Beating Cancer

“I will not be providing any scratching services though ;o)”

“Damn Y2! That's what I really need! Dani's arms are getting tired!”

“Tried Aveeno oatmeal baths?”

“Yes, actually. I don't have the patience to sit in a bath, though!”

“LOL, me neither, unless with a good paperback.”

“Birch. My best wishes to your uncle. I'm hoping for a speedy recovery.”

“Thanks all for reminding me that I need to take better care of myself. My mom had a melanoma when I was little, but has been cancer free since. My sister had a melanoma at age 28. All 4 of my grandparents have died of various forms of cancer (bone, breast, brain, and prostate). My aunt on my mom's side has beaten breast cancer twice. Two of uncles on my mom's side have died - one of mouth and throat cancer (tobacco chewer) and one of pancreatic cancer, just this year.

Its all around me, yet I don't always take good care of myself. My biggest fear right now is my mom getting cancer again. I think that its only a matter of time. SHe's 68, and it'll eventually catch up with her again, I fear.




Keep fighting everyone.”

“I will do that guys. I hope it was a false positive. I will keep you guys in my thoughts.”

“NIH Launches Cancer Genome Project
Genetic Mapping Could Revolutionize Treatment and Prevention, Health Officials Say

By Rick Weiss
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 14, 2005; Page A14

Federal health officials yesterday launched the biggest genetic research endeavor since the landmark human genome project: an ambitious effort to categorize all of the hundreds of molecular glitches that turn normal healthy cells into cancers.

The Cancer Genome Atlas, whose total cost could reach $1 billion or more, will for the first time direct the full force of today's sophisticated genetic technologies to the thorough understanding of a single disease -- one that will eventually strike nearly half of all Americans alive

Leaders of the National Institutes of Health, which will administer the project through grants and contracts, predicted it would revolutionize the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of cancer, which will kill 564,000 Americans this year.

"This is really the beginning of a new era," NIH Director Elias A. Zerhouni said at a news conference in Washington, flanked by researchers, doctors and patient advocates.

Although the lofty rhetoric echoed that of Richard Nixon's now-disparaged call for a war on cancer almost 35 years ago, Zerhouni and others emphasized that scientists have learned crucial lessons totally unknown at that time. Most centrally, it is now known that cancer is a genetic disease, caused by errors in a cell's DNA that can be identified and targeted with molecular medicines.

By identifying the full spectrum of genetic errors that allow cancer cells to divide recklessly, spread and take root throughout the body, doctors hope to be able to classify every cancer -- not by today's crude measures of where it forms and how fast it is growing, but according to hidden molecular hallmarks that can tell which drugs will work and which ones will not.

"The planets have aligned to tackle cancer in a comprehensive way that we've never had the tools to do before," said Francis S. Collins, director of the NIH's National Human Genome Research Institute. That institute and the National Cancer Institute will provide $100 million for a three-year pilot project to test the project's feasibility.

A genetic map of everything that makes a cancer cell cancerous could speed the development of drugs that specifically target tumor cells' Achilles' heel. It could also lead to molecular imaging tools able to detect tumors when they are young, and provide clues about how to prevent them in the first place.

"The future will look no more like the past than a butterfly resembles a caterpillar," said NCI Director Andrew von Eschenbach, adding that he sees cancer devolving soon from a killer to a "chronic, manageable condition."

The Cancer Genome Atlas is the outgrowth of a year and a half of planning by NIH advisory groups. It would build on the emerging recognition that cancer is a collection of diseases that have rampant overgrowth in common but disparate genetic roots.

Some cancers are caused by a mutation in a single gene that normally keeps a cell from making offspring. Others are caused by the mistaken duplication of a gene that promotes normal cell division, boosting its reproductive capacity to abnormal levels.

