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Hebbie

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  1. Has anyone experienced hair loss with use of Tarceva? My hair is coming out in bundles.....I started Tarceva in June, but I also have a low thyroid right now that I am in the process of regulating and I'm pretty thin. Not sure what to attribute the hair loss to but wondering if Tarceva is playing a roll. Any thoughts???
  2. Hebbie

    Any advice?

    Thank you all so much for your advice/thoughts! I'm still very nervous about the procedure, but the link posted to an article was a wealth of information. To answer a few questions about my diet -- no, it wasn't a cult but some times I joked that it was! I met a group of people all following the same way of eating; many of which, were in fact, cancer patients/survivors -- some who have had tremendous success recovering solely from diet (Janet Vitt comes to mind -- a Stage IV survivor who recovered with no standard treatments, just diet -- she's been cancer free over 10 years and is a delightful and inspirational woman). In any event --I have become close with them over the past two years, sharing potluck monthly dinners, and taking trips together -- they really have become good friends. But, as someone pointed out to me, they are so focused on macro teachings, that they don't want to "lose" one of their own to "the other side". I know I need to do what I think is right for me right now -- and, I think that while macro may be right for some people; and maybe it was right for me for a short while; ultimately, it didn't provide the nutrients I needed and it is time to broaden my diet. With that in mind, and your wonderful words of advice, I have decided to call the nutritionist from my hospital and get set on an appropriate path to try to gain some weight, and hopefully boost my appetite. *In hindsight, I also think that perhaps when I embarked on my Vitamin C Infusion Therapy last fall, that may have done me more harm than good -- my plueral effusion went CRAZY after that, and my weight dropped as well.....live and learn Thank you again for your wonderful advice and concern! ~Heather
  3. Hebbie

    Any advice?

    Hi everyone, it's been a while since I have initiated a post of my own - there are so many new names/faces here (which saddens me), but also many old friends, which is heartwarming. As you can see from my signature, I'm in my third month of Tarceva. So far, so good on the chemo front. However, I've had some pretty rough issues with plueral effusion pain; I've had the fluid drained 3 times now and they are scheduling the talc procedure to perminately seal off that area. I am SO nervous about this procedure and wanted to reach out to anyone out there who has had success with it. They have told me that it has a high success rate in keeping the fluid from coming back, but it will probably NOT do anything about the pain I seem to have in that area (due to inflamation of the lining of the lung). I feel like I have been in a fog of painkillers for the past year. (Motrin, then Percosets; most recently the Fentanyl patch was tried for about 18 hours and I thought I was going to die before I ripped it off my arm -- with my doctor's consent, of course ) I've also struggled with my weight quite a bit. I've been on a strict macrobiotic diet for two years; however, when starting the chemo, my appetite changed and the food was completely unappealing (I always enjoyed it before). I'm pretty skinny at this point (scary skinny if you ask me!) At this point I have fallen off the macro bandwagen and am just trying to follow a "no sugar/no red meat/no dairy/no white carbs rule and eat like a more-or-less normal person. Of course, this is causing a frenzy in my small macro community -- they are even discussing planning an "intervention" for me and telling me that if I go back to my old way of eating, that will be it for me. Can you imagine the pressure??? It's causing all sorts of unexpected stress and second guessing in my life.....I'd like to hear other people's perspectives on diet/cancer. After 4 1/2 years of this rollercoaster ride, you would think I would be some sort of a quazi-expert -- but I'm a mess right now!
  4. I've got one for you -- from my surgeon no less.... At my 3 week follow up from my lobectomy, the surgeon walked into the room and said "Well, 5 of your 12 mediastynal nodes were positive for cancer....that takes you from Stage I to Stage IIIA -and then he followed up with "there is no proof that chemo/radiation at this point will increase your survival either way" - but it doesn't matter because "I got it all" (I wonder how many smug surgeons utter that phrase in their lifetime) ... (This was the same surgeon that seemed irritated that I returned to him almost 2 years later with recurrent nodules in both lungs. He basically told me at that point that I didn't need to follow up with him anymore and to see only my oncologist -- he basically made me feel like I had failed him and he was dismissing me....) Another one that I hear frequently is similar to a few post above -- "OH, I NEVER WOULD HAVE GUESSED HOW SICK YOU ARE -- YOU HAVE SUCH BEAUTIFUL SKIN AND YOUR EYES ARE SO BRIGHT!!". I've learned to follow up with "Well, lung cancer is on the INSIDE".
  5. Hebbie

    Roll Call...

