Informational Articles - Cancer

Carla Jolley, ARNP, MN, AOCN

Cancer Survivors — people who are living with a diagnosis of cancer — know that meeting the challenges of cancer takes strength, courage, and good information. The search for information to help make decisions often starts with a cancer diagnosis. Information provides answers to the many questions that inevitably arise about the diagnosis, treatment options, emotional support, and what to expect. Sometimes information is needed just to form the questions one needs to ask of the health care team.

by Carla Jolley, ARNP, MN, AOCN

Cancer develops when a single cell runs amuck in its programming. This process is called carcinogenesis. Carcinogenesis is complicated and more is learned about this multi-step process daily.

An Overview and Update
by Kenny Koo MD, FRCS (Edin), FACS

Cancer of the large intestine is the fourth most common malignancy in the United States, with approximately 130,000 new cases diagnosed annually. However, colorectal cancer has become the second leading cause of all cancer-related deaths in recent years after lung cancer, surpassing prostate cancer in the male and breast cancer in the female.

Erin Simms, RD, CD, CNSD, Nutrition Services

Fiber has been known for many years as the "scrub brush" of the colon. Its effectiveness in the fight to prevent colon cancer, however, has recently come under critical review. Both the New England Journal of Medicine and The Lancet have published studies this year that refute earlier contentions that a diet high in fiber reduces colon cancer risk. So, in light of this new evidence, should you abandon fiber altogether? Certainly not.

Lymphedema is a little known condition that is becoming better understood in the United States. To understand it we must understand the role of the lymphatic system. The lymphatic system is a component of the circulatory and immune systems consisting of lymph vessels, nodes and lymphoid tissues.

Felicia Rawls, Restorative Rehab Supervisor, Careage

According to the National Cancer Institute, approximately 8.4 million Americans today are living with cancer. While some of these individuals can be considered cured, others still have evidence of cancer and may be undergoing treatment. People are now living longer with this disease. For many, cancer is essentially a chronic disease that is treatable, even with metastases.

D. Russell Johnson, MD, Whidbey Dermatology

Cutaneous melanoma is a skin cancer derived from the pigment making cells of the skin. Melanomas often appear as brown or black, irregularly shaped growths. They may arise anywhere on the body, including areas that do not receive regular sun exposure.

As part of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Friends of Friends Medical Support Fund will kick off a new program to help women on South Whidbey get breast-cancer screenings, regardless of their ability to pay. Soroptimists International of South Whidbey has donated the funds to Friends of Friends for this program.