Hiding cancer cells?
 

I read this on a website while researching. Has anyone heard of this or is this just bunk? What perked my interest about this was my surgeon in Anc. reasoning that I should have a masectomy rather than a Lumectomy was that there are pre cancer cell that are kind of like sophmores and jr's in high school. Training to be cancer and she said one day they will graduate. She also said the chemo doesn't kill these cells. Then I read this and I really wonder.
Just food for thought. I'm really interested in what all the wonderful minds on this website have to say.

"After the initial doses of radiation and/or chemotherapy, cancer cells start hiding. They develop a slime coating, and they become like Stealth bombers, and they can hide from future doses of radiation and chemotherapy. This is why repeated dose of radiation and chemotherapy become less effective.

"The way to support the body’s normal ability to get rid of this "slime coating" is to use large doses of plant and animal enzymes - especially bromelain and pancreatin. This allows an 'access point' for the immune system to function normally and attack the cancer cells".....Dr. John Maras "


this is the link for the website this was on.
http://www.cancerchoices.com/7facts-7.htm

The theory sounds interesting, but upon clicking on the website for only a minute, it seems that he offers no data or hard supportive scientific research to back it up. That doesn't mean that there isn't any.... on the surface it sounds like a theory designed to help him sell his stuff. No telling from this info alone....

I don't know about the website you quote, but as far as what your onc was describing with "sophomore and junior" cancer cells hiding out, I know from experience this is true.

DCIS (ductal carcinoma in situ) is what IDC is before it learns how to break out of the milk duct and invade the surrounding breast and lymph nodes. My IDC tumor showed up on the ultrasound, but the DCIS was invisible. I had a lumpectomy and there was DCIS on the edge. So I had a second lumpectomy and the whole 10cm piece was DCIS. Then I had a mastectomy and there was more of the invisible DCIS and then invasive cancer on the other side of it.

The slime coating stuff, I've never heard before. I'll click on the link now...

xo
cary

Mastectomy
 

I should have listened to my instincts when I was first dx in 94, I asked the surgeon to remove the breast and he convinced me to keep it. After surgery he assured me that he had "got it all" .

I knew, my gut feelings were telling me otherwise, here am almost ten years after initial dx, having to deal with a recurrence to rt lung.

Glad you were smart enough to have a second lumpectomy, then a mastectomy. Always listen to your instincts....

I'm happy for you!!!.

I really have difficulty in accepting the slimy coating, junior or sophomore, stuff. For what I learned from various papers, the accepted thesis is that there are stray cancer cells almost everywhere. These stray cells, or microinvasion, can establish beachheads distant from the original breast. If the body immune system or chemo or medication cannot kill these stray cells, the likelihood of having mets is a real threat. However, it will take 1 to 2 years before these microinvasions to become palpable or detectable lesions. This is a very crude way to describe the cancer progression.