Cancer »
Defining cancer
Cancer is a term used for diseases in which abnormal cells divide without
control and are able to invade other tissues. Cancer cells can spread to
other parts of the body through the blood and lymph systems.
Cancer is not just one disease but many diseases. There are more than 100
different types of cancer. Most cancers are named for the organ or type of cell
in which they start -- for example, cancer that begins in the colon is called
colon cancer; cancer that begins in basal cells of the skin is called basal cell
carcinoma.
Cancer types can be grouped into broader categories. The main categories of
cancer include:
- Carcinoma - cancer that begins in the skin or in tissues that line or cover
internal organs.
- Sarcoma - cancer that begins in bone, cartilage, fat, muscle,
blood vessels, or other connective or supportive tissue.
- Leukemia - cancer that sta...
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My 85 year old father has been battling prostate cancer for a couple years now. He has gone through radiation and chemo treatments. We have been told the cancer has spread and his PSA is 1600. When he was doing the treatments they also had him on a number of meds from antidepressants to pain pills and many others. He was totally out of his mind and very abusive, wouldn't eat and they sent him home and we have been on Hospice for the last couple of months. Up until all the treatment and drugs, my father was very sharp and just last summer he was mowing his own 6.5 acres of grass. He is now bed ridden cannot support his own weight of 140 lbs. and he is 6' 3". Once we brought him home and stopped all the drugs he got his mind back and he started eating and getting better over all. Three times now he has been back to the hospital and into the same routine of being loaded up with drugs, losing his mind and then coming home. Just last week he started bleeding very bad through his catheter. The clots were so bad they plugged up his catheter and we ended up taking him back to the hospital. My wife has had a lot of bladder infections and this is what it looked like to us. The hospital put him on antibiotics and within hours the bleeding stopped which is how a bladder infection acts. They have kept him in the hospital and put him on pain killers and antidepressants again and they have given him blood transfusions of 4 pints. He has been in no pain at all, but they continue with the pain medications and he goes absolutely crazy. They have done no x rays, but the doctors say the bleeding is the cancer from the prostate. Published: August 17 ::