What is Cancer?

3 days ago my entry written about my uncle admission to hospital on Sunday. And my uncle did an operation at SGH on Tuesday to draw out the water and meanwhile doctor tested his lungs tissue to see what's wrong with it. From the doctor reported came out today and was certified to be stage 4 cancer.

Today I am going to share with you some general information about cancer. Cancer begins when a cell begins dividing uncontrollably. Eventually these cells form a visible mass or tumor. This initial tumor is called the "primary" tumor. Cells from the primary tumor can break off and lodge elsewhere in the body where they then grow into secondary tumors. This process is called "metastasis" and a cancer which has spread to other organs is called "metastatic." When cancer spreads to another organ, the type of cancer remains the type of the primary tumor. Thus cancer that started in the colon and spread to the liver is still colon cancer. It is not "liver cancer". Similarly breast cancer that has spread to the bone is not "bone cancer", it is metastatic breast cancer. (quoted from http://cancerguide.org/basic.html)

Stage 0 carcinoma in situ.
Stage I cancers are localized to one part of the body.
Stage II cancers are locally advanced.
Stage III cancers are also locally advanced. Whether a cancer is designated as Stage II or Stage III can depend on the specific type of cancer; for example, in Hodgkin's Disease, Stage II indicates affected lymph nodes on only one side of the diaphragm, whereas Stage III indicates affected lymph nodes above and below the diaphragm. The specific criteria for Stages II and III therefore differ according to diagnosis.
Stage IV cancers have often metastasized, or spread to other organs or throughout the body.
(quoted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cancer_staging)

That's why Early Stage Critical Illness is so important as early diagnostic can extend a person's life. And under this kind of insurance coverage can enable you to have an insurance paid up for treatment.

I believe the link below can be useful to you.

Getting to the heart of Critical Illness Insurance

For more information, do drop me an email via dondon_v@yahoo.com