    Checking in, as requested! Things have been pretty up and down, and I must admit that I have been a "lurker" lately around here, not ready to post. I began Tarceva June 1st and my first CT Scan showed 25% reduction in my nodules. Praise the Lord!!! I think of everyone here often and pray for us all! Heather ps -- Ginny -- I may not be heading up the NJ lung cancer walk this year, but it will be taking place -- mark your calendar for NOVEMBER 3, 2007 AT COOPER RIVER PARK!!!!!
  6. Hello everyone! Karen - to answer your question -- Reader's Digest actually found me from a local article featured in The Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper. They were looking for a non-smoker with LC and one of their contacts recalled reading my story...the rest is history! However -- a lot has transpired since I did that interview. Since then, they also sent a video crew to my house to film a segment for a video filled with "inspiring stories" to run in 4,000 hospital/cancer treatment waiting rooms across the country! The article also spawned a trip to Rochester, NY to film an episode of the PBS show "Second Opinion", which will focus on lung cancer and run sometime in October! The media is slowly coming around - let's keep this momentum going!!! Don't be afraid to reach out to your local publications and share your story -- we CAN make a difference!
  7. Hebbie

    Too much pain

    Carleen, Your post has saddened me beyond words. I wish I could offer comfort, but am at a loss for how. The best I can offer is to lift you up in prayer for strength to get through this time. My heart breaks for you, Heather
  8. Hebbie

