7 Tips on Top Cancer Centers
What makes an outstanding cancer center? How can patients and referring physicians determine which is best?
Top Cancer Research News: November
In Kimmel Cancer Center director Bill Nelson's podcast, top stories included studies on pancreatic, colon and kidney cancer.
Why I Run
As an avid runner, I participate in many races each year. I enter these for many reasons. I love to run, it’s a challenge, and sometimes it’s for a good cause. At the beginning of each race, I like to look around at the starting line at the wide range of people running the event. Each participant is running for a different reason. For some, it’s a personal goal, a hobby, or even a response to a challenge. For many, the race has a special meaning -- it could be in honor or memory of a loved one, in support of a friend or family member, or to simply celebrate life.
Know Thy Pathologist
When you are facing potentially life-changing treatment or surgery for cancer, you may want to have several opinions from the best surgeons, the most experienced oncologists, and top experts in radiation therapy, right? Well, there's another expert whose double-checking may be worth your while -- the pathologist.
Managing End-of-Life Care
This week, many media outlets have reported on findings from a recent study by researchers at Dartmouth College addressing the vast differences in end-of-life care for cancer patients in the U.S. The study addressed concerns that many patients may not receive appropriate end-of-life care, and this care depends heavily on where they are hospitalized.
Cancer Caregiving
--The following blog post is Part 2 of a blog series written by Brenda Boitson, a 26 year-old widow, writer, and speaker who resides in Lancaster, Pennyslvania. Her husband, Kevin, lost his battle to angiosarcoma at the age of 36 on October 28, 2008. Brenda detailed their journey through his disease at http://www.theboitsons.info and now continues to blog about widowhood at http://www.crazywidow.info. She advocates locally for sarcoma and grief awareness while working full time and attending school for business. Read Part 1, posted last week.
My husband became ill in June 2008 and within just two months he went from having a sore throat, to being on life support and having an emergency esophagectomy at Johns Hopkins. Our life drastically changed, and that change included a sudden move from Lancaster, Pennsylvania to Baltimore, Md. While Kevin was in full care of the Hopkins staff, I could not bring myself to leave his side.
Remembering Kevin Boitson
The following blog post was submitted by Brenda Boitson, a 26 year-old widow, writer, and speaker who resides in Lancaster, Pennyslvania. Her husband, Kevin, lost his battle to angiosarcoma at the age of 36 on October 28, 2008. Brenda detailed their journey through his disease at http://www.theboitsons.info and now continues to blog about widowhood at http://www.crazywidow.info. She advocates locally for sarcoma and grief awareness while working full time and attending school for business.
When I first walked through the doors of Johns Hopkins Hospital, one late night in August 2008, I was uncertain, fearful, and worried beyond belief. My husband of 1.5 years had arrived just a few minutes before me via emergency ambulance transport. He was breathing only thanks to life support, and we still had no answers on the undiagnosed cancerous tumor that was growing in his chest.
CT Scans Reduce Lung Cancer Deaths by 20 Percent
Starting in 2002, more than 50,000 current and former smokers aged 55 to 74 signed up for the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) at Johns Hopkins and more than 30 other sites across the nation. The trial was to last 10 years, but eight years into the study, leaders of the trial found their results thus far were significant enough to stop the trial and announce their findings.
Completion of Treatment — Time to Celebrate?
This post is written by Lillie Shockney, the Administrative Director of the Johns Hopkins Avon Foundation Breast Center and a two-time breast cancer survivor.
Completing Treatment - Time to Celebrate?
You'd think so. You've been through surgery, perhaps chemo and radiation, maybe on or completing hormonal therapy and you are finally "done" breast cancer treatment. So ready for a party? Most will say no. Why? Though most of you (and me) are thrilled to be done treatment, the idea of celebrating sounds some how risky. I spoke to a woman today who had just finished her treatment. She said, "I'd love to have a party but don't want to jinx myself-you know, the cancer might come back. " And thus the fear of recurrence, whether it be local recurrence (back in the breast or chest area where it started) or distant recurrence (in the form of metastatic disease with breast cancer springing up in another organ) paralyzes women from feeling comfortable with celebrating this mammoth job they have completed-- overcoming breast cancer.Read More »Completion of Treatment — Time to Celebrate?
Let’s Beat Pancreatic Cancer Together
The following blog post was submitted and written by representatives at the Lustgarten Foundation. Johns Hopkins and the Sanger Institute published two papers in the journal Nature describing how pancreatic cancer develops far more slowly than once thought. Major media outlets covering the news included The New York Times, Bloomberg News, Reuters, CBS News, Science News, WebMD and Health Day. Read the Johns Hopkins' news release for more information.
The Lustgarten Foundation, the nation’s largest private funder of pancreatic cancer research, applauds the work of cooperating investigators at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions and the Sanger Institute on their groundbreaking research in the area of pancreatic cancer. The studies, which were reported online Wednesday, October 27, in Nature, affirm early detection and screening as promising areas of investigation that hold significant potential for saving lives.