL.  

 

I observe a lot of family members in your list (MIL family X 5 for example) and genetics DO play a role.  So it could be your family has either exposure to something as a group or flawed genes as a group?  

 

I dunno.  There are a lot of cancers and a lot of people have one of them if you slice the statistics that way.  I mean a few million have skin cancer, a few million lung, a few million breasts, a few million livers, a few million guts, it adds up to a bunch of millions in a hurry...!

[Guest TankerHC]

Not seeing any more than usual here.  One aunt had some type (unspecifided female, maybe uterine?) and that went away, returned and we lost her this year.  An ex-co-worker lost his wife this year after years of remission.  Know 3 or 4 others who have an active cancer, but thats out of most everyone I know IRL.  

 

I observe a lot of family members in your list (MIL family X 5 for example) and genetics DO play a role.  So it could be your family has either exposure to something as a group or flawed genes as a group?  

 

I dunno.  There are a lot of cancers and a lot of people have one of them if you slice the statistics that way.  I mean a few million have skin cancer, a few million lung, a few million breasts, a few million livers, a few million guts, it adds up to a bunch of millions in a hurry...!

 

Thats exactly what I am seeing today. But thats what I am saying. You say you are related to or know 5 or 6 people that had or have Cancer. The first 40 years of my life I didnt know that many. Now Im meeting that many every couple of months.

 

On the gene part, already had my wife take the test to see if she has the mutation. Also told her she needs to start seeing the Doctor and be tested more often. Same with my 4 sisters, both great grandmothers, both grandmothers and mother all died or dying from Cancer. They also need to be tested.

[Lowpower]

When I got out of the service, over 37 years ago, I was living in Camarillo, Ca which is located on what is called the Oxnard Plain.

It is a flat area rich in top soil (16 ft deep?) and a farmers crop paradise. Tomatoes, beans and strawberries are normally grown there. 

Point is they supposedly used some sort of gas to kill off the strawberry fields and used crop dusters a few days a week. The area also

supposedly had the highest incidence of cancer. My bro-in-law died from pancreatic cancer while living there. He was 51 at the time. 

 

My wife was born and raised there and no one in her family ever had a touch a cancer.  No one in my immediate family has ever died from cancer and I'm over 60. 

 

I've known for those many years if you do live long enough you will eventually die from it. 

 

Lp

Edited October 11, 2013 by Lowpower

[Jonnin]

But for me the 5 or so that I know are constant, 20 years ago I would still have said 5 or so.  Its not the same folks, either -- now it is co-workers and friends my age, back when it was my parent's friends or church folks etc.   I have not seen much change in the past decade, but that is going to vary greatly depending on who you ask and who they know.    You ask a 20 year old who hangs out mostly with other 20 year olds, you will get a low % outside of family.   You ask a 40-50 year old that hangs in their age group, its gonna  be a higher number, more often than not...

[bersaguy]

It has been determined that most cancer victims have a gene in their family tree and that in most cases it is a genetic caused cancer. That is why doctors will ask you if you have cancer in your family. Whats strange is back many years ago when our air quality was bad less people had cancer. Now we have better air quality and more cancer victims. There has been more than a trillion dollars spent on cancer research and they are no closer to a cure now than they were 20+ years ago. In all honesty I don't believe that. I think they may have really discovered a cure long ago when they discovered it was genetic but it is such a money maker for the medical industry they really are just not ready to give up the profits yet. My doctor has told me that I have small splotches of skin cancer from sun exposure which I have known it for many years after spending 15 years fishing Bass tournaments and spending many days a week out in the sun. I talked it over with her(my doctor) and I told her that it does not bother me and does not hurt so I am not planning on doing anything to aggravate and make it worse. I don't fish all that much any more and most of that is now at night. She respected my decision and has never mentioned it again.  

[Mark A]

I think it can be chalked up to much better imaging and detection methods. Also, I think there is more understanding now about various types of cancer.

 

I think many people died in the past of cancer but were listed as a natural death. It was just "their time"

 

I'm not going to argue that it is big biz... I just think we know a lot more about it now.

 

 

My wife is now on year 2 of surviving her cancer. We were extremely lucky. the type of cancer she had doesn't present many or any symptoms. She is one of those who could have gone years w/o knowing anything was wrong, go to the doctor and find out she had weeks to live. My wife went into surgery for a relatively rare issue. When the surgeon opened her up he noticed something didn't look right. He probed a little and found an extremely small tumor. He ended up opening her up more than expected and found another small spot which turned out to be a second tumor. He basically had to pull all of her organs out and go through them bit by bit. A 2 hour surgery ended up taking about 6.5 hours and it was a very nerve racking time.

