Our new new meeting place:  The year 2005 has been a difficult one.  First we decided to move our meeting site from the Wilson N. Jones Senior Center, which is being moved,  to the Bella Fontana Spa.  After two meetings the membership chose to meet at the 500 North Highland location in Classroom 1.  The classrooms are located next to the ER.

Next, we had a loud vocal objection to our Directors and their method of managing the meetings. As a result we changed our format.  Dr. Tom Nuckols is the new moderator and we now have each member introduce ourselves at the start and briefly describe our cancer status.  And this effort is followed by the program.

Last year, as I recall, we started meeting every other month, and this has eased the burden and burnout of our directors.  About this time, I did a survey of our membership and, as a result, reduced our mailing from about 130 to 75.  I also did a survey of our speakers--two oncologists and five urologists.  There was an apparent burnout among these speakers also.  So we instituted a couple of roundtables, a stress talk, a therapy update by Don Riedl and a nutrition talk before starting up again with the medical community as speakers.

We also found, during discussions with members, that we need to be more upbeat with our programs.  Clearly your physician holds off on the uglier results of your cancer therapy so as to keep you in a positive frame of mind.  To some extent, we will concentrate on the positive also.  One recommendation and an underlying theme was that our meetings presented no "new information".  As a result, Tom Nuckols and I attended a meeting on therapies for advanced prostate cancer in West Palm Beach, FL.  We also sent Don Riedl to Washington, D.C. for a similar conference.  He then reported on the meeting in September, and also made up a summary of the slides from the meeting.  These were sent to our members, and also passed out to attendees at the W. N. Jones Foundation end-of-the-year progress report meeting.*

We have also found that only an estimated 10% or 15% of seniors are on the internet.  And of those, most seem to use it for e-mail with children and grandchildren.  Therefore the Internet is not as helpful as it could be for our members.  We did hold an internet training session, but it didn't reach the number of members we would like.  But I have heard from some distant newly diagnosed men**  who I counseled with and referred to Henri for further help.

We also hosted over night, along with Grand Avenue Presbyterian Church, Wilson N. Jones Health Center, and Austin College, nineteen bicyclists from UT who were riding to Alaska to raise money and awareness about cancer.  They were extremely appreciative of our efforts.

As you can see from the above, this year has been an eventful time.  And despite our small attendance, we are continually told that the USToo! Texoma effort is needed and helpful.

*  additional copies are available upon request. **  One man was near Atlanta, TX- some others have been from Bonham and Durant and one was an instructor from Grayson College.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.  See you at the January meeting.  Jerry Bylander

Date:  Tuesday, February 21, 2006  Social Hour: 6:30 pm  Program: 7:00 pm
Time:  6:30 pm - Social & Coffee  7:00 pm - Program
Location:  Classroom 1,  Wilson N. Jones Health Center, 500 North Highland, Sherman, Texas
Title:  To Be Announced Shortly - Check Back               
Speaker:  Dr. Stephen Johnson, MD
Moderator:  Dr. Thomas Nuckols, Austin College Professor Emeritus
Program:  To Be Announced Shortly - Check Back

As always, the group does not recommend any particular treatment, therapy, physician, or hospital. US Too! Texoma is a prostate cancer group formed for the purpose of sharing information, education, and mutual support.

Date:  None planned
 

Title: "Can I Prevent Prostate Cancer or Its Growth with Proper Diet?”                              

Moderator:  Dr. Thomas Nuckols, Austin College Professor Emeritus                           

Roundtable:  Tom discussed a recent Time magazine article about living longer and how to do it.  Jerry discussed the M.D. Anderson diet he was instructed about during many visits to Houston over a year's time.  Henri discussed the importance of bone health and how to achieve it.

The meeting adjourned about 9:30 PM.

Jerry Bylander

Material posted here is intended for educational purposes only and must not be considered a substitute for informed medical advice from your own physician.

Henri has suggested an interesting website:  Here is a link to a German scientist who has a good test for systemic cancer so as to not put a man through therapies that cannot succeed.
http://www.prostapath.org/us/us-main.html

Jerry Bylander, Editor