Deara Colleen, Lucky I am in Houston? No! MD Anderson Cancer Center took away most of my already slim chances for survival. It was at MD Anderson that I was not radiated properly. If I had been radiated properly my chances of survival could have been around 60%, now they are about 15-20%...same as if I had not had radiation. And I have all the terrible side effects from radiation and many keep getting worse. And at MDA they used the wrong lead shield on me near the end of radiation course and tore open my face, the lip and nostrils and gave me a staph infection. The staff at MDA laughs about how they have never seen a doctor was his hands in head and neck radiation and that spreads infection. I immediately went elsewhere for a culture and was started on antibiotics.Fortunately the staph was not MRSA or it could have killed me or at least put me in the hospital for months. Don't believe the advertisements in the media about MDA being a good place to go. They wouldn't have to spend the millions of dollars they spend on advertising if MDA was a good place for cancer treatment. Local doctors know MDA is not the place to send a patient. The patients I met at MDA were all from out of state, usually rural patients whose doctors didn't know MDA was to be avoided. My surgery was OK, it was not at MDA. I am now going soon to Johns Hopkins, but MDA has done the damage and I don't know what can be done at Hopkins.
No, I never smoked nor drank.I am female. I have eaten organic food for the past 20 years. I don't eat red meat, fried foods, sugar, or drink caffeine. I have always lived a healthy life. I do yoga and meditate and have for years. This is genetic. No one in my family has ever survived oral cancer. My cousin and I have it now, he at the base of his tongue and wrapped around his carotid and jugular, but chemo and radiation a year ago put him in remission. He is 6'2" and weighed about 195 lbs, now he weighs 134 lbs. He does not live in Houston and went to a smaller hospital for treatment. A good, small treatment center is usually better than the biggest grant-crazy institutions. At MDA the first priority is getting grants, second is careers and training docs. and a distant third are patients. Read what Lance Armstrong says about how he fled from MDA, he knew they would kill him. They told him he would never ride a bike again. It is in his book, It's Not About the Bike. I think on page page 102. In person he speaks even more strongly against MDA.
