Fuck Cancer

[garyfromterrace]

Condolences to you, your wife and family TFT. That was a good tribute to a good dude. Your advice is sage.

[jono]

+1 to all that and thanks for posting that tribute, tft

[old goat]

Sorry about your FIL. I'm glad to hear there's treatment that some good--not enough of course--for advanced esophageal Ca. That wasn't the case not too long ago. Glad he got a little more good time.

[Self Jupiter]

Condolences to you and L, TFT. Thanks for posting the tribute. ++vibes++

[KQ]

Ugh... neighbor just got diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and given months to live. She's yet to see an oncologist (diagnosis came from an MRI her GP took of her liver). Hoping he/she can give her some better news/clarity. She has two boys in college who already lost their dad to a texting driver.

Just stopped by see how she is (news came last Wednesday) and to tell her not to worry about her horses - that they would be cared for and that she shouldn't think about moving them. She seemed resigned to the diagnosis accepting that she would be dead in a matter of months.

[ötzi]

um, she needs to get to a good oncologist, stat. Preferably at a good cancer center.

[Woolly the Mammoth]

Just spent the afternoon with one of my best friends that's at the end of his fight with glioblastoma. So brutal.

[ötzi]

oof. Good on you going. It had to be rough.

[KQ]

um, she needs to get to a good oncologist, stat. Preferably at a good cancer center.

Evidently she's decided to opt out of following up with a cancer doc and is just going to let it ride.

[old goat]

If you have any influence with her It would be wise for her to see the oncologist if only to confirm the grave prognosis and to find out if there are any promising clinical trials of new treatments. Especially since there is not a biopsy and tissue diagnosis (cancer cells under a microscope) but only an MRI. The odds are the GP is right but seeing an oncologist doesn't obligate her to any additional treatment.

Based on what I know of metastatic pancreatic cancer I would not want additional treatment, but my knowledge is outdated.

[KQ]

If you have any influence with her It would be wise for her to see the oncologist if only to confirm the grave prognosis and to find out if there are any promising clinical trials of new treatments. Especially since there is not a biopsy and tissue diagnosis (cancer cells under a microscope) but only an MRI. The odds are the GP is right but seeing an oncologist doesn't obligate her to any additional treatment.

Based on what I know of metastatic pancreatic cancer I would not want additional treatment, but my knowledge is outdated.

I've been going over it in my mind - will probably stop by and talk to her. Absent this diagnosis she is depressed so this just buids on it. Still, she has two college age boys who you'd think would be worth fighting for esp. since they already lost their Dad.

Her brother is a physician (does not live locally) and was going to come out but his wife just came down with Covid so he has to delay his trip.

Such is life. It is not fair.

[phatty]

My FIL was just diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer that metastatized from his kidneys. Not discussing time lines, but we don't expect it will be more than a year or so. We'll know better once he starts his targeted therapy treatment next week. Unfortunately surgery isn't an option right now as it's too advanced in his lungs, but may be in the future if the treatment is able to get it under control. He also has very bad arthritis so a few medications won't work for him unless he wants to be bedridden.

My wife is handling it better than I thought. He's 67 and she's the oldest of 9 kids. She's also the only one in the US while the rest of her family is in Calgary. We're trying to get him to come down to AZ for the winter to ease his arthritis, but he wants to stay close to the rest of the family (can't really blame him). Cancer sucks.

[old goat]

I've been going over it in my mind - will probably stop by and talk to her. Absent this diagnosis she is depressed so this just buids on it. Still, she has two college age boys who you'd think would be worth fighting for esp. since they already lost their Dad.

Her brother is a physician (does not live locally) and was going to come out but his wife just came down with Covid so he has to delay his trip.

Such is life. It is not fair.

No it's not.
The flip of this is that if she does change her mind and get treatment she should do it for herself, not for her family. I've seen too many families push people into treatment when the person would have been better off without it. There's a case that still haunts me that I did against my better judgement and I'm pretty sure her husband who pushed it felt the same regret for the rest of his life.
These are hard decisions either way.

[natty dread]

Just spent the afternoon with one of my best friends that's at the end of his fight with glioblastoma. So brutal.

Been there, it’s really hard seeing a friend go through that. A best friend of mine from CA had glioblastoma and died at my house quite suddenly while visiting. Happened in 2006 and I think of her often. Her dad said her 18 month ordeal with the tumor was like dealing with “a terrorist in her head.”

[ötzi]

I remember that, L. What a crazy thing to have happened.

[natty dread]

Yep, we’ve been friends a long time J!
It was crazy, but better it happened at my place because I’m better equipped mentally to handle shit like that than her parents or other friends.

[Hicks]

Condolences for your loss TFT.

Thanks everyone for your empathy, wishing all those who are battling themselves or have close ones currently fighting all the best for a positive outcome. Hang in there.

[KQ]

Ugh... neighbor just got diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and given months to live. She's yet to see an oncologist (diagnosis came from an MRI her GP took of her liver). Hoping he/she can give her some better news/clarity. She has two boys in college who already lost their dad to a texting driver.

Just stopped by see how she is (news came last Wednesday) and to tell her not to worry about her horses - that they would be cared for and that she shouldn't think about moving them. She seemed resigned to the diagnosis accepting that she would be dead in a matter of months.

Posted the above on 1/23. She died this morning. Wow.

[Meadow Skipper]

Posted the above on 1/23. She died this morning. Wow.

I’m so sorry to hear that. Pancreatic cancer is a bitch. My wish for peace for all, including the stock.

[gravitylover]

Uggh. Sorry KQ

[huckbucket]

Big news for multiple myeloma patients. New drug approved with a 83% rate of complete response for almost two years (data still being collected). Yes it's expensive, but so is continuing care with inferior drugs for patients who eventually die from the disease.

https://endpts.com/we-are-ready-to-g...-for-showdown/

[Hicks]

Sorry to hear KQ.

Meanwhile my cousin is doing her chemo therapy, results pending..... So total score within the close family so far is a tie, cancer 3, relatives 3.

[The SnowShow]

Anyone see this news? Can the resident experts weigh in?

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/05/h...inhibitor.html

[huckbucket]

I was at that conference over the past few days.

That result is very impressive, but needs context. The drug involved is Pembrolizumab (Keytruda) which is an immune checkpoint inhibitor. It works by releasing a suppressive signal between tumor cells and T-cells that prevent the T-cells from actively killing the tumor cell. It is an amazingly successful drug and is approved in a huge number of cancer types. However, it only helps ~20% of patients (in aggregate). This is because your body has to mount a T-cell response in the first place for the drug to be effective. And which tumors mount a T-cell response? ... those that are massively mutated (genetically mutated) and look more "foreign" to the body. There are many ways to measure this. One subset of patients that have highly, highly mutated tumors are MSI-hi patients. I won't go into what "MSI" stands for unless someone wants this info.

So the bottom line here is that in that clinical trials result you linked, those patients were all MSI-hi and expected to respond to Keytruda. That should temper enthusiasm a bit, but the magnitude of the response is still remarkable. Those patients didn't even need chemo or surgery. So if, God-forbid, you get cancer, it's best to be MSI-hi (typically only occurs in colorectal cancers, btw).

Hope that helps.

[The SnowShow]

^^^thanks. Does this successful provide any clues to helping improve other types of cancer treatments?