MsC1210

Hi John I just sent you an email.. Please let me know if there is anything else I can do. Best wishes Chris

Candy Thank you so much for the wonderful update! Such loving and thoughtful gestures from so many must have done wonders for your Mom's already great attitude!! Keep us posted, Chris

Dear Gwen In all honesty, this is probably everything you mention, combined. This is just more than any one person should ever have to deal with. I am going to tell you, I think you should make a visit to the ER just to make sure.. And maybe an anti~anxiety med is something you should try. I wish there was more I could do or say. My heart just breaks for you. Please, take care of yourself though... Hugs and prayers, Chris

Chuck and Lisa This is very good news indeed! Wishing you many, many more Chris

Bobby Thinking of you and your sister today. Praying the chemo goes smoothly and with no issues. The PET results showing no spread is a POSITIVE, and great news. Keep us posted and let us know if and how we can help Chris

Hi again, You are very welcome for the reply I wanted to add that you could/should read through the profiles of some of our members here. Most list the specific treatments that they have had. Also read through the survivor stories and good news forums. Very encouraging stories in both of those! Above all else remember there is tons of HOPE to be found here. Please let me know if I can be of any help to you. Chris

Hello Caithi and welcome So sorry you had need to find a site such as this, but glad you have joined us! I,personally, cannot answer your questions, but wanted to welcome you and let you know that there are several members here that can and in all likelihood will be along with some answers and or advice soon. Please do not pay attention to the statistics you will have no doubt come across in your researching. Stats are numbers and in a lot of cases, outdated figures. Your father in law is an individual and as such he will have uniques results to his treatments. We like to tell people to get a small notebook and DOCUMENT everything! From doctor appt, to treatments, test results etc, and very importantly, ANY AND ALL QUESTIONS, your father in law and family will have. This is a very overwhelming time and it is easy to forget things right now. Please keep posting, keep us updated on things and let us know how we can help you along this journey, My best to you, Chris

Jodi, Continued prayers, Chris

Amy Also you might check out the lung cancer events forum here for some ideas of things that are planned as well as some of the events that have already happened. Chris

Amy, Hello and welcome. I am so sorry about your mom. How very tragic to lose her so soon after the initial diagnosis. I can relate to that, sadly.This disease is just horrible. I am very glad that you have joined us here. This site is full of some of the greatest people so caring and willing to help out however they can. Please let us know how we can help you and again, my condolences on the loss of your mother. Chris

Hi Amanda, One particular member here came to my mind regarding Alimta. You could ask Don M about it as his profile lists that as one of the latest treatments he has had. Wishing you and your family all the best, Chris

Gwen No words, just hugs and prayers for strength. Chris

Bobby Thanks for checking in. This is an overwhelming time for you and we understand the not being talkative thing. Keep reading the good news stories and the survivor stories and concentrate on the POSITIVES. There are so many of those here and more importantly, there is HOPE!!!! Please know you and your sister are in my thoughts and prayers and I do hope the chemo goes smoothly. Let us know when you are able to. We will be here for you. Hugs and prayers Chris

