Woman Receives Chemotherapy While Rollerblading on Lakefront
If you were jogging along Lake Michigan last year, you may well have been passed by LisaAnn McConnell who was receiving chemotherapy for her colon cancer while Rollerblading. McConnell received her chemotherapy via a new field of medicine, called chronotherapy. Chronotherapy is medicine that takes the body’s natural rhythms into account. It is administered via an exclusive pump designed to precisely time up to four channels of infusion simultaneously to the individual needs of the patient. The pump is highly portable - small enough to fit in a fanny pack - and patients are able to maintain full mobility, or enjoy a full night's sleep.
Evanston, IL (PRWEB) July 14, 2005 -- If you were jogging along Lake Michigan
last year, you may well have been passed by LisaAnn McConnell. She was the one
on Rollerblades wearing a fanny pack. You would never have guessed by looking at
McConnell that her fanny pack was administering the chemotherapy she was
receiving for her colon cancer.
McConnell was 46 when she was diagnosed
with colon cancer. "I’m the third generation in my family to have been diagnosed
with colon cancer, and until now there have been no survivors. I’m happy to say
that the Doctors now think that my cancer is 100% gone," says McConnell, now
47.
McConnell received her chemotherapy via a new field of medicine,
called chronotherapy. The term is from the Greek chronos, meaning time.
Chronotherapy is medicine that takes the body’s natural rhythms into account.
Traveling from her home in Atlanta, Lisa received her treatments through the
Block Center for Integrative Cancer Care and Optimal Health in Evanston,
Illinois, the only medical center in the United States currently administering
chemotherapy via an exclusive pump designed to precisely time up to four
channels of infusion simultaneously to the individual needs of the patient. The
pump is highly portable - small enough to fit in a fanny pack - and patients are
able to maintain full mobility, or enjoy a full night's sleep. The Center’s
Medical/Scientific Director and cofounder Keith Block. M.D., played an integral
role in bringing this technology to the United States.
McConnell made
the decision to travel to Evanston for her chemotherapy when the oncologists in
her hometown took what she believed to be a one-dimensional approach to her
treatment. "I felt that they looked at the cancer and there I was, I just
happened to be attached to it. They didn’t seem to understand that I wanted them
to look at me as an entire person, I wanted them to first and foremost get rid
of my cancer. But I also wanted them to address my concerns about my lifestyle
and diet, their impact on my prognosis, how to prevent future disease, and my
future health. I wanted them to take a comprehensive approach to my treatment,"
explained McConnell. Having lived in Evanston years earlier, she had used the
Block Center for her general medical needs and developed a great appreciation
for both their focus on optimizing health and philosophy of care. "From the
first conversation about my cancer diagnosis, Dr. Block was concerned about me,
treated me as a whole person and someone who could survive. In fact, the entire
Block Center staff treated me as LisaAnn, versus a cancer patient. Before I even
started my treatments, they helped me get my body and mind strong and prepared
me for everything that I would be going through. They regularly monitored and
evaluated my progress, and by the time I started my chemo, I was physically and
emotionally stronger than I was prior to my diagnosis."
McConnell went to
the Block Center six times for her treatments, going for a few days every 3
weeks, while simultaneously receiving full integrative care. The chemotherapy
was given to her through the pump in the amounts and at the precise times the
doctors and research determined were best for her body.
"I used to think
that life stopped for people who were receiving chemotherapy. That’s not what I
experienced. When you are mobile and receiving your chemotherapy wearing the
fanny pack pump, you can continue your life. When I was in Evanston receiving my
chemo, I’d often have sessions with the staff, such as with the mind/body
therapist or yoga instructor," McConnell says. "Other times I’d nap in my own
private little room or sit in the living area and knit or talk with other
patients. No matter where I was in the center I was seen as me and supported.
There were only a few days that I did not go out and enjoy the pleasure of
rollerblading around Lake Michigan." Receiving the chemo with chronotherapy gave
me the opportunity to enjoy the majority of my life during this healing process,
McConnell explained.
