Mesothelioma Help Cancer News
Mesothelioma Patients Have Built-In Support Group in Their Family
There are many wonderful support groups out there for patients and families of those with mesothelioma. You are encouraged to share your experiences and get insight and support from others who have been in a similar situation. However, support groups aren’t for everyone, as some people prefer to keep to themselves or turn to their family.
Family is key in helping mesothelioma patients recover physically as well as mentally and emotionally. Family members should encourage their loved ones and assure them that you’re there to help in any way. A listening ear can be invaluable. Try not to push the person to talk about their diagnosis if they don’t feel up to it. They are going through a huge emotional strain and, although it’s healthy to talk about your problems, you have to let them do it on their own time.
Do your best not to push your family member too much to do things they don’t feel up to doing, or may not be physically ready to perform. As essential as it is for them to move around and exercise, you don’t want them to overexert themselves. It might take them a long time to rebound from a long day at the mall or an extended trip.
I believe that everything has a balance, and this situation is no exception. Supporting a family member with mesothelioma is an honor, but it can be tough at times as well. Hearing about their pain and suffering is a trying experience, but remember, you are there for them, not the other way around in this case.
On the other end of the spectrum, if you are having a hard time coping with the diagnosis of a loved one, there are plenty of external resources and support groups for you, too. The Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation has many different options for caregivers as well as survivors. Take advantage of these services that are so precious.
There are other online support groups such as Cancer Buddies Network. Cancer Buddies Network is an online support network for anyone, anywhere affected by cancer. Share the ups and downs, laughter and tears with someone who knows how it feels because they’ve been there too. You can either chat 1-to-1 by private messaging onsite, or on our lively forum 24/7. Whether you have experienced cancer yourself, or you are family, friend or carer, you can search for your buddy simply and safely on their dedicated website.
Keep your chin up, and continue to pray! Remember, a cure could come at any time!
Penn Researchers Developing Protein ‘Passport’ To Help Deliver Cancer Drugs
The body’s immune system is designed to defend against bacteria, viruses and other perceived “foreign invaders” that assault the body. Unfortunately, the immune system doesn’t distinguish between harmful bacteria and friendly foreign objects such as medical devices implanted in a patient or nanoparticles used to deliver medicine to tumors. That poses complications to doctors trying to administer treatments to people with cancer, including malignant mesothelioma, a cancer caused by exposure to asbestos.
Doctors would like to avoid triggering an inflammatory response in cancer patients when they administer medicine or when implanting a pacemaker or artificial joint. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania are experimenting with what they describe as “a passport” to allow therapeutic devices to get past the immune system, according to new research published in the journal Science.
The human body’s innate immune system responds to foreign bodies in a generalized way, trying to destroy anything it doesn’t recognize as a part of the body. The team of Penn researchers says the solution is to make the foreign particles seem like part of the body so the immune system doesn’t destroy them.
The researchers reported this week that they had accomplished that feat in lab mice, attaching customized protein fragments to foreign particles that tricked the animals’ immune system. The key was tricking the immune-system “border guards” known as macrophages that are a type of white blood cell that find and eat invaders. Macrophages continually monitor the bloodstream for a type of protein called CD47, a marker of self. If an object such as a red blood cell has CD47 on its membrane, the macrophages let it pass.
The Penn team leader, Dennis E. Discher, a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, compared CD47 to a passport that identifies a cell as part of the body rather than a foreign object. The research team attached fragments of CD47 to plastic nanoparticles, then injected them into laboratory mice. Nanoparticles, which are smaller than one-billionth of a meter, are useful in delivering, antibodies, drugs and imaging agents and are being studied for diagnosis and treatment of cancer, according to the National Cancer Institute.
The researchers said the technique enhanced the performance of nanoparticles carrying tumor-shrinking medicine and other loaded with dye to capture images of the tumors. They observed that the particles carrying a cancer drug Taxol were shrinking tumors in mice.
Discher said in an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer that the technique could be useful in overcoming resistance to much larger foreign objects in the body such as pacemakers and joint replacements.
Researchers not involved in the research called it a promising advance, though it will take some years before the technique is ready to use with human cancer patients.
Know more about mesothelioma and how you can deal with it.
Anxiety Before Followup Mesothelioma Scan
The following post is Part I of an article from Jan Egerton, a long-time mesothelioma survivor. Jan has suffered many setbacks during her battle with mesothelioma, and here she discusses her last struggle with chemotherapy and the anxiety leading up to her CT scan.
After a terrible few weeks leading up to the appointment for my followup CT scan, I had set my mind that no matter what, I was having chemotherapy for the third time. I was dreading the chemotherapy, but with the choice of something that could work against me or only one trial on offer in the UK what choice did I have?
I still class myself as a healthy person, the only thing wrong with me is mesothelioma, and okay, this annoying bile problem that has developed over the years from a mixture of the side effects of chemo and having my gall bladder removed to prove a point. [Jan has been struggling with bile buildup in her stomach.] I have found I don’t ail from the normal things that people without cancer do.
