I believe you will see why we were so concerned when there seemed to be so many delays in the determination of the stage of my cancer, in the fall of 2007, so that treatment could begin sooner. God was in control, and the oncologist was being very thorough, for which we are very thankful. The additional time afforded us the opportunity to seek a second opinion that was crucial in our final decision for the method of treatment chosen.
Although this first segment of information is specific to breast cancer cells, the same concepts apply to all cancer cells. In fact, I researched it & found that this growth rate is generally true of all types of cancer. There are, however, cancers that are very aggressive that grow at faster rates, as well as cancers that grow at slower rates.
How Long Has It Been There?
Cancer begins as one damaged (mutated) cell. That cell has the potential to grow into an invasive tumor that can leave the area in which it began, such as the breast duct, and travel to other parts of the body. Medical literature has reported that breast cancer cells vary in growth rate according to the cell type of cancer. It is also speculated that tumors may experience growth spurts, growing faster at one time than another.
The growth of breast cancer in the literature has been reported to range from 23 days to 209 days for a tumor to double in size. Doubling is when the one cell becomes two cells, two cells become four, four cells become eight, etc. The average rate of growth is approximately 100 days between doubling in size of the tumor. Therefore, when breast cancer is discovered it has usually been in the body for a while but was too small to be detected. If a breast cancer cell doubled in size every 100 days, it would take approximately nine years before the tumor would be large enough to be visible on a mammogram. It would take approximately ten years to be large enough to be felt. This is a one-centimeter tumor, about the size of the tip of your smallest finger. However, there are some cancers with very rapid growing rates. These are found more often in premenopausal women. One of the tests (S-phase, mitotic index) performed on your tumor may tell how rapidly the cells were dividing in your tumor when it was removed. Your physician will have this information in the pathology report if the test was performed.
Most breast cancers, when discovered, do not create a medical emergency that is immediately threatening to your life. Most women have time to carefully examine all their treatment options before they have treatment. Most physicians request that surgery be performed within several weeks to a month of diagnosis for tumors that do not exhibit rapid growth. However, because cancer growth rates are individual, you should talk to your physician about the time frame for your surgery. One cancer, inflammatory carcinoma, requires immediate treatment because of its aggressive and metastatic nature. Chemotherapy is given before surgery for inflammatory carcinoma, and treatment is recommended to start within days of detection.
Your treatment team is your only reliable source for information on aggressiveness and growth rates of your tumor and the most appropriate time for your surgery.
Below is an illustration of the growth rate of a cancer cell.
Visible, Detectable Cancer Cells
Please note that the above illustration indicates that it takes many years before cancer cells are visible on a mammogram. A post last month describes a PET /CT scan, which can detect a tumor as small as 7mm. Because of the cost & the additional risk, due to the much higher amount of radiation, one will not be subjected to this type of scan unless it is known or reasonably certain that he or she has cancer. It is usually performed to determine whether or not the cancer has metastasized (spread) beyond its site of origin or as a means of monitoring a case of advanced cancer. Keep in mind that a diagnostic test that declares one “cancer-free” may not be entirely accurate, especially we consider the capability of the technology. If the cancer has been surgically removed, the chances of it all being removed are probably very high, so that a follow-up screening should give the patient comfort if it does not reveal any remaining cancer. The technology may indicate there is no “visible or detectable” cancer, but there could be cancer that is not large enough to be “visible or detectable” by the technology used. This is my word of caution to those who get the “all clear” from an oncologist. It is for this reason that I have stated, “If my oncologist tells me I am cancer-free, I will not change my diet or my lifestyle. I will continue to do exactly what I am doing. The changes I have made are permanent! I can’t take the chance that I would return to my previous lifestyle & eating habits that would feed any remaining cancer cells that are not visible or detectable.” In a later chapter, Quillin states, “When the doctor says, ‘We think we got it all,’ what he or she is really saying is, ‘We have destroyed all DETECTABLE cancer cells, & now it is up to your immune system to find & destroy the cancer cells that inevitably remain in your body.’ A billion cancer cells are about the size of the page number at the top of [the] page. We must rely on the capabilities of the 20 trillion cells that compose an intact immune system to destroy the undetectable cancer cells that remain after medical therapy.” I am saddened by the fact that oncologists do not explain these facts to patients. If a patient has a recurrence in, let’s say, less than 9 years would you agree that it is entirely likely that it was because there actually were cancer cells remaining at the time he or she was declared cancer-free? The technology could not detect the remaining cancer so that it continued to multiply so that either a follow-up visit revealed or symptoms later manifested in a manner that the patient visited the oncologist & learned the cancer reoccurred? Did it actually re-occur? Before you have a panic attack read the rest of the blog.
The Good News --> Your Natural Defense System
The discussion above describes how long cancer has been there once it is diagnosed, but how did it get started? To answer this question I am going to copy a portion of Chapter 1 of Patrick Quillin’s book Beating Cancer With Nutrition. The title of this chapter is “You Have Already Beaten Cancer . . . and you can do it again!” The sub-title reads “How your body stops cancer in its tracks.”
