Our day out sailing

Family get together on Sunday , out on the boat in the Solent , good fun although sailing interesting. Typical British summer weather, we had some sunshine, with a cool breeze, interspersed by extreme gusts and torrential rain.

Full waterproofs needed on an august bank holiday, sounds about right.

The good news, is he continues to gain strength, being able to manage getting the sails in despite the increased wind strength, he couldn’t have done that even two weeks ago. We still have days when he has setbacks , or gets very breathless , but overall positive. This morning an awful lot of extra phlegm , which we think is linked to the extra exercise and is hopefully a sign his lungs are continuing to expand, which the surgeon said would continue for up to a year following the operation.

Down to Goodwood for the racing and a catch up with Jan and Johnny, over from Spain , fellow meso fighters

Canada refuses to stop exporting asbestos

What is Canada doing ? A country which has such a good environmental history , seems to have a total blind spot where asbestos is concerned- even against the advice of its own doctors. ( although notice they know better then to use it at home )

The Canadian Medical Association, along with more than 200 doctors in Canada and worldwide are criticizing the Harper Government for its opposition to stop exporting asbestos to developing countries. The Federal Government will not designate asbestos as a hazardous substance, despite its links to mesothelioma cancer.

At the 2011 Rotterdam Convention in Geneva, Canadian Delegates continued to refuse chrysotile asbestos fibers be added the list of banned hazardous chemicals. The conservative government maintains that chrysolite asbestos is a completely harmless substance if handled properly.

Many non-governmental organizations have openly expressed their disapproval of Canada’s decision, including delegates to the general council of the Canadian Medical Association. Numerous Canadian doctors, including Dr. Yun Jen, a physician in Gatineau, Quebec, have also expressed their discontent with the decision. Dr. Jen, who works in public health, says it’s hypocritical of Canada to continue exporting asbestos when it’s not being used domestically.

As the regulations of the Rotterdam Convention stand, countries exporting hazardous substances must comply with other nation’s decisions on whether to allow or ban certain importations. Nations who decide to allow the importation of chrysotile asbestos are typically developing countries such as India, Bangladesh, and Indonesia because their health standards are more lenient.

Kellie Leitch, an orthopedic surgeon and Canadian Member of Parliament was the subject of an open letter containing the signatures of close to 100 medical doctors in Canada and 100 more signatures from medical doctors in other countries. The letter asks Leitch to respect her professional duty and help to cease the exportation of asbestos. The letter explains that although Leitch is a Member of Parliament, and this decision would oppose her political interests, her ethical duties as a medical doctor require that she put protection of health in front of personal advantage.

Our week at the gym

Image via Wikipedia

A friend gave us two , one week passes to her gym this week, so thought good opportunity to build up some muscles post surgery. Bit of cardio on the bikes and cross trainer for about 30 mins in total, plus some work on the weight machines, don’t know about him but I ache all over.

He found machines for the leg exercises were fine, but the arm work , especially the overhead work was really tough. Good news on the cardio work in that his breathing recovered quite quickly.

Also managed to go swimming, bit self conscious about his scarring, said not to worry , think of the respect in the changing rooms, he looks as though he has survived a knife fight.

Enjoyed the swim itself, though found it hard going, in general moving around helps with the general aches and pains. Says the worse possible is to sit around for too long – although the gym has been worthwhile , not too sure about joining, firstly its expensive , secondly , neither of us are actually keen gym goers.

Now would be the best time of course, it’s of definite benefit to him and as I am only working part time, would have the time to go !! Unfortunately not the inclination, will see what the options look like , when no doubt the membership people will be in touch.

At least we are talking about gyms and weights etc, which all seemed so far away only months ago.

Mesothelioma treatment developments in the US

Always interesting to see what else is being developed worldwide, the US has led a lot of the treatments and just published a recent update regarding heated chemotherapy during surgery. This multi-pronged treatment is meant to reach cancer cells that surgeons can’t easily remove. This form of treatment is particularly useful when treating peritoneal mesothelioma, a rare cancer that affects the lining of the abdomen, as the chemotherapy drugs are heated and used to bathe the abdominal cavity.

