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My early morning visit with the Oncologist had me back home before NOON toady with good news...  There has been NO PROGRESSION of my two cancers and a lesion on my lung has actually disappeared which is good.  The lesion on my liver is benign and seems to be a collection of blood vessels so there is no need to do a follow up MRI unless it starts increasing in size and it is doubtful that it will increase but one never knows.

My blood work continued to show that I am anemic, have a low immune system because of a low white blood count, and my platelets continue to be about 2/3 of what they should be...  so, basically I have remained consistent month-after-month for the last two years...  and, because of all the infections that I have been experiencing, my Oncologist wants me to receive monthly IVIG treatments and since it is too late for anything this month, and since I have a treatment scheduled for May, my monthly treatment will begin in June...

All-in-all, it was a good report.

What was really encouraging was the fact that apparently my gastrointestinal doctor sent my colonoscopy results (which included his concerns about a lesion on my liver) to my family doctor who in turn had corresponded with my Oncologist about those concerns...  and now, my Oncologist will follow up with my family doctor to let him know that the lesion on my liver is a benign collection of blood vessels...

I like it when the system works and doctors are interlinked and actually correspond with each other in order to ensure positive patient outcomes.

Oncologist and Treatrment

Today, is my monthly visit to the Cancer Center for my Opdivo treatment.  Every other month, I see my Oncologist and this is one of those days.  I will also be told of the results of my recent CT scan and I am particularly interested in the lesion on my liver as reported by my gastrointestinal doctor after a recent colonoscopy.  He wanted to do an MRI, but when I shared that info with my Oncologist, he said that we would do a CT scan first since I was on the schedule to have one soon.

The other issues that I have with my Oncologist revolve around whether or not I am going to be receiving monthly IVIG treatments instead of every other month.  And, the reason why I an concerned about this is that my sinus infections return the month I am not receiving IVIG treatment, plus my Dermatologist just prescribe medication for a skin infection on my face that has gotten down into the hair roots.

I get to the Cancer Center about 7:30 am and by the time I am done, I am typically leaving around 10:30 am...  strange how it takes me 3 hours to have lab work taken, see my Oncologist and receive a 30 minute treatment...  one would think that each area should take no more than 30 minutes including the wait...  or, about 90 minutes and one can stretch that to 2 hours just to make sure...  but, it takes me 3 hours...

 

Almond Milk

Cynthia Sass, RD, MPH reports...

Non-dairy milks have been flying off supermarket shelves, and plant-based milk options are now available at coffee shops and smoothie joints across the country. According to consumer research group Mintel, sales of non-dairy milks have increased by more than 60% since 2012, and one in five Americans say they are consuming less dairy for health reasons.

Almond milk has become the most popular plant-based milk option, with sales at nearly $1.5 billion dollars in 2020 alone. But you may be wondering just how healthy almond milk really is and how it stacks up against its competition. Here's the lowdown, along with what to look for on the label and ways to incorporate almond milk into drinks, meals, and treats.

There's no one way to formulate almond milk. And because of that, the nutritional breakdown of almond milk is different for each product. Overall, though, the protein and carb contents in unsweetened almond milk (made from just filtered water and almonds) are quite low per cup, so the main macronutrient you're getting is healthful fat. But that can vary widely from product to product, depending on how many almonds a particular milk contains (because yes, the water-to-almonds ratio can vary from brand to brand). In other words, some products contain more almonds than others, which is one factor that impacts the drink's potential health benefits.

For perspective, an 8-ounce portion of Elmhurt's unsweetened almond milk ($5.99, amazon.com) provides 11 grams of "good" fat, 5 grams of plant protein, and just 3 grams of carbohydrate, with no added sugar. A 1-cup serving provides 6% of the daily value for iron and 4% for potassium.

Of course, that's just one product example. The simplest unsweetened versions (like the one described above) contain just two ingredients: water and almonds. But if a product is fortified (the addition of nutrients that aren't naturally there), the vitamin and mineral content of almond milk can vary considerably.  READ MORE

Tuesday

Science Alert Journalist David Nield writes...

Chronic rhinosinusitis, which causes a persistent blocked nose and headaches among other symptoms, affects 11 percent of people in the US – and new research has found a link between the condition and changes in brain activity.

The team behind the study is hoping that the link will help explain some of the other common effects of the persistent inflammation: finding it hard to focus, struggling with bouts of depression, having trouble sleeping, and dizziness.

Finding a connection between the underlying disease and the neural processing happening elsewhere could be vital in understanding the chronic condition, along with efforts to find better and more effective ways to treat it.

