Choosing to follow legal recourse and selecting an attorney to represent you in a mesothelioma or asbestos lawsuit are important decisions that should be made carefully. The facts of your situation and the law firm you select have a dramatic impact in the outcome of your case.

The Facts of Your Situation

What is Mesothelioma?

Mesothelioma, more precisely malignant mesothelioma is a rare type of cancer. Malignant (cancerous) cells develop in the mesothelium, the protective sac that covers most of the body’s internal organs. Mesothelioma generally starts in the outer membrane of the lungs (pleura), but can also occur in the lining of the abdominal cavity (peritoneum). Uncommonly, the heart or reproductive organs may be affected. Treatment depends on where the cancer is found and whether it has spread.

Mesothelioma is almost always caused by exposure to asbestos and can develop decades after the exposure.

How do you get malignant mesothelioma?

Mesothelioma is caused by asbestos exposure.  Asbestos, once regarded as a miracle mineral, was popular due its lightweight but tough characteristics as well as for its heat-resistant properties. This naturally occurring mineral was used in many commercial and consumer products, from construction materials such as cement, roofing shingles and insulation, to consumer and industrial applications such as hair dryers, automobile brake pads and pipe insulation.
Most people with malignant mesothelioma worked on jobs where they breathed asbestos. Others were exposed to asbestos in a household environment, often without knowing it.

What happens inside the body?

The cancerous cells clump together in a malignant tumour.  As it grows, the tumour pushes against and into other organs and healthy tissue, causing symptoms.  Because the mesothelium is a flat thin lining, the mesothelioma tumour often takes a diffuse shape.
In its advanced stage the cancer metastasizes through the lymph system and spreads to other parts of the body.  It is still referred to as mesothelioma because it started in the mesothelium. 

How it spreads?

Malignant (cancerous) cells develop in the mesothelium. This protective sac has different names, depending on its location in the body. Those most commonly affected by mesothelioma are:

• Visceral pleura – the membrane that surrounds the lungs
• Parietal pleura – the membrane that lines the chest wall
• Peritoneum – the membrane that forms the lining of the abdominal and pelvic cavities.

Mesothelioma most often starts in the pleura. Normally, the two pleura touch and slide across each other while we breathe, lubricated by a slick of fluid. In cases of pleural mesothelioma, the pleura make more fluid than necessary, which presses on the lung (pleural effusion). Mesothelioma usually develops in only one lung. The tumour tends to grow across the lung until the entire organ is encased.

In about 10 per cent of mesothelioma cases, asbestos fibres that have been swallowed can move through the stomach wall and cause cancer cells to develop in the peritoneum (peritoneal mesothelioma).

Sometimes cancer cells migrate to lymph nodes and other areas of the body (such as the unaffected lung) via the lymphatic system. Uncommonly, the heart or reproductive organs may be affected.

Signs and symptoms of mesothelioma

Symptoms or signs of mesothelioma may not appear until 20 to 50 years (or more) after exposure to asbestos. Shortness of breath, cough, and pain in the chest due to an accumulation of fluid in the pleural space (pleural effusion) are often symptoms of pleural mesothelioma.

Symptoms of peritoneal mesothelioma include weight loss and cachexia, abdominal swelling and pain due to ascites (a build-up of fluid in the abdominal cavity). Other symptoms of Peritoneal Mesothelioma may include bowel obstruction, blood clotting abnormalities, anaemia, and fever. If the cancer has spread beyond the mesothelium to other parts of the body, symptoms may include pain, trouble swallowing, or swelling of the neck or face.

These symptoms may be caused by mesothelioma or by other, less serious conditions.

Mesothelioma that affects the pleura can cause these signs and symptoms:

• Chest wall pain
• Pleural effusion, or fluid surrounding the lung
• Shortness of breath
• Fatigue or anaemia
• Wheezing, hoarseness, or cough
• Blood in the sputum (fluid) coughed up (haemoptysis)

In severe cases, the person may have many tumour masses. The individual may develop a pneumothorax, or collapse of the lung. The disease may metastasize, or spread, to other parts of the body.