In other cases, entire pieces of chromosomes -- long, gene-bearing strands of DNA inside cells -- break off and reattach to other chromosomes, inducing spurious and unregulated growth signals

Still other cancers result when rogue molecules attach themselves to genes whose job is to control cell division. Such "epigenetic" changes are invisible on standard tests that look for mutated genes because the genes themselves are healthy but are being manhandled by the other molecules.

The Cancer Genome Atlas faces formidable challenges, not least of which will be collecting hundreds or thousands of tumor specimens -- each of which must be properly preserved, freely donated for research by patients who have been informed of the project's goals and accompanied by detailed clinical information such as the tumor's response to various drugs.

Then will come the tedious work of analyzing all the relevant genetic traits of those cells and correlating those details to the cancer's clinical characteristics. Collins likened that undertaking to "thousands of human genome projects," a reference to the $2 billion effort, completed in 2003, to learn the order of all 3 billion letters of genetic code that go into making and maintaining a human being.

Collins emphasized that gene research costs have dropped considerably in recent years and expressed hope that an initial "back-of-the-envelope" estimate of $1.5 billion for the cancer atlas will prove high.

As the atlas gets filled, its contents are to be placed on a computer database freely accessible to researchers, doctors, patients and the public.

Not everyone supports the effort. In letters to scientific journals and in other venues, some scientists have complained that now is not the time for such an effort, given the already pinched federal research budget. Others have suggested that the approach is bound to fail on scientific grounds.

Garth Anderson, a cancer geneticist at Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, said that because cancers are by definition genetically unstable, even a single tumor has cells with different mutations, many of which played no role in its emergence. And while a few new molecularly targeted drugs have worked against cancers where other drugs have failed, he said, even those drugs typically buy patients just a few months before the tumor finds a way around the medicine.

"If it's going to cost me $100,000 to add 45 days of life, I'd rather drop dead and give my kids the money," said Anderson, who added that he puts more faith in better tumor imaging and old-fashioned surgery.

But Bruce Stillman, president of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York and one of several experts who advised NCI on the proposal, disagreed.

"It would be ridiculous to say at this time, 'Okay, we finished the genome. Let's not do anything with it.' To say we shouldn't be doing this is to say we're not interested in solving cancer."
last edited: 12/15/05 12:04:38 AM”

“direct from NIH.

http://cancergenome.nih.gov/media/index.asp

I got an RFI for this on Monday. More work for the holidays.”

“Thanks for the link. I'm thinking of heading back to Grad School. My passion used to be immunology but that might be changing. ;)”

“nm
last edited: 12/18/05 2:48:09 AM”

“que pasa?

Have your read It's Not About the Bike?

Check out the Young Survivors Site too”

“The stats about the younger age group with cancer is interesting especially what they said about the lower survival rate. I agree with what they said about delayed diagnosis might be partly to blame. Also, with younger people you get the "it can't happen to me" line of thinking. They might listen more by telling them they might get zits then get cancer from a risky behavior like smoking, drinking or doing drugs.”

“"No one is certain why survival rates are not improving for this age group, but factors may include lack of insurance, less participation in clinical trials and delayed diagnoses."

I posted my scan report somewhere. How's this for Late diagnosis:

FULL BODY FDG PET WITH CT FUSIONPET
images of the head and neck demonstrate intense FDG uptake in the tonsillar regions and in the nasopharynx, as well as multiple bilateral foci of intense FDG uptake in the upper and lower neck, compatible with malignancy.

Tomographic images of the chest show multiple foci...fusing with right and left auxillary lymph nodes, compatible with malignancy.

Multiple foci...in the mediastinum, the largest fuses with a large mass in the right peritracheal region....malignancy...

Bilateral lung masses...malignancy...

abdomen & retroperitoneal nodes...malignancy...

bilateral iliac, bilateral inquinal,right upper femoral...tumor adenopathy.

Liver and spleen ROCK!*
Heart ROCKS!*

...left iliac bone near the the left sacroiliac joint...right ischium......malignant skeletal involvement...

no definite evidence of malignancy in vertebra...

