NOTICE OF US TOO MEETING for Thursday, November 18th

NOTICE OF US TOO MEETING for Thursday, November 18th at 7:00PM ~ Our guest speaker for November will be Dr. Brian Lawenda. Dr. Lawenda is returning after a great presentation in September on radiation options for prostate cancer. This presentation will be focused on Integrative Oncology. Please come see us in the auditorium of the Nevada Cancer Institute at 7:00pm.

Note. Dr. Lawenda responded to this notice on Facebook. Here is his comments:

"This talk will be targeted to any individual living with or beyond a diagnosis of cancer of any type. Feel free to invite anyone you know who might be interested. Learn about the effects of stress, immunity, inflammation, diet, exercise and various complementary therapies on conventional cancer care."

This meeting will be open to anyone of any form of cancer as Dr. Lawenda's presentation will apply to all cancer patients.

Meeting Notice for October 21

NOTICE OF US TOO MEETING
Thursday, October 21st at 7:00PM

Our guest speaker for October will be provided by Sanofi-Aventis. Ed Park is the Las Vegas regional Liaison and The topic will be the current status of clinical trials and the performance of Taxotere, Cabazitaxel, and more. Please come see us in the auditorium of the Nevada Cancer Institute at 7:00pm.

Special thank you to Brian Lawenda

Special Thank you to Dr. Brian Lawenda for his presentation this September meeting. Dr. Lawenda discussed Calypso IGRT and Proton Beam Therapies as well as SRT logistics. Very impressive presentation. We have asked if Dr. Lawenda could come back in November to speak about alternative and complimentary therapies for which he is also well versed in. Please take a look at Dr. Lawenda's website below:

http://www.integrativeoncology-essentials.com/

UsTOO Las Vegas is now on Facebook

We have started a new FaceBook page for our UsTOO chapter in Las Vegas. It's brand new so we need survivors to like our page...:

www.facebook.com/pages/UsTOO-Las-Vegas-Chapter/206932628271?ref=sgm

Some of our early "likers" are (or will be shortly) Terry Herbert, Snuffy Myers, Mike Scott, Kathy Meade, Judy Thurman, Jacquie Strax, and many more.

We will be posting meeting information and material there regularly. All are welcome. Our page includes links, information, and a discussion board.

Meeting Notice for August 19, 2010

NOTICE OF US TOO MEETING
Thursday, August 19th at 7:00PM

Nicholas Vogelzang of the Comprehensive Cancer Centers of Nevada will be our guest speaker. Dr. Vogelzang recently appeared on CNN and the Las Vegas Review Journal for discussion on Provenge. As a leading researcher on prostate cancer, Dr. Vogelzang is a very welcome and returning speaker and will discuss Provenge, Cabazataxyl, DES and much more. Dr. Vogelzang has also been a strong supporter of UsTOO Las Vegas, and the UsTOO International Community. It is a delight to have him back yet again to speak to our group.

Our new mailer has been sent to our membership at a cost of $190.00. If you are reading this and no longer need to receive the quarterly mailer please contact Tony Crispino at (702)917-7779 to provide us your Email addresses to help us reduce our costs. We want to start producing a newsletter to be mailed to our members but we need to better control our meeting notice costs to do so. Reducing our mailers to a quarterly versus a monthly mailer has helped us to rebuild our treasury, but we can certainly use voluntary donations and better planning to our advantage. Thank you to all of our private contributors who have made this possible.

Meeting Notice for May 21, 2010

NOTICE OF US TOO MEETING
Thursday, May 21 at 7:00PM

We will be doing follow up videos from Prostate Cancer International done at last years PCRI event in Los Angeles. This is a precursor for the visit from the President of Prostate Cancer International who will be at our June 17th meeting. Mike Scott has his plans set for a visit to our chapter. As a top advocate and Sitemaster of the New Prostate Cancer InfoLink, his visit would certainly be very interesting. So I hope to finish the videos we did not watch in March, in hopes to garner interest in Mikes Visit.

UsTOO has received a grant from the Nevada Board of Health and Human Services. We will talk about the grant and seek volunteers for the soon to be scheduled Fathers Day Weekend prostate cancer screening event. Please come help us.

Meeting Notice for Thursday April 15

NOTICE OF US TOO MEETING
Thursday, April 15 at 7:00PM

This months meeting will have a guest speaker. Dr. William Wise will be attending with a representative from American Medical Systems (AMS) and speaking about incontinence and treatments. There will be a presentation and a questions and answers session. We will also be discussing the Ed Randall's Bat for the Cure foundation prostate cancer awareness night at Cashman Field for the Las Vegas 51's game on April 24th. We need volunteers to come enjoy the game and man the booth. Last year we gave out over 500 light blue ribbon tattoos and it was quite the spectacle.

Come and see us!

