OT That damn disease

[David S Newman]

I'm sitting here gutted and want to say a few words, find it hard to talk face to face so i'll bore you people thousands of miles away.
My dad died in 1996 from prostate cancer, after his death his doctor got in touch with me and advised me to have a check up, sure enough I had early stages of it. I had an operation followed by 6 weeks radiotherapy and have been fine ever since I have 6 monthly checks. Well my nephew was diognosed with it at age 40, his mother (my sister) 12 months ago was diognosed with ovarian cancer, this spread and she died in July, now Nick my nephew (her son) is in The Charing Cross hospital the prostate cancer has spread all over him (lungs,bones. nose) , went to see him yesterday , a pitifull sight. To cap it all his father (my brother in law) has been taken into a Mcmillan Hospice with liver cancer. Looks like a whole family will be gone in 3 months, I just can't get my head round it. Looks like this damn disease runs in families, but my brother in law also ? can't believe whats happening.
Sorry for posting this on an engineering site but has done me good just saying some words. Thanks David

[Evan]

There isn't much to say in a situation such as this. Just take care of yourself as best you can.

On my wife's side of the family one of her uncles was a mining engineer and he and his family lived in the company housing at the Uranium mine when their children were born and grew up. None of their children lived past their thirties as they died riddled with cancer. The houses were built on top of the mine tailings. It isn't always genetic.

[wierdscience]

Sorry to hear of your situation,like Evan said all you can do is stay vigilant and take care of yourself as best you can.

We recently lost a good friend at work.He died from Liver cancer that resulted from stage 4 colo-rectal cancer.It runs in his family,his father,mother,two brothers and one sister all had it.He never got a colonoscopy when he turned 50,if he had they may have caught it early.

All I can say is if someone here has a family history of cancer then please go through screening.Prostrate,colon and pancreatic cancers are stealth killers.You seldom ever have symtoms until it's too late.

I have two relative on my fathers side that have had colon cancer.Even though they both had it late in life I have decided to get checked at 40 instead of waiting until 50.

[boslab]

well wales aint thousands of miles away so i'll reply, i am sorry for your loss, a little angry about the state of the countrys cancer care [my sister in law and brother in law recently died of cancer but lived close by a petrochemical plant owned by BP, in fact the whole dam street has at least 1 death in each house due to cancer, not a hot spot you understand at least thats what goverment say cos they are all different types of cancer]
i have a theory that chemicals dont cause the cancer directly but disable the imune response directly and that there is a virus at work, immunisation against cancer?
did they live near industrial activity?
ramble over rant simmering
take care
mark

[Brian H.]

Yep... just lost my grandmother to cancer less than 24 hours ago. At least it was at home, with friends and family around, and I got to talk to her before she passed away. I think I'm more worried about how my father will take it, as they were fairly close. Worse, cancer seems to run in my father's side of the family, so chances are fair that I or any future children will get it at some point in the future.

You all take care of yourselves, hear?

-Brian

[davidh]

sorry to hear of your agony.
i am one of the lucky ones. i have only 9 more visits to go for the radiation treatment of prostrate cancer. it does not run in my family as far as i can tell.

but all or at least most all males will die WITH prostate cancer, hopefully most will not fall victim to it.

mine is a level 2, with good chances of another 10 or 15 years before i need be terribly concerned. im 66 and had no, i repeat NO symptoms other than it was getting difficult to pee. . . . . went for the ream job and the ream scrapings were found to contain some cancer cells.

couldn't remove it because of many prior infections so after the "try to take it out "surgery the next best option was radiation.

damn, they cook your bottom like you can't believe. . . but soon it will be better.

not complaining,, only telling a story.

i guess this will make me a card carrying member of the "survivor" group.

hell, i still can;t even say "cancer" or that i have it. . .

guys, get your physicals, pay attention to your body, its talking to you constantly.

davidh (the old sanford)

[garyphansen]

David S. Newman, you are in my prayers. I just lost my mother a week and a half ago. She got terminal cancer in 2000, the chemo did no good and left her a shell of the person she once was. They sent her home to die but my brother read about another treatment in a magazine. My dad brought her back in and insisted they try that treatment on her. It cured hear and when she died she was cancer free, however as I said she was just the shell of her former self. Gary P. Hansen

[Dawai]

Enjoy life the best you can.

I've been working with trivial problems compared to yours. I ride my motorcycle, have fun as I desire.. I can't drink anymore.. So.. It's a whole new sober world to enjoy

[potman]

I recently watched a Nova episode on PBS entitled "Ghost in your genes". According to several scientists there are strong indications that more than genes can be inherited. There are "Tags" that attach to DNA that can turn off genes. These Tags come from your environment and can be handed down from generation to generation.

A study in Sweden found that people who lived through a famine had grandchildren whose longevity was affected.

Identical twins who both have the same genes (or lack of one) have different diseases because one has a Tag and one doesn't.

Some people who had leukemia and were told they had less than 6 months to live were given a drug which removed these Tags from their DNA. This allowed a cancer fighting gene to turn on and they are now cancer free.

This new science is called Epigenetics, meaning "above genectics". If I knew I had cancer I would try to get into a study on this at some university where they are researching it.

This is a whole new way of thinking about Biology and may even explain why as we get older our bodies age.

Earl...

[wierdscience]

I had been told something similar,that we all have cancer cells being reproduced and destroyed since the day we are born.Only diffrence is something triggers a change and the reproduction rate begins producing active cells that then form tumors.