This year 24,680 women — many of them mothers or grandmothers — will die from colon or rectal cancer. Another 71,380 will learn that they are in for the fight of their lives.

These frightening numbers are from the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Facts and Figures: 2009.

Help us save their lives and the lives of many more mothers with a gift to C3 on Mother’s Day.

Maybe you’ve always struggled to find the perfect present for your mom. This year remember her many gifts to you by helping C3 strengthen colorectal cancer research and advocacy. What could be a better gift?

Your donation may honor your mother or the mother of your children or the woman fighting cancer who is your best friend.  Tell us her name and address, and we’ll let her know that you thought about her on Mother’s Day.

You can also make a gift in memory of your mother. We at C3 are sorry for your loss and grieve with you on a difficult day.

• You can make a secure gift online for C3′s work.
• Or you might want to donate specifically to the Lisa Fund for colorectal cancer research.

Your generosity will help prevent, treat, and finally beat this terrible cancer killer.

Fennel

There are interesting remedies available for gas and bloating.

In Europe most babies get fennel tea in their bottles to reduce the risk of bloating and gas. There have been many reports showing that when you use one teaspoon of fennel seeds, brew a tea, and sweeten it with honey two to three times a day you can reduce your symptoms. It is no accident that many digestive drinks contain fennel.

Another helpful remedy is caraway seeds. If you combine caraway seeds and fennel seeds you may have additional benefit. We usually recommend one teaspoon each to make a cup of tea and use honey to sweeten it up. Caraway seeds are often used when sauerkraut is prepared, not only for the taste but also to reduce the gas associated with sauerkraut consumption.

Patients who have had a pancreas surgery may also consider using digestive enzymes. Foully smelly stools which float, associated with a lot of gas and cramping, can be a sign of pancreas insufficiency. The pancreas does not produce enough enzymes to help to digest food which leads to incomplete digested fat which makes stools stinky and able to float in the toilet bowl. Pancreas enzymes taken together with food can completely correct this very fast.

The American Cancer Society has a good web page for cancer patients about influenza H1N1 with links to more answers from the Centers for Disease Control and ACS Infections in People with Cancer.

The ACS recommends that people with cancer:

• Avoid large crowds, people with fever, flu or infection, and small children who go to schools or daycare.
• Wash their hands often or use a santizing gel.
• Cover their mouths and noses when they sneeze with a tissue and throw it away.
• Avoid touching their eyes, noses, or mouths.
• Talk to their doctors about risk of infection and possible use of Tamiflu or Relenza.

A new type of drug was successful in helping patients with cancer cachexia regain muscle and strength, and counting circulating tumor cells helped predict survival for people with advanced colorectal cancer.

Free colonoscopies are available through a Connecticut program, the FDA and FTC warn the public to be wary of websites or ads promising treatments for 2009 H1N1 influenza, and people in remote areas of Arizona were able to have CT colonoscopy screening with teleradiology. Read the rest of this entry »

In my practice, almost every day patients ask me how long we continue doing chemotherapy?  These are patients with metastatic disease who think that chemotherapy is only given for a very specific time.

I often ask them if they had diabetes or hypertension how long would they expect to take medication for that disease, and there is no hesitation answering that you take it for a long time, if not forever. So I try to explain that we give chemotherapy as long it works and is tolerated. Read the rest of this entry »