HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
Organization: University of Maine System
Date: Tuesday, 14 Apr 1992 01:17:44 EDT
From: Ailsa N.T. Murphy <IO81409@MAINE.MAINE.EDU>
Newsgroups: alt.support
Subject: Re: What constitutes a best friend?
 <joe.702865925@wrs.com>

a friend is someone who is there when you need them, yes,
but firends are human.  they cannot always be there.  friends
also have: other friends, jobs, families, exams (sometimes),
personal crises (sometimes), etc.  a freidn can still care
very much, but NOT be able to be there for you.  people have
to take care of themselves, too, and have a right to expect
their friends to understand that...  asking that you be the
only person, or even the only IMPORTANT person, in your friend's
life is more than anyone has a right to.  as i say to my daughter,
i understand that you WANT that, and it would be nice if you
COULD have it, but you can't.  lower your expectations a bit,
and you will find that friends are easier to keep.

                                   -ailsa

p.s. i try to follow my own advice too...  it's not easy, but it
is a good thing to keep in mind.  before youask for anything, imagine
someone asking it from YOU, and see how you feel about it...  but
keep in mind that people's feelings are sometimes different.  my
exhusband and i would get into HUGE arguments at times over somethign
he wanted me to do, or something i didn;t want him to do, and his response
was always the same: eitehr "i wouldn't mind if you asked ME that," or
"but i don't mind if YOU do it," depending on the situation.  it was
a useless statement, though, because i DID mind.  people feel differntly
sometimes...  granted, this is more an issue for MY recovery, but i
thought i'd throw it out there, just in cas anyone else gets into
these stupid arguments, so they'd know that they're not alone...
From: wang@cedar.nrl.navy.mil (Dennis Wang)
Newsgroups: alt.support.cancer
Subject: Leukemia
Date: 9 Apr 92 21:11:34 GMT
Organization: NRL

I am glad to see this group on the net.  My 3 year daughter has leukemia (acute lymphoblastic leukemia).
It has been 6 months since the initial trip to the intensive care unit where the diease was diagnosed.
We have just finished the intensive phase of the chemo, and are now starting the maint. phase.

Today she went back to preschool for the first time since Sept. 

Naturally we are very happy to have made it this far.  We have not gone to cancer support meetings
just because we were far too busy doing all the things that needed to be done.  I think that this
group is one of the better ideas to hit the net since it is available 24 hours a day.

Does anyone else out there have experience with ALL ?

Dennis
Newsgroups: alt.support.cancer
From: ae299@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Jack L. Wallace)
Subject: Re: encouraging experiences.
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, (USA)
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 92 00:54:19 GMT


I too had the experience of having a surgeon tell me that "it was
malignant, so we removed it."  I can identify with the emotional pain
that is felt on both sides of the disease.

Each year, the ACS has a "Celebration of Life" where we survivors can
get together and share that wonderful feeling of being alive. My date
is September, 1969 and the sky was never as blue as the day that I left
that hospital.

Early detection is the primary thing that will help one to survive.

-- 
Newsgroups: alt.support.cancer
From: ekman@netcom.com (Crossly the Glad-Eyed Bear)
Subject: Re: Welcome to alt.support.cancer (repost)
Date: Mon, 06 Apr 92 21:22:01 GMT
Organization: Home for the Terminally Infirm

In article <1992Apr6.042449.4677@msuinfo.cl.msu.edu> molin@crs.cl.msu.edu (Michael Olin) writes:
>I have a history of cancer on BOTH sides of my family tree.  Grandmother
>and Grandfather on boths sides succombed to it, so I presume there's
>a high probability of eventually experiencing what you are going thru.
>Your messages here are and will continue to be informative and I
>applaud your willingness to speak about it.  I can only imagine that
>this must be a hard thing to cope with, but that suppressing it is
>probably even harder.
>
>If I may ask (or if it is WORTH asking...):  What symptoms would one
>have to experience to come to the conclusion that going to a doctor
>is crucial?  Sorry if this sounds ignorant.  It IS, after all...