"This is the first study that links chronic sinus inflammation with a neurobiological change," says otolaryngologist Aria Jafari, from the University of Washington. "We know from previous studies that patients who have sinusitis often decide to seek medical care not because they have a runny nose and sinus pressure, but because the disease is affecting how they interact with the world."

"They can't be productive, thinking is difficult, sleep is lousy. It broadly impacts their quality of life. Now we have a prospective mechanism for what we observe clinically."

The researchers tapped into data from the Human Connectome Project to find 22 subjects living with chronic rhinosinusitis and 22 control subjects with no sinus inflammation. Data from fMRI scans were then used to compare blood flow and neuron activity in the brain.  READ MORE

Typical Monday

This week is my chemo week and a visit with my Oncologist and I will be able to find out the results of my recent CT Scan.  There are two areas of concern here:

• one - is/are my cancer(s) growing
• two - what about the lesion on my liver

There is also the follow up with him as to whether or not I will be receiving IVIG each month instead of every other month now that I am continuing to experience nasal infections as well as facial skin infections and constant fatigue...  He mentioned it two months ago but nothing ever changed.

Other than that, there is really nothing else to share...  my night sweats have changed to becoming intermittent instead of every night and my nausea has all but disappeared, leaving me with just infections and fatigue.  And, there was a while back where my appetite had disappeared along with my taste but both of those have stopped as well.  One could say that all-in-all, I am fairly healthy for a man who is dealing with two cancers and heart disease.

What Really Matters?

 

Increasing Vibrations

 

Healthy Eating Habits

Looking for tips on ways to eat healthier? 24/7 Tempo compiled a list of healthy eating habits based on the science behind foods and choices. 24/7 Tempo consulted multiple health journals, including Harvard Health Publishing, as well as numerous scientific studies published in The United States National Library of Medicine.  READ MORE

CT SCAN

This morning I had a CT Scan at UT Medical Center...  I was one of the first in line since I arrived at 7:30 am and once I checked in, only had to wait about 5-10 minutes.  Usually I drink some tracer liquid for about an hour but this time, the tracer was not ordered; however, I did have some dye injected into my body where cancer activity will be high lighted on the scan.

For the last 3 years (ever since I had my radiation treatments) I have been receiving alternating CT/PET scans every 3 months to make sure that either of my two cancers is detected early if it starts to grow.

With a PET scan there is fasting 6-8 hours prior to the scan but with a CT one can eat and/or drink liquid as one desires.

One of my concerns is the fact that my HIDA scan showed that there was a lesion on my liver and my other doctor wanted to order an MRI to take a closer look.  When I mentioned this to my Oncologist, he suggested that we wait and see what the CT scan shows...

I have been waiting for two months to find out what is going on.

Turning On/Off Genes

FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL...

Like the layers of a Russian doll, using multi-level regulation in an engineered cell ensures gene expression only switches on precisely when needed. Credit: Thomas Gorochowski

 In a recent study led by the University of Bristol, scientists have shown how to simultaneously harness multiple forms of regulation in living cells to strictly control gene expression and open new avenues for improved biotechnologies.

Engineered microbes are increasingly being used to enable the sustainable and clean production of chemicals, medicines and much more. To make this possible, bioengineers must control when specific sets of genes are turned on and off to allow for careful regulation of the biochemical processes involved.

Their findings are reported in the journal Nature Communications.

Veronica Greco, lead author and a Royal Society funded PhD student at Bristol’s School of Biological Sciences, said: “Although turning on or off a gene sounds simple, getting a living cell to do it on command is a real challenge. Every cell is slightly different, and the processes involved are not 100 percent reliable.”

To solve this issue, the team took inspiration from nature where key events are often controlled by multiple processes simultaneously.

Veronica Greco added: “If you look at a Venus flytrap you find that a trap will only close when multiple hairs are triggered together. This helps reduce the chance of a trap closing by accident. We wanted to do something similar when controlling the expression of a gene inside a cell, adding multiple-levels of regulation to ensure it only comes on precisely when we want it to.”

Professor Claire Grierson, co-author and Head of the School of Biological Sciences at Bristol, added: “What was wonderful about this project was how well it worked to harness two of the core processes present in every cell and underpinning all of life – transcription and translation.”

The team showed that by using this type of multi-level regulation, they could create some of the most high-performance switches for gene expression built to date.  READ MORE

Virus Therapy

NEW YORK — When cancer patients have an inoperable tumor, treatment options can be extremely limited — if not impossible. New research is offering some hope for patients batting such devastating circumstances. Doctors at NYU Langone Health say a new virus therapy is offering hope to patients without a surgical option. In clinical trials, a common cold virus combined with an immunotherapy drug infects and kills cancer cells.

