Category: Uncategorized

  • Kidney cancer

    Kidney cancer is cancer that begins in the kidneys. Your kidneys are two bean-shaped organs, each about the size of your fist. They’re located behind your abdominal organs, with one kidney on each side of your spine.

    In adults, renal cell carcinoma is the most common type of kidney cancer. Other less common types of kidney cancer can occur. Young children are more likely to develop a kind of kidney cancer called Wilms’ tumor.

    The incidence of kidney cancer seems to be increasing. One reason for this may be the fact that imaging techniques such as computerized tomography (CT) scans are being used more often. These tests may lead to the accidental discovery of more kidney cancers. Kidney cancer is often discovered at an early stage, when the cancer is small and confined to the kidney.

    Symptoms

    Kidney cancer usually doesn’t have signs or symptoms in its early stages. In time, signs and symptoms may develop, including:

    • Blood in your urine, which may appear pink, red or cola colored
    • Pain in your back or side that doesn’t go away
    • Loss of appetite
    • Unexplained weight loss
    • Tiredness
    • Fever

    When to see a doctor

    Make an appointment with your doctor if you have any persistent signs or symptoms that worry you.

  • CHILDHOOD CANCER AWARENESS

    Dispelling Myths and Misconceptions about Cancer in Children

    The National Cancer Institute of Kenya – NCI Kenya

    Myth: Children do not develop cancer

    Fact:

    Cancer can develop at any age, including in newborns. While the likelihood of cancer generally increases with age, approximately 400 000 children globally (aged 0–19 years) develop cancer each year. That is equivalent to about one in 500 children in their lifetime

    Myth: Childhood cancers are preventable

    Fact:

    Unlike adult cancers, almost all childhood cancers arise during growth and development and cannot be prevented. Rather than prevention programmes, effective childhood cancer control must focus on avoiding missed/ delayed diagnosis, ensuring access to highquality multidisciplinary care, reducing and managing disease- and treatmentrelated complications, ensuring treatment completion and sustained follow-up of longterm survivors.

    Myth: Most children with cancer die of their disease

    Fact:

    More than 8 of 10 children are cured when they receive the best available treatment services and care (Section 1.2.2). Research and innovation remain important priorities for further improvements in childhood cancer care.

    Myth: Childhood cancer is one disease, treated with a standardized approach

    Fact:

    There are many different cancers of children and young people that develop at different ages, in many parts of the body and with different patterns of spread. The diagnosis and treatment must be adapted to the individual and follow evidence-based standards of care.

    Myth: Childhood cancer chemotherapy is expensive

    Fact:

    Most children can be cured using inexpensive generic medicines and affordable multimodality therapy (Section 1.5).

    Myth: Even if children survive cancer, they are left with permanent and severe disabilities

    Fact:

    While treatment can cause health care needs in some survivors, many children cured of cancer go on to lead long, happy, healthy and productive lives.

  • The Importance of Breast Self-Exam

    The Importance of Breast Self-Exam

    Think of cancer as a weed in your garden. If left unattended that one weed can grow into hundreds. The same can be said for cancer cells. When not caught early enough, breast cancer can spread cancer cells throughout the body. This is why it is so important to do a breast self-exam each and every month. 

    You may get a breast exam done once a year during a yearly checkup, but that isn’t enough to catch breast cancer early. When you do a breast self-exam, you learn what the tissue and fat in your breasts feel like and can detect any changes. When you do the exam each month, it’s easier to detect anything that may be different. Should you detect anything different, you want to contact your doctor immediately.

    How to Do a Breast Self-Exam

    A breast self-exam is very easy to do. It is recommended that you do your exam in the shower. Start with your left breast and begin by putting your arm up over your head and bending it behind your head. This motion lifts the breast and gives you better access. Start at the top of your breast and use your forefinger and middle finger to make a circular motion. Rub the breast tissue and continue until you’ve made a complete circle around your breast and have checked all the breast tissue. Do the same to your right breast.

    You also want to look for any skin changes. If you see that the skin has changed color or has rough patches of skin, this should be brought to your doctor’s attention. This process takes less than five minutes but could save your life.

    Spending just five minutes a month could mean the difference between life and death. You want to make sure you’re doing a self-breast exam each and every month. It allows you to detect changes in the breast tissue early and get the help you need before it’s too late.

  • LUNG CANCER

    LUNG CANCER

    Cancer which begins in the cells of the lung. It causes difficulty breathing, coughing up blood, chest pain, hoarseness, headache and weight loss.

    It is mainly of two types:

    • Non-small cell lung cancer- is the most common type
    • Small cell lung cancer- is the aggressive form and is observed in smokers

    COMMON CAUSES

    The causes include:

    The primary reason for lung cancer is cigarette smoking. There are chances that nonsmokers also get lung cancer. Smoke that enters the lungs causes damage to the lung tissue. The body will try to repair the damage, but due to the continuous exposure, it will fail.

    Another causative agent is a radioactive gas called radon. Radioactive gas can enter through small holes in the buildings. Genetic mutation can increase the risk of developing lung cancer.

    The risk factors include:

    • Smoking
    • Radiation therapy
    • Asbestos and other heavy metals like cadmium, selenium, etc., can also increase the risk.
    • Family history of lung cancer

    SYMPTOMS

    The symptoms include:

    1. Chest pain that worsens when you breathe deeply, laugh, or a cough.
    2. Hoarseness
    3. A lingering or worsening cough
    4. Shortness of breath
    5. Wheezing
    6. Weakness and fatigue
    7. Loss of appetite and weight Loss
    8. Coughing up phlegm or blood
    9. Muscle Weakness
    10. Nausea
    11. Vomiting
    12. High blood pressure
    13. High blood sugar
    14. Confusion
    15. Seizures
    16. Coma

    DIAGNOSIS

    Diagnosis includes physical examination and medical history.