The Starr Foundation Launches Multi-institutional Cancer Consortium 23 Sep 2006 The Starr Foundation today announced that it has made a $100 million grant to create a wide-ranging cancer consortium to coordinate the efforts of five internationally renowned research institutions in the fight against cancer. Joining this ambitious undertaking is The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, The Rockefeller University and Weill Cornell Medical College. The five will collaborate on research aimed at understanding cancer at its most fundamental levels and at developing new approaches to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of the many forms of the disease that together constitute one of the greatest threats to human health. The program, to be known as the Starr Cancer Consortium, will provide an innovative framework for research that brings together world-class biomedical investigators with a critical mass of technology. It will build on the complementary strengths of the five institutions, including one-of-a-kind experience in applying the power of genomics to biomedical problems, a proven expertise in the study of cancer genetics in humans and animals, and a strong clinical operation and vast collection of cancer specimens that offer a crucial resource for studying cancer in humans. "The opening years of the 21st century have brought dramatic advances in understanding cancer and in putting new discoveries to work for the people who need it most," said Maurice R. Greenberg, Chairman of The Starr Foundation. "Our goal in launching the Starr Cancer Consortium is to bring these exceptional institutions together in a manner that assures maximum efficiency and the greatest firepower in targeting cancer. This will enable us to achieve tangible results more quickly and decisively than any one or two members of the consortium could accomplish working alone." The Starr Foundation, with assets today of approximately $3.5 billion, has donated in excess of $2 billion - more than $1 billion in New York City alone - making it one of the largest private foundations in the United States. The Foundation supports education, cultural institutions, medicine and healthcare, human needs, public policy, and the environment. Each institution taking part in the Starr Cancer Consortium enjoys international distinction as a leader in scientific research and discovery. At the same time, they have each compiled an impressive track record of collaborative work in a variety of partnerships. The Starr Foundation grant of $100 million will be earmarked specifically for joint projects involving two or more institutions, including several highly promising initiatives already underway. Key areas of focus for the Starr Cancer Consortium will include: * Creation or accelerated development of powerful technology platforms designed to unravel the genetic and molecular basis of cancers * Application of these technologies in joint projects aimed at developing new and highly effective approaches to diagnosis and treatment * Support for basic biological research to provide insights into the fundamental molecular and cellular processes underlying cancer Activities selected for funding through the Starr Cancer Consortium will be determined by an executive committee including leaders of the five institutions: Eric Lander of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Bruce Stillman of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Harold Varmus of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Paul Nurse of The Rockefeller University and Antonio M. Gotto, Jr., of Weill Cornell Medical College. Inspired by The Starr Foundation's visionary generosity in establishing the Starr Cancer Consortium, the five collaborating institutions (profiled below) are committed to achieving dramatic progress in addressing the enormous challenges posed by cancer and in seizing one of today's greatest scientific opportunities. The Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT - located in Cambridge, Mass., is a new research collaboration among MIT, Harvard University and Harvard's affiliated hospitals, including the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center. Already recognized for its accomplishments in applying the power of genomics to important biomedical problems, the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT is led by Eric S. Lander, Ph.D., a principal leader of the Human Genome Project. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory - is a renowned research and educational institution with a rich tradition of studying cancer in animals through the use of cancer viruses and genetically altered mice. It is also highly regarded in the fields of whole-genome-based analysis of DNA, bioinformatics and RNAi methods. Founded in 1890, it is headed by Bruce Stillman, Ph.D., a leading specialist in DNA replication. Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center - is the nation's preeminent center for research, education and patient care focused exclusively on cancer. The Center's president and CEO is Harold Varmus, M.D., a recipient of the 1989 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his groundbreaking research into the genetic basis of cancer. Dr. Varmus is a former Director of the National Institutes of Health and a founder of the Public Library of Science, a model for providing open access to scientific publications. The Rockefeller University - is an internationally recognized basic research institution that today brings a strong and steadily growing emphasis to addressing fundamental questions about cancer from perspectives that span a wide range of scientific disciplines. It is headed by Paul Nurse, Ph.D., a 2001 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine whose research focuses on the molecular machinery that drives cell division and controls cell shape. Weill Cornell Medical College - is one of the nation's top-ranked clinical and medical research centers, with an array of twenty academic departments devoted to the scientific disciplines that inform both the study of medicine and investigations into the major human diseases, such as cancer. Antonio M. Gotto, Jr., M.D., D.Phil., a specialist in coronary heart disease risk and lipid disorders, serves as Provost for Medical Affairs and Dean of the Medical College. ### Contact: Jill Totenberg Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center Article URL: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medical ... wsid=52518

Eric I am so very sorry to read this. Please know you and your family are in my prayers. My sympathy and condolences to you all. Chris

