Oct 18

Most adults will share the treatment decision with a partner or spouse, but parents, friends, and children are other key influences. Following are several tips to consider when selecting the best treatment option:

  • Obtain multiple references from a primary care physician, allowing patients to research and find the physician with whom they feel most comfortable.
  • Consider the level of treatment available: Will the patient have access to the latest tested treatments, as well as the most innovative techniques through clinical trials?
  • Location and ease of access: Will treatment be available close to home, and can all activities be completed in one complex, or will the patient have to travel to multiple locations?
  • Quality of nurses and staff: Will care be intimate and personalized or cold and institutionalized?
  • Consider whether the physician and treatment center are covered by the patient’s insurance plan.

Networks like Texas Oncology ensure that cancer patients obtain high quality treatment from leading physicians right in the comfort of their own communities. Our mission is to provide quality cancer care close to home, making treatment selection easier for patients by providing leading-edge cancer treatment in previously underserved communities.

Sources: American Cancer Society, Texas Cancer Council, and Texas Cancer Registry.
Updated 03/26/08
 
 
 
Oct 16
Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good.
 
When in doubt, just take the next small step.
 
Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
 
Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
 
Pay off your credit cards every month.
 
You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
 
Cry with someone. It’s more healing than crying alone.
 
It’s OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
 
Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
 
When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
 
Make peace with your past so it won’t screw up the present.
 
It’s OK to let your children see you cry.
 
Don’t compare your life to others’. You have no idea what their journey
is all about.
 
If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn’t be in it.
 
Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don’t worry; God never
blinks.
 
Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
 
Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.
 
Whatever doesn’t kill you really does make you stronger.
 
It’s never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up
to you and no one else.
 
When it comes to going after what you love in life, don’t take no for an
answer.
 
Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie.  Don’t
save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
 
Over prepare, then go with the flow.
 
Be eccentric now. Don’t wait for old age to wear purple.
 
No one is in charge of your happiness, except you.
 
Frame every so-called disaster with these words: ‘In five years, will
this matter?’
 
Always choose life.
 
Forgive everyone everything.
 
What other people think of you is none of your business.
 
Time heals almost everything. Give time, time.
 
However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
 
Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will.
Stay in touch.
 
Believe in miracles.
 
God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did
Or didn’t do.
 
Don’t audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
 
Growing old beats the alternative — dying young.
 
Your children get only one childhood. Make it memorable.
 
All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
 
Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
 
If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else’s,
we’d grab ours back.
 
Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
 
The best is yet to come.
 
No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
 
Yield.
 
Oct 7

 

Related News

Stomach cancer survival rates up

20 hours ago

People with stomach or gut cancer are 40% more likely to survive a year after diagnosis than they were 20 years ago, researchers said.

Early diagnosis has helped improve survival rates, from 27% for stomach cancer in the 1980s to 38% in the 2000s.

One-year survival rates for oesophageal cancer have risen from 25% to 36% over the same period, the figures for England showed.

Both cancers can be hard to diagnose as the symptoms can be confused with other conditions.

Better treatment options, including surgery by experts in specialist centres and the introduction of chemotherapy for advanced disease, have also played a part in increasing the survival rates.

Furthermore, early diagnosis and better screening has led to 95% of breast cancer patients surviving for more than a year after diagnosis, the data showed. This is a rise of 6% on 20 years ago.

Experts from the National Cancer Intelligence Network (NCIN) examined one-year survival data for 3.5 million cancer patients in England between 1985 and 2004 for the study.

They found that, despite a rise in the number of people being diagnosed with cancer, there has been a fall in the number of deaths. The number being diagnosed has gone up largely due to people living longer lives.

In the five years to the late 1980s, around 840,000 people were diagnosed with cancer and 56% survived beyond a year after diagnosis. In the five years to 2005, more than a million people were diagnosed with cancer, but 67% survived beyond a year.

Professor David Forman, information lead at the NCIN, said: “Increases in one-year survival rates are a useful signpost. For many types of cancer, they suggest that the disease is being diagnosed at an earlier stage, which is vitally important in treating the disease successfully. It’s really positive that survival rates for stomach and oesophageal cancer have significantly increased, because they’re cancers that are usually diagnosed very late - too late to cure.”