Survivorship Archives - Ronny Allan - Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer

13Mar 2020 by Ronny Allan 1 Comment

Why Coronavirus Anxiety is Hard to Control – a Neuroendocrine Cancer patient perspective

OPINION. I guess many people are feeling pretty scared right now. Add age, a chronic disease, cancer, a lung illness or any condition that has a level of immunosuppression, and it seems to become even more scarier when you read the news. I think the 'not knowing' how this crisis is going to pan out has made the situation quite surreal. We seem to have gone from a fairly routine day to day living, thinking coronavirus is something that happens in another faraway country and then BANG, it's on our doorstep. I don't know about you but I would hate to have survived metastatic Cancer for the last 10 years only be taken out by a stupid tiny virus because I forgot to wash my hands. Thus why I intend…

09Mar 2020 by Ronny Allan 5 Comments

Coronavirus 19 (COVID-19): risks for cancer patients

Patient Advocacy, Survivorship

This is not medical advice. UPDATED 24 Mar 2020- some questions specifically related to NETs were added - output from Dr Pamela Kunz Oncology and NET Specialist) and Dr. Janice (Wes) Brown (Infectious Disease). At least one question answered by Dr Jame Howe (Surgeon). See Article 4 below. UPDATED 21 Mar 2020 - excellent Q&A from ASCO on cancer patients generally - see Article 1 below. UPDATED 13 Mar 2020 - added a discussion from our own Dr Mark Lewis, an Oncologist who is also a NET patient with MEN1 (he's had a Whipple procedure to remove a pancreatic tumour) - see Article 3 below. Hi People, I've been receiving many messages asking about NETs and the coronavirus. Please note I'm unable to answer these questions. Also, there have been…

06Feb 2020 by Ronny Allan 9 Comments

Neuroendocrine Cancer: The Perfect Storm

Awareness, Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Patient Advocacy, Survivorship

As featured by Neuroendocrine Cancer UK (formerly NET Patient Foundation) It's well known that Neuroendocrine Cancer can often be a difficult to diagnose condition. However, what is less well known is the impact it has on those who are diagnosed. I'm one of the lucky ones, even though I still ended up with distant metastases. It does feel odd to say that having distant metastasis is lucky! I consider my diagnosis to have been incidental as they were not investigating cancer - I suspect that's the route for many cancer patients. I also think I was lucky because I had instant access to Neuroendocrine Cancer specialists and got quick treatment, and my follow up and support by a specialist centre is in place. I cope, but I wouldn't say it's…

31Oct 2019 by Ronny Allan 8 Comments

Neuroendocrine Cancer: Double, Double Toil and Trouble

Awareness, Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Patient Advocacy, Survivorship

Double Neuroendocrine Cancer is a complex and difficult disease to diagnose, many people struggle with symptoms for some time before they are formally diagnosed. Some continue to struggle after diagnosis. There are many facets that can confound a physician - at diagnosis and beyond. Double Toil If it's not enough just to have tumours growing inside your body, this cancer can also be uncannily quiet delaying diagnosis. At the same time, the tumours can still be 'functional' and over-secrete certain hormones to add or introduce symptoms which mimic many other diseases or conditions, such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Menopause, Heart disease and Asthma - also delaying diagnosis. In addition to common symptoms of flushing and diarrhea, others include generally feeling weak, fatigued, pain, agitated, anxious, dizzy, nauseous, acid reflux,…

12Oct 2019 by Ronny Allan 3 Comments

The Flu shot – it’s not just about you

Patient Advocacy, Research, Survivorship

Another year, another flu shot. Since my cancer diagnosis, I've had one each year. To me it's really important protection even though I know it's not 100% effective, it's better than nothing. As someone who lives with metastatic and incurable Neuroendocrine Cancer, I know that my immune system may be compromised and having got this far beyond diagnosis, with an outlook to keep going further, I don't want to let my guard down. So an annual flu shot is personally MANDATORY. As I've said to my doctors a few times, I don't believe the cancer will get me, it will be something like a pneumonia, a bad flu or a chest infection. There's a lot of 'fake news' and 'conspiracy theorist' whispers going around about the dangers of the flu…

27Jun 2019 by Ronny Allan 15 Comments

Thanks a MILLION (…and a quarter) !

Awareness, Patient Advocacy, Survivorship

I was totally astonished to have been able to accumulate a million views of my blog around the middle of June 2019. When I first set it up in Apr 2014, it was just to help spread awareness whilst I was walking the 84 miles of Hadrian's Wall with my wife Chris. I never thought for one minute I would reach one million hits and accumulating over 15,000 followers across all my social media sites. I'm now heading for 2 million and I often think I might have a screw loose by even thinking about doing that! However, the hits keep coming in and I passed 1.25 million in March 2020 so I'm quarter way there already. THANK YOU! My key aims are international level awareness, advocacy, campaigning, and support…

18Apr 2019 by Ronny Allan 6 Comments

I’m not sick, I just have cancer

Inspiration, Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Patient Advocacy, Survivorship

Opinion. I receive many messages from people across the world. Recently, one person asked me if I saw myself as a sick person. I found it a really interesting question because someone with cancer must be sick, right? When I was diagnosed, I really didn’t feel unwell, not how I thought a Stage 4 cancer patient would feel and not even ill enough to consider myself a 'sick person'. Prior to that, I suppose like everyone else on the planet, I had normal day-to-day stuff come along but that always settled in days or weeks. But never enough to call myself a sick person other than as a temporary label. Quite often I would ignore the illness and continue working and also continue normal day to day activities. In hindsight,…

05Feb 2019 by Ronny Allan 1 Comment

Proton Pump Inhibitors – the NET Effect

Survivorship, Technical NETs, Treatment

Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) reduce the production of acid by blocking the enzyme in the wall of the stomach that produces acid. Acid is necessary for the formation of most ulcers in the oesophagus, stomach, and duodenum, and the reduction of acid with PPIs prevents ulcers and allows any ulcers that exist in the oesophagus, stomach, and duodenum to heal. PPIs are prescribed to treat acid related conditions such as: Esophageal duodenal and stomach ulcers NSAID-associated ulcer Ulcers Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) Zollinger-Ellison Syndrome - ZES (note this is a syndrome associated with a functioning duodenal or pancreatic NET known as a Gastrinoma) They also are used in combination with antibiotics for eradicating Helicobacter pylori, a bacterium that together with acid causes ulcers of the stomach and duodenum for eradicating…

30Nov 2018 by Ronny Allan No Comments

RonnyAllan.NET – Community Newsletter Covering November 2018

Awareness, Inspiration, Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Patient Advocacy, Survivorship

Summary for November 2018 NET News 1. I supported the annual NET Cancer Day event in my own style, contributing SIGNIFICANTLY to both Facebook and Twitter social media platforms. My twitter accounts were the biggest contributors to the #LETsTalkAboutNETs and #NeuroendocrineCancer hashtags for several days straddling the 10th Nov and between this and my Facebook account, I accounted for a significant proportion of the data recently published by INCA. I almost got to my 1 million 'reach' on twitter in ONE WEEK straddling NET Cancer Day (see below) - just a wee Scottish guy with a less common disease and a computer. Curiously not mentioned by INCA in their recent newsletter. So I thought I'd mention it instead. Mind you, every day is NET Cancer Day on my social media…

21Nov 2018 by Ronny Allan 10 Comments

Neuroendocrine Cancer – is normally slow growing BUT …..

