Women with early breast cancer can keep their lymph nodes

"A new study finds that many women with early breast cancer do not need a painful procedure that has long been routine: removal of cancerous lymph nodes from the armpit.

The discovery turns standard medical practice on its head. Surgeons have been removing lymph nodes from under the arms of breast cancer patients for 100 years, believing it would prolong women’s lives by keeping the cancer from spreading or coming back" ( nytimes.com )

I am starting to realize medicine is a religion at times. You believe something is right - you act on it. You don't need a research, just cut something out if you suspect that it might help.

I think in a few years they will have to admit anual mammograms are very dangerous and chemo/radiation rarely work. I mean, unless you count gaining couple more years before cancer comes back. I've red many sad stories on the net written by cancer patients themselves or their parents describing the ordeal. And it usually never stops with "we got chemo, and now we're fine". It's the second course, and then it's 'now we need a bone marrow transplant' (because chemo kills it). This is so sad. People are undergoing so much sufferring often for nothing, for hope.

In the 1940s and 50's, they believed it's best to remove tonsils once a kid comes down with a sore throat. In Ukraine, where I lived, doctors still liked giving tonsillectomies in the middle of the 90-ties.
My mom got her tonsils pulled out when she was young. My friend lost hers, too. They even wanted to remove mine, but I got to keep them. And Iout any anesthesia. Some say they had it, but it totally depended on a clinic and was not considered necessary for such operations. Kid would just be tied to a chair, his mouth forcibly kept open with something like dental mouth prop, tonsils taken out, end of story. Noone cared about psychological traumas back then, you could be scared to death, screaming, crying, dying of pain - didn't matter.

Now back to breast cancer. If I had a cancer, I'd first make a research on what the options for treatment are out there. And not on the official health websites that just tell you to blindly trust your doctor and do whatever he says. What if my doctor didn't read the latest study saying everything he did was wrong? Like this one. I'd go browse websites like this one, where people still acknowlege the role of nutrition and lifestyle, the role of immune system.

And look, I am not saying medicine should be perfect. Doctors are only humans, they also make mistakes. However, my problem is with those guys, who are not just making mistakes, but who just don't want to be on a safe side and do the research in order to make sure their assumptions are in fact right.

"Some doctors objected. They were so sure cancerous nodes had to come out that they said the study was unethical and would endanger women.

“Some prominent institutions wouldn’t even take part in it,” Dr. Giuliano said" ( nytimes.com )

How can you object to taking part in a study? It's not like you're being forced to conduct one, they're just askig you to take part.

See, that's what they are saying to a research comparing general health of vaccinated and unvaccinated kids. "It would endanger them", "it's unethical". Performing unnecessary surgeries is ethical, though.

Ok, by now you can see I am not a fan of today's 'healthcare' system in general. Turned into a big business when it's supposed to be about keeping people healthy and helping them when they're in trouble. Also, it's supposed to be about 'above all, do no harm', not about 'above all, opt for something with worst side-effects'.

Last time I've seen a doctor she prescribed me vitamin E, and she advised a specific brand. When I looked it up on the net, I learnt it contained an artificial dye E124. Now, which of us is supposed to know that dye is dangerous? I don't have to risk having side-effects from simply taking a vitamin! It's not an antibiotic or smth., it's supposed to be completely safe. So I found another one, without additives.

And don't tell me about the 'little amounts' or 'safe amounts'. We're surrounded by stuff that has little bit of this and that all the time these days. Maybe that's how we develop cancer. Bit by bit, in the course of years. I think I'm gonna have to write a separate post about cancer itself, because it seems like it's one of the most used words today: tv, internet, ads on the street... It's a contemporary plague.

Oh and ... thank you, doctor Giuliano! Now many women can have one dangerous surgery less.