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Previous Posts
One Final Word
My dear friend Michele slipped into eternity on Wednesday, February 1. She was a remarkable woman who left a legacy of faith, determination, and love. For three years she courageously battled the ovarian cancer that eventually robbed her of her life. A few days before she died, one of her docto
posted 8:43:41pm Feb. 10, 2012 |
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The rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated
My husband told me that there are rumors that I've died. I'm happy to report that I'm still very much alive. My cancer has gone to stage four but we are controlling it with chemo, the cancer numbers are currently in the normal range. I've stopped blogging to concentrate on my daughters and writing a
posted 7:07:55pm Aug. 23, 2010 |
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An update and a prayer request
Several people have asked about Michele's condition, and have promised to pray for her. On her behalf, I thank you for that. I spoke with her a little while ago, and she asked that I come here and tell you what's going on, and to ask you to pray for her. She isn't able to post here herself right
posted 4:55:36pm Apr. 06, 2010 |
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Rest in peace, Internet Monk.
A man known in the cyber world as The Internet Monk, has died. Michael Spencer lost his battle with cancer tonight.
My prayers go out for his family and for all those who loved and will miss him. :(
posted 11:52:00pm Apr. 05, 2010 |
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The peace that passes all understanding, pt. 1
I'm coming out of my normal hiding place to make a few comments.
The internet is a strange place. It is often a wonderful place, a helpful place, a unifying place. But it is also alienating, cold, and is the perfect medium in which to depersonalize others.
Through it, I have seen people reach out
posted 4:39:08pm Mar. 25, 2010 |
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posted May 31, 2009 at 10:22 am
What is the recurrence rate in women who use neither tamoxifen OR antidepressants? If there is still a benefit, I’d say that it would be up to the woman to decide if she feels the risk is worth it.
posted May 31, 2009 at 3:52 pm
I hate to be the bearer of awful news, but women using Tamoxifen without taking antidepressants can also suffer recurrence.
And, MzEllen, Tamoxifen isn’t appropriate in every case. Some breast cancers are stimulated by estrogen. Tamoxifen sequesters estrogen, and so estrogen receptor positive cancers are not stimulated. That doesn’t mean they are stopped by Tamoxifen. They aren’t stimulated by estrogen.
Not every kind of breast cancer is stimulated by estrogen. Tamoxifen won’t help those breast cancers at all.
You were interested in numbers? About 60% women who develop breast cancer before 50 have estrogen receptor positive strains, so about 40% of women who develop cancer before 50 would not respond to Tamoxifen (and it helps to iterate, Tamoxifen just gives your body’s responses a chance to catch up with the cancer, it doesn’t kill cancer). Among women who develop cancer after 50, the figures are 70% and 30%.
And what is the effect of antidepressants? Well, among the 30-40% of women whose cancers aren’t accelerated by estrogen anyway, presumbably nothing. And among women who use citolopram, aka Celexa, also nothing (although the study was conducted in Denmark, so Black, Asian, and Hispanic women may have genetics that cause a different response). As for antidepressants for hot flashes, that’s usually a drug in a different class from Luvox, Prozac, etc. And the number of women in the study the MSNBC article is talking about is small for this sort of thing, fewer than 1,000. Generally, you need at least 1,500 participants in a study for the results to be robust, and the other studies finding no risk for even these antidepressants have involved about 20,000 women.
Should a woman, or, for that matter, a man, take an SSRI type antidepressant after breast cancer? I personally wouldn’t. But I wouldn’t be terrified if my wife or mother or sister or daughter did.
posted May 31, 2009 at 10:59 pm
If it helps to cheer you a bit Michele…even the folks who frequently disagree wit you are praying for you.
It ain’t Prozac…but it’s something.