“. . . Shut down the immune system & the smoldering embers of cancer become a raging fire. Professor Bruce Ames at the University of California, Berkley has shown that the average human cell (and there are about 60 trillion cells in an adult body) is subjected to 1,000 to 10,000 potentially cancer-causing “hits” each & every day.
“Your body survives endless assaults on the integrity of the DNA & is able to repair most of this damage. If the defective cells still exist, then the telegraph system within the healthy cell colony tells the cancer cell to revert back to normal functioning, called cell-to-cell communication. If the defective cell with bad DNA continues to grow, then the body instructs the cancer cell to commit suicide, aka apoptosis. If this doesn’t work, then the body shuts down the making of blood vessels to the tumor, called anti-angiogenesis. If the tumor continues to grow, then the body begins to wall off the cancer cells with a tough envelope made of collagen & calcium, called tumor encapsulation. This is good news indeed. All of these anti-cancer mechanisms are fed by the nutrients in your diet. That’s why an aggressive nutrition program is essential, but may not be sufficient for all cancer patients. The fact is, your body has the internal means of beating cancer if given the right collection of precursors (nutrients) & the proper toxin-free & restful environment.
“The task of the immune system is to recognize ‘self from non-self,’ meaning whatever cells have your unique DNA can stay & everything else must be killed & escorted out of the body.
“Your immune system is the ‘cops & army’ that finds & destroys cells that are unfriendly to your body. Cancer certainly qualifies as ‘unfriendly.’ In 58% of Americans, these cancers will sprout up & immediately be squashed. . . In 42% of Americans, the cancer gets a foothold & must be treated. You have already beaten cancer. At least once. And you can do it again. If you bolster your own internal cancer fighting squad while finding medical therapies that are proven to help debunk your tumor with reasonable safety, then you are well en route to ‘beating cancer.’”
What Causes the Immune System to Fail?
Listed among the causes of cancer are environmental toxins, distress, nutrition, & exercise. Patrick Quillin, in chapter 2, states the following: “Of the 5 million registered chemicals in the world, mankind comes in contact with 70,000, of which at least 20,000 are known carcinogens, or cancer-causing agents. Each year American alone sprays 1.2 billion pounds of pesticides on our food crops, dumps 90 billion pounds of toxic waste in our 55,000 waste sites, feeds 9 million pounds of antibiotics to our farm animals to help them gain weight faster, & generally bombards the landscape with questionable amounts of electromagnetic radiation.” I think it’s fair to say we are on toxic overload.
Quillin says, “Since the 1920s, scientific evidence has been advancing the theory that emotional stress can depress the immune system & make that individual more vulnerable to infections & cancer.”
Interestingly, he cites the following research: “Bernie Siegel, MD, a Yale surgeon, found that certain mental characteristics helped his cancer patients to recover. Candace Pert, PhD, a celebrated researcher at the National Institutes of Health, discovered endorphins in human brains & led the charge toward unraveling the chemical mysteries of the mind. Dr. Pert says that the mind is a pharmacy & is continuously producing potent substances that either improve or worsen health. Since the mind can create cancer, it should seem a logical leap that the mind can help to prevent & even subdue cancer.”
In regard to nutrition Quillin states, “The human body is built from, repaired by, & fueled by substances found in the diet. . . Nutritional therapy merely tries to re-establish ‘metabolic balance’ in the cancer patients.” He reports, “After decades of living outside the accepted realm of cancer therapies, nutrition therapy has found a new level of scientific acceptance with the 1990 report from the Office of Technology Assessment, an advisory branch of Congress, whose expert scientific panel wrote in UNCONVENTIONAL CANCER TREATMENTS: ‘It is our collective professional judgment that nutritional interventions are going to follow psychosocial interventions up the ladder into clinical respectability as adjunctive & complementary approaches to the treatment of cancer.’”
Quillin addresses exercise with these comments: “While 40% of Americans will eventually develop cancer, only 14% of active Americans will get cancer. . . Exercise also helps to stabilize blood glucose levels, which can restrict the amount of fuel available for cancer cells to grow. Exercise improves immune function, lymph flow, & detoxification systems. Exercise helps us better tolerate stressful situations.”
This is not an exhaustive list, but it is enough to notice that in each case the ultimate assault is against the immune system. If you read other information, take note of the potential effect of that cause on the immune system. For example, you may read that physical trauma is a possible cause of cancer gaining a foothold. It stands to reason that physical trauma also is a severe assault on the immune system. Even if you have a genetic predisposition for a particular type of cancer, it requires a breakdown of the immune system for it to get a foothold & to manifest. Our best defense, to avoid an initial experience of cancer or a reoccurrence of it, is to keep our immune systems strong. (You can start by reading & implementing The Seven Pillars of Health, by Don Colbert, MD) If you have cancer & expect to conquer it or had it & want to prevent a reoccurrence, you must bolster your immune system so it can do the job it was designed to do & work in combination with your medical treatment. In April, I posted a blog titled “Ten Tips to Reduce Your Risk of Cancer.” If you go back & read through it again, you will notice that 9 of the 10 are actions that will boost or safeguard your immune system. Of course, I recommend that you read & implement the strategies in the books used to write this blog, which are reviewed in Dec. 2008 & May 2009 blogs. Quillin states we bolster our immune army with “improved quantity by producing more natural killer cells . . . – quality by 1) reducing the ability of cancer cells to hide from the immune system. 2) providing antioxidants.” The end result is better overall health, & a stronger immune system that will increase the effectiveness of your treatment & cause any side effects to be more manageable.
