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Article review

2 days ago

Link: http://www.medicinenet.com/brain_cancer/article.htm

Citation: Charles Patrick Davis, MD, PhD 1996-2016

Summary: Brain Cancer is a fast moving, life altering, aggressive disease that can affect anyone ranging from a child to an adult at any given time. This website goes into detail and explains everything from symptoms, treatments, types of tumors, staging, testing, and survival rates.

Glossary:

Metastasize (Grows or spread to other parts of the body)

Malignant (Cancerous tumors)

Benign (Non-Cancerous tumors)

Aspect of Cancer Cues: Brain Cancer is a horrific disease that is caused either by hereditary genes, working in certain fields like Oil refineries, jet fuel handlers, chemists, embalmers or rubber industry workers or by Cancerous cells growing to become Malignant Tumors. Before someone is even diagnosed they may have symptoms such as…weakness, dizziness, headaches, seizures, nausea, vomiting, hallucinations, memory or speech problems, vertigo, fatigue and even muscle weakness. Even though a lot of us may have some of these symptoms it doesn’t mean we have brain cancer but it wouldn’t hurt to get checked out if you feel uncomfortable. Start by seeing your primary care Doctor who will order testing like a physical exam, Cat Scan and at times a MRI. If the Doctor sees something that resembles a tumor further referrals will be given to you to see an Oncologist who will then test the area to see if the tumor is Malignant or benign and to determine the staging of the tumor ranging from 0-4. If the Tumor is Malignant you will then sit down with your Oncologist & neurologist to come up with a plan of action weather it is surgery, radiation, chemotherapy or if you prefer no steps at all. A lot of people feel it is irrelevant to even try the steps of radiation and chemotherapy due to the side effects of hair loss, metallic taste in your mouth, loss of appetite, weight loss, blurry vision, depression and for the biggest factor being you are normally only guaranteed 5 more years. It is a proven fact that 23,770 people are diagnosed every year with brain cancer and out of those 16,050 people will die each year. I know a lot of us are thinking well what can I do to prevent myself from getting this horrific disease but unfortunately there is no way of preventing it from happening. Simple things in our life like cell phones, aspartame, smoking, radiation exposure and exposure to HIV, have not been proven to cause brain cancer and home remedies such as herbs, fish oils & chokeberries have no research to back up the claim that they even help. So your best bet is if you are feeling under the weather or have these symptoms you should get yourself checked out by your primary care Doctor to rule out any worries.

Relevance: It is of great importance to get your yearly physicals done and like I said before if you have a lot of these symptoms to get yourself checked because the earlier the detection of brain cancer the better survival rate you will have. If they catch your tumor at stage 0-2 or even maybe 3 you may live a long life but stage 4 being the worst doesn’t have as great of an outcome.

Next Steps: Some of the next steps in Cancer is Cancer research, Doctors, chemists, Oncologists and scientists study this, every day in hope of learning more about this disease and how to treat it or even cure it someday.

Personal Experiences: Two years ago my co-worker/best friend was diagnosed with stage 4 Brain Cancer after multiple attempts at the Doctor to try to figure out what was wrong with her, by the time they caught the real corporate it was already too late for surgery so she opted to try radiation and chemotherapy. It was only a short 3 months to the day of her diagnosis to the day we buried her and I can still see her lying on the couch skin and bones, so frail that I was afraid to touch her for the simple fact I didn’t want to hurt her. Her skin hung off of her like she had lost hundreds of pounds and was left with excess skin, her head was bald from the chemotherapy and she hadn’t eaten or drank in days but despite holding my best friends hand through this horrible ordeal, I wouldn’t trade those last few months with her for anything. I would not wish anything like this on anyone & I will always cherish the fact that I was able to be with her during her last days on this earth.