Do people survive because of Chemo and or radiation or in spite of it/them?

Question

Every day a new study intimates that science has gotten something "wrong" on treatments, remedies, etc. What has been considered unhealthy is healthy and vice versa. Cancer treatment, usually Chemo, Radiation has always worried me. Seeing a healthy, energetic person suddenly become frail, helpless and then die after excrusciating "treatments" makes me wonder if patients survive as a "result of" or "in spite of" treatment.

Answer 1

If you have witnessed progressive cancer with no treatment to stop it than you would not need to ask this question.

Untreated or advanced cancer is nasty, nasty business that is far more horrific than chemotherapy or radiation.

The tumors are solid, hard as rocks, growing, displacing organs, engulfing the internal body cavities, pushing through the skin and continuing to grow, the cancer is what sucks the life out of people as it takes over the blood supply and the body noursishes it. In advanced cancer you are not talking about one little 2cm tumor, you are literally talking about hundreds, probably more of all sizes . . some enormous. A body can be filled on the inside and outside, literally covered with tumors. Chemotherapy gives a person a chance to stop that from happening. It is not an easy treatment because this is not an easy diseae to treat. And a doctor is the first to admit that they know how to kill a tumor, they just don't know how to keep the patient alive while doing it.

My son has had high dose chemotherapy, including a surgery in which they poured heated chemo in his abdominal cavity. He had multiple abdominal tumors, so many that they needed two surgeries to complete removal. Chemotherapy was used to shrink the largest tumors (volley ball size) and control the smaller ones. Without chemotherapy he would not have been able to have surgery and he would not have survived the past two years. His primary tumor seeded itself . . sent out hundreds of malignancies through the blood stream, his diaphragm was described as a 'cake of tumor', he had malignant ascites where the seeds implanted into the peritoneum, he had a tumor growing inside the spleen, tumor on the liver, tumors on the large and small intestine, nodules on the lung, and lymph node involvement. There was a dramatic change after chemotherapy. He tolerated the treatment very well and learned how to ask for meds when he needed to. His type of chemo was given in cycles so that he would have 21 days off before another round. He had no problems with three surgeries and recovered rapidly (7 days at most).

The treatments have never been 'excruiating', they are difficult at times, but manageable. He has had 9 months of high dose chemotherapy, intra-peritoneal hyperthermic chemoperfusion (heated chemo during surgery), 14 months of low dose chemotherapy, and three surgeries. Out of the hundreds of tumors he still has one (inoperable) that we have elected not to remove at this time. He will live with it as long as there is no progression of disease and undergo an experimental treatment to see if we can control it without surgery.

It is cancer that kills. A Mother's Journey:
http://www.sacbee.com/static/newsroom/swf/april07/mother/

People should be angry at cancer . . not at the treatments . . cancer sucks big time.

Answer 2

The immediate effect of chemo is worth the side effects. If a tumor is growing rapidly, chemo can drastically reduce its size and bring relief while awaiting surgery or further treatment. A tumor can be pressing on an artery and causing a blood clot and the immediate reduction of that tumor to any degree is important. Sometimes radiation can even be a form of pain killer as in the case of cancer that has spread to the brain causing swelling. Though the patient may not be expected to live for very long, the radiation will make their last days more comfortable.

Answer 3

Both. I did 3 rounds of chemo for breast cancer. Had 11 lymph nodes removed from under my arm. Then had radiation. I have had no recurrence in almost 5 yrs. Now, can it come back, heck yeah. And the treatments are NOT excruciating. There are so many more injuries and illnesses I could have had that would be worse than what I went thru. I have never had a compound fracture despite years of riding horses. I don't have Huntington's disease. I don't have ALS, or Alzheimer's. I consider myself lucky I didn't get cancer til my kids were grown and there was a Breast and Cervical Cancer Program that paid for everything. Yes, I am lucky.

Answer 4

Its safe to conclude that without therapy most, if not all cancer patients would die because of their cancer. The reason chemotherapy messes you up though is because it just isn't as advance as we'd like, because the cancer is essentially your own tissue we're not able yet to differentiate it and target it with specific therapies. For example cisplatin is said to target DNA, because the cancer is rapidly dividing it is therefore sensitive to this treatment. But how many other cells in your body need to divide? Nearly all of them. But what we rely on is our 'healthy' tissue being able to heal itself more effectively than the cancer. It is the above reason why healthy people look so frail after chemo - most therapies are just not specific enough to cancers. In the future they will be. If we didn't give any chemotherapy, nothing would stop the cancer dividing and it would eventually metastasise, end up in your brain, liver, bones etc and this alternative would be far worse, that is, unless you're willing to accept death and are high on morphine. I do fully understand what you are saying though, its a very difficult course of treatment to go through. As I always say to my dad whose having such therapy "if you're feeling like crap, just think how your cancers feeling". Its just the way therapy is at the moment. In reality, patients survive both as a result of treatment, and in spite of it.

Answer 5

The situation after treatment is a distinct improvement on what happens if you don't accept treatment.

Without treatment, life is short, messy and extremely painful.

Answer 6

Probably a little of each. Chemo is definitely poison. It kills everything, and hopefully the good grows back and the bad doesn't. So far, that's worked for me.
Best wishes

Answer 7

they can work independently or sometimes chemo and radiation are used together for more sever cases. either way they are both effective in increasing chances of survival