"In physiology I learned that everyone makes anywhere from 100,000 or so to 400,000 or so cancer cells A DAY." This is a common claim on alt med sites, but I've never seen evidence to back it up. The misunderstanding seems to relate to the fact that cells in the body are constantly wearing out, developing chromosomal defects etc. and are removed by normal body physiologic mechanisms - but these are not "cancer" cells until they start to divide uncontrollably and form a tumor. Your body doesn't need help from herbs to carry out its immune functions, few if any herbs have been found to enhance immunity in human beings, and if they did we'd have to be concerned about nonspecific hyperimmunity leading to autoimmune diseases. http://www.cancer.org/acs/groups/cid/documents/webcontent/003042-pdf.pdf "I have known many people who went to doctor after doctor who found nothing until they were so sick they were dying. This is not uncommon, unfortunately." What is the rate of cancer detection by alternative practitioners? What early detection systems do they have to rival (for example) mammography and colonoscopy in the diagnosis of breast and colon cancers?

Our battle with Bosco's hemangiosarcoma came to an end yesterday. He had been feeling ill with a fever of 106° F over the weekend. Their normal temperature is 101° to 102.5°F. So I went to work and raided the place of every antibiotic you can think of, IV fluids, IV catheter... It NEVER occurred to me to grab the euthanasia solution! He got IV fluids through the weekend and a whole pharmacy of medications. His gums returned to a nice healthy pink rather than the ghastly white that had been. He even started to eat baby food that comes in a jar, some ice cream and played with his squeaky ball. He even got up and was walking around. :-) His improvement was apparently his "last hurrah" which I have seen numerous times in terminal patients thoughtout the years. His gums were white yesterday morning and was not breathing normally. I got him into the car by myself. (Amazing what the body can do in an emergency situation.) We took only one radiograph of his chest ... just to see ... :-( About 95% of his chest cavity was tumors. At least five were larger than the size of my fist! There was so much cancer that his heart could not be seen because of all of the tumours. Maybe some involved his heart too. There was a tiny area of his lungs one inch square that appeared cancer free. Certainly that is not enough for a 100 pound dog! I believe that his cancer also infiltrated the intestines because he had black diarrhea yesterday morning. Black is an indication of severe bleeding and the blood has been digested before exiting the body. His type of cancer stems from the cells of blood vessels and there are blood vessels everywhere. He could have had a rupture of a tumor anywhere in his body. That Bosco's gums turned white again was a sign that his tumors were bleeding. That was another painful thing for him plus it made it even harder for him to breathe. Maybe his back pain was the cancer in the spine? Everything was so nice and normal just 3 weeks ago (radiographs and blood work). We even had a check up with his oncologist in August and he was more than delighted how well Bosco was doing! But ... one needs to have at least one billion cells change before the first change is seen on a radiograph. The hemangiosarcoma is also the fastest growing cancer in a dog. :-( I could not see him suffering any more although he never complained about anything I did for him! I called my Mom and told her what was going on and she too did not want this sweet dog to be in needless pain any longer. He was on a thick soft blanket, I gave him a kiss for every family member, told him I was sorry that it came to this. He got an anesthetic through his IV catheter. He still had the one I placed on the weekend. He didn't even need to get poked again. He went to sleep and then I gave him the injection to stop his heart. The guy I work with asked if I wanted him to put Bosco down. No. I needed to perform this final act of love and mercy for our dearest Bosco. Bosco was so trusting and he let me know through the look in his sweet eyes that it was OK and he was ready to leave his pain. :-( The dose is 1cc per 10 pounds of body weight. He died after he got a dose for someone only weighing 20 pounds. I did give him the full dose but for sure he was ready to go. Bosco will be cremated and we will get his ashes back in a few days. I e mailed Mike/Ima_Celery about what was going on and again yesterday what had happened. I don't think he has had time to check his e mails yet. The Internet situation in S. America can be iffy at times. Mike will be back in early October. Daisy is looking for Bosco. Bruno the cat, Bosco's best friend, knows something bad has happened and is lying on Bosco's bed all day. None of the cats had eaten yesterday either! We got his spleen out last September and while 80% of dogs die within one to two months of diagnosis, we were lucky ... did the 12 weeks of chemo and got to have another 11 months with him! About 6 years ago Bosco fathered a litter of 7 puppies. ALL have his loving friendly personality. We were so delighted with his puppies we put some of his "representatives" into a sperm bank. Perhaps later if we find a nice female GSD, she might have some Bosco puppies and his line will endure. That is far down in the future. We need to cope, somehow, with this totally unexpected turn of events. I gave myself a mega headache from crying yesterday and today. Drugs have dulled it a bit but not totally. My sincerest thanks to Semper, Heather and Bihai for their compassion and care during this ordeal! What wonderful people they are, and the rest of you Pond people, for such concern for someone you have never even met! Time to cry some more. :-( Chickadeedeedee

Shannon, thanks for responding again & sharing more about yourself and family. I feel you really understand both sides of the coin; being the one with the diagnosis and being the loved one of that person. You are a very compassionate person who can put yourself in others' shoes. Auntjen...thanks for the hugs and good wishes. I appreciated your support! Texanjana, thanks so very much for your empathy & for your prayers. There has been a new development. Day before yesterday when my sister went to get her chest x-ray for pre-admission/pre-surgery, they found "something" on her lung. Today she had a CT done. Just talked to Peggy and all they determined via the CT was that there is a "mass" on her lung. The details still remain sketchy. They want to do a "fine needle aspiration" & a PET scan next week. She needs to call Monday to schedule those tests as no one was around this afternoon to do that. They have cancelled the surgery for Tuesday. She's hanging in there! I think she's looking forward to having a quiet day at home tomorrow (no tests) to "chill out!" Then we'll all be over to bug her on Sunday! Hopefully by the end of next week we'll have a better idea of exactly what she has & how it should be treated. Again, thanks to each of you for your interest, support and prayers.

Laura, I believe for you you're MOHs experience did cause PTSD. For me, my MOHs experiences have contributed to piece of mind and a good night's sleep. 30 years ago I had a BCC on my face removed in the doctor's office; cut and scraped, without any margin tissue sent off for biopsy to determine if there were clear edges. It left a medium sized hole in my face that always prompted the question "What happened?" when meeting someone for the first time afterwards. A year later I noticed a spot on the tip of my nose. Not wanting to risk the same disfigurement on my nose I contacted a plastic surgeon that had removed a BCC near the eye/tear duct a few years before. In planning the procedure he mentioned that the surgery was simple and was there anything else I wanted taken care of. I asked him to fix the scar from the other BCC. Day comes, I have the removal and reconstructive surgeries and everything looks great. Then, a week later, I get a call at home. It's my PS. He says a biopsy of the scar he'd fixed from the BCC removal the year before came back and there was cancer everywhere on the edges. A week later I go back in to have it taken care of. The cancer was deep. He said he almost had to cut entirely through my skin layers to remove it. My lip was pulled up into a prominent Elvis type sneer. I've had three additional surgeries to correct the disfigurement. The dermatologist from the other BCC called later to see how things are going. I thought at the time that he was wanting to touch base to see if I was going to initiate a lawsuit against him. (I didn't.) To shorten a long story, all cancers I've had since are removed through MOHs. I see a dermatologist every three months. Tidbit - 15 years ago I participated in one of the clinical trials for Aldara. I was in the group that got the Aldara. I knew because my forehead looked like I'd taken a bad fall on concrete while skateboarding.