Amber Lembo

Professor: Jay Lewenstein

English 01A

27 April 2016

Cancer Treatment

            We were all waiting in a small dark waiting room. It couldn’t have been more than twelve feet by twelve feet in size and it seemed like we were in there with ten difference families. The place seemed to be very packed for two in the morning. I was freezing. Freezing to the point that I thought I was sitting in Antarctica. I was sitting there with three other friends, Sara, Maddi and Maci. We were all getting rather restless. We had been there all day, just waiting and waiting. Jessica and I were close friends; we met in our algebra class in high school. Jessica’s whole family finally made it in town and they were there waiting with us as well.  That included Jessica’s six month old son as well. He was fast asleep at this point. He fought his sleep for a long time but finally made his way into his grandmother’s arms and drifted to sleep while sucking on his new bottle she had just made for him. Because of Jessica’s condition and the severity of the pain we were only allowed to go back one at a time. Everyone had already been back a couple of times and half way through the day she was sleeping. The doctors were not sure she would wake up again. She was dying, dying from the very deviating, very evil big Cancer, Breast Cancer. She found out just two days after giving birth to her son. While trying to breast feed she knew something was wrong. The pain, the pain was so bad she couldn’t take it. Doctors after doctors came in to see if they could help teacher her how to breast feed correctly. It wasn’t until one doctor, Dr. Smith grabbed her breast to fit it into the infant’s mouth that he felt a mass that wasn’t normal to him. Due to the health care system it took her forty-eight hours to get a cat scan done. The CAT scan showed our biggest fear, a large cancer mass not only in her right breast but also in her left.

            Adrienne Doe is a registered nurse that specialize in oncology.  She has worked as a registered oncology nurse for eleven years at The Desert Cancer Center in Palm Springs California. She works there at on outpatient clinic where they care for people that are effected by many different types of cancer. She mainly works in the department of Gynecology Oncology which focus on the diagnosis and treatment of women with cancer of their female reproductive organs.

            Adrienne was born in Los Angeles, California and is of the Hispanic descent. She is married and has been married for many years. She has no blood children but she considers her two dogs her children. She calls them her “fur-kids”. In her free time she enjoy dancing which includes her workout class called Zumba. She also enjoys hiking with her husband and fur-kids. They also own a pretty nice jeep and on the weekends she doesn’t have to work she likes going out jeeping with friends and traveling to new places. It is then that she is able to relax and enjoy life. Being an oncology nurse she sees day in and day out that life is short and you need to enjoy it while it last.

Most medical decisions are based on business decisions instead of the wellbeing of the patient in need. After dealing with the news that you have cancer. What’s next? Insurance companies are quick to want to remove the problem instead of treat the problem due to the cost of the treatment. There is good, however that can come from treatment verse surgery. Sometimes surgery is a better choice due to the damage that some treatments cause to your body. Along with the side effects of the treatment, the cost is very expensive and pharmaceutical companies charge up to three times the amount it cost to make the drug. In the case of my friend Jessica the severity of her cancer could have been avoided and/or prevented with more effective diagnostics. A lot of the drug companies do not partner with each other to make combination drugs that are needed to help cancer patients. Drug companies are more worried about the legalities that go along with drug combinations then the patients’ health. I wasn’t aware of the scams between drug companies and insurance companies. Drug companies are not looking out for the patients first, but their own business needs. Patients need to do their research in regards to what type of treatment/ surgery is best in regards to their situation and seek multiple doctor’s opinions. Pharmaceutical companies need to be open to combination drugs if it’s something that can help the patients.

            Carlos Moreno wrote an article in the New England Journal. The article from the New England Journal of Medicine describes the problem with pharmaceutical drug companies and the legality that goes along with the combination of the drugs that is needed to hold cancer in check like the HIV drugs do for AIDS. The trouble with drug combination is working in a partnership with other drug companies that hold the other side of the combination.  A lot has to go into pharmaceutical drugs; the testing, time, money and research. The drug companies should easily be able to work together for the good of the whole situation consider it’s the difference between life and death for most cancer patients. The pharmaceutical companies are taking into consideration the time, money and legal aspects in regards to drug combinations before the patient’s life. The patient’s life should always come first. If there is a way to help keep cancer in check like HIV drugs do for AIDS, cancer patients should be able to get the combinations of medicine the need regardless of the legal stand point of the two companies. “Cancer patients do not have the luxury of waiting until the legal battles can be settled, or derivatives of existing drugs can be patented”. Patients with cancer are trying to beat the clock. They shouldn’t have to wait for something that could save their lives considering the drugs already exist.

            In the New England Journal of Medicine we learn the details and issues that come along with pharmaceutical drug companies and why researches are being held up by legal issues. The writer makes it clear that pharmaceutical companies are in it for the money and not to help the patients.  Pharmaceutical drug companies are holding back due to the cost and legal issues involved with combinations drugs instead of the patient’s health concerns. Sadly, Pharmaceutical companies put their own success before the patients’ health. Researchers believe that a combination of drugs can help suppress cancer however pharmaceutical companies don’t want to have to go through the legalities of having a partnership with the other pharmaceutical companies that have the other half of the combination. Not cooperating with each other is only putting themselves before the patients’ health. The new combination of drugs has the ability to block the blood supply that goes into tumors and prevents the cancerous tumor from spreading into other parts of the body like the immune system. They have the research and ability to help suppress cancerous tumors yet they are holding up the process because of a partnership legality and cost.      

