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From: Jonathan Kirwan on 29 Mar 2006 11:25 On Tue, 28 Mar 2006 21:11:47 -0700, Jim Thompson <To-Email-Use-The-Envelope-Icon(a)My-Web-Site.com> wrote: ><snip> >Just got back from the hospital where my youngest son (33 years old) >is being treated for colon cancer that has spread to lungs and liver >:-( I'm very sorry, Jim. I sincerely wish you the best in this. Jon P.S. It's not the same thing, but my 21yr old autistic daughter has grand mal seizures (a few weeks ago, three separated by four hours in a single day) and has broken six of her teeth on the bathtub a few years ago and broke both her ulna and radius just last September. Helping her through a seizure and discovering a broken arm or bloody teeth on the floor is something I hope few parents experience.
From: Chuck Harris on 29 Mar 2006 11:30 Michael A. Terrell wrote: > Jim Thompson wrote: >> Just got back from the hospital where my youngest son (33 years old) >> is being treated for colon cancer that has spread to lungs and liver >> :-( >> >> Jim Thompson > > > I lost my mother to Colon cancer when she was 52. Its a nasty > disease, but there have been some advancement in treatment in the last > 20 years. I lost my dad to colo/rectal cancer early last year. He was 76. I started my EE career developing electronic controllers used in cancer treatment (1981), I was quite immersed in the field back then. I quit working in medical electronics largely because of the draconian regulations the FDA put into place in the mid '80s... (done largely because a Canadian company that made radiation treatment equipment cocked up, and cooked a few patients beyond crispy, but sadly, I digress...) When my dad was diagnosed back in '02, I started to re-acquaint myself with the state of the art in colon cancer treatment, and I was simply appalled! They have made great strides in palliative measures (ease the symptoms), but absolutely *no* progress in curing the disease. The measures that are called "cures" are really just extended remissions. In very rare circumstances, they have patients that are actually cured, but in most cases, the disease re-emerges within 5-7 years. That counts as a cure because the patient lasted 5 years past the diagnosis. In spite of that, I believe the medical community is on the threshold of a cure. The radiation treatments that they use are most concerning. The treatments literally kill the colon and the surrounding pelvic tissues, bones, and bone marrow. The patient becomes extremely susceptible to broken pelvic bones, and perforated intestines. The maximum expected lifetime of a patient that has had these treatments is around 7 years. By that time, the colon is in shreds. No surgeries can be performed after these treatments because of the inability of the exposed tissues to repair themselves. That may be appropriate for a 70yo man, but not, I think, for a 33yo man. Understand that your son's chances of survival are well less than 10%. His youth is his best asset in beating these odds. There are a few treatments that have been shown to have good results on the liver involvement. His liver is what will ultimately kill your son, so do not ignore this! If the lesions in his liver are still small, and few, there are a couple of things that can help. The University of Maryland is doing some treatments called RF Ablation (which oddly enough I helped develop while I was still doing my graduate studies) which allow for a minimally invasive method of killing a few localized tumors. They also are using a process called SIRT spheres, which can kill off great quantities of small tumors, provided the liver is still functioning. *TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!* And there is also a technique that involves injecting a lethal dose of a chemo agent directly into the blood supply of the liver, which has shown some good results. These treatments are all FDA approved, and are on the insurance company's lists of approved treatments. Don't let the doctor tell you otherwise! One other thing, the success rate of the experimental treatments being done by NIH is well above what his doctor will tell you. He will say it is about 6%, but the truth is some are more like 60%. Look into the programs that are being done by NIH. If by some chance your son "crashes" when he is getting an herbatux treatment, it is because the drug, as administered, doesn't match the electrolyte levels needed to keep his heart beating. Have his doctor send all of his stats, and other information to IMCLONE. (We made a big mistake here with my dad.) Google is your friend. You can easily find the programs I have mentioned by using google. If you can't, let me know, and I will look up the urls. -Chuck Harris
From: Jim Thompson on 29 Mar 2006 11:38 On Wed, 29 Mar 2006 11:30:38 -0500, Chuck Harris <cf-NO-SPAM-harris(a)erols.com> wrote: >Michael A. Terrell wrote: >> Jim Thompson wrote: >>> Just got back from the hospital where my youngest son (33 years old) >>> is being treated for colon cancer that has spread to lungs and liver >>> :-( >>> >>> Jim Thompson >> >> >> I lost my mother to Colon cancer when she was 52. Its a nasty >> disease, but there have been some advancement in treatment in the last >> 20 years. > >I lost my dad to colo/rectal cancer early last year. He was 76. > >I started my EE career developing electronic controllers used in cancer >treatment (1981), I was quite immersed in the field back then. I quit >working in medical electronics largely because of the draconian regulations >the FDA put into place in the mid '80s... (done largely because a Canadian >company that made radiation treatment equipment cocked up, and cooked a >few patients beyond crispy, but sadly, I digress...) > >When my dad was diagnosed back in '02, I started to re-acquaint myself with >the state of the art in colon cancer treatment, and I was simply appalled! > >They have made great strides in palliative measures (ease the symptoms), >but absolutely *no* progress in curing the disease. The measures that >are called "cures" are really just extended remissions. In very rare >circumstances, they have patients that are actually cured, but in most >cases, the disease re-emerges within 5-7 years. That counts as a cure >because the patient lasted 5 years past the diagnosis. In spite of that, >I believe the medical community is on the threshold of a cure. > >The radiation treatments that they use are most concerning. The treatments >literally kill the colon and the surrounding pelvic tissues, bones, and bone >marrow. The patient becomes extremely susceptible to broken pelvic bones, >and perforated intestines. The maximum