    Readers Digest

    Thanks for the kind words about the article, everyone! To answer your question as to why they never seem to mention the type of LC, it is because reporters are clueless about details like that. I was very specific with her about what type of cancer I have. I was also very specific with her about my last name (she used my formerly married name, which didn't make my husband all-too happy). I was also VERY clear with her what a tremendous roll macrobiotics has played in my life in the past year and the fact that my scans have been stable for the past six months and my doctor has told me to "keep doing what I am doing" (regarding the diet). None of that made it into the article -- just a brief mention. I believe the media thinks that if they appear to be ENDORSING macrobiotics, or any CAM treatments, they will have some sort of liability because people might shun traditional treatments for alternative (not true -- i believe they go hand in hand....). In any event, after doing several newspaper/tv/radio interviews, I have learned the hard way that they put whatever twist they want on the story to suit their needs and gloss over information that is actually important to the LC community -- but they don't feel is important to the general public. BUT....with all that said, I guess any exposure is good exposure when it comes to LC!
  9. Great article! I actually had a Hypnotherapy session on the Macrobiotic Cruise I went on in February -- it was pretty cool! The hypnotherapist put me into a very relaxed state (not completely "hypnotized", as you would expect) and then she repeated a mantra of sorts to me, "I am healthy....my lungs are completely healthy....I am happy...I love my life....I am powerful....my body has an inner ability to heal", etc. She repeated things like this for about 15 minutes, to sort of burn it into my sub-conscious -- she actually put the whole session on tape for me so I can listen to it at home as often as I like. I feel so relaxed afterwards! Don't know if it's doing anything or not, but it feels good, so I'm going with it!
  10. Well....I just completed an pretty in-depth interview with a journalist for Reader's Digest. The story will be running in their July issue. They are focusing on the non-smoking female w/ LC angle (based on Dana Reeve's recent passing). I was shocked to hear that Reader's Digest has 20 MILLION readers, so that SHOULD be a pretty big forum to spread the word of our need to focus on research and funding!! I DID mention our wonderful website here, I am hoping she puts it in the article. I'll be sure to let you know when it hits the news stands!
  11. What a wonderful article -- very informative!!
  12. I seem to be the minority here...but I am not taking ANY supplements or medications. I am following a strict macrobiotic diet (designed specifically for me by a macrobiotic counselor, based on my lung cancer condition). It basically consist of tons of organic veggies, whole grains, sea veggies and beans. NO dairy or meat (except a once a week white fish). Everything in the diet is designed to nourish the body. If it isn't going to do me any good -- I don't eat it! I've been following it for 10 months and feel GREAT!
  13. In case anyone can't open the link, here it is! I would think the people in my area would be sick of hearing from me....but everytime there is something going on in the LC world, I seem to be their "go to" girl - I GUESS that's a good thing.... Scientists continue to fight unpredictable lung cancer SJ Magazine srhea@courierpostonline.com Health reporter Shawn Rhea's column appears Sundays. Sunday, March 12, 2006 This past January, Dana Reeve, wife of late actor Christopher Reeve, sang at the jersey-retirement ceremony for New York Rangers player Mark Messier. Five months into her battle against lung cancer, it would be one of the last times many of Reeve's friends and admirers would see her in public. The performance would be her swan song. On Monday, Reeve, a life-long nonsmoker, died after a short but determined fight against lung cancer. For many, her death highlights the unpredictable nature of cancer and the urgent need for improved methods of early detection. Scientists have yet to develop an effective means of screening for lung cancer in its beginning stages, and since the disease often is asymptomatic, the vast majority of cases aren't caught until the advanced stage. As a result, lung cancer has become the deadliest form of cancer, accounting for 25 percent of all cancer deaths and killing more people annually than colon, breast and prostate cancers combined, according the American Cancer Society. This year alone, 174,470 Americans will be diagnosed with the disease and roughly 162,460 will die. The vast majority will succumb to the disease quickly, with 60 percent of lung cancer patients dying within the first year of diagnosis and 75 percent within two years. Most patients will develop lung cancer as a result of smoking, but, like Reeve, about 15 percent of patients will have never smoked. Heather Saler, 36, is among that patient population. Three years ago, the Mount Laurel resident was shocked to learn she has lung cancer. "I'd never even picked up a cigarette, and like most people I thought, you don't get lung cancer if you don't smoke." As lung cancer patients go, Saler is among the most fortunate patient population because she has survived the disease beyond the typical two-year life expectancy. Her cancer was found before it had an opportunity to spread, but the discovery was a fluke. During an X-ray for unexplained heart palpitations, doctors found a dark spot on her lung. A follow-up CAT scan and biopsy confirmed the spot was cancerous. Saler underwent surgery to remove her tumors, followed by six weeks of simultaneous chemotherapy and radiation. The therapy sent the cancer into remission for nearly two years, but during a CAT scan last year, Saler's oncologist spotted nodules that may signal a return of her lung cancer. "I have about 20 to 40 that are too small to biopsy, so we have to wait and keep an eye on them. I'm not good at waiting," Saler said. Unfortunately for nonsmoking lung cancer patients like Saler and Reeve, being in the dark about their health status is a common and nearly unavoidable situation. They have no clue of the disease because of its lack of symptoms. Cooper University Hospital lung cancer specialist Dr. James Stevenson, who treated Saler, said current studies are looking at whether routine CAT scans