Vol. 3, No. 3

March 2004

Jerry Bylander, Editor  jerryby@cableone.net

FEATURE ARTICLES

The Director's Column

Internet Training

In an attempt to make your USToo! Texoma more useful, we will do an Internet training session in April.  Since so much of the new information on prostate cancer appears first on the Internet, your directors think that training on how to get to it will be of help to you, your other family members and friends.  Our website www.ustoo-texoma.org is a starting point but we believe that if you expand your search beyond here, the new knowledge so obtained can be quite useful.  Therefore we are going beyond our every other month format and adding an April Internet training meeting which is being hosted by Wilson N. Jones.  I hope I will see all of you there.  In the event you can't make it in April there can be an opportunity for a repeat class in June.

Hospital Funding Shortfalls

We are all aware that the medical system in the United States is struggling.  What with record numbers of uninsured who are unable to pay, to surging insurance costs, to the high cost to our doctors of keeping up with the avalanche of new diagnostic methods, treatments and medications, high costs of new drugs, and expensive new diagnostic machines, the system is barely managing to keep afloat.  As we know from hard experience, politicians are reactive.  Apparently the mechanics of the body politic keep them from being proactive; that is, they can't justify spending money until there is a crisis.  And then, as with the new Medicare bill, the results may only be a band aid or worse, just lead to another crisis.  I see only one solution: some form of health coverage for everyone.  The problem leads beyond help for the uninsured:  much of our involuntary overtime-which, can lead to accidents-and of sending American jobs offshore is the caused by high benefit costs which includes medical insurance.  Surely the richest and best problem solving country in the world can deal with this problem

Medicine Shows

One fallout chaff from the high cost of prescription medicine, are the medicine shows on TV and radio.  You may recall an earlier time when the old fashioned medicine show came to your town on Saturday.  There was the barker touting the magic elixir which would cure everything from warts to arthritis.  And the shill in the audience who wanted to be first to pay his dollar (worth $10 in today's money).  So too we see the barker on the screen, and this time with his medical expert to help.  Then there is the carefully rehearsed shill who has used the "product" with such great results.  It is interesting as the the French say "plus ce change plus ce meme" or in Americanese: the more things change the more they stay the same.

See you in March and also next month in April.

    Dr. Jerry Bylander, Managing Director, USToo! Texoma

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    Next Meeting


    "    Systemic Prostate"

    Date: Tuesday Evening, March 16, 2004
    Location:  Texas Cancer-Sherman, 2800 Highway 75 N.

    6:30 PM - Social & Coffee
    7:00 PM - Program

    Speaker:  Dr. Mary Hebert, Texas  Cancer Center-Sherman and  -Denison.

    Program: We will tour the Cancer Center facilities and see the radiation therapy area.  We will learn the latest results from radiation therapy treatments for prostate cancer.
         At the end of the program, Dr. Hebert will be available to discuss your particular options.  Also we will have a few minutes to discuss prostate cancer treatments of interest to you based on members' experience who have had radiation, brachytherapy, or radical prostatectomies.  
     Speaker: Dr. Hebert is a long time speaker at our meetings, and is well versed in the latest treatments for prostate cancer.

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    Last Meeting
    Date & Time: Tuesday, January 20,  2004, 7:00 PM
    Place: Wilson N. Jones, North Campus
    Attendance: approximately 20 attendees


    Old Business

     None

    New Business

     None.

    Program:   ""Systemic Prostate Cancer: current treatments and controls",     Dr. Barker also briefly discussed the new prostate cancer vaccines now entering phase III trials.

    Speaker:  Dr. Larry Barker, Texas Oncology, Sherman Cancer Center and Denison Denison Cancer Center

    Program:  Dr. Barker did an excellent review of prostate cancer and the various treatments.

    The meeting adjourned about 9 PM.