expected lifetime of a patient that >has had these treatments is around 7 years. By that time, the colon is in >shreds. No surgeries can be performed after these treatments because of the >inability of the exposed tissues to repair themselves. That may be appropriate >for a 70yo man, but not, I think, for a 33yo man. > >Understand that your son's chances of survival are well less than 10%. His >youth is his best asset in beating these odds. > >There are a few treatments that have been shown to have good results on the >liver involvement. His liver is what will ultimately kill your son, so do >not ignore this! If the lesions in his liver are still small, and few, there >are a couple of things that can help. The University of Maryland is doing >some treatments called RF Ablation (which oddly enough I helped develop >while I was still doing my graduate studies) which allow for a minimally >invasive method of killing a few localized tumors. They also are using a >process called SIRT spheres, which can kill off great quantities of small >tumors, provided the liver is still functioning. *TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!* >And there is also a technique that involves injecting a lethal dose of >a chemo agent directly into the blood supply of the liver, which has shown >some good results. These treatments are all FDA approved, and are on >the insurance company's lists of approved treatments. Don't let the doctor >tell you otherwise! > >One other thing, the success rate of the experimental treatments being done >by NIH is well above what his doctor will tell you. He will say it is about >6%, but the truth is some are more like 60%. Look into the programs that are >being done by NIH. > >If by some chance your son "crashes" when he is getting an herbatux treatment, >it is because the drug, as administered, doesn't match the electrolyte levels >needed to keep his heart beating. Have his doctor send all of his stats, and >other information to IMCLONE. (We made a big mistake here with my dad.) > >Google is your friend. You can easily find the programs I have mentioned >by using google. If you can't, let me know, and I will look up the urls. > >-Chuck Harris Thanks, Chuck. I'll look into your references. My son is at Banner Baywood which is recognized as a specialty cancer center... a stroke of luck because that's the emergency room he walked into when he started losing blood rectally. ...Jim Thompson -- | James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens | | Analog Innovations, Inc. | et | | Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus | | Phoenix, Arizona Voice:(480)460-2350 | | | E-mail Address at Website Fax:(480)460-2142 | Brass Rat | | http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 | I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.
From: Jim Thompson on 29 Mar 2006 11:43 On Wed, 29 Mar 2006 16:25:32 GMT, Jonathan Kirwan <jkirwan(a)easystreet.com> wrote: >On Tue, 28 Mar 2006 21:11:47 -0700, Jim Thompson ><To-Email-Use-The-Envelope-Icon(a)My-Web-Site.com> wrote: > >><snip> >>Just got back from the hospital where my youngest son (33 years old) >>is being treated for colon cancer that has spread to lungs and liver >>:-( > >I'm very sorry, Jim. I sincerely wish you the best in this. Thanks! > >Jon > >P.S. >It's not the same thing, but my 21yr old autistic daughter has grand >mal seizures (a few weeks ago, three separated by four hours in a >single day) and has broken six of her teeth on the bathtub a few years >ago and broke both her ulna and radius just last September. Helping >her through a seizure and discovering a broken arm or bloody teeth on >the floor is something I hope few parents experience. I believe my autistic grandson is 13 (I lose track of birth dates what with 6 grandkids :) Haven't seen any indications of a tendency toward seizures. For the past year he's been at a new school which seems to have found his hot button... except for still no speech, he's becoming remarkably adapted to normal living. ...Jim Thompson -- | James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens | | Analog Innovations, Inc. | et | | Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus | | Phoenix, Arizona Voice:(480)460-2350 | | | E-mail Address at Website Fax:(480)460-2142 | Brass Rat | | http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 | I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.
From: Jonathan Kirwan on 29 Mar 2006 12:33
On Wed, 29 Mar 2006 09:43:47 -0700, Jim Thompson <To-Email-Use-The-Envelope-Icon(a)My-Web-Site.com> wrote: >On Wed, 29 Mar 2006 16:25:32 GMT, Jonathan Kirwan ><jkirwan(a)easystreet.com> wrote: > >>On Tue, 28 Mar 2006 21:11:47 -0700, Jim Thompson >><To-Email-Use-The-Envelope-Icon(a)My-Web-Site.com> wrote: >> >>><snip> >>>Just got back from the hospital where my youngest son (33 years old) >>>is being treated for colon cancer that has spread to lungs and liver >>>:-( >> >>I'm very sorry, Jim. I sincerely wish you the best in this. > >Thanks! >>P.S. >>It's not the same thing, but my 21yr old autistic daughter has grand >>mal seizures (a few weeks ago, three separated by four hours in a >>single day) and has broken six of her teeth on the bathtub a few years >>ago and broke both her ulna and radius just last September. Helping >>her through a seizure and discovering a broken arm or bloody teeth on >>the floor is something I hope few parents experience. > >I believe my autistic grandson is 13 (I lose track of birth dates what >with 6 grandkids :) > >Haven't seen any indications of a tendency toward seizures. In our case, it didn't start until she was 14 years old. I was told by a neurologist that it is common to take place only after the onset of puberty and very rare, beforehand. I'm told it does happen more in females, as a percent, but I personally know one profound autistic male who also has regular grand mal seizures. >For the past year he's been at a new school which seems to have found >his hot button... except for still no speech, he's becoming remarkably >adapted to normal living. That sounds reasonably positive. Our daughter still has her need of continuing support and she still causes me problems (she recently turned on a soldering iron and burned a ribbon cable for a DSP board; twisted a fiber optic cable I needed into a tight pretzel; and just generally cannot resist the temptations to 'help' me work; etc.) But we're getting along pretty well and she has such a funny sense of humor in her drawings. I do get a kick out of her being around. So I give and get. What hurts me is wondering each night if I'll wake to something worse than I've already experienced. Probably inevitable, given time. Jon |