Cancer Patients are Living Longer!

Longer that what you ask?

 

A recent article, published in JAMA Oncology, reported an analysis of more than 1,000,000 cancer patients diagnosed between 1990 and 2009. The study started with people diagnosed between 1990 and 1994 and then compared their survival with those diagnosed between 1995 and 1999, 2000 and 2004, and 2005 and 2009. Each five year segment showed a better five-year survival rate than the previous five year segment. 

All cancers are not equal, however, and survival rates vary greatly. Prostate and breast cancer survival rates increased significantly. Liver, pancreatic, and lung cancer survival rates were lower, but there was still an improvement. Any overall improvement is a bit of good news in a disease that has been and continues to be extremely hard to manage and cure.

Age is a factor

Younger patients—50 to 64 for this study‑‑had better survival rates than older patients—75 to 85, but the older group also showed a significant survival increase.

What should I do?

Is there a magic bullet that we should all know about to improve our survival? Probably not. Nobody has identified any one thing that will work for everybody. Preventive measures can impact some cancers such as skin and lung, but in other cases it is likely a combination of early diagnosis, new medications, and overall improved treatments.

Bottom Line

The best option is to NEVER GET CANCER. Most of us with cancer didn’t imagine that we’d ever be diagnosed. The longer we survive (12 years for me) the better the likelihood that there will be new drugs and other treatments that can help us manage our disease. The drugs I am now taking did not exist five years ago. The drugs I will take five years from now are probably still experiments in a petri dish in some basement lab. So, hang in there.

A cure would be nice, too.

axman

A Stern Lecture to My Geriatric Self

Dear Body,

Shame on you! We’ve been together for nearly 75 years. 75 years! And now you’ve become unfaithful—betraying me. At first there were the endless good times running, climbing, dancing, and lifting. My wish was your command: jump, sprint, swim, or backflip (well, maybe not that one). Now if I so much as wish to walk briskly you quietly limp away, very slowly. You have created pain in my knees, hips, shoulders, fingers, and most of the rest of my body for no apparent reason. Did I hurt your feelings? Are you punishing me?

I’m sorry if you think I’ve abused you—but it wasn’t too much or too often, was it? You used to recover quickly, even from those more serious and sometimes questionable-choice injuries. Now you just sit there and groan. You’ve quit trying. You’re not playing by the rules (my rules). Can we talk about it? Let’s go for a walk! No? A glass of wine? Are you listening to me? 

Dear Mind (such as it is),

Remember all those great times as a kid, going to college, raising a family, travel, jobs? Well I don’t. You served me well, so I’m told, for many years. So what happened? I still treat you well and feed you every day—reading books (at least Facebook entries), listening to Public Radio, and then there are those daily sessions with Jeopardy! But you don’t pay much attention any more.

Every day you taunt me by hiding my keys, my phone, and even my half-empty  coffee cup! Not funny! You erase the names of my friends from my memory bank—and probably laugh about it. You won’t even discuss phone numbers and addresses with me. Where the heck have you gone? It feels like I’m losing you. What have you got to say for yourself? Where did I go wrong? How can I win you back?

Love,

Me

 

Bottom Line

If you can’t count on your own body and mind to support you in your old age then there’s no justice in this world. All you can do is keep on keeping on—I actually can’t remember what that means but it sounds good. Does all this sound familiar to you?

axman

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