 

The surgeon and his team, and the oncologist that dropped everything on a Saturday to come in and consult did a fantastic job. If they had not cared or gone the extra mile she probably would have been dead in a year or so.

 

That was a horrible conversation to have with a wife waking up in a lot of pain.

 

The astonishing thing is the "retail" price of the medicine she has to take. the full on rate is $7,500 per month. They actually have foundations set up to assist people in purchasing it. We were fortunate that her insurance is part of a very large group and has so far been able to absorb the majority of the cost. If that changes we will face that at that time.

 

The drug makes her sick at times and makes her bones hurt a bunch. However, she is as cancer free as can be determined and her prognosis is another 50 years of life. Her family all lives into their 90's...

 

Mark

[bersaguy]

Glad to hear your wife wife is doing well and still with you and she will be added to my prayer list every night that she does live another 50 years....... :up:

[tnguy]

I think it's just part of getting older that you hear more of people getting sick and/or dying. Edited October 11, 2013 by tnguy

[Will Carry]

Tanker,

  I spent the best part of my youth battling cancer with my wife. 9 years we fought. She was 19 when she got it. I wouldn't trade those 9 years for anything.

Edited October 11, 2013 by Will Carry

[hipower]

My family battle was not nearly that long, Will. But I do understand the meaning of your statement. The almost 4 years brought out  love that sometimes doesn't get expressed in the same ways without that terrible cloud hanging around.

 

It brought my wife, my mother, and myself closer than I would have thought possible. In some ways, it was almost a healing experience.

 

I don't and wouldn't wish it on anyone, but I did come out of it a better person.

[Fourtyfive]

It has been determined that most cancer victims have a gene in their family tree and that in most cases it is a genetic caused cancer. That is why doctors will ask you if you have cancer in your family. Whats strange is back many years ago when our air quality was bad less people had cancer. Now we have better air quality and more cancer victims. There has been more than a trillion dollars spent on cancer research and they are no closer to a cure now than they were 20+ years ago. In all honesty I don't believe that. I think they may have really discovered a cure long ago when they discovered it was genetic but it is such a money maker for the medical industry they really are just not ready to give up the profits yet. My doctor has told me that I have small splotches of skin cancer from sun exposure which I have known it for many years after spending 15 years fishing Bass tournaments and spending many days a week out in the sun. I talked it over with her(my doctor) and I told her that it does not bother me and does not hurt so I am not planning on doing anything to aggravate and make it worse. I don't fish all that much any more and most of that is now at night. She respected my decision and has never mentioned it again.  

Skin cancer is easily curable in it's early stages depending on what type. If you have any on you have it cut off , if it's on your nose you can lose your nose , don't play with it (not your nose). I have had some spots cut off myself ; my wife works in an Otolaryngology clinic and I have heard horror stories. If you know you have it , remove it before it spreads.

[DaveTN]

Saw this after I just back from the Doctor today. I am a cancer survivor. Today I went from six month checks to one year. Being diagnosed with cancer puts other “problems” in perspective; I hope none of you have to hear those words.

 

I am lucky that I had great Doctors, a great hospital, and technology that saved my life and made the treatment easier.

[Guest TankerHC]

Skin cancer is easily curable in it's early stages depending on what type. If you have any on you have it cut off , if it's on your nose you can lose your nose , don't play with it (not your nose). I have had some spots cut off myself ; my wife works in an Otolaryngology clinic and I have heard horror stories. If you know you have it , remove it before it spreads.

 

Let me tell you, you are right about that and if you dont, I can tell a story. Might not want to read farther for those that are bothered by suffering.

 

In late 76 my grandmother got a red spot on the left side of her nose. My mother and my aunt tried to get her to go to the hospital and she wouldnt. Johns Hopkins was less than 3 miles away. They kept telling her it could be Cancer she still wouldnt go and it kept getting bigger until it was about the size of a dime and everyone was telling her to go and she finally went. It was skin Cancer. After some more visits the Doctor decided she would cut if out. The way she did it was after she cut it out, she cut a wide patch of skin on my grandmothers head and folded it over and sewed it on her nose. It covered her left eye. Looked hideous to be honest and my grandmother knew it. She like to walk to the grocery store and walk to The Avenue, but would no longer do it. If she had to go out she covered her face with a scarf. The skin patch started dying and it got worse looking and worse yet, the Doctor didnt get the Cancer, she still had it. And it had advanced.