Even more important, McConnell firmly believes that
this method of administering the chemo reduced the toxic effects of the
treatment and gave her the best opportunity for recovery. "With chronotherapy,
instead of receiving the chemo infused in one hour and having your body take all
of the toxicity in that hour, they instead used an infusion pump. This is what I
wore in the fanny pack." Dr. Block explains: "Every drug has an optimal time
when it is least toxic and most effective. This is determined by several
factors, including the biology of the particular drug being given, the time when
the specific cancer cells divide the most, when the normal 'healthy' cells of
the affected organ generally divide, the patient’s circadian clock and their
particular rest-activity cycles, even the time zone the patient resides
in."
Also, Dr. Block advises that the manner the drug is infused is also
very important. The infusion pump used at the Block center allows for a drug to
be given in small increments that start slowly and peak at a specific point of
the infusion cycle and then scale back down. This "infusion curve" is critical
to getting the full advantage afforded by a time-sensitive treatment.
"This approach to the administration of chemotherapy is revolutionary
and has demonstrated in large randomized trials its potential to diminish side
effects and improve survival," states Dr. Block. "We have found that often
patients receiving chronotherapy reduce what would have been recurring side
effects of nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and fatigue."
Here’s why:
Chemotherapy has the potential to damage healthy cells, with the more rapidly
dividing cells like those in the bone marrow and digestive tract lining often
being hit the hardest, causing bone-marrow damage and gastrointestinal distress.
This damage and distress can be so severe that patients have to reduce or even
stop chemo treatments.
But using chronotherapy—when chemotherapy is
given at optimal times for each patient—can reduce this problematic scenario.
Because the division of these bone marrow and digestive lining cells occurs at
different rates throughout the circadian cycle, doctors think that damage to
these healthy cells can be reduced if chemotherapy is given during the rest
phase when cell division in these non-cancerous areas is less prolific.
Both animal and human studies support this conclusion, and the library
of evidence continues to grow. A review of the progress of chronotherapy
research was published in May 2001 in the respected medical journal Lancet
Oncology. Dr. Francis Levi, a French physician and pioneer in clinical
chronotherapy research, tested chronotherapy on more than 1,500 patients with
gastrointestinal cancer. Dr. Levi concluded that patients are much better able
to tolerate chemotherapy when they received their chemo in chronomodulated
doses.
"I received my chemo concentrated over 4 days. Amazingly, I
received 4 chemo treatments over 4 days in a row that the other doctors I
interviewed would have given me in 4 weekly sessions. On top of that, I had less
side effects. I don’t know anyone who has had a better chemo experience than me!
I really had 14 great days in between my treatment sessions, giving me more time
to be a mom and wife. I can’t tell you how grateful I am for the normal life my
son was able to observe and live during this time," says McConnell. "Today I
am
healthier and happier than I have been in years." McConnell is very
optimistic about her future.
"I talk about my chronogenic experience all
the time because I think the world needs to know there is a more successful and
more comfortable way to combat cancer. Often when I start talking about
rollerblading, receiving a drop of chemo at a time, detoxing as part of my
treatment, etc. I find I have an audience. Someone always asks, 'Why haven’t I
heard about this?' followed by, 'I have a friend who...' I look forward to the
day that this treatment method is the norm.
The
Block Center for Integrative Cancer Care and Optimal Health was founded in 1980
by Penny and Keith Block, MD, with a focus on treating the patient as a whole
person, not treating just the diagnosis or symptoms. The Center's research-based
treatment integrates an innovative approach to the best of conventional medicine
with scientifically sound complementary therapies -- therapeutic nutrition,
botanical and phytonutrient supplementation, prescriptive exercise, and
systematic mind-body strategies -- to enhance the recovery process. Block has
pioneered this "middle ground" approach to cancer care and optimal health –
designing a total treatment plan that is tailored to the precise needs of each
patient, using a unique set of clinical and laboratory assessments. The Block
Center is breaking new ground with the creation and development of Cancer Rehab
as an innovative treatment modality, and currently is the only private North
American medical center using chrono-modulated chemotherapy. While the Block
Center is a full treatment clinic, it is involved in collaborative research with
MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas as a Community Clinical Oncology
Program (CCOP) and is also engaged in clinical cancer research with other
university facilities in the United States and Israel.
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/7/prweb261501.htm