Cancer has been a part of my life since I was very young. I am almost 78 now. My dad died of prostate cancer at 82. My favorite aunt died of cancer when I was very young. My first wife's sister died of cancer many years ago.
I have had an enlarged prostate most of my adult life. With the usual medication it was not a problem in recent years. This spring my urine began looking strange and I had some of the usual symptoms of chronic prostatitis. I was told it was infection. It took over a month of antibiotic (Two kinds finally) to end that bout of symptoms. Then in early September the urine showed signs of blood. A CT scan showed a large mass in the bladder and a number of small ones. Everything else looked good.
I went in for surgery Sept 16. The idea was that all the nodules would be removed and biopsied. Alas the prostate interfered and the large mass was removed but not all the small ones. Then I could no longer urinate. Have been on a catheter every since. Clearly it is the enlarged prostate that shuts me down.
On October 2nd I went in again and the last nodules were removed along with some prostate tissue. The hope was that my inability to urinate would be taken care of. As I said I am still on a catheter. (Update: It came out Thursday. So far so good, Finally!) All the biopsies of the bladder masses showed early stage cancer none of which had infiltrated muscle. Prostate biopsies showed no sign of cancer.
That's my cancer story as another "survivor". I tell it this way because it is only part of my involvement with cancer. I have been involved with various aspects of cancer research as a research scientist for many years. My contribution has been computer modeling of various aspects of the disease. There are several publications out there that I contributed to. Ironically one of my major efforts was a model of the progress of prostate cancer after intervention. The results of the model were an almost exact fit to the clinical results from hundreds of cases. I'll say more about this below the break and give you my personal reaction to all this.
First of all, I firmly believe that cancer is a "disease" that arises from our way of life. It has had so very many causes attributed to it and yet we still understand its origins less well than we would like. The treatment of cancer likewise has undergone constant "progress" as time goes on yet we lose so many.
My own research was as part of a team working under the head of the Massey Cancer Center at the Medical College of Virginia. I also worked with our expert on prostate cancer.
Our model changed my whole attitude towards our research. It was an impressive computer model of cell growth and proliferation based on as few assumptions as possible. Each cell had the ability to secrete two factors one which promoted growth one which inhibited. The cells had receptors for both and as they encountered the factors they got a plus or minus boost to their growth. When the score hit a high enough value the cells divided. When it got low enough they died. There was a certain set of scores that was the way we arbitrarily identified cancer cells as apart from normal ones.
The idea was to remove some of these simulating intervention by chemo, surgery, etc. Then the system was allowed to evolve. The results were a certain percent that got "cured", another that stayed the same, and another that 'blew up" (metastisis). As I said above the results after thousands of runs was a close match to the clinical data. Since this was many years ago the actual numbers in each group may have changed by now.
Now before you get too excited one way or another there is a lot to be said about the model and any conclusion one might be tempted to reach based on it. Here's a short list.
1. It is BS.
2. It is a demonstration that from a systems stand point molecular detail and specific biochemical detail are irrelevant to how a system like this behaves.
3. If it has anything to say about the treatment of cancer it says that it is a "game of chance" to a large extent. This conclusion can be reached without the model but being a systems thinker I am inclined to be impressed by the ease at which we hit the mark with so little specific detail. Anyone who has read our book or many of my diaries here knows how strongly I believe in such systems ideas.
This is a diary on a political website and clearly there is a political side to cancer. In our book,Global Insanity: How Homo sapiens Lost Touch with Reality while Transforming the World, we go back to Norman Mailer's essays about cancer and culture. (The link between cancer and plastic in his book of essays, The Presidential Papers was made metaphorically but turned out to be prophetic.)
Recently more people have been homing in on the idea that cancer has become a very big industry and source of great profit. Their thesis is that this lowers the incentive for using resources and education for prevention.
The spirit of our book goes a lot further. We see this as a part of a much larger story. To say it briefly, our culture is suicidal and it is an enormous system of interrelated factors that can not be dealt with piecemeal. In the context of cancer, the idea is that cancer "causes" are so integral a part of our way of life that only a total massive change in that way of life will hope to touch the problem.
So that is my cancer story. My doctor says that I am a peculiar patient because I know too much. Meanwhile I think about all of this a lot.
Monday Night Cancer Club is a Daily Kos group focused on dealing with cancer, primarily for cancer survivors and caregivers, though clinicians, researchers, and others with a special interest are also welcome. Volunteer diarists post Monday evenings between 7-8 PM ET on topics related to living with cancer, which is very broadly defined to include physical, spiritual, emotional and cognitive aspects. Mindful of the controversies endemic to cancer prevention and treatment, we ask that both diarists and commenters keep an open mind regarding strategies for surviving cancer, whether based in traditional, Eastern, Western, allopathic or other medical practices. This is a club no one wants to join, in truth, and compassion will help us make it through the challenge together.