could provide a reliable means of early lung cancer detection. If they prove useful, insurance companies should begin covering the costs for screenings. But, the results of those studies are at least three years away, Stevenson said. In the interim, patients' only defenses are being vigilant about assessing their own risks and avoiding exposure to known causes of lung cancer. The lack of definitive information about the causes of lung cancer in nonsmokers is a particular concern for women, because they appear to be more susceptible to the disease than their nonsmoking male counterparts. "It's predominantly a women's phenomenon when you talk about lung cancer in nonsmokers; it's something like 10 to 1 (women to men)," Stevenson explained. "We don't know why, but there is some research that suggests estrogen levels may play a role -- that it interacts with environmental factors and carcinogens." Those findings suggest women need to be particularly aware of individual risk factors such as exposure to second-hand smoke, radon and respiratory pollutants, as well as family history, Stevenson said. And, they should have thorough discussions with their doctors about those risks before choosing birth control methods or hormone replacement therapy, he added. For Saler, who had no history of lung cancer in her family and is unable to pinpoint exposure to a possible cause, accepting the medical world's lack of progress in diagnosing and treating the disease has been challenging. As a result, she along with other lung cancer patients and their supporters have started an annual walk at Cooper River Park in Pennsauken to raise money for research. This past November, the group raised $44,000 to benefit the Lungevity Foundation, an organization funding lung cancer research. "We started our own little fundraiser two years ago, because the federal money isn't there for research and the state tobacco fund is going to pave roads. "I think because so many people equate lung cancer with smoking, nobody's looking for it."
  14. As a non-smoker, I can only guess that she had Non-small cell -- I don't believe that non-smokers get small cell?
  15. I too cried this morning. The "breaking news" came as I was eating breakfast. I must admit, I didn't see this one coming.... Sadly, her passing has led to another flurry of media attention towards our cause -- the Health Reporter for Philadelphia's Channel 3 just left my house -- they were frantically trying to get ahold of me all morning so they could interview me for my reaction to her death and give an update on my personal situation. It's so morbid...but also neccesary if we ever want to bring change. My thoughts and prayers are with her son Will in these coming days. What a tragedy.
  16. Hi Lisa ~ I'd be happy to share some info on how I have been spending the past 8 months!!! For those who haven't seen my original macro post, I have attached it below: I learned all of the above info during my initial "Way to Health" seminar at the Macro institute. Since that time, I had been following my recommendations, but definitely hit some stumbling blocks along the way. I must admit, this is not the easiest protocol to follow at times but when you remember WHY you are on the journey, it makes it a lot easier! (Of course, I also learned the hard way that when you eat something like 10 cookies on Christmas morning, after denying your body refined sugar of any kind for 6 months, your body REBELS, in the form of dizzy spells, stomach pains, and diarria....) I found a Macrobiotic Potluck Dinner group that meets for monthly dinners (about an hour from my house) and that has been a godsend. For quite a long time, I felt like the only macro person on the planet; just me, cooking in my kitchen all day long, not really having anyone to relate to. Suddenly, I have been blessed with 20+ like-minded people that share their stories of encouragement and struggles. The best, though, is meeting people that have overcome health issues, including cancer, due to the diet. The stories are amazing. During one of these dinners, I realized that I was sort of floundering in my practice -- still making the initial meals I learned during my first classes, and not sure how to go forward. My scans were still showing slight growth each time and I was getting pretty discouraged.... That prompted me to recently go back to The Kushi Institute and spend two weeks in a program they call "Level 1", which is designed to continue your macro education -- my goal is to complete Level 3 and become a "Healing Chef" -- that is, cooking for people who do not have the time, or are too sick to cook for themselves, in their own homes. At that time, I had a follow up session with my counselor. She modified my recommendations, gave me a pep talk (she herself is an advanced lymphoma survivor) and several "remedies" to continue clearning out my lungs. It was the first time I felt empowered to take control of my situation! I do not know what the future will hold for me, but I have to believe in my heart that maybe what I am doing is having an impact. I had some blood test done for my hypothyroidism (standard, routine blood check) and my doctor called me yesterday with the results. He said all of my blood test look amazing; my calcium levels are great, no signs of anemia, all my blood counts are good, my cholesterol is "about 100 points below the average american" and I am the "picture of health". He concured with my oncologist -- keep doing what I am doing -- in checking my blood test from 6 months ago, he said they show that I am healthier now than I was at that time. Powerful stuff...
  17. I figured I would join this Alternative Party After finding out that I had "multiple nodules" in both my lungs, I committed myself to a Macrobiotic diet 8 months ago. I must say, I wasn't following it as strictly as I should have been, and I recently went back to Massachussets for a two week stay at The Kushi Macrobiotic Institute to learn a little more. (and boy did I! ) So, now I am back....following my strict macro plan (which includes no sugar, no refined carbs, no dairy, and lots of whole grains, sea veggies and regular veggies)....and hoping for some serious changes in my CT Scans in the coming months!!! BTW...when I switched to macro, I dropped the 30+ vitamins I was popping all day long. Now I get all my nutrients from food, not suppliments. I was a little afraid of that at first, but some recent blood work shows that everything is in tip-top shape!
  18. Hebbie

