MSI Press Blog

  Research is expanding on how to control cancer. That is good because cancer is killing so many people. Nearly everyone I know has lost a friend of relative to cancer. And some people I used to know died of cancer. The CCC tries to stay up to date on the research that is being done and gladly accepts information on new theories and research from others. Just leave on a note on this blog. Among some of the newer therapies is vitamin therapy -- currently being research. In this case, Vitamin C and Vitamin K3 are the subjects of research studies. Here is one such study .  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 web page is in its infancy but expected to expand into r

Carl frequently complained of being cold during the last two months of living/dying with cancer. Even with the heat at, for me an uncomfortable, 72 degrees (when we typically maintain it at a comfortable 66 degrees). Even when wearing a sweater or even something heavier and smothered in blankets. He was always complaining about being cold, and only after he died did I find out why -- and that he really was very cold because body temperature drops when someone is dying. We were constantly struggling over how to compromise on temperature. My son and I were extremely uncomfortable with the amount of heat Carl would set the thermostat for, as well as having concerns with the cost of the amount of gas needed to keep the house so hot (dying can create immense financial stress -- a topic Cancer Diary will address in the future).  In general, cold registered for me, having grown up in Maine and having spent a few winters in Siberia, pictured above, on a very different scale from the perceptio

  The Hoyer lift made life work for us when Carl came home on hospice. I had been told about it by a friend after Carl had fallen several times and needed help getting up from more than one neighbor working together. Had I known a little earlier, I could have saved the neighbors some effort and Carl some dignity. Actually, once Carl went on hospice, the hospice company provided us with the lift. (Their aides would not have been able to lift Carl without it.) Having it at home meant that we could move Carl from bedroom to living room and back so that he could spend his days with his family out where they were and where he preferred to be. The Hoyer lift, as see in the picture is a tall pole with a moving base and patient sling for lifting patients who cannot stand. There are at least four  kinds of Hoyer lifts : power lift (highly recommended for large patients with small caregivers) manual (less expensive and works find for average-sized patients and average-sized caregivers) ceiling