Cannot remember the name of the primary school - only stayed in Australia 18 months then moved on to Singapore with my parents - my father was a Licenced Engineer with ANA then with the old Malayan Airways.
Avoid going to the Churchill, Oxford if you may have prostate cancer
Luckily I'm now being treated at Guy's in London, but I started out at the Churchill in Oxford. Now you'd think that the Churchill would be able set up a system that worked, and keep it working.
Seems not, sadly. In summary they took 71 days to do what should have taken no more than 31 days, and they haven't even done what the annual report says they were doing, or if they have, then the improvements are imperceptible. They can't answer FOI requests fully, and they can't manage a complaints system, either.
Prostate patients have a 20% chance of missing treatment-time targets, while breast cancer patients have a near zero chance, but it's very possible that the ORH can't actually count properly, and so may be putting out incorrect performance data, though I can't yet prove this.
While I rarely post here I do read in from time to time and quietly send a message to the skies to keep those of you battling C as strong and full of optimism as can be
Thus far I am fortunate to not rank among you, but I was wondering if any of you have tried out the asparagus therapy mentioned earlier in the thread?. Apart from turning pee green, a daily dose of asparagus (puree or cooked) can't do more than be one of your daily five fruit/veg can it?
a_a I'm glad you're getting looked after properly now. Sometimes you do have to kick and scream to get looked after properly. All the best.
Brockie, I'm not convinced about any sort of fad diet that supposedly helps in the fight against cancer, but if people think it helps, then it I suppose it can't do any harm and the psychological aspect might have some benefit.
Let's put it this way, when I was in treatment I ate anything I wanted (as my waist line testified...) and one of the blokes I started my treatment with went immediately onto one of these cancer beating diets.
I'm alive and he isn't.
Now, that's hardly a scientific test and I would never draw anything meaningful from that one example, but I think the massive doses of chemo, radio and all of the other fun stuff has a far bigger effect on whether you're going to beat cancer than eating a bit of veg everyday...
My best wishes too. My father contracted lung cancer after having already had a heart attack, a triple bypass and a stroke. He had radiotherapy and was declared clear last year. He remained amazingly positive throughout and refused to give an inch and attributes much to his positive attitude. Great to see all the support you have on here, - wonderful! PP.
I'm living proof that you can beat it. Diagnosed in 1991, treated at the Royal Marsden in Sutton (Fantastic facilities and people) and after treatment and countless check up's ranging from every month to annually, given the all clear in 2001.
True what others' have said on here. Bloody minded approach is needed. My frame of mind was, "Ain't gonna beat me". Just wanted all the kit and hospital support to beat the sucker, which luckily I got.
To be honest, there are going to be days during the treatment when you ain't gonna feel great but rest assurred, that's only gonna be temporary.
You've already overcome the first hurdle by posting, talking about it and a willingness to face this head on. If you maintain this positive approach thoughout, you'll come out smiling.
All the best fella and if I can help in anyway through shared experience, PM me.
In any dealings with the health system, you have to take charge of things yourself. Waiting for someone else to do something is not an option. My treatment at the Royal Marsden has been exemplary, but I have always ensured that I stayed very much involved with what was proposed and carried out. Good luck, AA....
I have been following with some interest, for many years now, this thread by SAS. As a matter of fact I have been following it since day one having had cancer myself prior to him, and to a far greater degree than he, and I also survived. Many times I thought of writing to SAS to give him the benefit of my experience but decided not to as he was going down a different path to me and would probably not wish to have my input. Obviously SAS has now had a clearance from the medical people and for that I am pleased, for him and his family. However, to make the comments, as he has done, in his recent posts, criticising others who followed a different path to him is beyond belief! I wish you all the best for your future SAS but please don't get cocky and arrogant about your survival, many others have done it before you, but, more importantly, many others have not survived. Think of them and their families, not yourself!
If you are referring to my comments about diets etc. then I'll stand by my position. If the Doc's thought they worked, then all cancer patients would be put on them immediately after diagnosis and since they are the experts, then I'll defer to them if you don't mind.
They know a shed load more about the whole cancer thing than any number of cancer patients and keyboard warriors combined.