 

In an article published in the New York Times on August 12, 2011, heated chemotherapy was described as the most aggressive form of cancer treatment possible. In the article, Dr. Paul Sugarbaker, a leading proponent of hyperthermic chemotherapy, as the therapy is also known, said that it is common knowledge among doctors that cancer cells cannot withstand as much heat as healthy cells. Applying the chemotherapy directly over the tumors should be more effective than administering the medication through the bloodstream.

However, the treatment also has critics who question the therapy’s benefits, despite the fact that an increasing number of American hospitals are offering it as treatment for mesothelioma and a variety of other cancers.

Critics believe that studies of hyperthermic chemotherapy were slanted towards patients with less severe cases of mesothelioma and, therefore, garnered far better results than if they had been conducted with your average mesothelioma patients.

Haven’t heard from anyone if this is offered in the UK .

 

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Happy Birthday to us

As we were born within a couple of days of each other, this is our birthday week. A time of mixed emotions, spent them quietly together, it was this time last year when we first noticed how breathless he was getting, so right at the start of this journey.

Overwhelming emotion is glad to both be here and with him felling so well, making the most of this time feels so important. It is a time we didn’t think we would have following the initial diagnosis.

People sometimes play that game, where they say what would you do if you thought you had three months to live- they list all the places they want to visit, or daredevil things they would do, money they would spend. In fact all we have wanted to do is be as normal as possible and be with family. So that is what we have done this week – enjoyed being together.

Long may it last

Celecoxib – our new painkiller

New painkiller is now underway, one week in and appears to be having some impact , with no obvious side effects at present.

Celecoxib is a prescription-strength nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug , it seems to be used most commonly as an arthritis drug , but also used for post operative anti-inflammatory use , as in our case.

What makes it a more interesting though, it that in conjunction with various other agents, it is being used in a number of cancer trials, including skin and lung cancer.

Apparently, its a  COX-2 inhibitor that in a recent  study  showed a 62 percent reduction in non-melanoma skin cancers, including basal cell carcinomas and squamous cell carcinomas.

Celecoxib may emerge as a potent chemopreventive agent for lung cancer, according to a recent study in Cancer Prevention Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

Researchers tested celecoxib, a COX-2 inhibitor, among patients who were former smokers and found a significant benefit in bronchial health as measured by the Ki-67 labeling index, a marker of cellular proliferation or growth, as well as a number of other biomarkers. The findings follow a previous report published in Cancer Prevention Research that showed a similar effect on Ki-67 among former smokers and current smokers (Kim et al., Feb. 2010).

Going from men to mice –  a quote from a paper in the International Journal of Cancer in 2004: “In mice implanted with mesothelioma, celecoxib treatment significantly increased average survival from 45 days to 62 days, the researchers note, and there were three long-term (more than 120 days) survivors among the treated mice.”

Appreciate this may have absolutely no supporting evidence for people, can’t see anything on any other trials,  but then again, haven’t seen any mention of our alternative painkiller of ibuprofen even doing anything with mice !!!

Ref: Catalano A, Graciotti L, et al: Preclinical evaluation of the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agent celecoxib on malignant mesothelioma chemoprevention. Int J Cancer 2004;109: 322-328.

Related articles

• Drug may prevent lung cancer in former smokers (scienceblog.com)
• Anti-Inflammatory Drugs to Treat and Control Breast Cancer (health.yahoo.net)

A day in the New Forest

Great day out today, made the most of the lovely weather and drove down to Beaulieu in the New Forest. We packed up a picnic and set off, after finding a great spot for lunch , we took advantage of the walks along the river to get his daily bout of exercise. Have really found this makes a massive difference, even if he gets sore, it helps him sleep and his general well being.

Great views of some beautiful houses along the way , plus of course  the New Forest ponies were out and about with their foals.

