Twin Cities Lung Cancer Consortium 9/12/03

[Donna G]

Yesterday I again was priviliged to attend this educational meeting. We had speakers from John Hopkins, Maryland, University of Chicago, Univ. of Minnesota, Univ of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and more. All these doctors gathered to share news on on going research re thoracic cancers. Topics included

Novel therapies for Mesotheilioma

BSA ( body surface area) in Designing Clinical trials

Optimal Duration of Lung Cancer Treatment

Novel Doublets in Combined Modality Therapy of NSCLC

Let me tell you they are working hard and they know and emphasize more money , more research, more trials etc are despirately needed. Then I come home and hear on the news how a cancer center here is being investigated for giving a 50 yr old women too much treatment because she was "termally ill" with cancer. The state board of Health is investigating the whole clinic and got many files, also the state Attorney general is in on it now, the paper also mentioned the doctor is re organizing the bilaws of the clinic so the person running it can be other than a doctor for he is worried they will take his medical license away. Now I would not vouch that this is a world renouned clinic but I can see that if this all comes to the worst end that it has got to influence how doctors are going to treat "terminally ill' patients, that is if the state is going to prosecute them for "wasting money" and " causing undo harm"

Well I am just venting, but believe me there are good doctors who care, who grieve over loosing patients, who continue to struggle and care for more who now have to not only deal with HMO's, insurance companies but this crap too.

[Fay A.]

Donna,

Thanks for pointing this out. It seems to me that there is a "push" on the part of society to have those of us with cancer "accept" our eventual demise sooner rather than later, preferably before any money is spent on treatments.

I watched a fictional television program a few nights ago in which a young woman who had recurrent cancer "chose" not to undergo further treatment and instead took her own life using pills and a plastic bag over her head. What I got from that program is someone out there wants us to know exactly how we Stage IV cancer survivors should handle a recurrence or spread. I'm personally furious about this. People watch that crap, and think that's how it's supposed to be in the real world.

Fay A.

[Guest DaveG]

As you all know I am a Stage IV, restaged from Stage I. I just recently finished chemo. Should monster come back and chemo is option, you're damn right, I go through the chemo again and radiation if necessary. I may hold a terminal stage of lung cancer, but that doesn't mean that I have accepted Stage IV as being terminal. As long as I am feeling good, and as long as my spirit says FIGHT, I will fight. If the State of Wisconsin came along and told my doctors that they can no longer treat me, because I am considered terminal, the state will have a fight on their hands. I may be considered disabled by the Social Security Administration, and hold a handicap parking tag, but that doesn't mean I am going to die any time soon. I may have a diminished breathing capacity, but I can still get out and walk, albeit short distances. I am still able to play with my dog. What it comes down to is: I don't believe the state has any right to step in and say who is terminal and who is not, or who should be treated and who shouldn't be treated. That should be up to the patient and the physician, and the family.

[Cindy RN]

I TOTALLY agree! I am told my cancer is terminal BUT there are those out there with terminal diseases. Lots of people LIVE with their disease and so do we! I consider my cancer a chronic disease.