Awareness, Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Survivorship

I have a lot of be thankful for - I'm still here for starters! BUT ......… here's a list of 10 things I'm NOT thankful to Neuroendocrine Cancer for! Thanks for growing inside me for years before making your vague announcement Sorry too late, I'm metastatic and around 50% of patients will be at diagnosis (so I'm not alone!). It's very SNEAKY! No thanks for making a right mess inside my body! I mean, I look really good, I look really well, but you should see my INSIDES No thanks for generating fibrosis throughout my mesentery and retroperitoneum! I really didn’t know what to make of this issue at diagnosis, although I did know the aorta was pretty important! Fortunately I had a surgeon who had operated on many NET…

01Nov 2018 by Ronny Allan No Comments

RonnyAllan.NET – Community Newsletter Covering October 2018

Awareness, Inspiration, Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Patient Advocacy, Survivorship

Summary for October 2018 NET News Several headlines covering the past month: 1. The annual NANETS symposium took place last month and I constructed an article of several important outputs. One day I might make it there, been to ENETS twice. Would love to attend UKINETS but they don't seem very 'patient' friendly. 2. I spoke alongside IPSEN Pharma SAS (Global HQ) at the annual Eye for Pharma Patient Summit. It was an honour and a privilege to stand in front of 200 people to tell my personal story plus my involvement in LivingWithNETs.com. The audience was a mix of the Pharmaceutical industry, Healthcare industry and Patient Advocates from many different illnesses. A fantastic and real awareness opportunity which is part of my promise to take NET awareness to new…

30Oct 2018 by Ronny Allan 9 Comments

Neuroendocrine Cancer: A Witch’s Brew

Awareness, Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Patient Advocacy, Survivorship

One of the key awareness messages for Neuroendocrine Cancer is the hormonal syndromes that can often accompany the diagnosis for many people. As it's a difficult disease to diagnose, many people struggle with these syndromes for some time before formal diagnosis of Neuroendocrine Cancer. Some continue to struggle after. The cancer can often be uncannily quiet, but the tumours can be 'functional' and over-secrete certain hormones to add or introduce symptoms which mimic many other diseases or conditions, such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Menopause, Heart disease and Asthma. In addition to common symptoms of flushing and diarrhea, others include generally feeling weak, fatigued, pain, agitated, anxious, dizzy, nauseous, acid reflux, skin irritation, anaemic, lose weight, gain weight, low blood sugar, high blood sugar, heart palpitations, headaches, sweating, high blood…

11Oct 2018 by Ronny Allan 5 Comments

Living with Cancer – Worrier or Warrior?

Awareness, Inspiration, Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Patient Advocacy, Survivorship

If you only believe what you see on social media, you would probably classify cancer patients into two main groups, warriors or worriers. I guess people have, or adopt, these traits from their cancer experience but I suspect many people are simply 'wired' that way. I also believe there are many people who have a bit of both, perhaps slanting to mostly warrior or worrier, I mean who doesn't worry about a single thing? However, the extent of worrying can often have a negative effect on quality of life. You're not going to stop worrying by simply reading this article but if you read no further, at least check out the lead graphic, it might help putting things into perspective. Warriors I used to do that for a living…

10Oct 2018 by Ronny Allan No Comments

Neuroendocrine Cancer – Short Update from NANETS 2018

Clinical Trials, Diet and Nutrition, Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Patient Advocacy, Survivorship, Technical NETs

I would love to go to a NANETS conference but I would need sponsorship or otherwise have to fund my own way there. Seattle sounds like a great place to visit. I would even have been their twitter correspondent had they asked! I've been to the European equivalent twice, they always have theirs in Barcelona it would seem, at least NANETS uses different locations making it more interesting. It's a scientific conference for the most part, but I guess some basic stuff is also covered. However, in the world of instant contact and communications on the internet, together with twitter, one can keep up to speed on what is or has been discussed. One day, NANETS and ENETS will be sufficiently advanced that we can all watch the presentations from…

08Oct 2018 by Ronny Allan 5 Comments

Neuroendocrine Cancer – on your bike!

Inspiration, Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Survivorship

There's a Brit saying known as "on your bike" (sometimes colloquially called "on yer bike"). It basically means "go away and stop bothering me" but there are other definitions including some 'Anglo-Saxon' versions (I won't repeat those here!) When I moved to my current home nearly 7 years ago, the removals lorry unloaded our rather dusty bikes (pedal cycles) and stuffed them in the garage where they mostly remained until this year. A couple of months ago, I dusted them off, repaired punctures etc, and basically started putting them to better use. In fact, Chris got a new one out of the deal! I'm reasonably fit (considering) but finding it so easy to opt for the sofa and there's always something worth watching on TV, or something to do on…

01Oct 2018 by Ronny Allan 1 Comment

RonnyAllan.NET – Community Newsletter Covering September 2018

Awareness, Inspiration, Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Patient Advocacy, Survivorship

Summary for September 2018 NET News Several headlines covering the past month: 1. The annual NANETS symposium kicks off in a few days. I'm hoping to bring you news from the event (remotely, I won't be there) and perhaps a summary in next month's newsletter. 2. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has a proposal on their desk to harmonise the grading structure for all types of Neuroendocrine Neoplasms (NEN). I've actually been ahead of the game for over a year since I found out this was coming and it's reflected in my 18 month old post on Staging and Grading. Be careful where you look as many are still behind the curve on this issue. Their proposals are interesting as they are recommending the final removal of the last vestiges…

16Sep 2018 by Ronny Allan 3 Comments

Diabetes – The NET Effect

Diet and Nutrition, Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Survivorship, Technical NETs