 

To make this short(er) I sent the next 4 years living with my grandparents. They didnt have a phone, because there was a phone booth a block away they saw no need for a phone. As my grandmother got worse and worse, an Attorney came over. Clearly someone had called an attorney to come talk to them, I sat right there while he told them if they sued the original Doctor for malpractice, he could all but guarantee them somewhere around 15 million since the Cancer was now terminal. They said no, they were not going to ruin someone else life. So they didnt.

 

It was without question the worst experience of my life. But pretty amazingly didnt have a giant effect on me like something that would bring on PTSD or something like that since it was over a long period. I watched my grandmother literally rot away. For nearly three years when it got really bad it was constant screaming every waking moment and all of those god help me's. Fr the last two years I didnt see her eat one single thing, nothing. She survived off of sipping coke and milk through a straw. I couldnt tell the number of times I had to run to the phone booth to call the ambulance. And finally, while she was in her hospital bed in the living room, something happened, half her face was gone, her left eye was gone, her entire nose was gone,. I was laying on the flor watching Johnny Carson, grandfather was asleep in the chair. And I heard "someone help me" turned around and there was blood everywhere. My grandmother bled to death in front of me and my grandfather. I ran and called the ambulance, came back and she was still bleeding. They got there, stabilized her somehow and got her to Johns Hopkins and later that night when we got there she was gone.

 

Some things about that experience. One being that the pain management they have today wasnt there in te mid to late 70's, not like it is now. Because of people like my grandmother (And Ill tell how frther down0 it developed probably faster than it would have. (Better pain management).

 

When she first was diagnosed then after the first surgery, a Doctor in Oncology at Johns Hopkins named Cohen was working on research on drugs for pain management and Cancer research. In exchange for free care, since my grandparents had minimal insurance and this was going to cost a lot of money, they signed for her to be given all types of experimental drugs.  Over about 4 years she took so many different drugs, some didnt work, others barely worked, other were way too powerful. Once, she was down to about 40 pounds, they added a drug. At the time she couldnt even lift her head, but the drugs sent her into hallucinations and she thought the family was trying to murder her, for a week she had to be lifted in a wheelchair, rolled to the sink and she would only drink directly from the tap. if she was going to drink her coke, it had to come from an unopened bottle. Johns Hopkins supplied two RN's that worked 10 hour shifts and most of the time the nurses stayed longer just so she would have medical care on her worst days around the clock, supplied the Hospital Bed, wheelchair, Private Ambulance service on call 24/7, and everything else at no charge. They offered to put a phone in but grandparents wouldnt take it (Born in 1903 and 1904 they wouldnt spend a penny unnecessarily, nothing, when their B&W TV went out, my grandfather said guess its time to get a new TV, went and got a new TV, was glad it went out, was tired of B&W when everyone else had color, comes back with a TV, I take it out of the box and its the exact same fricken B&W TV that just blew up), Anyway I know for a fact that Threeeighty is 10000% right because  have seen it with my own eyes. Then in 1997 I happened to look in the mirror and had a red spot about the size of the tip of a ball point pen on my bottom lip. I forget exactly how they diagnosed it, but she did freeze it (Went to Keesler) and it was non Melanoma skin cancer. The Doctor told me she figured it was from all the years spent out in the sun, which is exactly what they told my grandmother, who grew up on a farm in Georgia. Even though she said it was pretty common, because of what I witnessed it scared the hell out of me and I do not look in a mirror that I am not looking for red spot on my lips and nose. In all, everything they did to my bottom lip probably didnt take 30 minutes. And like Threeighty says, I see a red spot again, Im headed directly to the Hospital.

[Fourtyfive]

Let me tell you, you are right about that and if you dont, I can tell a story. Might not want to read farther for those that are bothered by suffering.

 

And like Threeighty says, I see a red spot again, Im headed directly to the Hospital.

Yes Sir ! +1

[safeandsecure]

My better half is a breast cancer survivor -- 11 years now, thank God.  What she went through (during treatments), I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy.  But I'm glad she did 'cause we still have her with us.

 

One grandfather died of cancer at age 72.  Cut him open for an exploratory (this was back in '76) and just sewed him back up.  He lasted two days.

 

But at the fire station, we've had a BUNCH of various cancer victims -- from late 30's to 60's.  Brain cancer, lung cancer, bone cancer, testicular cancer, skin cancers of different types.  Figure that's from all the crud we've been  exposed to.

 

Lots of folks at church and in the circle of our friends have gone through it, too.  And maybe that's because we're older -- I don't know.  Cancer used to be a certain death sentence, but nowadays, it seems there are so many more effective treatment options. But for those above who have or have been, or who have had family battling the big C, I also will keep you in my prayers.  I know how hard it is to deal with.