Study authors say this is one of the first experiments to prove oncolytic viruses can safely boost existing cancer therapies. Currently, immunotherapies which help the human immune system kill cancer cells only successfully shrink tumors in a third of patients.

The new virus combo injects patients with an experimental drug created using a coxsackievirus, V937. Patients also receive pembrolizumab, an immunotherapy drug also known as pembro or Keytruda. Thirty-six men and women participated in the trial, receiving the therapy every few weeks for a minimum of two weeks.

The combined treatments successfully shrank melanoma tumors in 47 percent of these patients. Moreover, eight of the patients taking both drugs went into complete cancer remission with no signs of their skin cancer.

“Our initial study results are very promising and show that this oncolytic virus injection, a modified coxsackievirus, when combined with existing immunotherapy is not only safe but has the potential to work better against melanoma than immunotherapy alone,” says study senior investigator and medical oncologist Dr. Janice Mehnert, in a media release.

Serious side-effects remain
Study authors note the experimental treatment does have some noticeable side-effects, both mild and severe. Most of the participants developed mild reactions, such as a rash or fatigue. However, 13 patients (36%) experienced serious immune reactions in the liver, stomach, or lungs. Researchers say these reactions also occur in cancer patients taking pembrolizumab alone.  READ MORE

A New Week

Nausea has all but disappeared recently leaving me only with the symptoms of fatigue and night sweats and of those two, the former is constant while the latter is intermittent even though it seems like it is consistently constant as well.  My appetite seems to come and go and I have noticed that if I am busy doing something then I don't miss being hungry but if I am busy doing nothing but watching television or a movie then being hungry seems to always be around...  so...  it is my hands that need to say busy not necessarily my mind.

Infections seem to be happening more often as well these last few months.  Where my sinus infections seem to be ongoing, I am now developing an infection in my skin that has gotten down into the roots of my facial hairs, requiring me to take a pill twice a day to eliminate its persistence.  And, while I do not like the idea of taking yet another pill, I am concerned what impact (if any at all) this new pill will have on my internal organs.  The literature for this pills requires that ALL MY DOCTORS become informed that I am taking it.

My quarterly scan is set for Thursday of this week and since it is just a CT Scan there is no fasting requirements, but I will probably fast anyway since it is at 8:00 am.  I am interested in hearing the results the week after next because my colonoscopy doctor had informed me of a new lesion on my liver.

Let's Laugh A Little

 

Lisinopril

 

The Tree That Doesn't Give Up

About 10 years ago, I purchased a miniature Japanese Maple and planted out in the front yard as an accent piece because of its miniature status.  After 2-3 years of normal growth, we had a particularly cold spring, killing the tree (or so I thought) so I figured what the hell and cut the tree back about 18 inches from the ground, maybe lower.  Nothing happened for the rest of the year, but the following year, the damn dream sprouted about 6-7 trunks off the single trunk I had cut back and within another 3 years had actually grown up and out beyond its miniature status.

The tree was originally placed so it would not interfere with backing out of our driveway, but after about 10 trees of slow but consistent growth, the size of the tree had actually become a hazard.  So, I did what any good lawn care specialist would do and cut the tree back to about half its size.  As I looked at the tree admiring my handiwork, I felt terrible because it looked so bad and I just knew that I had killed it and while I did not really care the first time I cut this tree back and it survived, I did not really want to kill it.

SIX MONTHS later after standing through the fall and winter and into the spring, this damn Japanese Maple started sprouting tiny branches off the limbs that I had cut back...  This tree just will not give up.

Similarly, I like this Japanese Maple will not give up with my battle with the two cancers that are raging inside my body...  and, like God brought this tree back to life, so too has God brought my body back to life as staves off the cancer that seems to be minding its own business at the moment...

At some point-in-time my Japanese Maple will die as will I, but until these there are many seasons through which we will both continue to survive.

After COVID Vaccines

Even though I have had both my COVID Vaccine shots and waited the required 2 weeks after the second shot for both shots to be effective, I still find myself wearing a facemask not just in doctor's offices or public buildings but anytime I am out of the house and out of the car...  whether there are a lot of people around or not.  If we go to a restaurant, I will my facemask inside and continue wearing it until we sit down at our table to order.

After I leave a public place and return to my car, I wash my hands with a bottle of liquid soap that I now keep in the car...  and, I do this even though the HEALTH DEPARTMENT says it is ok for me not to do this.  Strange how some new temporary habits linger.