My chest infection is now settled, as too is the excitement and apprehension behind my first ever Ga68 PET - the outcome of that is still a work in progress. Earlier this year, my thyroid 'lesion' on watch and wait was given a 'damping down' with the prescription of a thyroid hormone supplement but I await a re-ignition of that small bush fire downstream. Bubbling behind the scenes and clamoring for attention is the spiking of my blood glucose test results and I was very recently declared 'at risk' for diabetes One of my followers entitled a post in my group with "The hits keep coming" in reference to encountering yet another problem in the journey with Neuroendocrine Cancer. I now know how she feels, this issue is a bit…

31Aug 2018 by Ronny Allan No Comments

RonnyAllan.NET – Community Newsletter Covering August 2018

Awareness, Inspiration, Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Patient Advocacy, Survivorship

[caption id="attachment_13604" align="aligncenter" width="959"] RIP Aretha Franklin - Neuroendocrine Cancer[/caption] Summary for August 2018 NET News Several headlines covering the past month: 1. The death of Aretha Franklin was a shock to her many fans around the world, including myself. I had no idea she was a Neuroendocrine Cancer patient. However, it would appear her death is being assigned as 'Pancreatic Cancer' mainly due to a rather clumsy statement from her physician. Despite the fact that her death certificate specifically confirms Neuroendocrine Cancer, we will be fighting a hard battle for years to come. The same thing happened with Steve Jobs, although I suspect we have now won that battle despite frequently news articles saying Pancreatic Cancer. Read about Aretha Franklin here and check out the link to her death…

30Jul 2018 by Ronny Allan 8 Comments

RonnyAllan.NET – Community Newsletter JULY 2018

Awareness, Inspiration, Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Patient Advocacy, Survivorship

Summary for July Personal News Another unusual month, after a bizarre June. The chest infection has gone but still awaiting results of an x-ray to confirm. July was supposed to be partly holiday but that was cancelled due to illness. The chest infection caused a 4kg weight loss and only half of this has returned to date. I also got the results of my first ever Ga68 PET Scan and this resulted in an article below. No longer a boring stable patient but nothing that needs doing imminently. Many thanks to all the messages which continue to arrive both public and privately, I'm most grateful. I received my 100th Lanreotide earlier in the month and I'm still here following my 8 year 'cancerversary' on 26 July 2018. Many of you…

21Jul 2018 by Ronny Allan 14 Comments

Neuroendocrine Cancer: Ga68 PET Scan – a game changer?

Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Survivorship, Technical NETs, Treatment

When I was offered my very first Ga68 PET/CT at a 6 monthly surveillance meeting in May 2018, I was both excited and apprehensive. Let me explain below why I had a mix of emotions. You can read about my Ga68 PET experience here. I was diagnosed in 2010 with metastatic NETs clearly showing on CT scan, the staging was confirmed via an Octreotide Scan which in addition pointed out two further deposits above the diaphragm (one of which has since been dealt with). In addition to routine surveillance via CT scan, I had two further Octreotide Scans in 2011 and 2013 following 3 surgeries, these confirmed the surveillance CT findings of remnant disease. The third scan in 2013 highlighted an additional lesion in my thyroid (still under a watch…

02Jul 2018 by Ronny Allan 5 Comments

RonnyAllan.NET – Community Newsletter JUNE 2018

Awareness, Inspiration, Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Patient Advocacy, Survivorship

Summary for June For the first time in 3 years, I didn't write any new articles in a single month (other than the monthly newsletter). This was due to a prolonged chest infection from which I'm still recovering. I'm so much better now (thankfully) but I suspect recovery has been slightly hampered by the recent UK heatwave. I managed a relaxing short break on the south coast of England to make up for my cancelled 3 week road trip to Scotland My weight remains below 10 stone, the lightest I have been for over 30 years. For me, weight loss is a red flag, although this occurrence wasn't sufficient for me to start waving one. I will get the results of my Ga68 PET scan on 11 July (please note…

07Jun 2018 by Ronny Allan 5 Comments

RonnyAllan.NET – Community Newsletter May 2018

Awareness, Inspiration, Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Patient Advocacy, Survivorship

Summary for May Different type of intro to my newsletter as it's late due to unexpected illness. In some ways, what happened in May is possibly connected. I had quite a bit of work to do for a 'Patients Included' event in May in Berlin. I managed to meet the deadlines and admit I was slightly out of my comfort zone. That said, it was a success and I managed an amazing amount of new contacts and awareness for Neuroendocrine Cancer. I arrived back exhausted and turned my attention to another two things - a patient presentation to the inaugural UK Dietitian Group study day followed by a holiday to Wales. The study day was done on the way to my holiday, was very successful and I enjoyed it. …

31May 2018 by Ronny Allan 14 Comments

Gallium 68 PET Scans – Into the Unknown

Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Survivorship, Technical NETs

OPINION Cancer is a growth industry ...literally! More people are being diagnosed than ever before. Fortunately, more people are surviving than ever before. This is against a backdrop of better awareness, better screening in the big population cancers, and to a certain extent better diagnostic tools, all of which is leading to earlier diagnosis. So how does this affect Neuroendocrine Cancer? According to the latest SEER database figures for Neuroendocrine Cancer, one reason for the 7 fold increase in incidence rates since the 1970s is all of those things above including better diagnostics. This has led to a revised set of epidemiological information in many countries that have made the effort to accurately update their cancer registries and there are consistent reports of incidence rates way beyond the recognised rare…

30Apr 2018 by Ronny Allan 9 Comments

RonnyAllan.NET – Community Newsletter April 2018

Awareness, Inspiration, Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Patient Advocacy, Survivorship

Headlines 1. Patients Included. I'm a big believer that patients should be included in all aspects of healthcare and I can very much relate to any initiative that promotes this. I'm therefore pleased to have been listed as a Patients Included accredited site providing further EXTERNAL awareness opportunities - read about this here. 2. I've accepted an appointment to the Strategic Advisory Board on MultiMed Inc, the owner of Cancer Knowledge Network based in Canada who have featured my articles in the past (https://cancerkn.com/) - It also publishes a magazine called Current Oncology which is Medline listed. This is not a NET site but my inclusion will no doubt raise the profile for us. Read more here. 3. My blog site is 4 years old. When I set my blog…

03Apr 2018 by Ronny Allan 2 Comments

RonnyAllan.NET – Community Newsletter March 2018

Awareness, Inspiration, Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Patient Advocacy, Survivorship, Technical NETs