There are so many different forms of cancer that it's impossible to give
a general answer.  Instead, I'll comment on what I know about--prostatic
cancer.  (I assume you're male.)

The first signs I noticed, and neglected, were a barely discrenable
reduced velocity stream while urinating.  Later on, when I finally
decided that all was not well, there were also a couple of episodes of
an urgent need to urinate--something I'd never experienced.  Even then I
managed to convince myself that all I had was benign prostatic
hypertrophy, which it well could have been.

By the time I finally dragged myself to the doctor, it was already too
late for successful surgery.   The cancer had spread to the  anterior
wall of the bladder, and both lobes of the prostate were fully involved.

For men over 40, digital examination of the prostate is a routine part
of a regular physical exam.  Most men absolutely hate this, and a lot of
women laugh at us, since they suffer considerably greater indignities
during a routine pelvic exam.  I suggest that the digital exam isn't
sufficient.   There's a blood test that is exquisitely sensitive to
abnormal goings on with the prostate, called PSA (prostate specific
antigen).   If I had it to do again, I'd have this test done annually.
The normal reading (I forget the units) is from 0 to 2.5.  From 2.5 to
10 is suspicious.  By the time I was examined, mine was 147.  A sign
that it had almost surely metastisized to somewhere else.   Although the
C/T scan didn't yet show it, it had--to the lymph nodes.

I guess the bottom line is, if you notice anything unusual, or any
unexplained change, see your physician.  It may save your life.
-- 
Crossly the Glad-Eyed Bear              ekman@netcom.com
Home for the Terminally Infirm, Redwood City, California
From: dyer@spdcc.com (Steve Dyer)
Subject: Re: chemo pharmacology
Organization: S.P. Dyer Computer Consulting, Cambridge MA
Date: Mon, 13 Apr 1992 18:27:56 GMT

In article <13APR199208475403@zeus.tamu.edu> MSW1633@SUMMA.TAMU.EDU writes:
>>If anyone reading this group can give me a brief 
>>run-down on what the modes of action of the following two drugs are, I would 
>>appreciate it.
>the chemicals are 5-Fluorauracil, and leucovorin.

5-fluorouracil is a synthetic analog of the pyrimidine bases uracil and
thymine.  Remember from your biochem that the bases in DNA consist of
adenine, guanine, thymine and cytosine.  RNA is similar, but it
contains uracil instead of thymine.  Actually, these bases are found in
DNA and RNA as the phosphorylated nucleosides, where these bases are
joined to sugars--deoxyribose in DNA and ribose in RNA, which are
joined to each other by phosphate linkages.

In the body, 5-fluorouracil is converted into the nucleoside FdUMP
(5-fluoro-2'-deoxyuridine-5'-monophosphate -- a mouthful, but it's just
the form I described in the last paragraph.)  FdUMP inhibits the enzyme
thymidylate synthetase:  it prevents deoxyuridylic acid from being
converted to the methylated form, thymidylic acid.  (That is, some
cells, including tumor cells, get their thymine base building blocks
for building DNA by synthesizing it from the base uracil.)  Inhibiting
this enzyme effectively stops DNA synthesis.

Another secondary action is the conversion of 5-FU to the nucleoside
fluorouridine monophosphate (FUMP).  This is an analog of the RNA
building block uridine monophosphate (UMP), and is incorporated into
RNA, thereby disrupting normal RNA function.

5-FU is more toxic to actively dividing cells than to cells which
are resting.  Like many anti-cancer drugs, its effective use relies
on the fact that cancer cells divide more often, so may be more
susceptible to its toxicity.

Leucovorin is not really an anticancer drug _per se_, nor is it at all
toxic.  It is the metabolically active reduced form of folic acid, the
B vitamin--specifically, it is N(5)-formyltetrahydrofolate.  Some
anticancer drugs like methotrexate are really folic acid antagonists--
they prevent the conversion of folic acid to the active form by
occupying the catalytic sites of the enzyme which converts folic acid
to tetrahydrofolate.  In such cases (NOT here), high doses of
methotrexate are administered to kill off tumor cells, and then some
time later, leucovorin is administered, again at very high doses, to
"rescue" normal cells.