Tumours that affect the abdominal cavity often do not cause symptoms until they are at a late stage. Symptoms include:

• Abdominal pain
• Ascites, or an abnormal build-up of fluid in the abdomen
• A mass in the abdomen
• Problems with bowel function
• Weight loss

In severe cases of the disease, the following signs and symptoms may be present:

• Blood clots in the veins, which may cause thrombophlebitis
• Disseminated intravascular coagulation, a disorder causing severe bleeding in many body organs
• Jaundice, or yellowing of the eyes and skin
• Low blood sugar level
• Pleural effusion
• Pulmonary emboli, or blood clots in the arteries of the lungs

Breast cancer is cancer originating from breast tissue, most commonly from the inner lining of milk ducts or the lobules that supply the ducts with milk. Cancers originating from ducts are known as ductal carcinomas; those originating from lobules are known as lobular carcinomas.
Prognosis and survival rate varies greatly depending on cancer type and staging. Computerized models are available to predict survival.  With best treatment and dependent on staging, 10-year disease-free survival varies from 98% to 10%. Treatment includes surgery, drugs (hormonal therapy and chemotherapy), and radiation.

Worldwide, breast cancer comprises 10.4% of all cancer incidence among women, making it the most common type of non-skin cancer in women and the fifth most common cause of cancer death.  In 2004, breast cancer caused 519,000 deaths worldwide (7% of cancer deaths; almost 1% of all deaths).  Breast cancer is about 100 times more common in women than in men, although males tend to have poorer outcomes due to delays in diagnosis.

Some breast cancers are sensitive to hormones such as estrogen and/or progesterone which makes it possible to treat them by blocking the effects of this hormones in the target tissues. These have better prognosis and require less aggressive treatment than hormone negative cancers.

Breast cancers without hormone receptors, or which have spread to the lymph nodes in the armpits, or which express certain genetic characteristics, are higher-risk, and are treated more aggressively. One standard regimen, popular in the U.S., is cyclophosphamide plus doxorubicin (Adriamycin), known as CA; these drugs damage DNA in the cancer, but also in fast-growing normal cells where they cause serious side effects.

Sometimes a taxane drug, such as docetaxel, is added, and the regime is then known as CAT; taxane attacks the microtubules in cancer cells. An equivalent treatment, popular in Europe, is cyclophosphamide,  methotrexate, and fluorouracil (CMF).  Monoclonal antibodies, such as trastuzumab  (Herceptin), are used for cancer cells that have the HER2 mutation.

Radiation is usually added to the surgical bed to control cancer cells that were missed by the surgery, which usually extends survival, although radiation exposure to the heart may cause damage and heart failure in the following years.

Causes of Breast Cancer

• You're over 50 There's nothing strange about this – cancers are caused by cell mutation, and the older you are, the more chance there is of a cell mutation occurring.

• Someone in your family has had breast cancer This slightly increases your risk. In most cases there's no family association. But scientists have identified certain genes that are responsible for some cases of breast cancer, and these can be transmitted to offspring. In these cases the cancer tends to occur at a younger age.

• The big ONo, not the late Roy Orbison, we're talking about the hormone oestrogen. High levels of oestrogen for long periods of time increase the likelihood of breast cancer. So do early puberty, late menopause, having your first child at a later age (over 35), not breast feeding, and never having children at all. The oral contraceptive pill is thought to increase the risk slightly, as does hormone replacement therapy (HRT) if taken for more than five years.

All living things reproduce. Reproduction — the process by which organisms make more organisms like themselves — is one of the things that sets living things apart from nonliving matter. But even though the reproductive system is essential to keeping a species alive, unlike other body systems, it's not essential to keeping an individual alive.

A root canal is the space within the root of a tooth. It is part of a naturally occurring space within a tooth that consists of the pulp chamber (within the coronal part of the tooth), the main canal(s), and more intricate anatomical branches that may connect the root canals to each other or to the surface of the root.

The smaller branches, referred to as accessory canals, are most frequently found near the root end (apex) but may be encountered anywhere along the root length. There may be one or two main canals within each root. Some teeth have more variable internal anatomy than others. This space is filled with a highly vascularised, loose connective tissue, the dental pulp.

• Maintain good nutrition by reducing fat in the diet and taking calcium supplements to prevent osteoporosis;
• Get an annual Pap smear to test for cervical cancer;
• Get a yearly clinical breast examination in a doctor's office, combined with self-breast examinations each month;
• If over the age of 50, get an annual mammogram; Protect yourself against sexually transmitted diseases.
• Move More
• Cut Fat
• Reduce Stress
• Quit Smoking
• Protect Yourself from Pollution
• Wear Your Seat Belt
• Avoid Excessive Drinking
• Floss Your Teeth
• Keep a Positive Mental Outlook

Good Health Habits

• Take Break Fast every morning
• Drink lots of water
• Consume a variety of Whole and Natural Foods
• Eat Organic
• Get Enough sleep
• Have a cup of Fruit Juice or Vegetable Juice Daily
• Exercise  Daily
• Dress Naturally

Tips to be Active