CANCER QUESTIONS ANSWERED

Red Devil and allies began their second offensive against the evil Ewing’s Sarcoma who has taken over Mario’s Leg-ingrad. Mario is back at Piedmont Hospital Hilton, the attack’s command and control center, for the next four days or so.

Before the attack commenced Lord, Nurse and Butler had an office visit with Mario’s oncologist.  Here is what they learned, mostly good news but it is early in what could be a long war.. 

·         Question 1:  Around day 11 of the first chemo treatment, Mario’s white blood cells dropped horribly and he had a high fever.  How can this be avoided in this second chemo?

Answer:  Mario will receive a white cell booster shot earlier than was given last time and  this should avoid a reoccurrence.  Here is a link to the drug. 

http://www.neulasta.com/patient/howcanhelp/chemotherapy-treatment-neulasta.html

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·         Question 2:  Mario’s pain has lessened in his leg/foot.   Is this a positive indication that the tumor is responding to the chemotherapy?

Answer:  Less pain is a good sign.  It probably is a positive indication that the chemotherapy is shrinking the tumor.  An examination of the area disclosed tenderness and less of a hard mass.  This suggests that Red Devil and allies are killing many of Ewing's Sarcoma cells/soldiers.  

·         Question 3:   Would physical therapy now, help me recover my motor skills?

Answer:  Probably it is too early for physical therapy.  Hopefully the shrinking of the tumor will help to improve lost motor skills.  Physical therapy now will probably do little or nothing.  Best to walk and keep active.  This should be good for now.

·         Question 4:  Mario has a work commitment that has become a personal goal around Chemo treatment #4.   Given this, which are our best option(s) in changing chemo treatments  dates to accommodate this?

Answer:  It is always best to keep the treatments on schedule, i.e. 21 days apart.  They certainly can’t be done earlier.  If this commitment is important, the best option is to delay the start of treatment number 4 by two weeks to accommodate your schedule.  The health risk of doing this is probably very low.

·         Question 5:  When and how will we assess if the chemotherapy is working, and if so, how well?  Will we revisit the liver lesions then also? 

Answer:  It makes no sense to continue with chemotherapy if it is not working.  Before Chemo treatment #3 we will run another PET scan.  This should tell us if the tumor has shrunk and perhaps also eradicated the liver lesions.  If working, we will continue with chemotherapy for at least a total of 6 to 8 sessions.

·         Is radiation or perhaps surgery is the best next step:?   When do you think Mario  would need to make this decision?

Answer:  The chemotherapy has to do its job first.  If radiation or surgery is introduced into the treatment, this likely will not occur before June since around this time we will be at treatment number 6.  There is time to consider options and get more information on the results of the chemotherapy.  The results acheived will direct what are the next best steps.

Giant's #58 Beats Ewing’s Sarcoma

While Lord, Nurse and Butler were already rooting for the New York Giants over the New England Patriots, another reason has come up.  One of the Giant’s players in 2009 had a Ewing’s Sarcoma in his left femur, licked the cancer, and is back playing football in  Super Bowl XLVI . Our Star reporter Sherry Lane found this interesting story for us.

http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/giants/true_survivor_IY1RQorEAvmjQOJyi7D79H

Watch this Video

Herzlich gives an inspirational account of his story in this interview.

 http://espn.go.com/new-york/nfl/story/_/id/7526225/super-bowl-2012-new-york-giants-mark-herzlich-encourages-others-stricken-cancer

Mark Herzlich was 21 when he discovered he had a Ewing’s Sarcoma in his left femur.  Marks’ cancer is the more typical of Ewing’s Sarcoma since his was osseous (bone-related) and occurred when he was younger.

His story serves as an inspiration of what the human spirit aided by determination, medical advancements and faith/spirituality can accomplish. 

The article says that Mark may not play in the big game given an earlier season  injury in a game with the Saints.  But whether on the field or on the side lines let’s look for number 58.

A shoe deal is the works for Mark, and Mr. FOG is exploring options for his Laird after his recovery. 

 http://www.bostonherald.com/business/general/view.bg?articleid=1401108&srvc=rss

Perhaps Mario can run a public image campaign for Red Devil.  With so many side effects and toxicity, the drug needs to promote a better image with the public.

Tomato, Vinegar, Mustard or Mirepoix

Of the many food gifts that have made it to Vinings Castle Mountain, Jay’s pulled pork was certainly one of our favorites.  It was, as the previous two times Mr. FOG has had it, delicious. 

However, after many BBQ sandwiches, Mr. FOG was searching for other ways the pulled pork could be served.  

Thinking that healthy and cancer fighting was better for us, Mr. FOG first looked in our Cancer Fighting Kitchen cookbook for a pork recipe. There were no pork recipes in our cancer cookbook.  Perhaps the noble pig is not a cancer fighter.  Do pigs get cancer?  Sharks don’t cancer, and we use shark cartilage as a medicine?  However, there weren’t any shark recipes in the Cancer Fighting Cookbook either.