Headline for the period of March 2018 is reaching a milestone of half a million blog views. Yay ...... Read more here. Amazing that I clicked over the 500,000 mark in a taxi going from Barcelona airport to my hotel for ENETS 2018 where I'd been sponsored by INCA. Fortunately I had prepared the post earlier and was able to spread the news in a few clicks. I picked up some great information at this conference which I'm feeding into my articles so you get the best and latest thinking. Here's a couple of pictures of me with famous NET specialists. [caption id="attachment_12597" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Dr James Yao[/caption] [caption id="attachment_12598" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Dr Jonathan Strosberg[/caption] I caught this news in my social media NET A website I helped design with a…

05Mar 2018 by Ronny Allan 4 Comments

RonnyAllan.NET – Community Newsletter February 2018

Awareness, Inspiration, Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Patient Advocacy, Survivorship, Technical NETs

Another great start to the year in both NETs in the news and my social media activity. It's been really cold where I am though! I'm so busy with personal contacts, I decided to set up a chat room so that other people can help me answer some really difficult questions! This 'chat rom' is not designed to run like a traditional Facebook forum, it's a place to make people feel safe and to discuss without the usual distractions and dramas that people often encounter. And .... it's about learning. I welcome all types of NET, people from any country and I also welcome carers/caregivers and medical people (I already have a few of the latter). It's also a place where I will bring in expertise to chat about various…

20Feb 2018 by Ronny Allan 10 Comments

Update – Oncolytic Virus Trials for Neuroendocrine Cancer

Clinical Trials, Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Survivorship, Technical NETs, Treatment

What exactly are Oncolytic Viruses? Oncolytic Viruses infects and breaks down cancer cells but not normal cells. Oncolytic viruses can occur naturally or can be made in the laboratory by changing other viruses. Certain oncolytic viruses are being studied in the treatment of cancer. Some scientists say they are another type of immunotherapy whilst others say it's too early to classify as such. The good news is that Neuroendocrine Cancer seems to figure in this work with two of these viruses apparently working on mice to date. Listed below are two active projects involving NETs, one directly and one indirectly. The Uppsala Trial - AdVince [caption id="attachment_12315" align="aligncenter" width="480"] The Oncolytic Virus AdVince is removed from the freezer ready for the Neuroendocrine Cancer Trial[/caption] Read here for an update released…

18Feb 2018 by Ronny Allan 14 Comments

Things to do today

Inspiration, Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Survivorship

When you live with any illness, getting through the day can be tough. Trying to get a diagnosis, dealing with a diagnosis, undergoing treatment and then learning to recover and adapt. I've been living with my condition for almost 8 years and I'm a big advocate of keeping busy, keeping active and keeping my mind occupied. Despite this, there are times with a chronic disease, an invisible disease, an incurable and long-term disease including cancer, occasionally just doing nothing can be very productive in the long term! Of course, sometimes you have little choice if you're ill from your condition or something routine. So now and then, I just breathe in and breathe out (then repeat). It's very enjoyable! Take a break if you need one. Thanks for reading Ronny…

12Feb 2018 by Ronny Allan 4 Comments

Don’t be underactive with your Thyroid surveillance

Awareness, Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Patient Advocacy, Survivorship

From other posts, you'll be aware of the thyroid lesion (now 17x19mm) which I've been tracking since 2013. The surveillance has included routine thyroid blood tests, mainly TSH, T3 and 4. Due to trends in TSH and T4, it's been suggested I'm borderline hypothyroidism. I'm out of range in TSH (elevated) but the T4 is currently at the lower end of the normal range. On 20 March 2018, following an Endocrine appointment, I was put on a trial dose of 50mcg of Levothyroxine to counter the downwards trend in results indicating hypothyroidism. Levothyroxine is essentially a thyroid hormone (thyroxine) replacement. One month after taking these drugs, my thyroid blood levels are now normal for the first time in 4 years (since there are records of test results - it might…

03Feb 2018 by Ronny Allan 5 Comments

Neuroendocrine Cancer Clinical Trial: Advanced Oncology Formula enterade®

Diet and Nutrition, Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Survivorship, Technical NETs, Treatment

Diarrhea is a huge subject for NET patients, whether it's caused by the tumor itself (i.e. a syndrome), due to treatment, knock on effects of treatment, or some other reason, it can dramatically limit qualify of life. Working out the root cause can be problematic even for medical teams. I wrote about these issues before in my article Neuroendocrine Cancer - the diarrhea jigsaw. So when I saw the data from a trial of something called enterade®, I was immediately drawn to investigate. I don't normally write articles on over the counter commercial products but this one is an exception given that it has been classed as a medical food since 2012 and is also used to rehydrate patients undergoing radiotherapy and chemotherapy for cancer (so not just for NETs).…

01Feb 2018 by Ronny Allan 2 Comments

RonnyAllan.NET – Community Newsletter January 2018

Awareness, Inspiration, Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Patient Advocacy, Survivorship, Technical NETs

A great start to the year in both NETs in the news and my social media activity. Of course the headline is the US FDA approval of Lutathera (Lu-177) - i.e. PRRT I caught this news in my social media NET FDA finally approves PRRT in USA. Long awaited and has caused much excitement on all forms of social media. I'm very pleased for my USA friends but we mustn't forget it's also required in so many other places. Help me populate locations in my live article on PRRT click here. NET Epidemiology continues to be discussed and (yet) another well known NET expert confirms my 2 year old article saying that the disease can no longer be considered rare. I suspect more dominoes will follow. Click here for the evidence. MIDATECH Pharma…

30Jan 2018 by Ronny Allan 1 Comment

I now take food with my medicine!

Diet and Nutrition, Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Survivorship, Technical NETs

If you want to strike up a friendly conversion with a Brit, ask him or her about the weather - we're really famous for our weather conversations and they normally focus on rain or clouds! However, despite the famous British 'reserve' and 'stiff upper lip', they also frequently talk about being 'under the weather', a phrase meaning slightly unwell or in low spirits. I find myself smiling at some of the conversations I hear in medical establishment waiting rooms, particularly the potentially long wait for blood tests. Here, conversations bypass the weather and focus on being under the weather! I thought I was a regular when I started to recognise people in the queue (line!) and their pill conversations. Statements such as "Yes, I just started a 'blue chap' "…

15Jan 2018 by Ronny Allan 11 Comments

Shame on you!

