Date: Tuesday Evening, September 21, 2004
Location:  Center, Wilson N. Jones North Campus, South Entrance, 3305 Calais

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

Topic: " Prostate cancer from an oncologists point of view”

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

Program:   Dr. Barker is always popular as our speaker and will bring us his viewpoints.  He  is a longtime guest at our meetings, and he is well-versed in the latest treatments for prostate cancer.  Just this year, for example, there have been chemotherapies introduced for advanced prostate cancer.
                                                                    

Speaker:  Michael Hilz, M.D. 300 N. Highland, Ste. 365, Sherman and a Lupron representative to answer questions about hormonal therapy as well as R.B. McGowen USToo! Texoma founder and longtime survivor on hormonal therapy.
Program:   This was an excellent and informative program.  Our Lupron rep, whose name I have misplaced, was an excellent supporter of Dr. Johnson's advice and opinions.  She is a West Point graduate and was a Jump Master in the 101st (?) Airborne Division prior to leaving the Army as a Captain.

The meeting adjourned about 9 PM.

Henri Plunkett, Program Chair/by the Editor

SPEAKING  FROM  AN ADVOCATES INTUITION

This month of September will start a new and another year of prostate information and support in this local Us-Too! Texoma chapter.  We are starting with a guest speaker who is an oncologist.  Most newly-diagnosed men are under a urologist care as they are the doctors who perform radical prostatectomy.  However, men who are in the latent stage or not cured by a urologist may well place themselves under an oncologist's care, as a urologist is trained to treat localized prostate cancer.  We find many urologists are implementing hormonal therapy on their clients after their treatments for localized treatments have failed.  The big problem here is that hormonal therapy usually becomes refractive at some point, and then the urologist refers to an oncologist at this point of failed treatments.  I believe if the urologist had referred to an oncologist right after his or hers treatments for localized cancer had failed, a patient would be better medically treated.  Why I believe this is the fact that chemotherapy plus hormonal deprivation plus bone integrity issues are addressed by an oncologist and not a urologist because quite frankly these areas are not in the urologist field of practice.  Since
all treatments of prostate cancer other than treatment to cure of localized cancer are considered palliative - treatment intended not to be curative but prolonging of life - I believe one would like to be in the care of one who is best prepared to provide this service.  I am
saying that that person is an oncologist.  For more oncology information and prostate cancer please attend the September meeting  of USToo! Texoma, where Dr. Larry Barker will speak about these issues. He is a oncologist with much expertise in the PCA arena.

See you there ....Henri Plunkett

Issues about low meeting attendance and the value of the web site

We have had a number of discussions at our last few meetings about how to increase the attendance at our meetings.  These led to our meeting every other month.  Since then we been told by some doctors that there is enough information available that we are no longer required as a support organization.  Therefore your board, Dr. Jerry Bylander, Dr. Tom Nuckols, and Mr. Henry Plunkett, has sent out a questionnaire to our local urologists and oncologists for their opinions of our effectiveness and their continuing support.  Also we have put a hit counter on our web site www.ustoo-texoma.org to determine whether it is useful to our community.  I'll give you the results in our October Newsletter.

Jerry Bylander, Editor

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