It's That time again . .

I find myself in a situation where I can actually sit at the computer and spend some time writing in this blog. This is completely unexpected. When I first learned that I had Oesophageal Cancer the advice I was given was that I had probably a few months to live. After some considerable distress I accepted that I had no longer to live and made arrangements to finalise as much of my affairs as I possibly could. Since then I have had the privilege of living far longer than anyone expected.

As I head towards the second anniversary of my diagnosis I am pleased to say that I am still alive and still kicking. Indeed I have been told that I am able to go back to full time work and so have been doing this and trying to make back some of the financial costs that were incurred.

Let's just hope that this next year also sees a further opportunity to continue living - life is too precious to waste on illness and stress!

Happy and Healthy new year to everyone

Have scientists discovered how cancer spreads?

In a fascinating story coming from Reuters on 7 December 2005 the following:

Updated: 1:51 p.m. ET Dec. 7, 2005

LONDON - Scientists have discovered how cancer spreads from a primary site to other places in the body in a finding that could open doors for new ways of treating and preventing advanced disease.

Instead of a cell just breaking off from a tumor and traveling through the bloodstream to another organ where it forms a secondary tumour, or metastasis, researchers in the United States have shown that the cancer sends out envoys to prepare the new site.

Intercepting those envoys, or blocking their action with drugs, might help to prevent the spread of cancer or to treat it in patients in which it has already occurred.

Pete's Points:

I am amazed at what we are finding out these days. One of the things I note in the article above is how differently the English language is spelled in the American vernacular.

Fancy that

CBS reports that

Researchers in California and in Cambridge, England, are successfully training man's best friend to smell out one of his worst enemies.

Researchers say dogs can be more accurate than current cancer tests and represent a breakthrough in cancer detection.

In September, a leading medical journal in Britain, the BMI, gave its blessing. The journal published the results of the first ever meticulously controlled, double blind, peer-reviewed study on the subject, stating, “The results are unambiguous. Dogs can be trained to recognize and flag bladder cancer.”

Pete's Comments:

A friend in the USA is reported as saying that immediately after your dog starts to lick you a lot get yourself down for a CAT scan.

How appropriate! When it's raining it is raining cats and dogs!