    Henri Plunkett, Program Chair/by the Editor

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    Other Important Events
    Your organization's meetings listed here.  Contact the Editor at jerryby@cableone.net

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    Editor's Notes

    Thoughts from your editor or others

    ABOUT PROSTATE CANCER

    When a man is diagnosed with prostate cancer all he really wants to know is how to fix me.  I agree that is the situation, so now please somebody tell me what to do.  If it was that easy there would not be pc advocates all over the world to try to help newly diagnosed men with this situation.  If one wants the perfect answer to his situation, there is some homework he will need to do for himself.  First he needs to listen and understand his physicians views and ask why the physician has made this determination.  Second he needs support from others who have been down this road such as prostate cancer support groups.  Third he needs to assimilate all information he can readily receive and an honest understanding of this data.  MOST IMPORTANT of all is to make a determination whether the cancer is more likely than not, organ-confined.  If that determination is made, almost any therapy recommended in the hands of an artist, (not all doctors have the same skill levels, as in all of life) will probably cure.  If the cancer is not most likely organ-confined, there are still effective therapies that provide years of overall survival benefits.  Now here is the 64,000 dollar question.  How does anybody really know if the cancer is confined or not?  The answer is they do not for sure know, and this is scary to most men as it should be.  Now through information available, one can determine through probabilities, the percentage of organ confinement or not.  So how should one trust an attending physician with his determination?  Same answer as in most of life, be skeptical.  Make your physician get very specific about his determinations and why.  Second, always get a second opinion.  Make sure your decisions are based on the most current information and not your gut feelings.  What if you don't trust your own decisions or even the physician that is attending?  Move on to the best doctors who specialize in just prostate cancer, whom are found at teaching hospitals, such as johns hopkins, md anderson, sloan kettering, mayo.  The biggest problem men have to date, is doctors putting men through therapies to treat the cancer locally when it has already spread outside the prostate.  This is the obstacle to overcome when making ones decisions, as little could be as dreary as having been treated for prostate cancer, only to have it immediately return.  I can think of no better way to end this article than to tell you to attend local prostate cancer support groups where men are determined to help newly diagnosed as well as recurring prostate cancer persons.  Support group persons are not physicians and give and share information only, however many meetings have physicians attending who do give medical advice and opinions, free of charge as well as the meetings one attends are free of charge.  Now take charge and make the right decisions for you.............................henri plunkett

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    HORMONAL THERAPY BEFORE RADIATION
    The administering of testosterone reduction before radio therapy is a topic of debate among PC Physicians.  Testosterone is most important for the growth and function of prostate cells whether they are normal healthy cells or cancer cells.  Most doctors agree that without testosterone, one's prostate cells start to atrophy, slow their growth and some cells achieve apoptosis (cell death). However some prostate cells seemingly learn to adjust and survive without this favorite food.  This is why most doctors do not believe a man can ever be cured of PC by hormonal therapy treatment, alone.  Now where the PC is not diagnosed as organ-confined, the use of hormonal therapy before radiation may be useful since radiation beam therapies alone don't kill cancer outside the radiation field (confined to the prostate gland area).

    Since the object of radiating the prostate is to target enough radiation to kill all the prostate cells and therefore not just stun them, one would like to weaken or stun them before radiation therapy. The pre-radiation weakening is thought by some to be possible through the use of hormone therapy. However there some controversy here (I go on the theory that if the benefits offset the disadvantages - do it. Editor). Some doctors cite studies that show overall survival benefits are never seen for such pre-radiation use. Now my opinion is this, most of these studies never compare   apples to apples to apples, such as A) treating 100 men with radical prostatectomy (surgery) with any Gleason score and finding the percent failed and cured to B) the same outcomes for studies with radiation or C) radiation plus pre-radiation hormonal therapy.  (If you want to explore this issue further, please question our speakers at the appropriate time in one of our meetings. Editor).

    One does not see studies on 100 men with the same Gleason sums, same clinical staging and similar PSA's.  When these scientists configure and finish such studies and report, one might see the benefit of pre- hormonal therapy verified.  Until then, common sense dictates, if you want to try everything in your power to try and cure oneself of PC, then the consideration of hormonal therapy might give you that extra edge to help eradicate and kill all PC cells.  At least, talk pre-therapy treatment  over with your doctor and leave the equation of costs out of counseling.  The medieval concept of  your money or your life is not acceptable in this great American society - and is not  hopefully to you. ...............................Henri Plunkett

    News You Can Use

    You can find news you can use at the USToo International web site: http://www.ustoo.org/.  Check it out for the latest references.

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    Jerry Bylander - Newsletter Editor

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