In the case of leukovorin's use with 5-FU, it rather serendipitously
appeared to enhance the efficacy and reduce (somewhat) the toxicity of
5-FU chemotherapy.  It now appears that leucovorin binds to another
site on thymidylate synthetase which enhances the binding of FdUMP
to the enzyme, leading to longer enzyme inhibition, meaning that
DNA synthesis is inhibited for a longer period.

-- 
Steve Dyer
dyer@ursa-major.spdcc.com aka {ima,harvard,rayssd,linus,m2c}!spdcc!dyer
From: msw1633@zeus.tamu.edu (Mark S. Whitsitt, N5RJF)
Newsgroups: alt.support.cancer
Subject: Re: chemo pharmacology
Date: 13 Apr 92 13:47:00 GMT
Reply-To: MSW1633@SUMMA.TAMU.EDU
Organization: Texas A&M University, Biochemistry Department
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

In article <12APR199223161026@summa.tamu.edu>, MSW1633@SUMMA.TAMU.EDU writes...
>My Mom is now in her 5th round of chemotherapy and just told me tonite what the 
>drugs she is being given are.  I am a biochemist, but I have not studied the 
>pharmacology of such agents.  If anyone reading this group can give me a brief 
>run-down on what the modes of action of the following two drugs are, I would 
>appreciate it.  Please email if at all possible.


Of course I did the one thing I was afraid I would do.... I forgot to mention 
the drugs.... what a mind, eh?

the chemicals are 5-Fluorauracil, and leucovorin.

Thanks to all who gently reminded me that I failed to complete my initial post, 
but I had just gotten off the phone with Mom and wasn't really with it....

Thanks, 

Mark S. Whitsitt, N5RJF        Texas A&M University, Dept of Biochemistry
Vice-President W5AC ARC  		  College Station, Tx. 77843-2128
Internet:  MSW1633@SIGMA.TAMU.EDU 			   (409) 845-0832
Packet/APLINK:  N5RJF @ KE5HE.TX.USA.NA
   "You can't throw darts when you're empty, man." - another Shadelism
Newsgroups: alt.support.cancer
From: shedevil@vix.com (Anne P. Mitchell)
Subject: Re: cervical cancer
Organization: Fathers' Rights & Equality Exchange
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1992 22:19:39 GMT

At least some insurance companies allow you to pick up your coverage
yourself once your employer's obligation runs out, and then your new
employer can pick it up.  I'm not sure, but I think there may even be
a requirement that they *have* to allow you to do that.  I remember
running into this when I was pregnant, and switching employers (sort
of).  The way of dealing with the pre-existing condition of pregnancy
was to make sure there was never a lapse in coverage, which meant my
picking it up until my new employer did.

-- 
    LOOKING FOR: Michael Hobson, Alex Craven, David Runyon, & Lorna Taylor
I am: Anne Mitchell, mom, law student, shedevil@leland.stanford.edu or @vix.com
     	  founder of FREE, the Fathers Rights and Equality Exchange.
 The fathers' rights paper & FREE files available via ftp: gw.home.vix.com;/pub
Newsgroups: alt.support.cancer
From: ekman@netcom.com (Crossly the Glad-Eyed Bear)
Subject: Re: cervical cancer
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 92 20:50:59 GMT
Organization: Home for the Terminally Infirm