Cocky and arrogant when it comes to cancer? I don't bloody think so. Sometimes, no matter what is done, your time is up. If chemo or radio can't help, then eating broccoli or miso soup will have exactly the square root of **** all effect too.
There are all sorts of charlatans out there who will happily prey on the fears of cancer patients and their families to make a few quid. Untested diets, supplemements or books on doing stupid things in the belief that you might find a miraculous cure.
It's invariably utter horsesh*t and I'm sorry if this does offend people, but the way to beat cancer is to trust in your Doctors and the treatment that they provide. Look after yourself, don't put yourself in positions where you could get other illnesses that may then have a negative impact on your treatment and hope for the best. There's stuff all else that you can really do.
Mad/fad diets might help purely from a psychosomatic point of view and whilst that can be of course benficial to your mental well-being, if you trust your life to it and ignore standard medical advice, then the chances are that you won't get better.
If you want to wind up an oncologist or haematologist, then mention to them that positive thinking made the difference. I was chatting to my doc one day and he said that the idea that you had to be positive all of the time was actually dangerous, because people cannot be like that everyday. If they consider being negative to be bad for their treatment, then they can sometimes lose hope and start doing silly things as they consider the battle to be already lost. Things like refusing treatments, not taking medicines, not turning up for scans or procedures. It happens more often than most of us would believe.
Positive thinking helps you ride out the treatment better, but in reality it doesn't make a difference to the eventual outcome of whether the cancer is defeated or not.
If this offends anyone, then seriously, have a word with yourself. This is cancer we're talking about, not tiddlywinks.
Last edited by Say again s l o w l y; 10th Nov 2010 at 10:03.
Location: A Whilom nimble brain. With 31 million posts.
Age: 73
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I think the only really negative thing might be raising people's hopes, and then dashing them again. As for the possible effectivity of these kind of foods, if you have a spare few minutes, search my "Have I witnessed a miracle?" thread on the medical forum.
I waited a further 6 months after my pal started seeing some results from taking curcumin for Parkinson's. The results were astounding already, but I thought - but didn't say - that it may have been a natural glitch in the disease's progress.
I'm fairly sure it was Mac the Knife that pointed us to a uni in Austin that was doing some of the world's most advanced research on that spice?herb?? My pal didn't even know, despite being 6 miles from them.
I'll come back when not covered in mud and me water is flowing properly from the canal.
Rivets, there's nothing wrong with certain things like trying circumin, there is research to say that it MIGHT do something. It hasn't been proven yet and it might never be, but it is being tested by proper scientists in a proper peer reviewed way.
I have no issue with stuff like that. It might make a difference and if it doesn't, then it won't have done any harm.
It's the untested stuff and diets that have been written by fraudulent charlatans like Gillian McKeith (and yes Mrs McKeith's lawyers, she is a charlatan, as proven by Ben Goldacre) that are designed simply to remove cash from people's pockets rather than do anything to help their health that I have a major problem with.
You're all supposed to be sharp cookies...being airline pilots and all that sort of stuff...then again is that really true for all of you? After following this thread from the beginning 3 yrs ago, I don't think so!
Do a web search for "The Open Source" and then go a bit further and search for "Mike Anderson" and then go a bit further again and search for " The Rave Diet ".
If you persevere it will change your thinking and your life!
As a fellow pilot if it helps one person I'll be happy!
This page on the rave diet says it all for me "http://www.ravediet.com/pricing.html"...
Pricing....
Disseminating info nowadays for minimal cost money, thanks to the internet, is very straightforward. Just run a blog, or set up a website - not expensive to do.
If someone really, truly, genuinely wants to help others by sharing what they have learned, just post it online - no money-making dvds or books needed.
If someone wants to make a profit by selling their idea, they post very little real info about their idea/product apart from testimonials and rave reviews, which are all about selling.... And have a home page which only lists their products, not any info about who, what, or why.
Anyway, I digress, this thread is about, and for folks who are touched by cancer.
Glad to hear you have the all clear, SAS. How's it going with the CAA? Are they allowing you to go back working daft hours along with the deep honour of being able to wear your own yellow vest on a daily basis yet?
If you maintain this positive approach thoughout, you'll come out smiling.
