know anything about cancer treatment?
 

So my mom got a skin screening last week, and they did a biopsy on one of her moles. It came back yesterday positive.
Right now, my dad's business is struggling (slow time of year) and we don't have money to pay for doctor's bills. My mom wants to do what her mom did when she had cancer. My grandmother did clinical research trials and is now cancer-free. There is a place in Texas that will do what my mom wants for free, but she has to get there on her own money. We don't really want to send my mom to Texas; for one: because we can't afford it right now, two: because we don't want her to go through all this away from the family.
My mom has some people at the hospital trying to help her find places that are closer that will do the clinical research with grants. But I wanted to throw this on here to see if anyone here had any ideas or has gone through any of this and might have advice.
I'm not exactly sure what to look for, but something for people with no money and preferably close to home.
She's worried that the people at KU Med will only do what is covered by our insurance, and that she won't get the best care possible.

Also, for those of you who might know, I'm a worrier. Both my grandmothers and now my mother have had cancer. So now I'm worried about it. Of course, all three of them had three different types of cancer, so it may just be their lifestyles that did it. Either way, my mom set up a screening appointment for me to be on the safe side.

ok, as far as trial go, isn't there a dept that does trials at KU Med? What college of medicine is in your area?

P.S. It's hard to find any medical center that will do more than what insurance covers, unless you hammer them with requests, or get a rep to help you out.

Call the American Cancer Society in your city for referrals too! Holding out for "the best care possible" is not a good plan of action (what I mean is, how do you know you are not receiving adequate treatment?), it's cancer, so go get it treated right away and then go from there. I am also a cancer survivor, I do everything I can, including asking every question possible about it to learn what I can. Once you know the exact "type" of skin cancer she has, you can find out more info about it at the ACS, internet sites, call a hospital, anywhere you can.

First best wishes to everyone involved. Second the only experience I have had with cancer was my mother who passed away in 92. That being said treatments are incredibly more advanced today than then.

I know nothing of these clinical trials but if it worked with your grandma than I would be all about sending your mom to the same place.

How long away from family are we talking about?

Plus treatment for free plus travel costs will be considerably less expensive then paying for treatment and staying at home. Not to mention the peace of mind that you have personally seen the results of the clinical trials.

Please call the CLRC. Back in Law school I interned there for a semester, its a great program, they can help you find places that provide for clinical trials, programs that pay for medicines and treatments,financial assistance and a variety of cancer resources to help in your area. You are not alone against this disease there are MANY RESOURCES OUT THERE, but people just dont know how to find them. This program is a great, great tool in this regard. This is really a great program and it costs you NOTHING! Talk to Barbara Schwerin, she will prolly refer you to their main number and then you and/or your mom will talk with one of the workers there, they will get your information down regarding the cancer and info regarding your address and stuff (so they can find local resources for you) and then they will call you back within a few days with the information/resources and then they will mail you a copy of hte information as well. Please call them immediately and I will certainly keep you in my prayers.

Here is the contact info:
Barbara Ullman Schwerin, Esq., Director
Cancer Legal Resource Center,
Western Law Center for Disability Rights
919 South Albany Street
Los Angeles, CA 90015-1211

Phone: (213) 736-1455
Fax: (213) 736-1428
TDD: (213) 736-8310
Email: Barbara.Schwerin@lls.edu

What type of cancer is it? Melanomas are serious, but most other types of skin cancers are easily treated by just excising the cancer, despite their scary names.

I freaked out when a biopsy came back positive several years ago, but it turned out that they just took a big chunk out of my neck, and it never returned.

thanks socal, I'll show that info to my mom

I don't know what type it is-- she's not saying much to me about it
it might just be the same as you, Rainman, they took a chunk out of her neck as well, and they want to take more. We'll see what happens.

The Federal Government has a website with information on active clinical trials.

http://www.clinicaltrials.gov

First....Best wishes with that, my family has all too much experience w ith the disease.

second....Measure advice you get here with caution and research it and discuss it with her doctors.

I don't know alot about skin cancer, but know that some forms of malenoma? are alot more serious.

My mom has had bouts of skin cancer, and its been as simple as laser treatments to burn some areas off.

Don't freak out until you know what you're dealing with. your mom and family will need your strength.

angel,

Here's the Skin Cancer page at MedlinePlus, which is provided by the U.S. Government's National Institutes of Health and National Library of Medicine.

It has a lot of good links, including specific queries of the clinicaltrials.gov page I cited earlier.

My prayers are with your family.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/skincancer.html

If it's a basal cell carcinoma or a squamous cell, it's not something to freak out over (even though I did at first, and probably most people do). In those cases, they cut a chunk out of your neck (or other body part), and they look to see if the cancer is completely enclosed by normal flesh. If not, they didn't get it all and they have to go back and take a bigger chunk, and repeat the process. Once they get it out, it's gone. It took a couple of chunks for me, but it hasn't come back since.

Apparently, those types of cancer only spread as tumors that get larger. They don't do anything more insidious, so if you remove the tumor, you're done - no radiation, no chemo, nothing. The only down side is that it may come back, but if it does, it comes back as another tumor.

Melanomas are a different story. They're more like the traditional cancer and require more treatment.

Check to see if their is any assistance that the American Cancer society maybe able to provide to you and your family.

Sorry to hear about your mom Angel. I've gotten to see several cases of cancer. If it is just skin cancer/mole, I'd suggest having a surgeon remove it. My dad just had this done with a spot that came up on his nose. My grandfather had a spot on his lip and the Dr kept burning off and it kept coming back. He ended up dying from it.

As for putting off treatment, the longer you wait, the deadlier cancer gets. If it were my family member, I wouldn't put off treatment because of finances.

I can't offer any of this great information that everybody has provided, but good luck....

I can't offer anything, but just my prayers. Your mom and the family will be in my prayers.

thanks for the link, that may help me next week when i talk to my doctor. he said there wasnt any trials for mine.