Impression:
1. FDG PET compatible with extensive tumor adenopathy above and below the diaphragm. There is apparent tumor adenopathy in the head and neck, chest, abdomen, and pelvis.
2. Compatible with malignant involvement of both lungs.
3. Compatible with malignant skeletal involvement of the right ischium and left iliac bone mediallly.
4. #&%!$ is probably in the bone marrow.*

Diagnosis: Hodgkins Disease - Stage IV - metastatic

Treatment: Patient [pt.] needs to undergo 12 rounds of ABVD chemotherapy immediately.

Evaluation:
Characteristic of Major Disability: Rapidly Progressive
Can the major disability be substantially improved by treatment?: Yes
If yes, anticipated duration: at least 1 year

Physical Capacities: Patient Fully Disabled.

Once again, thank God it's HL. ;)


And I didn't have Insurance. Without my SO I would not of been able to get the next required rounds of tests in order to start chemo. Without 2 hospitals and their social workers I would not have gotten an immediate (1.5 weeks) approval for medicaid.
last edited: 12/18/05 4:39:58 PM”

“That report is frightening, but at least there's cure for it. After getting four bad pathology reports in 7 years, I'm basically fed up with getting cancer already. What a miserable disease.
last edited: 12/18/05 8:08:47 PM”

“Frightening yet not in the Bone Marrow. Small victories are so important.

What a miserable disease.
last edited: 12/18/05 9:08:47 PM”
RichB
9:06:44 PM
12/18/05

Sums it up beautifully.”

“A young friend of mine (just turned 40) had a biopsy on Thursday and was told Friday she has Ductal Carcinoma In-Situ. (breast cancer) Same thing my mom was diagnosed with about 5 years ago.
Things is, this woman had symptoms a year ago that her doctor attributed to pre-menopause.

Doctors (male and female) seem to use that catch-all to explain away a lot of women's symptoms. I've also noticed lately that doctors say things like - "I don't think it's anything, but we can test for it if you want" effectively passing the decision (and therefore the blame for an incorrect diagnosis) onto the patient.”

“Twigeater, I can't tell you how many times our Dr. said that! I started asking him what he would chose for his own daughter. Time and time again he said he'd go with all the tests, etc possible. I wonder why they don't just recommend covering all the bases? Insurance companies? Patients complaining about "needless" expenses?”

“Insurance companies are the devil! LOL...

I chalk it up to CYA - the insurance companies frown on needless tests, and the doctors don't want to piss of the patient AND the insurance company, so they came up with the "whatever you want to do" phrase. Most people don't want tests anyway, so the doctor is covered on both sides.

I got the "you're premenopausal" thing from doctors for years, then I started counting...mom and grandma both went thru menopause at 56, which meant I'd have to live like this for...oh...just about 15 or so years..haha...get real! That's when I went to a specialist, insurance be damned.”

“I never heard of the "whatever you want to do" phrase, but I rarely go to PCP doctors anymore and they seem like they would be the ones to say something like that.

I think what it boils down to is that you have to take charge on your own and push for what you want if you know something isn't right. I learned one thing and that's not to sit back and wait for a doctor's office to call you about a test. Call yourself for results. Don't assume anything and always check on things yourself. I still make blunders dealing with doctors, but I learned from the ones I did make. I still think there's a lot of good things going on with medicine though. Good doctors are very busy and the reason is because they are good, everybody wants to go there. Usually they teach too so they only have limited time to see patients.”

“I picked my Dr. Out of the Insurance book. Cigna, PPO. I've had him for 6yrs (as long as I've been in DC). He takes no chances and I've never felt he's held back.”

“The mother#&%!$ers:



Die! Mother#&%!$er!

”

“Ran out to buy LIVESTRONG bands and Hershey Kisses to put out for the office. Came back, first case, first slide=Cancer.”

