MSI Press Blog

Several years ago, our audio book narrator suddenly found out that he had glioblastoma. We lost him immediately to audiobook production as the tumor took over more and more of his life. He left us less than a year later. He had no warning. Or did he? The following story sheds some light on his situation through a similar situation:  “Here’s How I Knew I Had a Brain Tumor”: One Survivor’s Story After a Common Complaint Became Too Much (msn.com) For other Cancer Diary posts, click  HERE . Blog editor's note: As a memorial to Carl, and simply because it is truly needed, MSI Press is now hosting a web page,  Carl's Cancer Compendium , as a one-stop starting point for all things cancer, to make it easier for those with cancer to find answers to questions that can otherwise take hours to track down on the Internet and/or from professionals. The CCC is expanded and updated weekly. As part of this effort, each week, on Monday, this blog will carry an informative, cancer-related story -

  It seems that the most commonly shared experience by most cancer patients is that they miss the signs of cancer until often it is too late (stage 4 or 4) when discovered. That is because the signs do not leap out, generally. The following article does a good job of sharing the signs as well as providing a list of risk factors (if you have those, best to keep an eye out for signs) for one of the most deadly cancers: pancreatic cancer. Pancreatic cancer (msn.com) For other Cancer Diary posts, click  HERE . Blog editor's note: As a memorial to Carl, and simply because it is truly needed, MSI Press is now hosting a web page,  Carl's Cancer Compendium , as a one-stop starting point for all things cancer, to make it easier for those with cancer to find answers to questions that can otherwise take hours to track down on the Internet and/or from professionals. The CCC is expanded and updated weekly. As part of this effort, each week, on Monday, this blog will carry an informative, ca

  A recent article brought back a raw memory:  Dad died 44 days after his cancer diagnosis. He never received the chemo he was promised (msn.com) . That was pretty much what Carl experienced. He fell February 23, was diagnosed with late stage 4 cancer in five organs, and was set up for testing to determine the primary (never was found, and the diagnosis became cancer of unknown primary ). He had to wait to begin chemo until he could receive the second covid shot (remember back then?). Once all the tests and shots were over, it was the end of June. He received three rounds of chemotherapy before falling again on July 23, at which time, tests showed that chemotherapy was not working. From that point, it was only 23 days until he died. It felt like chasing after water as it was flowing over a waterfall. No way to keep up. Would those original 4-5 months have made a difference had he started receiving chemotherapy earlier? It is impossible to know. Could those early tests have been pushed

  Leal Health  provides cancer patients and their families a direct connection to treatment options. Wish that had been available to us. For others to benefit from this free networking service, word needs to spread. Please share the link with cancer patients and those recently diagnosed with cancer. The website also includes a blog and access to webinars . For other Cancer Diary posts, click  HERE . Blog editor's note: As a memorial to Carl, and simply because it is truly needed, MSI Press is now hosting a web page,  Carl's Cancer Compendium , as a one-stop starting point for all things cancer, to make it easier for those with cancer to find answers to questions that can otherwise take hours to track down on the Internet and/or from professionals. The CCC is expanded and updated weekly. As part of this effort, each week, on Monday, this blog will carry an informative, cancer-related story -- and be open to guest posts:  Cancer Diary .   Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter

  Carl did not like to walk. That was not the only thing that did him in, but it was one of the things that might have helped him. The benefits of walking can be immense: Walking increases muscular strength , especially lean muscle mass and functional strength. Walking a mile a day has been found to lower the risk of dying from breast cancer and prostate cancer . In addition, walking and  aerobic exercise diminishes the side effects of cancer and cancer treatment , such as fatigue, anxiety and depression. See also  Walking for Exercise | Cancer Today (cancertodaymag.org) . Walking can improve mental health , thanks to releasing endorphins. Walking can decrease the likelihood of diabetes . Walking can decrease bad cholesterol . Walking can decrease high blood pressure . Walking can reduce cardiovascular risk by 14%. Finally, walking a mile a day can cut risk of dying from prostate or breast cancer by 40% says one study .  For another MSI Press blog post on walking, take a look at: 

  Why does cancer spread to the spine? That has been a tough questions to answer, but now scientists have some new insights. Researchers May Have Cracked a Cancer Enigma (msn.com) , in fact. For other Cancer Diary posts, click  HERE . Blog editor's note: As a memorial to Carl, and simply because it is truly needed, MSI Press is now hosting a web page,  Carl's Cancer Compendium , as a one-stop starting point for all things cancer, to make it easier for those with cancer to find answers to questions that can otherwise take hours to track down on the Internet and/or from professionals. The CCC is expanded and updated weekly. As part of this effort, each week, on Monday, this blog will carry an informative, cancer-related story -- and be open to guest posts:  Cancer Diary .   Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter Follow MSI Press on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .   Interested in publishing with MSI Press LLC? Check out information on  how to submit a proposal . Plannin

  Well, some good news in the making -- and surprising as well. One study has found Red Meat and Dairy Linked to Enhanced Anti-Tumor Immunity, Study (msn.com) . So, a cheeseburger is now a good thing, right? (But don't char it -- that has been found to be carcinogenic.) In the case of not being able to win for losing, this actually looks like a winner.  Why? Well, this  Study finds diet-derived trans-vaccenic acid boosts anti-tumor immunity (news-medical.net) . TVA is what the study is talking about, and TVA can be found in meat and milk.  And if you want the science behind it, a recent article in Nature ,  Trans-vaccenic acid reprograms CD8+ T cells and anti-tumour immunity | Nature , should tickle your science bone with all the terminology you can handle. For other Cancer Diary posts, click  HERE . Blog editor's note: As a memorial to Carl, and simply because it is truly needed, MSI Press is now hosting a web page,  Carl's Cancer Compendium , as a one-stop starting point

  We only get to die once (well, usually, NDEs aside). How we die can be just as important as how we live. I wish that thought had been top of the mind when Carl was dying; we might have done things differently. It is not, though, that we did not have examples. We did, actually. Dottie, a dear friend from Massachusetts, had been my secretary when I was in the Army and then opened her house to me and my infant son when, during my later reserve days, the barracks would not allow him in because of his severe breathing issues from which he was in danger of dying nearly every day. (He survived, grew up, and, still with some breathing issues, is living a robust life.) Through all the intervening years, even after I moved to California, Dottie stayed in touch. Then, she got terminal brain cancer. After some initial surgery (and more planned, which, she feared, she would not survive), she decided that she wanted to spend the time she had left visiting all her family, which had spread out acros