I was not sure where to post this but thought it merited posting somewhere here. If it is better in a different forum, feel free to move it. Chris Why Does Food Taste Bad To Chemotherapy Recipients? 22 Sep 2006 About two million cancer patients currently receiving certain drug therapies and chemotherapy find foods and beverages to have a foul metallic flavor, according to a medical study. In general, more than 40 percent of hospitalized patients suffer from malnutrition due to taste and smell dysfunction. "Unfortunately, these problems that impact nutrition and quality of life are underestimated and understudied by oncologists," said Andrea Dietrich, Virginia Tech professor of civil and environmental engineering (CEE). Dietrich believes there are two components to the metallic flavor - the taste of metal ions on the tongue and the production of metal-catalyzed odors in the mouth that create a retro-nasal effect. "I am attempting to gain a better understanding of the metallic sensation, its prevention, and application to human health," Dietrich said. Along with two of her university colleagues, Susan E. Duncan, professor of food science and technology, and YongWoo Lee, an assistant professor in the biomedical sciences and pathology department and a member of the Virginia Tech-Wake Forest University School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences, Dietrich is the recipient of a $200,000 grant from the Institute of Public Health and Water Research (IPWR) to examine the problems of foul flavored water. The interdisciplinary investigative team combines proficiency in food oxidation and off-flavors, water chemistry, cell biology, and human perception. Dietrich, the principal investigator on the project, is an expert on water quality and treatment, as well as its taste and odor assessment. In fact there are some 33 identified flavors of drinking water acknowledged by the American Water Works Association and Research Foundation (AwwaRF). They range in description from "wet paper" to "crushed grass" to "peaty" to "plastic." Several years ago, AwwaRF sponsored Dietrich to travel around the U.S. to educate utility staff and managers on how to use sensory analysis to detect changes in water quality. She is also a co-developer of three odor-testing methods for the daily monitoring of raw and untreated water. Now she is hoping to work with medical personnel as she, Duncan, and Lee compare the sensory thresholds, recommended nutritional levels, and adverse health effect levels of iron and copper in water, and their relationship to health-based problems such as persistent metallic tastes of patients receiving chemotherapy. They hope to identify the cause of the metallic flavor in the mouth when drinking water contains metal ions, specifically iron and copper. Their research will also evaluate the use of antioxidants to prevent the metallic flavor production. "If we can discover the cause of the production of metallic flavor, then preventive methods can be taken accordingly," Dietrich said. In correct amounts, metals in drinking water are actually important sources of micronutrients in the human diet. In fact, iron and copper are commonly found in drinking water, and they can be an important source of these mircronutrients. However, there are thresholds. If ingested at higher concentrations, greater than three milligrams per liter, iron and copper "may cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, kidney and liver damage," Dietrich explained. Some tests will be done with human volunteers to determine reactions of volatile compounds in the mouth. Since saliva contains proteins and enzymes, it may have some effect in enhancing the metallic flavor. They will also use in-vitro experiments in order to conduct experiments at higher concentrations without endangering anyone, Dietrich added. Perception of taste and odor is very complex, and like nutritional needs, varies depending on age, gender, race, health status, prior exposure and experience. Two graduate CEE students, Pinar Omur-Ozbek and Jose Cerrato, both of Blacksburg, Va., will work on this project. ### IPWR is a non-profit, independent science and education organization that promotes research and education on the value of drinking quality water for the improvement of health. The Brita Products Company supports IPWR for the purposes of advancing the understanding of the relationship between water and health. Contact: Lynn Nystrom Virginia Tech Article URL: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medical ... wsid=52326

Lori What an incredibly wonderful post this is. Thank you so much for sharing this touching event with us. Hugs and peace, Chris

Hello Jill and welcome, Sorry you needed to find a site like this but glad you posted and have joined us. I cannot answer your questions but will say that someone will be along that can. This is a great family here and the people are more than willing to share their experiences and offer advice as well as help you and your mom out in whatever way we can. As for Mom's pain, she needs to let her doctor know that the morphine is not giving her the relief she needs. Perhaps something else would work better. It is my understanding that the radiation will help to ease the pain, but I am not familiar with how long that will take. Please keep posting and let us know how we can help Sending you prayers for strength Chris

