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Show flonsweirs To Voamr (Gainiceir OmgsSdoitos A regular feature, prepared by the American Cancer Society, to help save your life from cancer. A SENIOR citizen writes: "I would like to share this sad experience so that perhaps others will be wiser. Recently, my wife died of cancer after a long illness. I truly believed that she had had the best of care. But, towards the end, I gave in to a friend who insisted that I take her to someone claiming to have his own 'cure' for cancer. We ended up wasting the precious time we had left together and much of our savings. My wife was given false hope and no relief. We did a foolish thing, but wasn't it a human kind of mistake?" ANSWER LINE: It is a great human desire to do everything possible for a loved one. Unfortunately, some unscrupulous people take advantage of that emotion. emo-tion. There is no such thing as a specialist with a personal cure for cancer. To be scientifically sound, treat men ts have to be exhaustively tried and cross checked by competent physicians to be considered safe and effective. Since the unscrupulous can wear white coats and use scientific terms with ease, it's often difficult for a patient or family member to suspect a fraud. If in doubt, check with your local medical society or ACS Unit. A YOUNG woman writes: "I find that whenever I go to a party with many strangers, or out on a blind date, I smoke a lot of cigerettes. I have seriously been trying to quit, but that kind of situation really makes my good work go up in smoke - no joke! What can 1 do?" ANSWER LINE: You have made your path to total quitting quit-ting a little easier by identifying iden-tifying the kind of stress that makes you reach for a cigarette. Experience with smoking withdrawal groups where problems like yours are often discussed has shown that if an individual can make it through just one party without a cigarette, he or she will have proven that a protective pro-tective "smokescreen" isn't necessary after all. YOU CAN do it if you concentrate con-centrate on talking to other people. Or, instead of a cigarette, try holding a scarf or use any device that suns you. If you are interested in speaking with other people with smoking "hang ups," check with your local ACS unit to learn about "quit smoking" groups. A Georgia mother of two writes: "My daughter is a career girl of 25 who lives in another state and is very independent. I still watch out for her health and remind her by mail to go to the dentist. I think it's the only mothering 1 am allowed to do at this point! I am trying to convince her to have breast X-rays. She savs she is too young. Is she?" ANSWER LINE: Because breast cancer rarely occurs in very young women, your daughter need not have diagnostic diag-nostic X-rays unless family history or other reasons prompt her physician to suggest sug-gest them. However, you should remind her to do monthly breast self-examinations and to check with a physician at the first sign of any unusual swelling or lump. You can ask your ACS Unit for a leaflet of instructions and mail it to your daughter. MRS. R.L. asks: "W hat is a clinical trial'5 I see the term in the papers." ANSWER line; You read about clinical trials because l hey are necessary to prove or disprove the effectiveness of a specific drug or other treatment. treat-ment. Basically, such a trial is a systematic investigation according to a formal study plan to determine effectiveness effec-tiveness in treating a particular par-ticular disease. In cancer research, such trials can be used to test different types of treatment, preventive measures or the effect of detection techniques. |