On the eve of my first chemotherapy infusion I started with one of my “sessions”, this is when my mesothelioma is on the warpath and does a kind of growing surge, at least that’s what I say. My temperature drops to around 35.3C [95.5F], I can’t get comfortable and I feel like my adrenalin is pumping. When they took my temperature before commencing the infusion, again showing it was low, I was worried they wouldn’t go ahead, but I told the nurse it would be alright I was having a “mesothelioma growth spurt.”
I knew the minute the chemotherapy started pumping through my veins it would do some damage [to the cancer cells], even at the low dose of 50% of what my body could handle. That night my body hurt, each area where my mesothelioma resides told me it wasn’t happy, I could imagine each tumour opening like a flower to send its seeds out and the chemo creeping in and killing all the seeds. It was a full out war going on inside.
The second infusion wasn’t a good one [November, 2012], my body took a dislike to the carboplatin as it was pumping through my veins, and I found myself in an ambulance being transferred to a hospital with an A & E department. Needless to say that was the last chemotherapy I was allowed.
Now I really dreaded the upcoming CT scan: my aches and pains were worse, my imaginary steel cage that tightens around my left ribs had turned to a solid iron one, each movement feeling restricted, my back ached and I felt dreadful. My bile problem had also increased in intensity, and I was sure when I finally had my CT scan, some two months after my second infusion, it was going to be extremely bad news.
I was giving myself a year at most, so I looked at projects I wanted to get done before I was too ill to complete them. My life with my husband was the most important one, creating a storyboard of our time together, the happy times, the dogs we have poured our love on, the holidays we have had – I wanted it all mapped out and put onto DVD’s so if he wanted to remember me all he had to do was press play.
Read Part II of Jan’s story next week to find out the results of her scan.
Know more about mesothelioma and how we can help.
Presiding Officer Enrolled in Experimental Treatment for Mesothelioma
The leader of the Suffolk County Legislature, William Lindsay, will begin next week an experimental treatment for mesothelioma overseen by the National Institutes of Health, according to Long Island Newsday.
Lindsay, a former electrician and official with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, was diagnosed in 2012 with malignant pleural mesothelioma, a cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. The cancer diagnosis came soon after he had been elected to a seventh term as the legislature’s presiding officer.
Lindsay worked as an electrician for 15 years and served for 23 years as a business agent and business manager of Local 25 of the IBEW. As an electrician, he had to scrape off the asbestos fireproofing from a beam before attaching electrical conduits to it, according to Long Island Politics. Electricians are among the occupations with a higher risk of occupational exposure to asbestos and higher rates of mesothelioma.
Lindsay has been receiving treatment at Mt. Sinai Hospital in Manhattan and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center since undergoing surgery last May to remove a diseased lung. “We don’t realize how lucky we are, being in the New York vicinity, to be near some of the greatest hospitals and physicians, probably in the world,” Lindsay said, according to minutes of a Suffolk County Legislature meeting.
Lindsay is 67 years old. Many victims of mesothelioma are in their 60s and 70s when they are diagnosed with the disease. The symptoms of mesothelioma typically take 20 years to 50 years to appear after exposure. He will receive one week of treatment followed by a 21-day break, then another week of treatment.
More information about New York Mesothelioma.
Mesothelioma Patient Finds Therapy in Making Music
If you’ve read my previous posts, you know that my Dad plays in a bluegrass band called the Dunbar Boys. He had to take some time off from playing during his mesothelioma and treatment, but he is now back playing the guitar and singing with his friends.
Dad loves his band and everything about it – the friendship, being on stage, singing, meeting new people. These are some of his favorite things and being away from them for so long was tough. At the same time, getting back to doing what he loves was great motivation for him during his recovery. Music has been great therapy for so many, and I think it was for Dad, too, maybe just in a different way.
I know that Dad missed making music. During his chemotherapy, and even while going through the clinical trial, he would talk about wanting to play from time to time, but didn’t feel comfortable going back just then. He wanted to make sure that when he made his return, he was ready. When that great return did come, it was at the Dunbar Community Fest, held in my hometown every year. We were doing a fundraiser for the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation during the festival and Dad would be playing for the first time back in public.
You have to understand that Dunbar is a very small town where everyone knows everyone. Dad, being a life-long resident, is recognized and loved by the whole community and everyone was so excited to see him healthy and back with the band. The newspaper did a story on him and then we received a call from a Pittsburgh news channel wanting to share his joy. All the exposure was kind of surreal, but Dad and the rest of the Dunbar Boys had a great time!
When he got on stage that Friday night, it was an emotional time for my family and friends who were present. They gave a wonderful performance and everyone was elated for Dad. Dad was happy, too. He was beaming because he was able to get back to his music.
Dad is still playing every chance that he gets, and the Dunbar Boys are all finally back together again!
Know more about mesothelioma and how you can deal with it.
Free Mesothelioma Patient & Treatment Guide
We’d like to offer you our in-depth guide, “A Patient’s Guide to Mesothelioma,” absolutely free of charge.
It contains a wealth of information and resources to help you better understand the condition, choose (and afford) appropriate treatment, and exercise your legal right to compensation.
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