    X-ray – X-ray of chest is taken to identify the presence of tumor.

    CT scan – CT scan of the lungs is performed to identify the location and size of the tumor mass.

    Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) – MRI of the lungs can detect the severity and spread of cancer cells.

    Positron emission tomography (PET) – To observe the function of lungs and its tissues.

    Sputum cytology – Sputum tests may be performed in certain cases to look for cancerous cells.

    Biopsy – A small sample of the lung tumor cells is obtained to determine if they are cancerous.

    TREATMENTS

    Treatment involves surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy.

    COMPLICATIONS

    If untreated it may lead to

    • Shortness of breath: it is common as the cancer cells grow and block the airways
    • Inhaling air becomes as the lungs cannot expand fully due to fluid accumulation
    • Bleeding in the airways causes coughing up blood
    • In certain cases severe bleeding may occur
    • Lung cancer metastasis to other parts can cause pain

    PREVENTION

    • Quit smoking: Smoking is the common cause
    • Avoid passive smoking
    • Avoid carcinogens at work: stay away from harmful chemicals
  • PREVENTING CHILDHOOD CANCERS

    Contrary to many adult cancers, lifestyle-related risk factors (such smoking) don’t significantly increase a child’s risk of developing cancer. Radiation exposure is one environmental element that has been linked to a higher risk of several paediatric malignancies. However, there are some situations where radiation exposure may be inevitable, such as when a youngster requires radiation therapy to treat another malignancy.

    It’s crucial to understand that there is very nothing you or your child could have done to stop cancer from occurring if it occurs.

    1. Set an example: Parents who eat well and have healthy lifestyles have children who also do the same according to American research

    2. Don’t ever smoke. Kids look up to their parents and copy them. Never allow anyone in your family to smoke and don’t allow smoking in your home. Children are damaged by secondary smoke.

    3. Breast feed them longer. (And have a natural birth). With nine months at least – it builds their immune systems for life (and will also help protect mum from breast cancer).

    4. Tell them to eat their greens! Cabbage, broccoli, and watercress, and cauliflower, kale: Masses of vitamins and minerals and new research shows some, like vitamin K, are just no longer eaten in sufficient quantities by our youngsters.

    5. Tell them to eat fruit! One American study showed that those kids who didn’t eat fruit at all, always went on to develop cancer later in life.

    6. Give them cod liver, or fish oil every day. It has massive health benefits, aids depression, calms aggression and even increases their IQ’s.

    7. Cut out salt and sugar. Don’t bring the foods home. Salt poisons healthy cells and sugar feeds cancer cells. So cut down on processed or packaged foods, soy sauce, Chinese food, canned food – eat fresh. Remember refined wheat, white bread and white pasta are just sugar by another name.

    8. Cut down on cows’ dairy. There are increasing numbers of studies, for example from the world famous Karolinska Institute, linking dairy and cancer risk. And that means cheese and pizzas too! Milk actually suppresses their appetites. There is clear research on levels of saturated fats in the teenage years being linked to cancers later in life.

    9. Don’t live near a main road, or a petrol station if you can help it. Both have been associated with an increased risk of cancers like child leukaemia. And avoid living near pylons, phone masts or power cables: The International Leukaemia Conference warned of risks to children.

    10. Don’t allow them mobile phones (and don’t have cordless phones at home). Thinner skulls, nervous systems and brains still forming – we don’t have the space to list all the research raising possible risks. Turn the WiFi off at night and don’t leave them playing on the tablet, phone or laptop for hours.

    11. Don’t use in-home herbicides or pesticides. They increase the risk of child cancers like lymphoma, and leukaemia. For example, head lice shampoos, garden sprays, flea sprays or flea collars on your animals: Linked to increased risk of child brain tumours and leukaemias

    12. Let them eat dirt. Seriously, too much irradiated, bacteria-free food, and sterile environments gives them weak immune systems – they need the fresh food, the outdoor life of their grandparents and to catch minor illnesses to develop an effective immune system. Children brought up on farms and children with a pet in the house have stronger immune systems. Fact.

    13. Avoid antibiotics and mercury based vaccines. Antibiotics kill off friendly bacteria in the body, the front line of the immune system, and part of their immune memory. No child should have an antibiotic unless absolutely essential. Mercury-based vaccines can also damage the immune systems of the young

    14. Grow your own toxin-free vegetables, or go organic. More vitamins, more minerals, more omega 3, less pesticides. Changes in chemical composition of kid’s urine were noted within 5 days. Do you have fruit trees in your garden?

    15. Go toxin-free in your kitchen and bathroom. Don’t use perfume or perfumed products on your skin when pregnant! Don’t let them use alcohol-based mouthwash or fluoride toothpaste. The EU considered banning over 1000 ’chemicals of concern’ currently found in everything from shampoo to baby wipes, and anti-perspirants to household cleaners.

    16. Make them take exercise. Watching TV or playing computer games are unlikely to move their lymph or oxygenate their blood!! They will end up obese very quickly – like nearly 40% of kids

    17. Ditch the junk food. Forget the fast food ’restaurants’, the bag snack after school, cut the fizzy soft drinks, the ice cream, the cakes and the biscuits. Mum it is your responsibility. Bring only whole foods and nourishment into the house. 

    18. Beware exotic holidays. It is much easier than you realize to contract a parasite. If you go on one, buy a natural parasite purge (tend to be garlic/clove based) for your family.

    19. Teach them to practice safe sex. Sexually transmitted bacteria and viruses are now known to cause cancers like cervical and ovarian.

    20. Create a happy, laughter filled house. Laughing moves their lymph and boosts their immune systems. And don’t ever make them feel guilty. Guilt and depression are two significant causes of cancer.