[Sam1]

I think it can be chalked up to much better imaging and detection methods. Also, I think there is more understanding now about various types of cancer.

 

I think many people died in the past of cancer but were listed as a natural death. It was just "their time"

 

+1

[tnguy]

I'll also add my voice to those who say not to mess with cancer. My mother had symptoms and because my grandfather had died of cancer and she had bad memories of him dying a horrible death with his family around him, she stuck her head in the sand. It didn't get looked at until it had damaged her kidneys and done a whole bunch of internal damage and by then it was too late. I just happened to be visiting her and I wasn't there 48 hours when she collapsed and was taken to hospital. She died a horrible death with her family around her. There's a ball of anger I carry around inside about that that I'm very careful not to prod.

[dlm37015]

it sucks big time

[jgradyc]

Just so everyone knows, very little research is being done to find a "cure" for cancer. I researched this for a scientist who wrote a book about it a while back. My pet peeve are those American Cancer Society "Race for the Cure" marathon where very little of the funds raised goes to cancer research and even less to finding a cure. 

 

Cancer is big business.  That's not to said they are hiding cures, it's just that cure research is a very low priority. Overwhelmingly, most cancer research is on drugs that treat some symptom of cancer that's then sold for big bucks to each patient (and paid for mostly by Medicare). It's true that survival rates have improved due to early detection and some treatments, but finding a cure really isn't a priority for medical research.

Edited October 12, 2013 by jgradyc

[Timestepper]

Condolences to all who have lost loved ones to cancer and congratulations to those who have survived it. Lost my maternal grandfather to lung cancer when I was in high school and I've known and loved others who lost the battle as well.

 

As to the O.P., I can't honestly say that I, personally, know more people now who have cancer than I did say 30 years ago, although, largely thanks to modern media, I know of more people with cancer.

 

It could very well be that cancer is more prevalent now than it used to be, but it could be - as others have suggested - that thanks to modern medicine more cancer is being diagnosed that would've otherwise gone unnoticed or been attributed to something else. I suppose it could also be that, as populations have exploded the ratio of cancer has remained about the same, but is more noticeable now simply because "X"% of a million is a bunch more than "X"% of a hundred thousand.

[Pat]

I've had quite a few family members keel over from cancer. They were a bit younger than the average age people live to, as well, in their 50's. Two uncles, one aunt-in-law... grandfather had some kind of cancer that didn't affect him much, didn't get him. I dunno, it's weird, and also a little concerning for my sake. Something that seems to be a bit of a reoccurring theme is quite a few people who get into dope seem to end up with cancer... I dunno if that's true or not, but it wouldn't surprise me. The two uncles of mine who died from cancer got pretty screwed up in their youth a lot, on top of heavy smoking and in one case, drinking... more reason for me being a teetotaler.

 

But regardless of that, it is true that it seems a lot more people end up with cancer in today's day and age. Really weird...

[Guest Lester Weevils]

Knock on wood everybody in my family seems to keel over from heart disease before getting cancer.

There is a cute little old house across the street. When we moved in the neighborhood 30+ years ago, still occupied by original owners. Man, his wife, and grown daughter. The dad was already dead from cancer, and the mom was dying of cancer. Then a few years later the unmarried middle aged daughter died of cancer.

Made me wonder if maybe the house had lots of radon, or maybe the family had lived in oak ridge back in the 40's and the dad happened to have been in on the ground floor of the nukular bizness or whatever.

The house has been a rental since, generally nice young renters, but I haven't known any of the tenants well enough to know if any of them got cancer.

[superduty]

My mom is a breast cancer survivor. My grandfather died of it (quickly, thank God) at 92 a couple years ago. My manager died of cancer at 36 years old in May. Right now, my FIL is dealing with going downhill with Mesothelioma.

Cancer is a M F. Edited October 13, 2013 by superduty

[RobertNashville]

Respectfully to the OP...you really can't look at anecdotal evidence and base conclusions on it and there is no reason to do so when we have actual statistics to know the exact incidence rates of the various kinds of cancer per capita.  I'm not saying that anecdotal evidence is unimportant or that any single person's experience should be ignored; just that it's not the best way to know.

 

For what it's worth...

 

"According to the National Cancer Institute, the status of cancer, 1975–2009, shows that overall cancer death rates continued to decline in the United States among both men and women, among all major racial and ethnic groups, and for all of the most common cancer sites, including lung, colon and rectum, female breast, and prostate. However, the report also shows that death rates continued to increase during the latest time period (2000 through 2009) for melanoma of the skin (among men only) and for cancers of the liver, pancreas, and uterus."