I am worried that all these illegal immigrants will eventually find their way to East TN and we find ourselves at risk with our health problems as well as crime problems.  Of the immigrants that are already in East TN, NONE of them seem to want to wear a facemask.  And personally, I am afraid to say anything to do for fear of receiving VIOLENCE in return...  I suppose that make me racist...  but, at 73...  my fears are legitimate and I really don't care what other people think.

Living With Cancer

EVERYDAY since I turned 60 years of age (and I am now 73), I have gone to bed, lived my life, and returned to bed with the constant realization that not only do I have cancer but my cancer could turn aggressive and my life could possibly shorten very quickly.

It is not the same feeling of a soldier going into battle because once that battle starts that soldier may or may not return...  for me it is a constant battle, not just one...  and, after the tour in the war zone, the soldier returns home...  but there is no returning home for me as my battle continues day after day, year after year, and decade after decade...  I am on my second decade now.

In addition to that hanging over my head, I can feel my body changing...  in the sense that the monthly steroid use has cause me to gain weight.  Constant chemo treatments over 12 years has left me with anemia and a very low immune system.  My susceptibility to other illnesses and disease is high and I have to be very careful everywhere I go.

Additionally, I must now live with constant fatigue that sometimes is there and sometimes is not but when it is, I can wake up in the morning after 8 hours of a really good sleep and feel so tired that I need to return to bed.  No motivation.  No desire to do anything.  Apathy all the time with no desire to try and shake it off.

Unless I am writing about my cancer and my physical condition, I try to ignore that I ever have cancer and live life as if I am perfectly fine...  although, since I also had a serious heart attack about 12 years ago, my physical movements are also limited and I no longer have the endurance that I used to have.  But, even with that also hanging over my head, I still try not to think that I am sick.

I work on my blogs and write everyday about something.  I watch the news and do research on the internet for subjects about which to write.  Every once in a while I teach a class for a local university which I am doing now, so I prepare for my class making sure that the students do not receive the SOS type of education.

Health Concerns for SENIORS

 FROM EINSTEIN HEALTH NETWORK...

As we grow older, we are at risk for more health problems. You can lower your risk by exercising regularly, eating right, not smoking and getting regular checkups. Another great way to stay healthy is to keep informed about the latest information on disease prevention and management. The following links to other parts of Einstein's web site can help get you started.

Heart Health
Einstein's team of heart experts offer the latest treatments for heart disease, America's number one killer.

Diabetes
Einstein can help you manage diabetes, a chronic, life-threatening and grossly under-diagnosed disease.

Stroke
MossRehab is a regional leader in treating stroke, the third most common cause of death in the United States, and the leading cause of adult disability.

Joint Pain
Einstein's team of top-notch orthopedists offer the most advanced techniques available today to restore strength and mobility while reducing pain associated with joint problems, including the hip and knee. Call 1-800-EINSTEIN for more information.

Women's Health
Einstein's women's health experts can help you stay healthy.

Prostate Disease
Prostate disease is one of the most common problems men face as they age. Einstein urologists offer a variety of treatment options and can help you decide which option is best for you.

Depression
Geriatricians and geropsychiatrists from Belmont Behavioral Health are experts in treating depression in people over age 62.

Medical Rehabilitation
MossRehab, one of the region's major providers of physical rehabilitative services, can help older adults recover from joint replacement, broken hips and other ailments.

Premier Years
Stay Healthy with Premier Years, Einstein's free health and wellness membership program for people aged 55 and older.

COVID Vaccine

On Thursday April 1, 2021, my second COVID Vaccine shot took affect and my COVID protection was at 96%...  and, the Public Health Nurse who gave me my shot told me that I no longer (after April 1) had to wear a facemask or social distance unless I wanted or or unless it was required.

This is the SCIENCE and according to President Biden, we should follow the science... and, while that may or may not be true or factual to think that way, I am still concerned especially with my age and health condition that I should be especially careful...  and so, required or not required, I still plan to social distance and wear my facemask.

I am in my 14th year of receiving cancer treatments for non-Hodgkin's "B" cell Lymphoma while at the same time, I am in my 7th year of receiving treatment for metastatic Melanoma leaving me anemic and with an extremely low immune system...  so, it does not take much for me to get sick...  therefore, whether I like it or not, I MUST BE CAREFUL.

My cancer treatments have screwed up my THYROID and so I am taking medication to regulate that properly and recently I have been feeling more fatigued than usual so I am wondering if my medication needs to be increased...

Once you start treatment for one illness, other illnesses will somehow seek you out.