“My biopsy just came back positive for basalcell carcinoma, the third or fourth one I've had. No biggee, just gotta go back to the doc's office after the first of the year and have the rest of it taken off. Annoying, not dangerous....

Wear yer sunscreen, folks!”

“Good luck Bowlder - my wife has had some skin cancer, too - so far just minor surgery and no problems.

As for me, I just had one of my periodic blood tests, to watch for the return of parathyroid cancer, on Wednesday (due every six months, but I'm a few months late getting this one). I usually don't worry about it, but start getting tense a couple days after the blood is drawn.”

“Whew - I never have to get nervous. If anything comes back positive, they just cut it off!”

“I'm just hoping it that if it ever does come back, it will be after they've found a way to fight it that works. Right now, the only thing with a good rate of success is getting it all the first time. It's much slower growing than most cancers, but far mor tenacious as well.”

“My wife has been cancer free for about 5 years now. I'm never gone for tests & not sure I ever will.”

“Got a CT scan coming up in two weeks; picking up the barium at the clinic chatted with a guy who is having tests to see if his lymphoma has returned. He had last been treated 13 years ago. I wished him well and left there really depressed, I've been out 4 years and hope I never have to go thru that again. The idea of it really got to me.
So I think I'll set my alarm real early and go backpacking!!! A night out under the stars is the cure I need---”

“I read an article in the paper yesterday about an new study that said the risk of malignant melanoma skin cancer from sun exposure is not as great as they once thought. It's not a reason to put away the sun screen because they said the risk is greater for precancerous lesions that can become cancer if neglected.”

“my brother's been cancer free for 6 years now :D he still goes for annual testing once a year up to 10 years.”

“i dont know if its normal procrastination, or if its the fact that this will be the first time going christmas shopping and not getting anything for dad, that wont let me get out of the house.”

“Well, they hacked out a hunk of my flesh yesterday afternoon - no cause for concern though; it's just basalcell. The site is on my upper chest, not quite low enough to see the bandage. It was kinda freakin me out while he was chopping away - I could feel a little bit of cutting, but mostly could feel the tugging, knowing he was ripping out part of me! I didn't hyperventilate or anything, at least, although I was a little woozy afterward. I have about a half dozen stitches in the 1.5-inch incision. I asked him if he could give me a Harry Potter lightning bolt scar, but he just stuck with an ordinary straight one. Some docs just aren't any fun....”

“How long is bearmagnet gonna be banned?”

“Bearmagnet's banned?”

“Stovestomper's making stuff up again. ;)”

“It's better that they cut enough the first time to try to get good margins around skin cancer. I had squamous cell skin cancer and the first time they removed it they didn't cut enough to get good margins and it came back within a year. Then I had to get Moh's surgery on it, where they keep cutting and looking at the margins in the path lab until they are clean. It worked and never came back in that spot.”

“Good news! Bowlderman!”

“Ow.

http://community.webshots.com/photo/43545974/537188037jeHedX”

“Looks like you had a worse reaction to the adhesive than the surgery and stitches.”

“Well, I just took off the bandage before the photo - it looks fine now....”

“Oh Bowlder, you poor thing!! Just imagining the chopping away makes me want to pass out. A Harry Potter scar...you're so freakin funny!!

Speaking of Bearmagnet, he emailed me about eleventy-billion times recently, once to send a pic of him injecting his leg with something! Sicko.
;-)
He sounded pretty good though, I think.”

“Excellent!! Sympathy from TT chicks is starting to come in! Woo-hoo!”

“BM is posting on Backpacker (the other site) so I figure he must be banned.

Now, he couldn't be "Sarge" could he???? LOL”

“Looks like the doctor did a good job with your surgery.”

“Oh you poor baby!”

“Parathyroid levels came back high. I go in for more tests Friday. When Parathyroid cancer metastasizes it is nearly always playing for keeps.”

“Good luck!!! You're in my prayers!!!”