Time is a critical factor in the successful treatment of cancer. Cancer grows geometrically. In other words, 1 billion cancer cells will become 2 billion or 10 billion will become 20 billion in the same length of time it takes 1 cell to become 2. Cancer can not be detected by an x-ray, scan, or feeling until it contains at least 1 billion cells. That is the size of a pea and weighs the same as a paper clip.
Just think how long it has taken for that single malignant cell to divide and divide and divide until it became a billion cells so it could be recognized. I understand some cancers take weeks to divide while one I heard of supposedly doubled each fifteen minutes. That is how long you have had cancer. One critical thing is to never look back. There is nothing you can do about yesterday. It has happened and it is over. Start with today and make every day count. Proceed with haste.
One critical factor is the less cancer you have in your body, the easier it is to treat and the better the chance of recovery. This is a generalization that applies to nearly every type of cancer. Surgery, when not curative, is often used to “debulk” a tumor or remove most of it. The less “tumor burden” in the body improves the chances that chemotherapy or radiation or immunotherapy will work. Delaying treatment only allows the tumor to grow, multiply and possibly metastasize.
Most cancers are curable if treated promptly, properly and thoroughly when first discovered. That is a fact! If allowed to go untreated, at some point in time they will be absolutely incurable. Whether that point is tomorrow, next week, next month or next year no one knows. But why tempt fate?
If an oncologist, whether medical, radiation or surgical, could not see a new patient for a week, the patient should seek a different oncologist. Time might be of the essence in starting treatments! Every doctor knows this. It would say that the doctor values his schedule or his time off more than saving the patient’s life. I want a doctor who says, “I’ll see you today or tomorrow and we’ll get treatments started.” Then I know I’ve found someone who cares about me. I know I will have the best chance of beating this disease.