Two-faced Protein Can Stop Metastasis Or Promote It, Researchers Say 21 Sep 2006 A protein known to be a key component of the glue that holds cells together also is involved in breaking them apart and promoting their movement when tumors begin to spread to other parts of the body, researchers at Mayo Clinic have found. The study, published in the Sept. 18 online issue of the Journal of Cell Biology, helps illuminate the very first steps involved in metastasis, the spread of cancer that makes the disease difficult to treat, and suggests that a future designer drug might be able to block the beginning of this dangerous process, or stop it once it starts. "Our data show that this one protein, p120 catenin, is a key player in both suppressing invasion and promoting it," says the study's senior author, Panos Anastasiadis, Ph.D., a Mayo Clinic cancer researcher. "This is very exciting, because the findings open up a whole new field of discovery for novel therapeutics that should be applicable to most types of tumors." Their laboratory study looks at how p120 catenin interacts with different cadherin cell adhesion proteins in cancer cells. Cadherin proteins go through a cell membrane, and on the outside, they act like Velcro, sticking to other cadherin proteins on adjacent cells. On the inside of the cell membrane, cadherins bind, chain-like, to catenins, and catenins, in turn, regulate a cell's shape and function. The best understood cadherin is E-cadherin, which provides tight connections between epithelial cells, forming a strong barrier-like layer covering the inside of organs and body cavities and the outside skin of humans. "E-cadherin holds a human's cells and tissues together," Anastasiadis says. The other cadherins featured in this study belong to a group that collectively is called "mesenchymal" cadherins, which provide a looser bond between the cells that sparsely populate the connective tissue. "Collagen usually provides the strength to the connective tissue, so tight cell-cell adhesion is not that important," he says. Sometimes, such as during human development or wound repair, epithelial cells need to travel to other areas, and to do this, they undergo a process known as "epithelial-mesenchymal transition" (EMT). The cell reduces its production of E-cadherin proteins and increases expression of mesenchymal cadherins, thus effectively loosening the anchors that keep the cell bound to its neighbors. Cancer, unfortunately, has adopted this strategy in order to spread, Anastasiadis says. "When the function of E-cadherin is lost in a cell, it can break free from its neighbors and travel to settle elsewhere," he says. "This means that E-cadherin normally helps suppress invasion." But researchers have noted that the p120 catenin protein seems mysteriously two-faced: while it normally strengthens cell-cell bonding, in some cases it can also negatively affect cell adhesion. They also have found that over production of p120 increases a cell's ability to move. But the significance of these observations had eluded scientists. In this study, Masahiro Yanagisawa, M.D., Ph.D., a research fellow in Anastasiadis' laboratory, and Anastasiadis provide an answer as to why p120 acts this way, which helps explain how the EMT shift between E-cadherin and mesenchymal cadherins allows cancer cells to break away from tissue and spread. They found that p120 "prefers" to bind to E-cadherin, rather than to mesenchymal cadherins. So in normal epithelial cells p120 always associates with the more abundant E-cadherins. But when E-cadherin production is lost during the progression of cancer, p120 catenins begin binding to mesenchymal cadherins. And when that happens, the researchers found that p120 unexpectedly switches on a cascade of events that promote cell movement. "We show that E-cadherin suppresses invasion, at least in part, by binding to p120 protein in the cell," Anastasiadis says. "If E-cadherin is missing, p120 is free to bind to mesenchymal cadherins, setting off a process that leads to metastasis." Thus, p120 acts as a "rheostat" that promotes either stability when associated with E-cadherin or motility when it interacts with mesenchymal cadherins, he says. The investigators say that further research is needed to see if p120 functions the same way in living tissue as it does in laboratory cell culture, and they add that other "pathways" are likely involved in the transition to metastasis. But if the results continue to hold up, "it might be therapeutically possible to selectively shut down the pro-invasive function of p120 on mesenchymal cadherins while keeping the pro-adhesion function of p120 in normal epithelial cells. "We have provided a better understanding of the processes involved in the initiation of tumor spread, and it is this process that we all seek to shut down," Anastasiadis says. ### Anastasiadis and Yanagisawa co-authored the study, which was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Florida Department of Health. Contact: Christine Leon Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville Article URL: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medical ... wsid=52234

No answers or insight for you but wanted to let you know I have you and your mom are in my thoughts and prayers. Chris PS where in Massachusetts are you?

Christy GREAT NEWS!!! YAY~~ Hugs Chris

Hi Shirley, Not sure what to say about the blood. It could be so many things really. Sending you tons of prayers and postive thoughts for it to be nothing of any importance! Love Chris

Hi Chris, Thank you for the update. I know this is a very difficult situaion for you and your love and compassion for your dad are so evident in your words. Please do not be too hard on yourself. All of the emotions you are experiencing are pretty typical. This is a very bumpy ride you are on. Keep doing what you are with the phone calls and keeping in touch with your dad. I am sure he appreciates hearing from you and he understands the constraints that the distance in miles has put on the situation. My thoughts and prayers remain with you and your family and I hope the "afternoon sickness" eases very soon for your wife! Hugs Chris

Terrye Wonderful news! Keep us posted. Chris

As hard and painful and as difficult to comprehend as these past few days have been, it makes me think that there is a positive to all of it. I know that some of us are dealing with loss so profound right now that it is hard to think beyond this moment. Some of us are grieving the loss of our loved ones recently. Some of us are dealing with the anniversaries of losses and diagnosis that put our lives into complete tailspins. Yet, throughout all of the tears and sadness, one thing remains a constant. The love, care, compassion and united effort among us here on this site. Through all of these negative and horribly heart wrenching losses, the grief of losing several beloved members of "our family" here at LCSC, it brings to my mind the renewed strength and need to fight this battle even harder so that one day we will be able to say, Hey, remember when Cancer was???? My hope and dream is that this is something that will materialize much sooner than later. I hope that my words will give some perspective and help to renew the faith and belief amongst us here that this fight against Lung Cancer and Cancer in general is one we WILL win. My love and prayers to all of this wonderful family, Chris