MSI Press Blog

  Earlier, Cancer Diary reported on the death of Kirstie Alley due to colon cancer. Now another well-known person has died from it: Pelé.  Carl Leaver , MSI Press typesetter and co-founder, died of Cancer of Unknown Primary ; however, his oncologist suspected that it started as colon cancer (though, typical of CUP, the colon was clean by the time CUP was diagnosed at advanced Stage 4). Carl had skipped his colonoscopy, not with a great deal of thought but just because he did not want to be bothered with it at the time. Advice to everyone: be bothered with it! Read about the symptoms of colon cancer and issues of colonoscopies HERE . There is also a good deal of information about colon cancer at Carl's Cancer Compendium (cancers are listed alphabetically). Click HERE for more Cancer Diary posts. Click HERE for more posts about colon cancer. 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

As with Carl, many people have "signs" of cancer that can be interpreted either as something else quite mild or dismissed entirely as just a bad day or maybe I ate something bad yesterday. Otherwise quite healthy people simply ignore them as an annoyance. (Before cancer, Carl was sick just one day in his life -- 50 years earlier he threw up, once, on the lawn, from unsuspectingly drinking stagnant water the day while carrying out his Forest Service employee duties, Seriously. Never again did he ever throw up even after three rounds of chemotherapy, but he died, healthy, from cancer!)  This is the insidious nature of cancer. Often, you just do not know you have it because the signs are so innocuous until it has taken over your body and is in the winner's circle -- and you have an incredibly difficult battle to get your body back -- and many people lose that battle every single day. This is especially true of "toilet information." Change in bowel movement is prett

  New information from American Cancer Society shows that colon cancer is increasing in people under the age of 55.  Concerned: Here are the signs of colon cancer, but please be aware that sometimes no signs are seen before the cancer spreads to other organs and reaches Stage 4, or even before the situation turns into Cancer of Unknown Primary . 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  here  or

  Cancer knows no pity and has no boundaries as to whom it will attack. (We do a little bit about genetic markers, but cancer does not limit itself just to those who are genetically marked.) The latest victim is Kirstie Alley, who has died of colon cancer. Information about her relatively secret struggle with cancer is available HERE . For more posts about colon cancer, click HERE . Read more about Cancer Diary posts  HERE . Check out colon cancer at  Carl's Cancer Compendium  (the cancers are listed alphabetically). 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 robustness. To that end, it is expanded and updated

  March is National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. Being aware of the dangers of colon cancer, how widespread it is, and how fairly easily it can be identified and treated at early states is important to everyone's long-term health because colorectal cancer can attack anyone. Here is a guide that can help: Guide to Colorectal Cancer Carl Leaver for whom the CCC is named and maintained died of cancer of unknown primary. How oncologist believed (no evidence when it comes to CUP) that the cancer started in the colon.  I, his wife and MSI Press LLC managing editor, was found cancerous polyps through a home colon cancer test, ordered because of an observed change in bowel behavior, that led to a much-earlier-than-planned follow-up colonoscopy (5 years instead of 7-10 years after the first colonoscopy that had yielded no concerns). That led to several siblings revealing the same state and that they were on short-term follow-up colonoscopy schedules. Carl blew off his scheduled colono

  Colorectal cancer has a life expectancy of 4-6 months if discovered in stage 4. If discovered in stage 1-2, life expectancy is 5 years. (Note: Carl's Cancer Compendium provides longevity statistics for a wide range of cancers.) So many people die from colon cancer and colorectal cancer after brief periods of chemotherapy, if that, a imperative exists for watching for early signs of cancer is not heeded (or in some cases, they are simply missed or misinterpreted). I speak from personal experience because although Carl died from cancer of unknown primary ( CUP ), his oncologist was convinced that the original cancer was gastro-intestinal in nature although the colon was clear of the cancer by the time the cancer had reached stage 4 (which can happen in cases of CUP). So, assuming the oncologist was right about the original cancer, did Carl actually survive the 5 years without knowing it? Discovery at late stage does not mean the cancer arrived late stage -- it may have taken mon