Inspiration, Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Patient Advocacy, Survivorship

I don't look ill. I didn't even look ill when I was diagnosed with metastatic and incurable Neuroendocrine Cancer. People have even told me I look better than many people my age who do not have an incurable disease! There's a bit of me which is very happy with that predicament, although I'd rather look less good and not have cancer. Many cancer patients have illnesses that cannot be seen, they are invisible. I know quite a lot of cancer patients who don't look ill but I know they have a life threatening disease and things could change quickly. For example, some cancer patients who look really well can need quick access to facilities such as toilets as side effects can sometimes not only be instant but also painful. Some…

11Jan 2018 by Ronny Allan 27 Comments

Neuroendocrine Cancer and Pancreatic Enzyme Replacement Therapy (PERT) – the Digested Version (Nutrition Series Article 5)

Diet and Nutrition, Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Patient Advocacy, Survivorship, Technical NETs, Treatment

After 7 years of avoiding pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy (PERT), I finally asked for some on a trial basis at the end of 2017. To be honest, for some time, I thought they were really only needed in the NET world for those with pancreatic issues (pNETs). I've always known I've had some digestive issues related to malabsorption. However, I'm not losing weight - this has been stable for some years (but see below). Plus my key vitamin levels (B12 and D) are in range. However, I had been struggling with a lot of bloating issues, thus the trial. You know me, I like to research and analyse such things! I've actually written about a lot of these issues in my Nutrition series ..... so this is now 'Article Number…

31Dec 2017 by Ronny Allan 2 Comments

NETwork with Ronny © – Community Newsletter DECEMBER 2017

Awareness, Inspiration, Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Patient Advocacy, Survivorship

6 HAPPY NEW YEAR and welcome to Ronny Allan's Community newsletter for December 2017. A quieter month due to the holiday season in the latter half. I was generally quieter in the first half too, maybe that's a good thing? Nonetheless, I still managed to accumulate nearly 20,000 hits this month. At the end of 2017, I've been reflecting on the amazing support from you guys. I'm a bit 'discombobulated' but also proud to see that I've had an amazing quarter of a million hits on my blog site in 2017 alone, double the 2016 figure. It seems almost impossible to carry that momentum on in 2018 but I'll give it a go! Check out my top 6 posts of 2017 by clicking here. AND ..... I'm now officially ronnyallan.NET…

30Dec 2017 by Ronny Allan 2 Comments

NET Cancer Blog – Top 6 posts of 2017

Awareness, Diet and Nutrition, Inspiration, Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Patient Advocacy, Survivorship, Technical NETs, Treatment

These are my top performing posts for 2017 - comprising one eighth of my entire hits for the year. My blog hits for 2017 almost reached a quarter of a million, double that of 2016 which was double that of 2015. A chunk of these figures can be attributed to most of these articles. Please share to maintain the momentum. Top 6 posts for 2017 (Click on each article title to read) Short Description Hits in 2017 The Human Anatomy of Neuroendocrine Cancer Making the point that Neuroendocrine Cancer is not confined to a particular part of the body 9,906 Neuroendocrine Cancer Syndromes – Early Signs of a Late Diagnosis All about syndromes 7,546 Neuroendocrine Neoplasms – Grade and Stage (incorporating WHO 2017 changes) The very latest information (particularly about…

20Dec 2017 by Ronny Allan 5 Comments

Neuroendocrine Cancer – surveillance and follow up

Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Patient Advocacy, Survivorship

Since 2010 I've had a lot of survellance and testing. More than people can imagine. I can see from various comments on my public pages and posts within my private group, that some people get a lot more than me. It's not true to say we all get the same, there are many factors including stage, grade, type of Neuroendocrine Neoplasm, healthcare system, miscallenous problems, therapy, even age. In the first year or two after diagnosis, I seemed to be a continuous testing phase but that was mainly due to seeing so many different doctors for so many different issues. In reality I was seeing and being assessed by my Oncologist around 3 month intervals, eventually moving to four. After that I moved to 6 months but due to issues…

04Dec 2017 by Ronny Allan No Comments

NETwork with Ronny © – Community Newsletter NOVEMBER 2017

Awareness, Inspiration, Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Patient Advocacy, Survivorship

Welcome to Ronny Allan's Community newsletter for November 2017. A very strong beginning of the month due to massive support for my Halloween themed but very serious and hard-hitting post "Neuroendocrine Tumors - no treats, just tricks". If you've not seen it or commented on it, check it out here on the Facebook site (currently 724 shares). I suspect the number of shares will never be beaten (there were 652 within 36 hours) and as far as I know perhaps this is now the most shared NET awareness post ever on social media. The support for this single post was so phenomenal; it actually eclipsed my entire NET Cancer Day effort on 10 Nov! I am so grateful to those who made that happen ♥ That said, I was actually pretty…

01Nov 2017 by Ronny Allan 4 Comments

NETwork with Ronny © – Community Newsletter OCTOBER 2017

Awareness, Inspiration, Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Patient Advocacy, Survivorship

Hi NETworkers! Welcome to Ronny Allan's Community newsletter for October 2017. A very strong end of the month due to massive support for my Halloween themed but very serious and hard-hitting post "Neuroendocrine Tumors - no treats, just tricks". If you've not seen it or commented on it, check it out here on the Facebook site. I suspect the number of shares will never be beaten (652 in 36 hours). 31 Oct 2017 is now the biggest number of views on any one day, breaking the previous record set in Jan 2017. It also made October 2017 the highest monthly views ever. I am so grateful to those who made that happen ♥ What's in the NET News The following news items may be of interest: The huge (but expected) news…

24Oct 2017 by Ronny Allan 2 Comments

Round up of NANETS 2017 – Let’s talk about NETs #NANETS2017

Awareness, Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Patient Advocacy, Survivorship, Technical NETs, Treatment

NANETS (North American Neuroendocrine Tumor Society) is one of the biggest NET conferences, bringing together NET Specialists from around the world to discuss state-of-the-art treatment modalities, new therapies, and ongoing controversies in the field of Neuroendocrine Neoplasms (Tumors and Carcinomas). This is fairly complex stuff but much of it will be familiar to many. I’ve filtered out several outputs from the conference which I think are both relevant and topical to patients. The list is below allowing you to easily peruse and read further via linkages if you need to read more. Remember, some of these are extracts so do not contain all the details of the research or study – although some of the linkages will take you to in-depth information if that’s your bag. Where applicable, I’ve also linked…

16Oct 2017 by Ronny Allan 2 Comments

Neuroendocrine Neoplasms – Can they be cured?