            It was a late afternoon, Adrienne just walked through the door from her day shift at the cancer center where she has worked as a registered oncology nurse for eleven years. I was there waiting for her and having some conversations here and there with her husband, Daniel, as I explored there new photo gallery full of hiking and jeeping pictures they had taken on their last trip. Jeeping and hiking with their fur-kids was something they both enjoyed doing. As Adrienne walked into the house I realized how much I envied the fact that she is able to wear these cute comfy scrubs and tennis shoes to work every day. I noticed she was wearing her favorite pair of Nike shoes. The ones she also wears when she goes and dances her stresses away at the Zumba class down the street. She exchanged small talk with her husband before noticing I was already there. She was excited and felt honored that I thought of her while picking my person of interest for my research essay on Cancer treatment.

            She explained that she knew that she wanted to be an oncology nurse during her senior year in high school during which she enrolled in a program called R.O.P (Regional Occupational Program) for Medical Assistant certificate.  She was one of two students given the rare opportunity to complete externship hours at a cancer center.  During the first few weeks she was sure that she wanted to continue working in the healthcare profession and by the end of her time at the cancer clinic she was quite convinced that she would be pursuing a career as a Registered nurse in the specialty area of oncology.

            When I explained that my research project wasn’t only about cancer but the types of cancer treatment and the dilemmas that are caused by pharmaceutical companies, she interrupted me by saying ” In my opinion, the majority of pharmaceutical companies are primarily concerned with their own success & revenue.  It seems like they spend way too much money selling & promoting their products instead of prioritizing towards scientific research & safety of those products. I have unfortunately been a witness to many drug representatives that walk into our center with their slick marketing & try to manipulate the doctors/oncologists as well as the entire staff.” She made it sound like they were just like used car salesman, in there to say whatever they thought would make the clients, in this situation, the doctors happy. Statics show that pharmaceutical companies spend more than double the amount of money on marketing their products then they do developing the product.

            According to Adrienne, “Access to healthcare over the last few years has improved and recently with Obama care.” More people have insurance coverage and therefore have the ability to seek medical care for health issues that they were unable to attend to previously.” But, treatment and operations can cost: “When patients have insurance or financial related dilemmas we have many options and local resources available from which we can access and provide assistance.  There are specific government & state funded programs created to cover people newly diagnosed with cancer,” Adrienne added. That was nice to know. I wasn’t aware we had special programs and funding to help people in need with cancer.

            Since Adrienne works with an Oncologist who works primarily in the Gynecology Oncology department which focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of women with cancers of the female reproductive organs she see more women than men. However Adrienne did add “statistically men are more likely to get cancer than women.” Every article I have read agrees with Adrienne statement. More men are likely to have cancer than women.             

            I fully understand that pharmaceutical companies need to make a profit in order to stay in business. They are always working with new companies to try and compete with the next big company. Pharmaceutical companies have to have enough revenue to compete with their market and still be able to produce their products and pay for costly labor. Companies need to also pay to have the drugs test drug trail. Drug companies try and justify the cost by saying that research and development is expensive. However, pharmaceutical companies make it look like they spend way too much money on selling and promoting their products. The world’s largest pharmaceutical firm’s statistics show they spend twice the amount on marketing the drugs then they do on developing them. Instead they could be using that cost towards scientific research or the legal fees to partner with other companies to enhance the drugs for the patients. More cost could also go towards testing their products for safety. There is a drug out there that can cost a cancer patient up to $100,000 for the whole course of treatment, yet it cost the company a third of that to make it. The company should charge the patient what it cost to make the drug plus a little profit not two-thirds profit. Pharmaceutical companies do produce products that help cancer patients during their treatment and after, but they could use their money in more effectively instead of using a majority of it for marketing their products. If a pharmaceutical company is making a profit of three billion a year why can’t they help out patients by lowering their cost and only making a profit of two billion? I believe that if they lower their cost in areas that are not effective they could pass that cost along to their patients or put the cost into more effective research for a drug that will actually kill cancer.

            As many people know cancer is one of the leading causing of death. A lot of research has gone into the cause, treatment and finding a cure. However, a cure has yet to be found. Cancer has been around for ages and to this day here in America we only have treatments to prevent the cancer from spreading, treatment to shrink the cancer and treatment to be able to live with cancer. A lot of doctors and nurses have focused a huge majority of their career either working with cancer patients or trying to find a cure. In today’s world a lot of the early diagnosed cases go unknown because the insurance company only allow certain testing or screens every few years. If we were able to check more often in some cases they may be able to catch the cancer before it gets out of control and you end up dying from it. Even people with cancer are only allow a pet scan every three years to check and see if the cancer has spread causing a delay in action if it has spread into another part of their body. You would think they would want to be proactive about it because the cost to scan something compare to the cost to treat something forever is huge. However some people are so scared of the outcome they don’t go and do the test until it’s too late and sadly death is usually the outcome. There are a lot of early onset test and screen you can do yourself. Be aware of your body, if something changes, looks different or feels different get it looked at by a physician who specializes in what you think may be wrong. Not just a general doctor who may look at it, tell you it looks fine and two years later you have stage four breast cancer.