  Carl and I lived in Jordan for a few years. One thing we especially liked about Jordan were the figs. Figs were round, unlike the more pear-shaped ones in the US, and they were, in our opinion, considerably sweeter. Regardless, they were an important of everyone's daily diet, including ours, and they were oh, so sweet! So, why are figs good for preventing cancer? Figs provide polyphenols and carotenoids, which are two phytonutrients, found to help detoxify  carcinogens  that can lead to cancer. These two phytonutrients help repair DNA and other tissue damage. And how do figs treat cancer ? First, if you have cancer, ask your doctor about eating figs. If s/he says yes (there seems to be no negatives to figs), then here are the benefits: Colon cancer: a source of needed fiber Breast cancer (post-menopausal): provide a layer of protection for hormonal imbalance, fight free radicals Brain cancer: restrain cancer cell growth Liver cancer: restrain cell growth; speed up the cure Any ca

  I have often not wanted to take medication for an injury -- I am pretty good at toughing things out. That has changed since I have learned about the connection between frequent/chronic inflammation and cancer. (The ability of anti-inflammatory medicines to prevent cancer is not known; they reduce inflammation, however, which is important.) Of course, inflammation is natural. It is part of how our body heals it itself. However, there are times when inflammation sets in and does not go away -- and that is the connection with cancer. Long-term inflammation can change DNA and result in cancer. Examples of long-term inflammation include ulcerative colitis and Corhn Disease. Either of these can lead to colon cancer. Here are some articles that are well worth reading. NIH National Cancer Institute  Risk Factors: Chronic Inflammation - NCI (cancer.gov) 8 foods that cause inflammation  8 Foods That Cause Inflammation – Entirely Health What is Pro-Tumor Inflammation and Its Role in Cancer? Ant

  Carl did not die of colon cancer. He might have had it, but his colon was clean by the time tests were undertaken to find his primary. They never did. The died of cancer of unknown primary (CUP), but there are theories that say that CUP results when very strong immune systems knock out the primary, which then escapes to other organs. In Carl's case, five other organs were under siege, but the oncologist always felt that the cancer had started in the GI tract though it could not be seen there by the time Carl was diagnosed. Carl also did not have a colonoscopy. His perception of it as unpleasant, and his imagination of it as just too uncomfortable, especially the preparation, kept her from scheduling it -- likely to his eternal detriment. That given and said, I was fascinated to find a wonderful little article about how to make it all more tolerable. Short, illustrated, helpful. Read it HERE . For other Cancer Diary posts, click  HERE . Blog editor's note: As a memorial to Car

  For your listening/watching pleasure, here is a link to a story about a Chanukah miracle and a cancer survivor: Click HERE for video. Read more Cancer Diary posts  HERE . Check out colon cancer at  Carl's Cancer Compendium  (the cancers are listed alphabetically). 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 robustness. To that end, it 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  Ins

This past week I came across an update -- providing some excitement and hope -- with the growing development of differentiation therapy. Here it is, from the original source, right HERE : Click  HERE  for more Cancer Diary posts. Click  HERE  for more posts about colon cancer. 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 robustness. To that end, it 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 , an

Saturday, April 7, 2012 The morning before Easter I stood in front of the kitchen window in my pajamas with a cup of hot coffee in my hand, gazing at the cloudless sky and watching the pesky squirrels in the backyard eat all of the birdseed out of the birdfeeder. No matter how many times I chased them off, they came back. I loved watching the birds so I put up with the thieves. Such a perfect day—except for one thing: my daughter Elizabeth still wasn’t home. She had spent the night at a friend’s house, and I had expected her to return before now. She knew the rules—she had to check in with us in person the next morning after staying the night away from home—but she hated to follow them. A typical teenager, rebellious and stubborn, she thought her parents didn’t understand her, that we had no idea what it was like to be a teenager. Lord knows, I was well aware of the trouble a teenager could get into by spending the night away from home, not only from her older half-brother