In article <1992Apr10.180403.2321@samba.oit.unc.edu> tyoung@med.unc.edu (Therese Young) writes:
>I do have a question that I'm sure some of you have had to deal with or at
>least have thought of.  I'm thinking of going back to college in a year or
>two.  And a big problem is what to do about health insurance.  Obviously
>I'll loose my current coverage when I quit my job.  Have any of you dealt
>with this?  Do I just take my chances and pray I don't have a recurrance?
>Or is there something out there I don't know about.  I'm not hopeful but
>maybe someone can give me some advice.
>
A good question.  I think I'd like to broaden it a little.  If I develop
cancer while employed, am I effectively stopped from changing employers?
Obviously if I quit my current employer, I'll lose my present coverage.
And I assume that my new employer's insurance carrier is going to refuse
to cover me with a pre-existing cancer.  So, am I held hostage at my
current place of employment?
-- 
Crossly the Glad-Eyed Bear              ekman@netcom.com
Home for the Terminally Infirm, Redwood City, California
From: molin@crs.cl.msu.edu (Michael Olin)
Newsgroups: alt.support.cancer
Subject: Re: Welcome to alt.support.cancer (repost)
Date: 6 Apr 92 04:24:49 GMT
Organization: Michigan State University

I have a history of cancer on BOTH sides of my family tree.  Grandmother
and Grandfather on boths sides succombed to it, so I presume there's
a high probability of eventually experiencing what you are going thru.
Your messages here are and will continue to be informative and I
applaud your willingness to speak about it.  I can only imagine that
this must be a hard thing to cope with, but that suppressing it is
probably even harder.

If I may ask (or if it is WORTH asking...):  What symptoms would one
have to experience to come to the conclusion that going to a doctor
is crucial?  Sorry if this sounds ignorant.  It IS, after all...

  molin@crs.cl.msu.edu
Newsgroups: alt.support.cancer
From: garvin+@cs.cmu.edu (Susan Garvin)
Subject: A thought for everyone
Date: Tue, 07 Apr 92 22:10:03 GMT
Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon



I would go a bit further.  Anyone who has unusual symptoms
should expect their doctor to actively investigate.  Before
I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, I was told that the
pain I felt was imagined.  I wasn't in a high risk group
for ovarian cancer, so the diagnosis wasn't considered.
I came very close to giving up - they had almost convinced
me that I really was imagining the problem.

One thing that cancer taught me was that patients should
be more aggressive and demand information from their doctors.
Previously, I accepted what they told me.  Now, I ask
a million questions.  I wish everyone would.

(I was diagnosed in late '84, by the way.  The cancer
had spread throughout my abdomen.  I had three operations
and six months of chemo, cisplatin and cytoxan.  No
signs of malignancy since 1985.

I recommend support groups highly.  It was hard for me
to talk about it at the time, but I'm glad I did.)

Susan


Newsgroups: alt.support.cancer
From: news@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu
Subject: Re: Welcome to alt.support.cancer (repost)
Organization: The Ohio State University
Date: Tue, 7 Apr 1992 21:50:46 GMT

This article was probably generated by a buggy news reader.
Newsgroups: alt.support.cancer
From: kambiz@booboo.indetech.com (Kambiz Aghaiepour)
Subject: Re: Cancel
Organization: Independence Technologies Inc, Fremont Ca
Date: Wed, 8 Apr 1992 03:58:34 GMT


>>>>> On 3 Apr 92 19:30:02 GMT, drumm@cnsvax.uwec.edu writes:Article-I.D.: cnsvax.1992Apr3.133002.240

In article <1992Apr3.133002.240@cnsvax.uwec.edu> drumm@cnsvax.uwec.edu writes:

drumm> I was going to post this question after more people gathered under
drumm> this newsgroup, but I can always ask again later.

drumm> Has anyone had any experience with CANCEL?  It's a very radical

I've never even heard of it.  Where did you hear about it?  Please
supply more information. 