    3 Years

    Well. I can't believe it. I've officially hit the 3 year mark!! I had a CT Scan this morning, but do not know the results yet. What I DO know is that I am a 3 year survivor...and I couldn't be happier! I pray for the day when we can ALL say we are 3 year survivors.....then 4....and 5....and 6.....
  19. Actually, as of June of 2004, they WERE doing placebo trials! Article below: Doctors argue over use of placebos in cancer trials By AMY DOCKSER MARCUS The Associated Press 6/8/04 9:15 AM The Wall Street Journal In a controversial shift, some of the most promising new cancer drugs are heading into clinical trials where only some patients will get the actual drug. Other patients will be given a placebo. The use of placebos is a sharp departure from past practices and is strongly opposed by some influential cancer researchers. Placebo trials generally haven't been used in life-threatening diseases such as cancer. If there is any kind of effective therapy available, the argument goes, it is unethical to give a placebo. Now, drug makers including Bayer Pharmaceuticals Corp., Pfizer Inc. and Genentech are adding placebo arms to their trials in an effort to speed promising new drugs to market. Because placebo trials make it easier to verify results, the strategy can cut down on the need for additional studies and lead to faster regulatory approval. Many in the cancer community are angry about the new approach, saying that it denies desperately ill people a last best hope. Some leading cancer centers, including the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and the University of Michigan Cancer Center in Ann Arbor, have refused to put patients in clinical trials that use placebos. Patient-advocacy groups have met with drug makers including Pfizer and Bayer in an effort to change their minds about running trials with placebo arms. Some of the most high-profile new drugs used placebo arms in recent trials, including OSI Pharmaceuticals, Genentech and Roche Group's Tarceva for lung cancer and Bayer and Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s BAY 43-9006 for kidney cancer. A Pfizer drug being tested for gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) also has run a recent trial with a placebo arm. At the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting this weekend, researchers presented positive results from the Tarceva and BAY 43-9006 trials. The practice of using placebos in a study -- whereby some patients get the active drug, but others are given look-alike sugar pills and no treatment -- is the gold standard for drug research in many fields of medicine. The strategy makes it much easier to determine whether it is the drug, and not some other factor, that is making the difference in patients. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, responding to patients' concerns, has developed accelerated approval processes to speed drugs to needy patients even without placebo- based trials. Richard Pazdur, director of the FDA's oncology-drug products, says "we have not insisted that trials be placebo controlled." Drug companies say that such accelerated approval still requires certain additional trials that add to what already is an estimated $800 million price tag to bring a drug to market. And the research still takes longer to accomplish. In addition to patients' meetings with Pfizer and Bayer in the past few months, other efforts are under way by patient advocates to influence trial design. A GIST patient-advocate organization, the Life Raft Group, has set up a Clinical Trials Advisory Group of cancer patients to lobby drug companies against placebo trials. In November, three major professional organizations of cancer clinicians, oncologists and researchers will meet to come up with better ways to design trials for the new therapies that are emerging. All this comes amid growing concern that it is getting harder to get patients to participate in cancer-drug studies in the first place. Just 3 percent of adult cancer patients enroll in clinical trials, according to the President's Cancer Panel report issued last week. A number of national organizations, including the National Cancer Institute, the Lance Armstrong Foundation and the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship, all are trying to increase the percentage of adult cancer patients who enroll in trials. What all these groups have found is that one reason patients don't enroll is fear of getting a placebo, so the outcome of this current debate is sure to affect recruitment efforts. The University of Michigan Cancer Center in Ann Arbor, along with the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, both refused to participate in Pfizer's clinical trial for GIST patients because of their concerns over the trial's placebo arm. "There is almost no good reason to ever do a placebo trial in cancer," says Laurence Baker, director of clinical research at the University of Michigan center. "The only advantage is expediency to the drug manufacturer." When OSI Pharmaceuticals ran recent Phase III clinical trials for its drug Tarceva, for advanced lung cancer, the company didn't include any U.S. sites, concluding "it would take too long to enroll patients" because of the trial's placebo arm, according to OSI Pharmaceuticals Chief Executive Colin Goddard. This meant that patients here lost early access to a potentially beneficial drug. The company reported this weekend at ASCO that the drug extended the lives of patients who took it. Mr. Goddard acknowledged that patients on placebo died more quickly than those with the drug. But that "thanks to the sacrifice of those patients, we've taken lung-cancer treatment forward," Mr. Goddard said. "Future patients will benefit." Some drug companies say they are working to come up with innovative trial designs. In the current Phase III trials for Pfizer's GIST drug, called SU-11,258, doctors are allowed to intervene if a patient's tumor grows more than 20 percent. If it turns out the patient wasn't receiving the active drug, the patient is allowed to "cross over" to the drug arm and begin receiving the medicine. "We tried to