Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2014/12/26

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Subject: [Leica] Health
From: philippe.amard at sfr.fr (Philippe)
Date: Fri, 26 Dec 2014 23:55:19 +0100
References: <31567020.1419591000022.JavaMail.root@elwamui-rubis.atl.sa.earthlink.net> <A2904440-7126-42C2-BD40-44212B0CD764@btinternet.com>

Add me to to the list of photogs who DO want to read from you on the horizon 
of your 100th BD Herb.

Same applies to Ken, of course!

I wish both of you the best from over here.

Amities
Philippe

Le 26 d?c. 2014 ? 12:57, Charlie Chan <topoxforddoc at btinternet.com> a 
?crit :

> Dear Herb and Ken,
> 
> May 2015 bring you some respite from your ailments.
> 
> Ken, 
> 
> there are some non chemotherapy drugs available for renal cell cancer, 
> such as sunitinib (Sutent)
> http://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ta169
> and pazopanib
> http://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ta215
> Biological therapies don?t tend to make people ill and have much fewer 
> side effects than cytotoxic chemotherapy. They aren?t cheap though.
> 
> Herb,
> 
> Many people with prostate cancer go on for years. If the disease is 
> endocrine responsive, then there are lots of relatively non-toxic 
> treatments available. So, don?t give up on getting to 100 yet!
> 
> Best wishes,
> 
> Charlie
> www.charlie-chan.co.uk
> 
> 
> On 26 Dec 2014, at 10:49, Montie <montoid at earthlink.net> wrote:
> 
>> +1
>> 
>> Montie
>> 
>> This exchange really puts things in perspective for me. All the best to 
>> both 
>> Herbert and Ken. You guys are strong.
>> 
>> Cheers,
>> Nathan
>> 
>> Nathan Wajsman
>> 
>> 
>> On 26 Dec 2014, at 01:40, Ken Carney <kcarney1 at cox.net> wrote:
>> 
>>> Herbert,
>>> 
>>> Hang in there.  I am 20 years younger and have had surgery now for 
>>> kidney 
>>> cancer, colon cancer and pancreatic cancer.  Actually, the pancreas 
>>> surgery last year showed renal cell carcinoma there, no doubt having met 
>>> there from the kidney cancer 15 years earlier.  I am advised it is 
>>> possible that there is still RCC somewhere, but that there is no 
>>> effective 
>>> therapy (chemo).  So, I do what I always do and take things a day at a 
>>> time.  I truly hope you get better news and have the best possible 
>>> outcome.  Unpleasant stuff, this.
>>> 
>>> Ken
>>> Whose mother-in-law has survived more bullets than I can count and is 
>>> having her 100th birthday party Sunday.  We got her a Samsung Galaxy 
>>> tablet and extended warranty.
>>> 
>>> On 12/25/2014 6:04 PM, Herbert Kanner wrote:
>>>> Since everyone regards LUG as family and reports their health issues, 
>>>> I?ll throw mine in. This won?t be real short, because the details are 
>>>> interesting.
>>>> 
>>>> In 2001, my PSA jumped and I had the uncomfortable needle biopsy via 
>>>> ass-hole. Of nine needles, one picked up a couple of millimeters of 
>>>> malign cells which were pronounced to be aggressive. I then had many 
>>>> sessions of what is misnamed ?Intensity modulated radiation therapy?. 
>>>> Actually what happens is the source of the radiation rotates in a 
>>>> vertical plane around the patient and during the rotation, the shape of 
>>>> the beam is modulated by a diaphragm of tungsten fingers so as to 
>>>> always 
>>>> concentrate the radiation on the desired site. One time, I was really 
>>>> scared because the treatment was delated due to a computer crash, and 
>>>> when I asked what the computer program was housed in, they said Windows 
>>>> 2000.
>>>> 
>>>> Every year since, my PSA was checked and my prostate poked by the 
>>>> radiation oncologist.
>>>> 
>>>> A couple of months ago, I felt a sore muscle in my left thigh; I just 
>>>> thought it was a pulled muscle, and Naproxen relieved it. But just one 