-- 
____*_  Kambiz Aghaiepour           kambiz@indetech.com
\  / /  Independence Technologies   {sun,sharkey,pacbell}!indetech!kambiz
 \/ /   42705 Lawrence Place        FAX:   (510) 438-2034
  \/    Fremont, CA 94538           Voice: (510) 438-2038
Newsgroups: alt.support.cancer
From: larry@bradley.bradley.edu (Larry D. Stratton)
Subject: Re: HEALTH
Keywords: NATURAL
Organization: Bradley University
Date: Thu, 9 Apr 92 14:13:46 GMT

In <ku84juINNe9o@male.EBay.Sun.COM> cannon@superdist.Sun.COM (Jeff Cannon) writes:

   A couple of brief excerpts:

>A CANCEROUS body or any other DIS-EASED body is a body that is very very
>desperate for CLEANSING and very very much in desperate need of NUTRIENTS.
>Basically, this is the main reason the body gets in a DIS-EASED state in the
>first place.  A DIS-EASED body is totally out of balance.  TOXINS have
>built-up in the body to the point where cells can no longer function 
>properly.  This is the type of environment where cancer begins to manifest
>itself.

>I wish for everyone to be able to start caring for themselves and
>rely less and less upon doctors to provide miracle cures.  Doctors treat
>symptoms not causes of problems.  If problems are not corrected, no matter how much drugs or how good you feel temporary, the symptoms will reoccur.

>At the least, I hope I opened a few eyes.
>CONTINUE TO CONSULT YOUR DOCTOR FOR MEDICAL ADVICE"

   Good nutrition and exercise are important to everyone, I do not deny
   that.  However, my niece had breast cancer and relied on 'nutritional
   suppliments' to cure her tumors.  She's dead.

   The very last sentence is the very best advice but do yourself a 
   favour, make DOCTOR plural.

   A survivor since 1986.
-- 
"Closets are for clothes" 
"Those who don't know are terminally stupid or virginally new"
"I should have known it was doomed.  I don't like tea."  -Tea for Two
L. D. Stratton   larry@bradley.edu   (309) 693-8500 when all else fails
Newsgroups: alt.support.cancer
From: jgd@dixie.com (John De Armond)
Subject: Caretaking (was Re: Good Idea! )
Date: Mon, 06 Apr 92 16:18:24 GMT
Organization: Dixie Communications Public Access.  The Mouth of the South.

kmcvay@oneb.wimsey.bc.ca (Ken Mcvay) writes:

>In article <1992Apr3.215453.10316@uxa.ecn.bgu.edu> csjan@uxa.ecn.bgu.edu (Jan Faires) writes:

>>Do any spouses/caretakers of cancer patients read this group?
>>I would be interested in hearing how they are dealing with their  
>>anger, grief, etc.  

>I lost dad a few years back, and it was a terrible process to watch.

We've lost both my wife's parents to cancer.  Her mom to metastised
breast cancer and her dad to bone cancer.  This was the most horrible
experience I could ever imagine anyone going through.  Even though
it's been 15 and 5 years respectively, I can remember the horror 
like it was yesterday.  No one should have to suffer like that.
At least we had doctors who were sympathetic to the concept of 
hastening and easing the dying process with appropriate drugs.

>I have seen this killer twice in my family, and will NEVER permit
>myself to go through what my dad and grandfather went through - thank
>god for books like "Final Exit." Comes a time when dignity and quality
>of life are more important, at least to me. Death holds no great fear
>anymore (I am 52), or any mystery, for that matter. I have come to
>understand my personal set of beliefs and accept them.

AMEN!  The so-called ethicists who argue against voluntary euthanesia
cannot ever have seen a person actually die of cancer or else must
have a heart of stone.   What dignity or purpose of life was left when
my mother in law was laying there with half her upper body eaten
away or my father in law with his skull bolted to a rack because he had no 
neck bone left?   The only problem I had with "Final Exit" was that he
concentrated too much on methods requiring prescription drugs.  I already
knew that stuff, ferchristsake.  I wanted to learn of other humane and
painless methods that did NOT involve the medical monopoly.

Two things I learned.  One, like Ken, I know know that death is
nothing to fear.  The process of dying is the terrifying part
and must  be minimized.  Two, live each day like it is your
last.  Both sets of our parents always talked about the things
they wanted to do when they got time.  Both were thwarted, my
wife's by cancer and mine by old age.  The most important point
is to remember that today you are younger than you'll ever again
be in your life.   