 Mr. FOG, true to his roots, then considered trying to give it a Cuban style.  Almost as soon as he thought it,  this seemed very wrong and almost blasphemy; dishonoring both Jay’s pulled pork and Cuban cooking.  It seemed a little like a tourist crossing the border and donning a sombrero.  The tourist looks silly and doing this isn’t exactly a compliment to the locals either.  Mr. FOG did not want the pulled pulled pork to look silly.  He would have to cook his own pork, if he wanted it Cuban-style.

http://cltampa.com/dailyloaf/archives/2010/04/16/lechon-asado-and-the-perfect-cuban-recipe

 A logical alternative, at least in Mr. FOG’s mind, was still keeping the dish true to its Southern roots, by having a face off of BBQ sauces, tomato, vinegar, or mustard for our Super Bowl Party.  While a tomato-based BBQ sauce is king, or perhaps queen, in most areas; in North Carolina vinegar-based sauces are popular and in South Carolina, probably due to the German influences, mustard-based sauces are a favorite.   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbecue_sauc

However, the leftover leg of ham they still had, claimed the right to go to Superbowl #46 and Mr. FOG and the Laird wanted something good for Friday night.

With both Mr. FOG and his Lordship wanting a comfort food, a stew seemed like a good compromise that would not make the pulled pork look silly.  Mr. FOG and his Laird finally settled on a pork stew with a French influence and a tomato base.  Both FOG and Laird thought that the garlic should have been added earlier in the cooking.  Mr. FOG added some fresh rosemary that had survived from his Asheville garden and would consider adding mushrooms, a cancer fighter, to the dish which had several cancer fighters already.  The stew was good and both Lord and Butler had seconds.  It was served Cuban-style over rice.      It all seemed like a good compromise.   Bubba Pulled Pork did not seem to mind and he actually may have spoken some French to the mirepoix, since they got along so well. 

http://cbsop.com/recipes/pulled-pork-stew/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdAfWf-lg5U&feature=related

Readers may follow links to recipes and educational insights.

ERRORS, OMMISIONS, AND CORRECTIONS

The photograph of our Thursday Central City Tavern trivia night failed to mention one or our top players.  Tom Duffy (the younger) was not included in the citation.  We apologize for this omission and any distress it may have caused.  In the future,  bar staff will be asked to take the photo later into the game so that all participants are included in the photo.   We had nine participants, yet only 5 were pictured.

Cards, Lunch, Work, Trivia

It was a tiring day, but a nice one.

Thanks to all the family and friends for all the well-wishes, humor and inspirational messages in your cards.  These are very much appreciated.  It is nice to see the many different ways in which we express concern; however a common theme to all the messages is love.  Mario and Sherry thank you for your support and prayers.

Mario, Jane, Phillip and Mr. FOG shared lunch today.  Mario had a meeting at the office and decided to have lunch with his mother.  Jane was able to make two meals of her shrimp and grits.  The men wolfed down their lunches.

Mario and Mr. FOG made it back to the Vinings Mountain Castle for a late afternoon conference call and were again off to Central City Tavern for Thursday night trivia.  In the attached picture we have Molly, Danni, Mario, Jay, and Sherry.  Missing from the Red Devil team photo is Carol, Todd, and Mr. FOG, the photographer.  We were a bit rusty and should do better next time.

Siskel and Ebert

At Mr. FOG’s suggestion, Lord, Nurse and Butler watched 50/50 last night.  This is the movie, that somewhat parallels our own story.  It is about a 27 year old male who is diagnosed with a neurofibrous schwannoma in his spine.  Mario’s second diagnosis was a schwannoma, and sometime in our web searches, neurofibrous also came up.  The movie hit eerily close to home, but we knew this when we chose it.

The movie may be described as a cancer love story.  The cancer patient, Adam, deals with the loss of a girlfriend, dating, reuniting with his parents, perhaps finding true love, plus dealing with having cancer.

A couple of things were clear.  “Nurse” Rachael, the girlfriend who dumps Adam, is no Nurse Sherry.  Rachael can’t even go into a hospital, so how can she deal with Adam’s illness.  Adam’s friend, Kyle is a more sympathetic character and is perhaps a bit like the Butler, driving Adam around and telling jokes.  However, he has his own agenda and  may not always be the type of friend that Adam now needs.

 Mario could relate to the movie somewhat, but found it “not that entertaining”.  Nurse Sherry liked the movie more than the Lord and Butler and the acting was good.  The Butler thought that more should have been done to show that Adam had an epiphany of sorts as a result of his illness/ordeal and provided more true to life cancer experiences.  The Butler’s memorable quote of the movie is Adam's “I’m really tired of being sick”, although Kyles line of “50/50, that’s better than at the casinos” is a good one also.  The Lord opined that more humor should have been introduced into the move.   The trailer, as usual, had the better scenes and lines to entice you to see the movie.  Perhasp Lord, Nurse and Butler can all agree that the healthy popcorn Nurse Sherry made was perhaps the best part of the movie experience.

