Discussing your cancer pain and finding relief
As a cancer patient, your top priority is to survive, so you may not think about mentioning any pain associated with your disease or treatment to your care team.
“Many patients aren’t aware of the medications and procedures that can improve their quality of life,” says Salahadin Abdi, M.D., Ph.D., professor and chair of Pain Medicine. Education and communication are key to ensure you get all of the cancer pain management help you...
Lung cancer survivor gets surgical cure after 19 years
At age 27, Nadine Beech was a picture of health and notably, a non-smoker. So when she was diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer in 1997...
How a melanoma immunotherapy clinical trial helped me
I can’t quite explain what it feels like to get the cancer call. You can’t describe it unless you’ve heard those words.
I don’t think...
How to dispose of unused or expired medications
Last updated Oct. 19, 2021.
Cancer treatment and its side effects can bring a lot of medications. But what should you do with unused or expired medications?
Whether they’re chemotherapy drugs (such as vismodegib), high-potency pain relievers (considered controlled substances), or drugs that target specific defects on cancer cells (vemurafenib), it’s important to know how to properly dispose of these medicines...
Specialized orthopedic oncology procedures preserve patients’ active lifestyles
You’d never guess that Luke Adkins is a cancer survivor by looking at him.
But the 24-year-old paramedic had his entire left knee and...
Adrenal gland tumor survivor celebrates life
In 2005, violinist Treesa Gold became concerned when she began experiencing weight gain, hair loss and acne. She saw a doctor, who told her...
Want to quit smoking? 5 questions to ask your doctor
The single greatest step you can take to protecting your health is to quit using tobacco. Tobacco is responsible for one-third of all cancers...
Q&A: Phase I clinical trials
Phase I clinical trials are the foundation for how we develop new cancer drugs. Typically, they involve only several dozen patients and study...
Acute lymphocytic leukemia survivor remains 'a fighter, not a quitter'
When Claudia Pichardo was a child, one of her many doctors told her she was a fighter, not a quitter.
“Ever since then, that’s been...
How MD Anderson’s Moon Shots Program is working to end cancer through prevention
You’ve probably heard about MD Anderson’s Moon Shots Program™. But what is it?
We asked Ernest Hawk, M.D., co-leader of the Colorectal...
Throat cancer survivor chooses clinical trial to ‘help someone else'
Chuck Caldwell was in Europe with his wife in September 2015 when his throat started bothering him. At the time, he chalked up the soreness...
Lung cancer survivor credits clinical trial for life
Georgia Dominick’s journey to MD Anderson began with unusual chest pains on what had begun as a normal August day in 2014.
“It was...
Clinical trials give hope to non-Hodgkin lymphoma, leukemia survivor
George Miller is an athlete and a die-hard marathon runner, so he was shocked when he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2008....
Surviving glioblastoma after war
Tate Landin was 23 and training for his first deployment with the U.S. Army when he began to notice his brain tumor symptoms.
“About...
HER2+ breast cancer survivor shares hope
When Dorothy Paterson discovered a lump in her right breast while showering in 1998, she didn’t believe it at first.
“I tried to wish...