Has COVID-19 lost us the war on cancer?
For several months in the spring of 2020, clinics and hospitals across the United States temporarily suspended routine cancer screening during the early phase of the COVID outbreak. Patients we’d reminded by mail and phone not to forget their mammograms or colonoscopies or PAP smears were suddenly told to cancel them and sit tight. Most […]
No Illusions
Though I’m an oncologist and not an infectious disease expert I’m getting bombarded with questions about the pandemic. Patients and staff are asking me and every one of my partners similar things, over and over: How long until things go back to normal? How much danger am I in? Is it all going to be […]
Caregivers: Put on Your Own Mask First
You know those safety demonstrations at the beginning of a flight, where they go through the plane’s safety features? Remember what they always say about the oxygen masks? “If you’re with someone that needs assistance, always put on your own mask first.” You’re thinking that’s selfish maybe, but it’s critical advice – and not just […]
Cancer: Written in the Stars?
Among other things the summer equinox means (besides the sunlight fracturing my sleep at 5:30 in the morning), star-gazers know that the sun’s most northerly position on the day of the equinox is in Taurus – though it wasn’t always so. In ancient Greece, the sun would’ve ridden to its equinox peak in a different constellation: specifically, Cancer. When I stumbled on that tidbit in the paper yesterday, I was reminded how long that name’s been with us.
Googling the Way to Early Diagnosis
Pancreatic cancer really pisses me off. I’ve known too many good people struck down too early by it, and in two generations we haven’t really improved cure rates significantly. Besides being highly resistant to most forms of chemotherapy, pancreatic cancer is almost never diagnosed at an early stage. By the time patients develop the typical […]
Rethinking the War on Cancer
We talk about cancer in warlike terms. Patients “battle the disease”. Physicians treat “aggressively”. In 1971, President Nixon “declared war on cancer” by signing the National Cancer Act which created much of the current research structure. Without this bellicose spirit, we may never have re-imagined cancer as an enemy to be defeated rather than a […]
Care of the Cancer Caregiver
Being diagnosed with cancer is a life-altering event. To survive through the process, one usually relies upon others for help. This article is written for those individuals who are the “helpers” or the caregivers. The people who help can be a spouse, sibling, parent, child, neighbor or friend; a person who will be there for […]
Does Sugar Cause Cancer Cells to Grow?
FACT: Sugar does not make cancer cells grow faster! The truth is that all cells in our body use a form of simple sugar, called glucose, for energy. We get sugar from foods that contain carbohydrates, protein and fat. Even though sugar does not “feed” cancer cells it is a good idea to limit the […]