Bottom Line:  It is an OK movie that deals well with a difficult topic, but not a memorable movie.  More should and could have been done in dealing with an issue being faced by so many people.

Here is a link to the trailer and Butler likes the rotten tomatoes website in deciding if a movie is worth seeing.

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/5050_2011/

Work, Trader Joes, and Trivia

Mario has been working from home on most days this week.  He has been feeling better and today Mr. FOG chauffeured his Laird to the office for a couple of meetings.

Yesterday, our paparazzi got a picture of his Lordship working at home, but today were thwarted by AT&T security.  So no pictures from  the office.

After a lunch stop at Chik Fil A, where his Lordship treated Mr. FOG to a sandwich, the duo headed home where Mario went back to work and took another conference call.  Mr. FOG took a nap.

A special thanks to Aunts Mary Lou and Ellen for the Trader Joe's gift card.   This food store has become a favorite of  Nurse Sherry and his Lordship with its good, healthy and value-minded foods.  Mr. FOG may also  enjoy the gift.  Hopefully unlike the government-issued WIC cards that prohibit customers from buying certain grocery store items, this card can be used on any of  Trader Joe's products.   Mr. FOG like to have a little nip now and then.

Don't forget that this Thursday, February 2, it will be trivia night at Central City Tavern, 6:00 pm.    Be there or  be square. 

The Featured Burger of the Week is

Greek Burger $7.95 Balsamic Onions with Feta cheese Served with Fries
Check the web link tomorrow for the Thursday daily specials.  http://centralcitytavern.com/index.php

Bring your suggestions for our team name.  So far we have the Red Devils, and 50/50 from the new cancer movie. 

Mario’s Battle of Leg-ingrad

Reminiscent perhaps of one the great battles of World War II, a similar epic conflict is happening in Mario’s leg.  This is a battle not of soldiers and guns, but a war at the molecular level of cells with chemical poisons.  As in many wars, there is of course collateral damage.  

For you history buffs, the Siege of Leningrad (now back to St. Petersburg) sounds most like Mario’s Battle of Leg-ingrad; but the better wartime analogy is the Battle of Stalingrad (now Volgograd).  The battle for Stalingrad  took place between August 1942 and February 1943.  It was the largest battle on the Eastern Front and was marked by brutality and disregard for military and civilian casualties. It is among the bloodiest battles in the history of warfare, with the higher estimates of combined casualties amounting to nearly two million. The heavy losses inflicted on the German army made it a turning point in World War II in Europe.

 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0215750/

Ewing’s Sarcoma of course plays the role of the Third Reich in Mario’s Leg-ingrad.  The enemy has driven deep into Mario’s upper right thigh and has nearly taken over Leg-ingrad  which is on Mario’s  sciatic and tibial nerve(s) affecting his ability to walk and causing great pain.   Mario’s own immune system defenses were inadequate to combat Ewing’s Sarcoma and secretly over time, the invading army of cancer cells has entrenched itself deep in the thigh and surrounding the sciatic and tibial nerves. As important as the Volga is to Russia, this nerve is crucial for Mario to control his right leg and foot. . 

To reclaim his right leg and drive out the invader, Mario hired a mercenary army led by Doxorubicin.  Affectionately nicknamed Red Devil not only for its red color, but its potential adverse effects of nausea, vomiting, heart arrhythmias, neutropenia (a decrease in white blood cells), as well as alopecia (hair loss);  Red Devil is a ruthless chemical poison that destroys all fast growing cells by affecting their ability to reproduce.  Unfortunately it is unable to tell friend from foe.  Since cancer cells need blood to grow, Red Devil is sent through the blood stream.  In this “slash and burn” war , Ewing’s Cancer soldiers die, but Mario's innocent red blood cells, cells that line the intestinal track, hair and many other of Mario’s non-combatant cells also die.   Such is war.

As was the case at Stalingrad, Mario hopes to inflict more damage on Ewing’s Sarcoma than he is inflicting on himself.  While both combatants will be weakened, Mario hopes to recover more quickly than his adversary, and after every attack, be ready to do battle again.  After the first battle of this war, Mario feels less pain in his leg.  We shall ask Mario’s Field Marshall Oncologist, if this is a good sign.  It may suggest that Ewing’s Sarcoma control over Leg-ingrad is lessening.  Mario’s motor skills are about the same.

Our agents intercepted the following communication:

 T O P   S E C R E T

F O R   Y O U R   E Y E S   O N L Y

TO:  All Field Commanders

 FROM:  Red Devil. Supreme Allied Commander

Our second offensive will begin on Tuesday, February 7 at 15:00 ZULU time and continue without mercy through Saturday, February 11 .  Take no prisoners.  As before Vincristine and Ifosfamide our other cancer drug allies, will first initiate a fake flanking attack to the north of Leg-ingrad.  I, Red Devil, as the Supreme Allied Commander will  personally lead the major frontal assault for four consecutive days at the heart of the enemy.  To reduce civilian friendly cell casualties, Mesna will be available continuously.  Anti-nausea drugs will also be available.