minimize the number of people getting a placebo," says Charles Baum, the global clinical leader for the drug at Pfizer. Bernie Kaplan, 64, who was diagnosed with GIST in 2000 is enrolled in the Pfizer trial. When the first assessment showed that his tumors had grown, "I was praying I was on placebo," he says. It turned out he had been given a sugar pill. When he started receiving the drug, his tumors shrank. Many pharmaceutical companies say the very nature of these new cancer drugs makes it imperative to have a placebo arm for comparison. Unlike traditional chemotherapy, which is designed to shrink or eradicate tumors, many of these drugs aim to stop or slow tumors' growth and allow someone to live with their cancer. This makes it harder to measure if it is the drug that is working, or whether someone simply has a less-aggressive tumor. In addition, some of the diseases these drugs are targeted at have no other therapy against which a new drug can be compared. Bayer, which is testing its BAY 43-9006 in kidney-cancer patients, adopted a placebo-trial design in its Phase III trial of the drug that began in October 2003. This weekend, the company reported extremely promising results with an earlier-phase trial of the drug -- 37 out of 106 kidney-cancer patients had their tumors shrink 25 percent or more, and 38 had stable disease. Early positive results such as this make patient-advocate groups even angrier that some patients in later trials won't get any drug, effectively meaning they will die. A group of patients met with Bayer in December to discuss the trial design but, says patient advocate Steve Dunn, "they wouldn't budge." Susan L. Kelley, Bayer's vice president for product development in oncology, says pharmaceutical companies are trying to do the right thing. She says there are no options for kidney-cancer patients against which to compare the new drug. And, Dr. Kelley says, the company cannot allow patients on placebo whose tumors grow to then receive the drug, because "it would confound our ability to follow survival. We need definitive evidence that the drug is active."
  20. Jamie -- I learned the hard way that e-mail is the LEAST effective form of communication in fundraising situations -- you may have to step up to phone calls. I am TERRIFIED of making calls like that personally (which is ridiculous, considering everything that I have been through....) so I pushed the calls off on my husband. I sent letters and my husband followed up with phone calls (or vice versa). It's not the easiest thing in the world, but SO worth the effort -- keep up the great work, and don't get discouraged -- it will pay off in the long run!
  21. Scientists discover how cancer spreads Disease sends bone marrow cells to prepare new tumor sites, study finds Reuters / Updated: 1:51 p.m. ET Dec. 7, 2005 LONDON - Scientists have discovered how cancer spreads from a primary site to other places in the body in a finding that could open doors for new ways of treating and preventing advanced disease. Instead of a cell just breaking off from a tumor and traveling through the bloodstream to another organ where it forms a secondary tumour, or metastasis, researchers in the United States have shown that the cancer sends out envoys to prepare the new site. Intercepting those envoys, or blocking their action with drugs, might help to prevent the spread of cancer or to treat it in patients in which it has already occurred. "We are basically looking at all the earlier steps that are involved in metastasis that we weren't previously aware of. It is complex but we are opening the door to all these things that occur before the tumor cell implants itself," said Professor David Lyden, of Cornell University in New York. "It is a map to where the metastasis will occur," he added in an interview. Landing site for cancer cells Cancer's ability to colonize other organs is what makes the disease so deadly. Once the cancer has spread beyond its original site it is much more difficult to treat. In research reported in the journal Nature, Lyden and his colleagues describe what happens before the arrival of the cancerous cells at the new site. "The authors show that tumor cells can mobilize normal bone marrow cells, causing them to migrate to particular regions and change the local environment so as to attract and support a developing metastasis," Patricia Steeg, of the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, said in a commentary. Cells at the site of the metastasis multiply and produce a protein called fibronectin, which acts like a glue to attract and trap the bone marrow cells to create a landing pad or nest for the cancer cells. "These nests provide attachment factors for the tumor cells to implant and nurture them. It causes them not only to bind but to proliferate. Once that all takes place we have a fully formed metastatic site or secondary tumor," said Lyden. "This is the first time anyone has discovered what we call the pre-metastatic niche." Without the landing pad, the cancerous cell could not colonize the organ. In animal and laboratory studies, the scientists looked at how breast, lung and oesophageal cancer spread. The envoys from the tumor determine the site of the secondary site. Lyden said measuring the number of special bone marrow cells circulating in the body could help to determine whether a cancer is likely to spread. "This opens up the door to new concepts of how metastasis is taking place. If we can understand all these multiple processes we can develop new drugs that block each step. That way we have a much better future than just trying to treat the tumor cell, which is almost like a last step in this process," he added. Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. © 2005 MSNBC.com
  22. What a beautiful article, Jamie! Absolutely beautiful!
  23. Well, here it is -- FINALLY! http://www.nba.com/sixers/community/050 ... _hero.html
  24. Connie, Thanks so much for starting this thread! I would love to hear how everyone else deals with the ANXIETY of having this little critters in there! Watching.....waiting....and waiting again...
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