Yesterday was at family bar-b- que for his dad’s birthday. This was the really big test , as only people who know about his diagnosis are his mum and dad, so yesterday was first time he met up with his younger brothers as well as his son ( having just finished his GCSE’s)

Very apprehensive about if there would be a lot of comments about his short hair , which is now much grayer and thinner, plus whether there would be lots of questions about what he had been up to. Finally of course he can still get very tired, when he starts to look washed out , so it was a bit like being out with Cinderella and making sure we left before the coach turned back into a pumpkin.

Overall , went very well, his dad made sure the party was held in the afternoon , as people would be driving , knew it wouldn’t go on too late. He did get a couple of comments on his silver hair , his son mentioned about how short it was, so we said he was going for the sleek silver fox look. Couple of moments when noticed he was getting sore , but he covered it up really well. Very keen his son isn’t affected by any of this as this is such an important time , with exams etc.

Overall though , think we got away with it , so shows how much better he is looking , certainly couldn’t have done it 6 weeks ago.

Rioting in London

Hectic day today, doing a course in central London, so getting up early and getting home late. Luckily the City isn’t affected at the moment, but Ealing isn’t too far away , so very conscious of sirens etc. Definitely much higher police presence on the the streets. we live in a quiet area but our local high street has police positioned on most of the major crossroads.

Streets themselves had far fewer people, must admit glad to be home, strange atmosphere.

On a more positive note, he has managed to get out sailing again today , two days in a row – definitely getting stronger!! Family party on Sunday for his dad’s birthday, not only meeting up with his brothers, but also his fifteen year old son, none of whom know about his diagnosis. Think he is feeling apprehensive in case lots of questions about less hair, what he has been up to , why lack of contact etc, he doesn’t want to mislead anyone, but equally feels very strongly that as there is nothing anyone can do , he doesn’t want to cause any extra heartache.

The good news is his son is bringing along a ” girlfriend”, first one introduced to the family , so there will hopefully be no room for any extra news.

New inhibitors found to cause mesothelioma cell death

Antonio Giordano, the Founder and Director of the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based Sbarro Institute for Cancer Research and Molecular Medicine, and his team of researchers have identified new potential anti-tumor agents.

The pyrazolo [3,4-d ] pyrimidine derivative inhibitors of the SRC kinase, a well-established molecular cancer therapy target, may effectively treat mesothelioma,

While testing the SRC inhibitors, the researchers found they effectively induced cell death in mesothelioma cell lines without affecting healthy mesothelial cells. The scientists also noted that the induced cell death was accompanied by an increase in the nuclear stability of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p27. The leading author of the study, Dr. Paola Indovina, of the University of Siena and assistant Professor at the Sbarro Institute, found this “particularly intriguing considering that the loss of nuclear p27 expression is a well established adverse prognostic factor in mesothelioma and p27 nuclear localization is crucial for its tumor suppressive function.”

Good to know there is so much research going on around the world, seems to be more and more trials looking into antigens and immune responses, so fingers crossed some of these will start to pay off sooner rather than later for all the people and families involved.

Life continuing to be good if wet

Not quite so active this weekend after our cycling on Friday, other than a couple of walks to the high St, which takes around 15 mins. Yesterday , managed to get the back doors sanded down and undercoat applied in between bouts of rain. Today watched the triathlon on tv rather than standing out in torrential rain at Hyde Park.

All of which is very normal – thankfully. Never been so grateful for normality, at the moment ,watching the pennies and just enjoying the time together, may look at doing something special for our birthdays at the end of the month. Strangely don’t feel the need to plan anything, getting a lot of pleasure just from enjoying food and drink again

I start new job in three weeks, amazing how quickly the time has gone. Next week am on a course, the car has to go in for repairs and he is looking at going sailing with his dad- that will put the colour back in his cheeks. Hopefully they will have a less evenful trip than that boat during Cowes which hit an oil tanker – see the attached link to the BBC website . we used to sail a lot in Solent before all this, yes  it is busy , tricky for the skipper though explaining an oil tanker!

Have suggested Ray does a blog entry for me, now he is feeling stronger, so watch out for a guest appearance.

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• Cowes yacht in oil tanker crash (bbc.co.uk)