Awareness, Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Patient Advocacy, Survivorship, Technical NETs, Treatment

OPINION: "Cured" - In cancer, this word can evoke a number of emotions. Interestingly, not all these emotions will be as positive as you might think. If you want to spark a heated debate on a Neuroendocrine Cancer patient forum, just mention that you've been cured. I'm not taking any sides by using this statement, just stating what actually happens and the deeply held views that persist in community held groups. One important factor in some of this thinking is that many people still remember the days where most diagnoses were late and many followed years of misdiagnoses for other conditions. But the latest statistics (which are now quite old) indicate things are changing. The massive increase in incidence rates indicates earlier diagnoses and it's true for many cancers, including…

09Oct 2017 by Ronny Allan 5 Comments

Weight – the NET Effect

Diet and Nutrition, Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Survivorship, Treatment

Firstly, let me say that I have no intention of advising you how to lose or gain weight! Rather, I'd like to discuss what factors might be involved and why people with NETs might lose or gain weight either at diagnosis or after treatment. Clearly I can talk freely about my own experience and associated weight issues. If nothing else, it might help some in thinking about what is causing their own weight issues. I once wrote a patient story for an organisation and the headline was "Did you mean to lose weight". Those were actually the words a nurse said to me after I nonchalantly told her I thought I'd lost some weight (....about half a stone). I answered the question with "no" and this response triggered a sequence…

08Oct 2017 by Ronny Allan 7 Comments

The shock effect never wears off

Awareness, Inspiration, Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Survivorship, Treatment

Patient stories are key to any awareness campaign. Nothing like a human being standing up and letting you know about their experience. Many are positive examples of how they are overcoming their trials and tribulations, others tell stories of a struggle. They all have different styles, some are the 'kick ass' type stories, some are just thankful, some are reflective - all of them are perfectly acceptable. I normally like to place myself somewhere in the middle with phrases like "I'm still here", although I can veer left and right when the mood takes me! Because of my social media footprint, I get a lot of private messages from people across the globe. Many are from people who have no wish to go public and that's fine. Many are from…

02Oct 2017 by Ronny Allan 10 Comments

Genetics and Neuroendocrine Tumors

Awareness, Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Survivorship, Technical NETs

In my article 'Ever wonder what caused your NET', I concluded that currently, the only known scientifically explained causes for NETs were hereditary/genetic in nature. This is mostly associated with those who have MEN syndromes (yes, they are a syndrome not a type of tumour) and a few other less common types of NET including Pheochomocytoma/Paraganglioma (Pheo/Para) and Medullary Thyroid Carcinoma (MTC) (the familial version of MTC is often referred to as FMTC). However, please note this does not mean that all those diagnosed with pancreatic, parathyroid, pituarity, Pheo/Para and MTC tumours, will have any hereditary or genetic conditions, many will simply be sporadic tumors. In recent years, it has become increasingly apparent that a number of Neuroendocrine tumours arise as a result of germline genetic mutations and are inherited in…

02Oct 2017 by Ronny Allan 3 Comments

Cancer Isn’t All About Me

Awareness, Inspiration, Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Patient Advocacy, Survivorship, Treatment

[caption id="attachment_11078" align="alignleft" width="150"] As featured by Cure Magazine[/caption] [caption id="attachment_4318" align="aligncenter" width="500"] It's about others too[/caption] Since my diagnosis of incurable and metastatic neuroendocrine cancer in 2010, it's really all been about me. I didn’t see the trauma coming, and my family has supported me throughout every single step. I really don’t want to be the focus of attention as that mantle was normally evenly distributed. However, there’s nothing like a cancer diagnosis to put you into the spotlight. Facing an uncertain future with regular scans, injections, treatment, pills, examinations and blood tests has made me the center of attention, whether I like it or not. The focus is on me because these things are necessary to keep me alive for as long as possible and also because I…

30Sep 2017 by Ronny Allan No Comments

Awareness, Diet and Nutrition, Inspiration, Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Patient Advocacy, Survivorship, Technical NETs, Treatment

Hi NETworkers! Welcome to my monthly 'Community' newsletter. This is September 2017's monthly summary of Ronny Allan's Community news, views and ICYMI (in case you missed it!). NET News The following news items may be of interest: The European Commission (EC) approved Lu-177 Lutathera (PRRT) on 28 Sep. This is the first time the drug has ever been approved, despite being in use for over 10 years. In USA, the FDA gave a date of 28 Jan 2018 for its decision to approve or not. Read more here. The European Commission approved the use of XERMELO (telotristat ethyl) for use in Carcinoid Syndrome diarrhea not adequately controlled by somatostatin analogues. Read more here. The US FDA approved an add-on indication for Lanreotide (Somatuline) for treatment of carcinoid syndrome, adding…

28Sep 2017 by Ronny Allan 15 Comments

Ever wonder what caused your NET?

Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Survivorship, Technical NETs

OPINION. When you're diagnosed, you go through a whole host of emotions. It's not just the initial shock, the disbelief, the anxiety and morbid worry produced by the words "you have cancer", it's other stuff such as anger and denial. With the latter, the denial normally wears off as you finally accept the predicament. In hindsight, the anger is interesting because there can be a mixture of thoughts including "why me", "what could I have done to head this off"; and would you believe I was even angry that my diagnosis was going to affect my performance at work and even my personal credibility. We all react differently but in general terms our experiences can be categorised into 3 main areas: initial reaction, distress and then adjustment. Initially, I was frustrated…

03Sep 2017 by Ronny Allan 6 Comments

Awareness, Diet and Nutrition, Inspiration, Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Patient Advocacy, Survivorship, Technical NETs, Treatment

[caption id="attachment_10710" align="aligncenter" width="500"] background scene from my Instagram account - to see more check out the newsletter. Photo credit to Nick Lucas[/caption] Hi NETworkers! Welcome to my monthly 'Community' newsletter. This is August 2017's monthly summary of Ronny Allan's Community news, views and ICYMI (in case you missed it!). NET News The following news items may be of interest: PRRT takes a step forward to being formally approved in USA. FDA acknowledges receipt of revised application for approval. Click here. However, in UK, there is a threat that PRRT won't be approved despite a positive recommendation by the scientific committee of the European Medicines Agency (EMA). Advanced Accelerator Applications (AAA), the manufacturers of Lu-177 Lutathera for use on PRRT, has had to respond to the UK's drug approver NICE's negative recommendation. …

14Aug 2017 by Ronny Allan 12 Comments

The Invisible NET Patient Population

Awareness, Patient Advocacy, Survivorship, Uncategorized

OPINION I found some of the quotes from the recent NET SEER Database study (Dasari et al) very interesting. The National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program is a comprehensive source of population-based information initiated in 1973 that is updated annually. Although the study is US-based, it represents the largest study of Neuroendocrine Neoplasms (NENs) ever recorded and is therefore a good guide to what might be found beyond USA. In fact, other national declarations of incidence and prevalence of NENs seem to bear these statistics out, i.e incidence rates of 7-8/100,000 ...... almost 7 times the rate recorded in the 1970s. If you want to understand the factors behind this massive increase, I covered this extensively in my post "Neuroendocrine Neoplasms – not as rare as you think". …

