5 Ways Social Workers Can Support You
Do you know your social worker? You should. We’ve listed 5 ways that social workers can help cancer survivors. Elisabeth Tamasi, clinical social worker at… Read More »5 Ways Social Workers Can Support You
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Our Cancer blog finds a new home
Patients, caregivers, friends, family, doctors, nurses and researchers...we're proud to introduce a new blog in the Johns Hopkins family. The Our Cancer blog, authored by… Read More »Our Cancer blog finds a new home
A Prize, Promotion and Press Story
About ten years ago, researcher Bert Vogelstein appeared with Katie Couric on the Today Show to announce new research on a stool test for colon… Read More »A Prize, Promotion and Press Story
Cancer Survivors…12 Million and Counting
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and National Cancer Institute (NCI) issued a report today estimating the number of cancer survivors at nearly 12 million… Read More »Cancer Survivors…12 Million and Counting
Breast Cancer Patients: Lymph Nodes – Leave Them Alone?
When most people think about breast cancer, they don’t often think about the small, pea-sized structures that dot the body and help fight infections and other foreign substances. But it’s top-of- mind for many patients who undergo surgery for breast cancer.
Lymph nodes are sites for cancer spread, and certain nodes are removed during surgery depending on a number of factors. Data published originally in the Annals of Surgery in September 2010 and today in the Journal of the American Medical Association show that certain nodes in select patients may not need to be removed.
Read More »Breast Cancer Patients: Lymph Nodes – Leave Them Alone?
World Cancer Day
Cancer is now the leading cause of death worldwide, according to the World Health Organization. It crosses all boundaries, gender, ages, ethnicities and strikes both… Read More »World Cancer Day
Cancer News Review
This month's Cancer News Review podcast with Kimmel Cancer Center director Bill Nelson begins with updates on the field of head and neck cancer in light of the encouraging news that actor Michael Douglas' cancer is in remission. Nelson says that there is an emerging story in oropharyngeal cancers (those that are in the back of the throat, tongue, soft palate and tonsils). An increasing number of these cancers are associated with certain strains of the human papillomavirus (HPV), the same virus that causes cervical cancer. Patients with HPV-associated head and neck cancers fare better than patients whose cancers are causes by alcohol or tobacco use. He says the molecular details of why this infection causes cancers and why these patients fare better is still not understood.
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Pancreatic cancer
There are few cancers that are as tough to beat as pancreatic cancer. When it is found, the disease has usually spread, and only about 20… Read More »Pancreatic cancer
Fatigue
Five weeks into radiation, I decided that the hair on my legs had become so long that an intervention was necessary. Going somewhere to have my legs waxed was too overwhelming in my current state, and cutting myself while shaving seemed like a small risk, as I’d internalized my doctors’ advice about the compromised nature of my immune system. I enlisted my sister to help; although neither of us had ever done anything like this before, we decided the best thing would be an at-home waxing party…This very quickly became one of those situations where the task at hand seemed like a good idea in principle but turned out to be a very, very bad idea. The wax was either too hot or not hot enough, we put the strips on backwards, and we had only minimal results. Wax went everywhere; we made a huge mess; and ended up in nothing but our t-shirts in fits of hysterical laughter on the kitchen floor. We managed to sort-of passably wax a small piece of my shin before I had to throw in the towel and retreat to my room for a nap.
My fatigue hit an all time low towards the last week of treatment. During this time, I had one burst of energy—a precious state of mind and body that had felt on hiatus for many weeks—and I decided that I needed to go grocery shopping.
Cancer News Review: Top Stories
Three stories top the list of major developments in cancer research during the past month. Listen to these topics discussed in the most recent Cancer News Review podcast.
First, to treat or not to treat is the question for low-risk prostate cancer. Whether to give aggressive treatments for low-risk cancer contained within the prostate is a controversy that many experts in the field still debate. Prostate cancer expert and Kimmel Cancer Center director William Nelson reviews a study analyzing how treatment decisions for these cancers are made and how quality of life expectations are communicated. He says the current problem is that screening, which has helped decrease mortality from prostate cancer, has identified some men who could live their entire lives with prostate cancer but die of other causes. He believes there are certain groups of men who should consider active surveillance programs to carefully monitor low-risk, organ-confined prostate cancer.