I need answers. How many years can someone be receiving chemotherapy treatments???? Also

[Red Sox Lover 33]

I need some expert answers here. I have a friend (whose stories I am beginning to find not so true anymore). I would like to know these questions and a simple answer if I need to confront this friend for being a liar or seriously be concerned with this illness.

1. Is it possible for a thyroid gland to "REGROW' after it has been destroyed with surgery??? I dealt with Graves disease and did the radio isotope radiation to avoid a scar, 8 years later at a normal level of synthroid, I am fine. My friend says her thryroid gland grew back and had to the radio isotope also, but to this day does not take hormone supplements??? I am 42 she is 46 we all know we need HRT.

2. She then tells me she was diagnosed with Bladder Cancer 6 years ago and has been receiving chemotherapy treatments 3 times a week for the past 5 years. Keep in mind she drinks on the weekend also. She is a dj also. Hmmm??? In the past 6 years that I have seen this woman she is still the same weight which is over 200 lbs and has a Great Full head of hair, eyebrows, arms.

I have looked online to see if all of this possible, but really cant get any answers, Can someone who has 100% facts help me out with this????

[johnguerra86]

Chemotherapy is the introduction of what is essentially poison into the blood stream. This is why most patients have serious reactions to chemo, including vomiting, nausea, hair loss, weight loss, weakness, etc. While the preparation is in the process of killing cancer cells, it also kills other cells. While some patients respond well and have no ill effects, that is not the common response.

The length of treatment depends on the type of cancer (there are different types of bladder cancer), the extent of it, the expected toxicity and how long it takes the body to recover from the toxicity.

Generally speaking, chemo is given in cycles. Some chemotheraphy can be given in a single treatment, but most is given over a period of days. The treatments may be given weekly, every other week, once a month. How long the cycle continues depends on its success in clinical trials.

The goal of the treatment is to cure the cancer. After a cancer is removed (not the case with bladder cancer), adjuvant chemo might last four to six month. This is common after surgery, say, for breast cancer.

When the disease is visible (as in the case with bladder cancer), the length of treatment depends on the response of the disease to the chemo. IF THE DISEASE DOES NOT CONTINUES, CHEMO IS STOPPED.

If tumors shrink, chemotheraphy can be extended for as long as it is tolerated, provided that the disease does not advance.

Your friend is not getting chemotherapy three times a week for five years. That is absolutely false.

Given your description of her activities, her weight and her alcohol consumption, I think it is highly unlikely that she has bladder cancer. The NCI has an excellent site that can answer any questions you may have. http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/wyntk/bladder

This site has a lot of good info about chemo: http://www.chemocare.com

Your friend sounds like one of those people who just loves to think of herself as a "medical miracle" in an effort to get attention. They report extraordinary diseases, extraordinary treatments, extraordinary responses to these treatments, extraordinary visits to the doctors and claim the docs say "I've never seen anything like it . . . "

Your friend does not view herself as special and so creates these fictions in an effort to be seen as special.

The thyroid gland does not grow back, no.

[julie b]

Plain and simple - she is lying.
The thyroid does not re-grow.
Less than 3% of all bladder cancers occur in patients under 45 years old.
Chemo is very rarely used for bladder cancer. It is used in cases in which the bladder was removed and it would NEVER go on for 5 years. Chemo does not always cause someone to lose their hair or lose weight.