>>>> day, it was so sever that I was limping, so I thought it would be a 
>>>> good 
>>>> idea to go to my primary care quack and check it out. When she pulled 
>>>> my 
>>>> leg outward, I yelled ?ouch? and she ordered a hip X-ray to be done on 
>>>> my 
>>>> way out.
>>>> 
>>>> By the time I got home, there was a frightful message on my answering 
>>>> machine. I was to go asap to the Stanford Hospital site in a 
>>>> neighboring 
>>>> city (Redwood City) where an appointment had been set up for a CAT 
>>>> scan. 
>>>> Then I was to drive straight to the Main Hospital at Stanford (Palo 
>>>> Alto) 
>>>> and see the same radiation oncologist. Also they were setting up an 
>>>> appointment, probably for the next day, for a radioactive bone scan.
>>>> 
>>>> The radiation oncologist showed me the X-rays and Cat scans on his 
>>>> computer screen. First there was a large lesion on my left femur. Then 
>>>> there was a bunch of little dots in my lungs that were not there two 
>>>> years ago. I said I was appalled. He said he was appalled. He then 
>>>> opined 
>>>> that my hip was about to break, that he checked that an orthopedic 
>>>> surgeon was available on or immediately after the weekend, and that the 
>>>> quickest way to get admitted to the hospital was via the emergency 
>>>> room. 
>>>> He had his resident wheel me there.
>>>> 
>>>> Well, on the way in, the rent-a-cop confiscated my Swiss army knife, 
>>>> and 
>>>> when it was apparent with a packed ER that I?d be there for a while, I 
>>>> got around to phoning my wife. They were so packed that I had to wait 
>>>> until there was a free bed.
>>>> 
>>>> After the routine things, mainly a blood draw, an orthopedic guy showed 
>>>> up. He said that there was no danger of a fracture, that I should go 
>>>> home 
>>>> and have a normal weekend, and that an appointment had been made to see 
>>>> an orthopedic surgeon on the following Tuesday. I guess it was probably 
>>>> thirty years since the radiation oncologist had learned to interpret 
>>>> that 
>>>> sort of X-ray.
>>>> 
>>>> On that day, my wife went along for moral support. Interestingly 
>>>> enough, 
>>>> all three of us in the room had something in common: doctorates from 
>>>> the 
>>>> University of Chicago, mine in physics, Lee?s in biochemistry, and the 
>>>> surgeon whatever real doctors get. The latter spent most of the 
>>>> forty-five minutes teaching me how to read the X-ray, primarily why it 
>>>> showed that there was no current risk of a fracture. When I inquired 
>>>> about either surgical support of the bone or just drilling to get a 
>>>> sample for a biopsy, he said that the risks outweighed the benefits. He 
>>>> said it was probably metastatic prostate cancer, slow-growing, and 
>>>> tending to deposit bone. Next appointment in a month with immediately 
>>>> preceding X-ray to assess fracture risk.
>>>> 
>>>> I finally got to see a medical oncologist. She indicated that this kind 
>>>> of cancer without PSA rising is very rare, but does happen. She felt 
>>>> that 
>>>> we had to know what we were dealing with, and if the surgeon reported 
>>>> that there was no way to get a sample with a needle, she was going to 
>>>> make the assumption that those dots on my lungs were not an infection 
>>>> residue but were the same tumor, and one of them was very accessible to 
>>>> a 
>>>> cat scan guided needle.
>>>> 
>>>> I?m waiting for that and will keep you posted. I?ll be 93 in June. I 
>>>> doubt that I?ll make 100.
>>>> 
>>>> Herb
>> 
>> 
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> 
> 
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In reply to: Message from montoid at earthlink.net (Montie) ([Leica] Health)
Message from topoxforddoc at btinternet.com (Charlie Chan) ([Leica] Health)