01Aug 2017 by Ronny Allan No Comments

Awareness, Diet and Nutrition, Inspiration, Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Patient Advocacy, Survivorship, Technical NETs, Treatment

Hi NETworkers! Welcome to my monthly 'Community' newsletter. This is July 2017's monthly summary of Ronny Allan's Community news, views and ICYMI (in case you missed it!). July 26th was the 'Cancerversary' of my diagnosis - I'm still here after 7 years and I'm apparently a veritable newbie! There's some great comments on my 'I'm Still Here' post - check them out ... 'click here' NET News The following news items may be of interest: Telotristat Ethyl (Xermelo) takes a step forward to being approved in Europe. Click here. PRRT takes a step forward to being approved in USA. Click here. Ipsen launches the German version of 'Living with NETs' website. Click here. What's happening on my Blog Site? As per above, a quiet month. Due to the vagaries of…

05Jul 2017 by Ronny Allan No Comments

Awareness, Inspiration, Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Patient Advocacy, Survivorship, Technical NETs, Treatment

Hi NETworkers! Welcome to my monthly 'Community' newsletter. This is June 2017's monthly summary of Ronny Allan's Community news, views and ICYMI (in case you missed it!). NET News The following news items may be of interest: NETs in the UK National News. Great publicity. Featuring NET Patient Foundation. Click here. Personalised PRRT is highlighted. Click here. Everolimus and Sunitinib. In England, NICE approves Everolimus (Afinitor) and Sunitinib (Sutent). Read more by clicking here. Videos from LACNETS. I've not watched them all yet due to holiday but they are always great! Click here. PRRT. News of a PRRT trial being set up for Inoperable Pheochromocytoma/ Paraganglioma. Not yet recruiting but read more here. Immunotherapy. Merkel Cell Carcinoma is already benefiting from an FDA approved drug with another pending. Check out…

16Jun 2017 by Ronny Allan No Comments

Ronny Allan’s ‘PoNETry’ © – An Ode to Invisible Illness

Inspiration, Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Patient Advocacy, Survivorship

Ronny Allan's 'PoNETry' © series can be shared with poetry credit to: ronnyallan.com and/or NET Cancer Blog Thanks for reading Ronny I’m also active on Facebook. Like my page for even more news. I’m also building up this site here: Ronny Allan Disclaimer My Diagnosis and Treatment History Most Popular Posts Sign up for my twitter newsletter Read my Cure Magazine contributions Remember ….. in the war on Neuroendocrine Cancer, let’s not forget to win the battle for better quality of life! Please Share this post

08Jun 2017 by Ronny Allan 20 Comments

Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer – 8 tips for conquering fear

Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Patient Advocacy, Survivorship, Treatment

Opinion: Before I was diagnosed with cancer, my health was in reasonable condition. I had minor irritants that seemed to come back now and then, nothing that was going to kill me. So I just put up with most of it and time was frequently a good healer. Occasionally, I would use medicine to speed up the healing or ask a doctor for advice. Even leading up to my diagnosis, this was my strategy despite some strange things going on. Luckily for me, the 'system' picked up something suspicious and I am where I am today. It's amazing to think a cancer can grow inside you for years causing a lot of damage but without a grand announcement. Stabilised Following diagnosis, I got quite a lot of attention in the…

01Jun 2017 by Ronny Allan 4 Comments

Awareness, Inspiration, Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Patient Advocacy, Survivorship, Technical NETs, Treatment

Hi NETworkers! Welcome to my monthly 'Community' newsletter. This is April 2017's monthly summary of Ronny Allan's Community news, views and ICYMI (in case you missed it!). This year, it's occurred to me that I've gone beyond just being known as a 'blog' and have transformed into something with a much wider focus within the NET Community and beyond. I've added a new section called NET News. This is a catch up of stuff I've accumulated over the past month but perhaps not yet posted or simply want to emphasise what I think is significant news about NETs or might impact or influence NETs This section replaces 'Highlights' which will be renamed to 'NET Cancer Blog Activity' and cover my efforts to generate awareness and to help others. NET News The…

19May 2017 by Ronny Allan 5 Comments

ASCO 2017 – Let’s talk about NETs #ASCO17

Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Patient Advocacy, Survivorship, Technical NETs, Treatment

ASCO (American Society of Clinical Oncology) is one of the biggest cancer conferences in the world normally bringing together more than 30,000 oncology professionals from around the world to discuss state-of-the-art treatment modalities, new therapies, and ongoing controversies in the field. As Neuroendorine Tumors is on a roll in terms of new treatments and continued research, we appear to be well represented with over 20 'extracts' submitted for review and display. This is fairly complex stuff but much of it will be familiar to many. I've filtered and extracted all the Neuroendocrine stuff into one list providing you with an easy to peruse table of contents, complete with relevant linkages if you need to read more. For many the extract title and conclusion will be sufficiently educational or at least…

02May 2017 by Ronny Allan 4 Comments

Awareness, Inspiration, Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Patient Advocacy, Survivorship, Technical NETs, Treatment

Hi NETworkers! Welcome to my sixth 'Community' newsletter. This is April 2017's monthly summary of Ronny Allan's Community news, views and ICYMI (in case you missed it!). Highlights There are two main highlights for April which stood out for me: The publication of my WEGO Health Award PODCAST. This was a radio interview prior to the announcement that I had won the WEGO 'Best in Show Community' award. It was designed around a red carpet scenario where the nominees are entering the award ceremony (everything in the virtual world of course). If you missed it, you can listen to it by clicking here. The announcement of new USA database figures for incidence and prevalence of NETs. This confirms it is now mathematically impossible for NETs not to be a rare disease in…

27Apr 2017 by Ronny Allan 1 Comment

The trouble with the NET (Part 3) – Miracle Cures

Awareness, Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Patient Advocacy, Survivorship

Since I started blogging, I've had to become quite savvy at forming headlines for my posts as the wording can be a factor in whether someone reads it or not. A post picture can also influence. There's a third factor and that is credibility - I'd like to think I've worked hard to earn that level of trust in my 'product'. I use the NET to talk about NETs! I'm a genuine guy with a genuine purpose and I don't want to sell you anything - my 'product' is free. However, the 'NET' can also provide 'misinformation'. Unfortunately 'misinformation' also includes 'alleged' cures for various ailments including cancer. I think we've all been there, we check twitter, Facebook, Pinterest etc and we find the ubiquitous miracle cures for every illness under…