If you or a loved one have cancer now, or if you should experience it in the future, it is my hope that all who do will capture the survivor spirit, as described below in beliefs & attitudes. The lists below give you some insight into the traits of & strategies used by survivors. As a part of your support system, please feel free to contact me by email (owens.pa@gmail.com). I will be happy to correspond with you regarding your health or that of a loved one & to offer encouragement. Also, as many of you have prayed for me, I count it a privilege to pray for you &/or your loved ones.
Ten Traits of Cancer Survivors
Clinical research, as well as anecdotal testimony, has repeatedly shown that the people who survive cancer have many of the following ten traits:
1. Life Purpose
2. Positive Attitude
3. Good Nourishment
4. Healthy Lifestyle
5. Manageable Stress
6. Sense of Humor
7. Love & Social Support
8. Emotional Expression
9. Physical Exercise
10. Strong Faith
These ten traits can have vital healing influence.
Source: Nature’s Cancer Fighting Foods, by Verne Varona
Eight Strategies Survivors Have in Common
1. Medical treatment – Survivors literally take charge of the management of their entire medical program: They choose doctors in whom they have confidence; they consent only to treatment programs about which they have convictions; & survivors aggressively integrate complementary & alternative treatment approaches. . .
2. Beliefs & Attitudes – Cancer survivors choose beliefs & attitudes about their illness, as well as their potential for wellness, that empower. The most fundamental & empowering belief is that cancer does not equate with death . . . survivors recognize [the] truth – cancer may or may not mean death. This intellectual stance carries a vastly different outlook from either the super-positive or hopelessly negative beliefs & attitudes. Survivors believe, “Yes, I may die. But I also may live. And I am going to invest my time, whatever the length, in living the best way I know.”. . . [Survivors] challenge the conventional thinking about treatment & potential side effects. They choose to conceive of their treatment as highly effective, believing that they will have minimal & manageable side effects. . . They believe their active personal involvement is absolutely essential to the recovery process.
3. Exercise – Cancer survivors believe strongly in the importance of exercise, & they act on that belief.
4. Purpose/Play Balance – Purpose involves survivors perceiving that they are needed, that their life has special & unique meaning . . . a life mission . . . Survivors balance this profound idea of life purpose with a lighter, more playful attitude of fun for fun’s sake, an outlook that creates joy.
5. Social Support – Cancer survivors invest more time & emotional energy in relationships that nurture them & invest less in those that are toxic. . . Cancer tends to give patients permission to examine a wide variety of their life choices, including their social support system.
6. Diet & Nutrition – The majority of cancer survivors report making significant dietary changes. . . “Survivors eat with awareness.” They raise their nutritional IQ & develop a greater understanding of the nutrients contained in their food selections. Survivors also feed themselves less for emotional & psychological reasons, concentrating instead on delivering premium nutrients to the body. They embrace foods that are less processed. There is a documented shift to a more vegetarian approach. Fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, & whole grains are the new foods of choice. A marked decrease in all meat, particularly red meat, is widely held to be beneficial.
7. Creative Thinking – Survivors mobilize the mind to heal. Affirmations, meditation, & imagery are widely employed within the context of a comprehensive treatment program. Survivors use meditative techniques to reduce the symptoms of illness, manage the side effects of treatment, & improve emotional well-being.
8. Spirituality – Survivors embrace a more spiritual perspective. They view life differently than prior to their brush with death. . . To call spirituality a “strategy” is inadequate; “spiritual transformation” is a more accurate description. Thousands of survivors demonstrate entirely new spirit; they become new people.
Each survivor creates his or her own specific recovery plan within the structure of these eight strategies. One principle takes priority at the appropriate time. Seldom do survivors make simultaneous wholesale changes in all eight areas. Those who attempt to change too much too quickly often meet with temporary defeat & have to start again.
This information is a small portion of the information on this topic, from Greg Anderson’s book, Cancer – 50 Essential Things to Do.
Greg Anderson also uses the term Cancer Conqueror. I like that descriptive label better than survivor. My mental image of a conqueror is a more positive image than that of a survivor. He started a foundation called Cancer Recovery Foundation of America, in 1985, “to educate, empower, & encourage cancer patients & family members in the integration of body-mind-spirit into a whole-person health recovery strategy.” The Foundation has grown to a global organization with a “shared mission of helping all people prevent and survive cancer.” You can find their web site at the following address: http://www.cancerrecovery.org/site/PageServer
If you are a cancer patient, I recommend visiting the site & signing up for the daily devotionals. They are very short, but meaningful. You can also sign up for a conference call support group that is offered 2 times each week. There is a lot of great information on this site for the patient & for family members.
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