Originally posted by marg6043
reply to post by soficrow
Radiation is the most dangerous treatment around, has not changed much since its introduction and people still die from the side effects of it than
from the cancer itself, but this is also been suppress on the population so the radiation treatment still stays as the best treatment available.
It is just shameful.
6 years ago I was undergoing treatments for Hodgekins Lymphoma. This included 6 months of chemotherapy and a month of radiation. Looking back on it
all now, I kind of prefer the chemotherapy because I had to deal with the side effects at that moment, whereas its only been in the past few months
that I've really have to deal with side effects from the radiation. All of my radiation was just to the right of my breast bone, so all of those
vital organs were exposed. Nearly 1/4 of my heart is covered with scar tissue (greatly aggravating the tachycardia I already suffered from), I've
lost 1/3 of my lung capacity, I still have trouble swallowing things like bread and pasta, and in the past few months I've started to have terrible
chest wall pain. I was 15 at the time (and still developing physically), so my right breast is nearly a cup size smaller than my left breast (which
makes it really hard to buy a well-fitting bra). I also have a much higher risk of developing leukemia, lung cancer, and yep, you guessed it, breast
cancer.
It wasn't even a month from the day I was diagnosed to the day I began chemotherapy. My family was so blindsided by my diagnoses that we didn't even
really think to ask about accepted alternative treatments or what the side effects might be. Outside of hair loss and nausea, I was only told that the
chemotherapy could greatly reduce my chances of having children. With the radiation, I was only told that it could make it difficult to swallow things
since the radiation would be over my esophagus. Nothing long term was ever mentioned until after I finished my treatments. I won't deny that the
treatments more than likely saved my life, but that doesn't stop me from saying that they were beyond barbaric and that I can't believe that the
treatments that I received were considered "advanced." I find it very hard to believe that with all of the money that goes into the cancer industry,
there hasn't been anything surface that is more humane than what is currently offered.
I know I shouldn't be surprised, because just like any other big industry the biggest profit possible is the end goal, but this is ridiculous. It was
so bad for me that I almost wonder if I would have been better off just dying. I know that sounds bad, and trust me I love life and being alive, but I
am always going to have side effects from the treatments that supposedly saved me. Something has got to give. Either better (re: more humane)
treatments have to come out, we need to find and fix the cause of the increase in cancers (I agree with the cases many have mentioned previously in
this thread), or we need to allow nature to take its course. We can't keep treating people like this.