Palliative treatment Archives

06 Sep 2024

11 Comments

Palliative Care – it might just save your life

Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Patient Advocacy, Survivorship, Treatment5-HIAA, Advanced neuroendocrine cancer, Bowel surgery, Carcinoid syndrome, Distant metastatis, Hormones, Hospice care, Incurable cancer, Lanreotide, Metastatic Neuroendocrine Cancer, NET syndromes, Neuroendocrine, Neuroendocrine cancer, Neuroendocrine tumour (NET), Octreotide, Palliative care, Palliative treatment, Quality of LIfe (QoL), Syndrome

When you've been diagnosed with cancer at an incurable stage, certain words start to mean more. Take 'palliative' for example. Before I was diagnosed, I had always associated the word 'palliative' with someone who had a terminal disease, and this type of care was to make the final days/weeks as comfortable as possible. So, it was a bit of a shock to find out in 2010 that my treatment was palliative in nature. However, I'm still not dead and I'm still receiving palliative care. Go figure! The answer is simple - the cancer story is changing. What was once feared…

17 Jun 2024

By Ronny Allan

23 Comments

Metastatic Neuroendocrine Tumours – Incurable but treatable

Awareness, Inspiration, Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Patient Advocacy, Survivorship, TreatmentAdvanced neuroendocrine cancer, Cancer grading, Cancer staging, Ga68 PET/CT, Incurable cancer, Lanreotide, Low Grade NETs, Metastatic Neuroendocrine Cancer, Neuroendocrine cancer, Neuroendocrine carcinoma (NEC), Neuroendocrine tumour (NET), Palliative care, Palliative treatment, Prognosis, Quality of LIfe (QoL), Somatostatin analogues, Surgery, Terminal cancer

When I was being officially told I had advanced and incurable cancer, I did what most people seem to do on films/TV ..... I asked "how long do I have". The Oncologist started off with the worst case and that must have been quite a shock because for a few moments after that, I heard nothing - my brain was clearly still trying to process those words - I wasn't even feeling unwell! The really important bit I missed was him go on to say "...but with the right treatment, you should be able to live for a lot longer". Fortunately, my wife…

03 May 2024

By Ronny Allan

27 Comments

I look well but you should see my insides

Awareness, Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Survivorship, TreatmentChemotherapy, Invisible illness, Lanreotide, Neuroendocrine cancer, Octreotide, Palliative treatment, Quality of LIfe (QoL), SI NET, Small intestine NET (SI NET), Somatostatin analogues, Surgery

I'm sat next to patients waiting on their chemotherapy treatment - the "Chemo Ward" sign above the door gives it away. I'm here for my 28-day cycle injection of Lanreotide which will hopefully keep my Neuroendocrine Tumours at bay. I look all around; the temporary beds and the waiting room are full and all I can see are people who don't look as well as I do. Some have hats or bandanas partly disguising the loss of hair. I feel for them. No matter how many visits I make, I can't help feeling out of place in a Cancer ward. I'm…

16 Oct 2017

By Ronny Allan

2 Comments

Opinion: Neuroendocrine Cancer – Can it be cured?

Awareness, Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Patient Advocacy, Survivorship, TreatmentAdvanced neuroendocrine cancer, Biological therapy, Carcinoid tumour, Chemotherapy, Cure, Full remission, Hormones, Incurable cancer, Lanreotide, Liver directed therapy, Metastatic Neuroendocrine Cancer, NET syndromes, Neuroendocrine, Neuroendocrine cancer, Neuroendocrine carcinoma (NEC), Neuroendocrine neoplasm (NEN), Neuroendocrine tumour (NET), No evidence of disease (NED), Oncolytic virus, Palliative treatment, Partial remission, Quality of LIfe (QoL), Somatostatin analogues, Surgery

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 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.…

Tag: Palliative treatment