25Apr 2017 by Ronny Allan 13 Comments

Diagnosed with Neuroendocrine Cancer? – 10 questions to ask your doctor (and where to find a NET Specialist Worldwide)

Awareness, Diet and Nutrition, Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Patient Advocacy, Survivorship

On the day I was diagnosed, I hadn't really thought about questions, the only one I actually remember asking was "how long do I have left to live" (I watch too many movies!). On the day of diagnosis and a period beyond, people tend to feel emotions of shock, denial, anger and sadness, before going on to accept their situation. Yes, I 'googled' but not a great deal really - although some things I found did frighten me. I wish I had found this article way back then. As things progressed in the weeks after 'D-Day', I started to work out the sort of things to ask but even then it was limited. I had been referred to an experienced NET team so I felt confident they would do whatever…

06Apr 2017 by Ronny Allan 2 Comments

Don’t believe the hype – Neuroendocrine Cancer Myths debunked

Awareness, Diet and Nutrition, Inspiration, Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Patient Advocacy, Survivorship, Technical NETs, Treatment

OPINION. There's a lot of inaccurate and out of date information out there. Some is just a lack of understanding, some caused by out of date websites, often as a result of patient forum myth spreading. Some can only be described as propaganda. Myth 1: All Neuroendocrine Tumours are benign Not true. By any scientific definition, the word 'tumour' means 'an abnormal mass of tissue that results when cells divide more than they should or do not die when they should. Tumours may be benign (not cancerous), or malignant (cancerous)'. Sure, some NETs will be benign but a tumours which spreads away from the primary site cannot be benign by any scientific definition. However, The World Health Organisation (WHO) 2010 classification for digestive system is based on the concept that…

01Apr 2017 by Ronny Allan 1 Comment

Awareness, Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Patient Advocacy, Survivorship, Treatment

Hi NETworkers! Welcome to my fifth 'community' newsletter, the monthly summary of NET news, views and ICYMI (in case you missed it!). The highlight of the month was my attendance at the first ever Joint Patient-Physician symposium at ENETS Barcelona. I remain thankful to INCA for the honour of attending and for the experience that came with it. It was also great to finally meet other NET advocates face to face for the first time. Some of them have been great supporters since the inception of my blog and community. [caption width="500" id="attachment_9598" align="aligncenter"] with Grace Goldstein from Carcinoid Cancer Foundation[/caption] March was a slower month in blogging terms due to a number of external projects and a continuing flow of private messages. I don't have an issue with private contact…

21Mar 2017 by Ronny Allan 29 Comments

In the war on Neuroendocrine Cancer, let’s not forget to win the battle for better quality of life

Awareness, Diet and Nutrition, Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Patient Advocacy, Survivorship, Treatment

OPINION. Date of Article March 2017. In the last 24 months, there seems to have been announcement after announcement of new and/or upgraded/enhanced diagnostics and treatment types for Neuroendocrine Cancer. Increased availability of radionuclide scans, increased availability of radionuclide therapies, combination therapies, increased availability of somatostatin analogues, biological therapies, enhanced surgical and minimally invasive techniques, new oral drugs for carcinoid syndrome, more trials including immunotherapy. Admittedly, some of the announcements are just expansions of existing therapies having been approved in new regions. Compared to some other cancers, even those which hit the headlines often, we appear to be doing not too badly. However, the pressure needs to stay on, all patients, regardless of where they live, need access to the best diagnostics and treatments for them; and at the requisite time. This alone is…

20Mar 2017 by Ronny Allan 3 Comments

Poker Face or Cancer Card?

Inspiration, Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Patient Advocacy, Survivorship

[caption id="attachment_11078" align="alignleft" width="150"] As featured by Cure Magazine[/caption] Before I was diagnosed, I had my share of illnesses. Fortunately, many of them were the routine stuff that most people tend to get from time to time, and most did not stop me getting on with whatever needed doing. I served in the military from age 16 until 45 – a long time! On only two occasions during that 29-year period, did I involuntary visit a hospital: aged 16 having been knocked out at boxing (you should have seen the other guy!) and aged 39 after falling off a vehicle (in my defense it was really dark). Illness wasn't really something I thought much about and for minor things, I would just "soldier on.” So, from an early age,…

01Mar 2017 by Ronny Allan 9 Comments

Awareness, Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Patient Advocacy, Survivorship, Treatment

Hi NETworkers! Welcome to my fourth 'community' newsletter, the monthly summary of NET news, views and ICYMI (in case you missed it!). February was a slower month in blogging terms due to a major increase in contact from people privately asking for advice and others asking me to support external projects. I don't have an issue with private contact but please note my disclaimer. I also had a winter cold for a few days, so I relaxed a bit. Only a short month but I managed to accumulate the second biggest monthly blog views ever (January 2017 will be difficult to beat). Thank you all so much ♥ January's success also led to increased Facebook followers and I broke through the 4000 milestone with a plan to reach 5000 by the end of the year or before. If I grew at…

27Feb 2017 by Ronny Allan 4 Comments

It’s been 5 years since I saw a scalpel (….but my surgeon is still on speed dial)

Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Survivorship, Technical NETs, Treatment

5 years ago today, I had a bunch of lymph nodes removed. Two separate areas were resected, only one was showing growth but both were showing up as hotspots on an Octreoscan. I had known since shortly after diagnosis in 2010 that 'hotspots' were showing in my left 'axillary' lymph nodes (armpit) and my left 'supraclavicular fossa' (SCF) lymph nodes (clavicle area). Some 10 months previously, I had a major liver resection and 5 months prior to the liver resection, I had a small intestinal primary removed including work on some associated complications. There had always been a plan to optimise cytoreduction of my distant metastases, it was just a matter of timing. I still can't get my head round why metastases from a small intestinal NET managed to get to this area but not others! Distant nodal metastasis treatment…

20Feb 2017 by Ronny Allan No Comments

25 Life Lessons From a Two-Time Cancer Survivor

Inspiration, Survivorship

Sometimes, a blog post comes along and it just resonates! I got chatting with the author who has given me permission to post it here. Shari Berman is a two-time cancer survivor. She was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma at age 25, days after returning from her honeymoon and a second time with breast cancer 8 years later. I posted her full CV below. Her post "25 Life Lessons From a Two-Time Cancer Survivor" is a fantastic summary of a positive approach to life, despite a cancer diagnosis (or in Shari's case, two). I've seen some similar quotes before but Shari has collated them into one very powerful list. I'm not suggesting they all apply to everyone but perhaps even a 'pick n mix' approach would be useful. For example, I couldn't do number 8…