On Becoming 75!

I try to post a new entry every few weeks. There has been no formal schedule. Some posts share important and breakthrough information about prostate cancer treatment. Some posts lament the rising costs of medications, strange and nasty side effects, and the slow progression of clinical trials. Others are more tongue and cheek and personal (as you probably know).

This entry is mostly silliness and celebration. When I was diagnosed with prostate cancer 12 years ago and then found that it was incurable about 10 years ago, I was not at all sure I would reach 75. But, for the most part, I am healthy, active, moderately alert, and ornery. Carol, my wife and best friend, and I travel, laugh, garden, play with chain saws to cut firewood and clear land, and frequently visit friends and family. Life is good (as it should be).

 Although I am not Shakespeare, Longfellow, or even Dr. Seuss, I am waxing poetic on this occasion. Forgive me if I take extreme poetic license with the facts and just about everything else.

           Being Alive at 75!

 I’m pleased I've survived to be 75.

Albeit I'm old and decrepit and barely alive.

So stand up now and give me a cheer,

Please make it loud ‘cause I can’t hear.

I could tell you wild stories about my life,

But I can’t remember, so go ask my wife.

You look happy and cheerful there sipping your drink.

I can’t really see you, but that’s what I think.

Now, dear friends, won’t you give me a hand…

I mean, of course, to help me stand!

But after all is done and all is said,

I’d rather be 75 than flat out dead!

axman

Five Types of Prostate Cancer—British Study Finds

In a recently published article in the Journal EBioMedicine, researchers reported they were able to identify five distinct types of prostate cancer. The team took both healthy and cancerous prostate tissue from 259 men and looked for abnormal chromosomes and measured the activity of 100 genes known to be linked to prostate cancer. 

This prostate cancer study is a preliminary step in being able to identify which newly diagnosed cancers need immediate treatment and which are slow growing and can be safely observed instead of starting radical treatments immediately. This would help avoid too much treatment and make sure treatment was immediately available for the most aggressive cancers. Early stage have shown that doctors were better able to identify rapid growing, aggressive tumors than when using the PSA and Gleason Grading system. 

The study authors did not actually list the five types of prostate cancer. When this information becomes available I will publish it here.

A similar study several years ago identified ten unique types of breast cancer and those results have been helpful in the early treatment of aggressive breast cancers. 

Is this likely to help those of us who already have prostate cancer? Probably not. But hopefully future diagnoses will be more accurate, treatment more targeted, and results better.

Disclaimer

Many studies claim to be game changers, breakthroughs, and cutting edge. This is true sometimes and other times results are less than hoped for. We’ll wait and see what happens with further study.

axman