John

-- 
John De Armond, WD4OQC        | "Hey, don't blame me.  I voted Buchanan."
Rapid Deployment System, Inc. | 2nd Amendment RADICAL 
Marietta, Ga                  |              
jgd@dixie.com                 | Need public access in Atl?  Write me.
From: leung@DSG.Tandem.COM (Steven Leung)
Newsgroups: alt.support.cancer
Subject: Re: HEALTH
Date: 10 Apr 92 16:05:50 GMT
Organization: Tandem Computers

In <kua2jaINN3pb@male.EBay.Sun.COM>, cannon@superdist.Sun.COM (Jeff Cannon) writes:
|> 
|> Not one of us will be able to grow without TRUST.  At first,
|> I was very skeptical when a good friend of mine introduced me to
|> BARLEYGREEN and herbs.  I finally decided to TRUST him and give it 
|> a try. ...

Why you need to "TRUST" him for a try? Is it a necessary condition?


Steven
------
... This all sounds complicated, but it mostly does exactly
what you expect. It's just hard for us to explain what you
expect ...
				  - From "Programming Perl"
From: mwr@tridom.uucp (Mark Reardon)
Newsgroups: alt.support.cancer
Subject: Re: Emotional reactions
Date: 6 Apr 92 16:33:58 GMT
Reply-To: mwr@tridom.uucp (Mark Reardon)
Organization: AT&T Tridom; Marietta, Georgia

In article <1992Apr3.003448.11920@wdl.loral.com>, ekman@wdl30.wdl.loral.com (Crossly the Glad-Eyed Bear) writes:
|> 
|> I'd read somewhere that the usual reactions are denial, anger, grief, and
|> fear, not necessarily in that order.  I don't remember too much denial;
|> the biopsy was painfully clear.  How can one deny the pathologists report?
|> Perhaps the denial was in the form of detachment.  I followed the various
|> tests and results as if they were being performed on someone else.  Is
|> this the denial that I read about?

When my wife was diagnosed as having thyroid cancer she believed they had made a mistake.  After all, the first two reports were negative.  This might be the denial you read about.

|> 
|> Anger?  Oh, yes.  A lot of anger.  Why me?  Why me, God?  What did I do
|> to deserve this?  You have some quota of new cases to distribute daily, and
|> you distribute them in some arbitrary and random way?  It isn't fair.
|> 

Plus the anger that comes from family members trying to pin down a cause, "Too many Diet Cokes and not enough vitamins caused it."  Forget the fact that several other family members developed it.

Also, there was some anger wondering where some of her friends went.  We have other friends with cancer and this is the biggest cause of anger.  Many friends delt with the situation by closing out the person with cancer and ignoring them.

The fear for my wife came from the fact that it took four doctors to calibrate her replacement hormone level.  At first we didn't even know that it was the replacement hormone that was causing her problems.  Then a new OB/Gyn diagnosed it from a simple blood test.

BTW, she's doing well.  Its been seven years and two children since any cancer was detected in her body.

Mark Reardon (mwr@eng.tridom.com)
Newsgroups: alt.support.cancer
From: garvin+@cs.cmu.edu (Susan Garvin)
Subject: Re: cervical cancer
Date: Sat, 11 Apr 92 02:37:53 GMT
Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon



It's usually not a problem to change employers once you're in
remission - checkups typically don't count as treatment, so the
pre-existing condition clause doesn't kick in.  For folks with
active disease, though, I think that you will have a big
problem trying to change jobs (and coverage.)  I'd call
the local ACS office, or whatever support agency is around,
for some help with this.


Of course, if you live in Texas, you can get excellent care
at M.D. Anderson Hospital, for fees that are graduated
by your income.  There, it's possible to actually pay
for your treatment yourself.  (Or it was 6 years ago.)
I was a full time student when I was diagnosed.  I didn't
get a bill until I got a job.

Susan