Meeting Notice for Thursday March 18

NOTICE OF US TOO MEETING
Thursday, March 18 at 7:00PM

Join us for some excellent interviews from Prostate Cancer International done at last years PCRI event in Los Angeles. Featured interviews include Mark Scholz, Duke Bahn, Snuffy Myers, Gerry Chodak and prostate cancer advocates Chuck Maack, Ralph Valle, Mike Scott, and many more. Also a special interview of former AUA President, Paul Schelhammer, who also an advanced PCa survivor.

We will also be discussing our monthly mailers and offering a new format. The old format has us printing and mailing nearly 300 postcards per month at high cost to our group. We have discovered that we can do a full color reminder quarterly, complete with newsletters at less cost to the chapter. We are looking for our membership input on the idea.

Also, Mike Scott is trying to get his plans set for a visit to our chapter in May or June. As a top advocate and Sitemaster of the New Prostate Cancer InfoLink, his visit would certainly be very interesting.

Meeting Notice Thursday February 18th

The meeting notices went out with an error. They stated our meeting will be held on Thursday February 19th. Of course the meeting is on this Thursday the 18th. I guess we'll see how many people notice the error.

This months meeting will be an open house for both the guys and the gals. We will be handing out a questionnaire to gather information for our club database in hopes of better aligning new comers to those with similar experience. We also hope to gather information about books our members have read, information they gathered and how to share it. Additionally, our chapter leader, Tony Crispino, will be speaking on his experience with the Internet and prostate cancer.

The plan is to develop a sharing mechanism for all of our members...Please come and share what you did when you found about your diagnosis. Spouses and partners are welcome as well...

Significance of Positive Margins

Positive Margins ~ To worry or not to worry... That is the question.

The following study is from the Mayo Clinic from 1990 to 2006. 11,729 patients, pretty solid information. Usually I don't like single center studies, there are a few centers that have such great data it's hard to be interested in these results. Mike Scott has done us a favor and broken it out well...from the "New" Prostate Cancer Infolink...

prostatecancerinfolink.net/2010/02/06/what-does-a-positive-surgical-margin-actually-predict-after-surgery

Mike finishes the article as follows:
The authors note that their data show a distinct reduction in the frequency of positive surgical margins (at least in their series) over the past 20 years. They conclude that the presence of a positive margin after radical prostatectomy does increase the probability of biochemical recurrence, local recurrence, and the delivery of salvage therapy. However, it does not reliably predict risk for systemic progression, cancer-specific death, or overall mortality.

A critical question does remain unresolved, however. What is the standard of care for a man with a positive surgical margin after radical prostatectomy? At present it seems to us that the precise care needs to take account not only of the size and number of the positive margins but also other risk factors, most particularly including the preoperative and postoperative PSA level, the pathological Gleason score, and the pathological stage of the patient’s disease. A 55-year-old patient with a PSA level > 10 ng/ml, a Gleason score of 8, and a positive surgical margin is presumably at greater risk for clinically significant (as opposed to just biochemical) recurrence than a 55-year-old with a PSA of < 10 ng/ml, a Gleason score of 6, and a positive surgical margin.

My own commentary:
While I know I fell into the very high risk category, I see a lot to be hopeful for. Many of our guys here should also. Positive margins should not automatically be construed as a failed surgery. As Mike points out well...

Positive Margins are not a significant predictor of:
1> Systemic Progression
2> Cancer specific death
3> Overall mortality

We tend to view positive margins as a huge negative, and they certainly are not a positive in spite of their designation, but positive margins are useful information. They are not a death sentence, nor a failed surgery. What you do once you have them identified remains controversial.

One other point...
Mayo Clinic reports this interesting tidbit...
From 1990 to 1995 Forty-One (41.1%) percent of surgeries had positive margins...
From 1996 to 2000 Thirty-Two (32.0%) percent of had positive margins...
From 2001 to 2005 only Nineteen (19.6%) percent had positive margins...

The Mayo Clinic started as one of the pioneering centers using the Da Vinci robotic system in 2001...While they still do open procedures as well, it would appear that adding the RALP has not at all negatively impacted the number of cases with positive margins...

Message from a survivor ~ David Emerson

David Emerson is a 47 year old prostate cancer survivor who has very advanced disease. He has been raising awareness since he was diagnosed at age 42 with a PSA of 271 and bone mets and other distant metastasis. David started a non profit at www.flhw.org and has raised over $150K for the Prostate Cancer Foundation. Linked below is yet another way he raises awareness on a brief phone in to the Dennis Miller Show on the radio. Have a listen...

David with Dennis ~ Click here

His heart touching story is well known in the prostate cancer advocacy groups and he has won awards for his personal website at: http://prostatecancerat42.blogspot.com.

Us TOO Las Vegas Chapter Meeting Notice

Meeting will be held at the Nevada Cancer Institute on January 21, 2010. The address is 10441 W. Twain in Las Vegas.

We will be discussing the new meeting format designed the intent of increasing one on one interaction between members. Additionally, Dr. David Pomerantz, Radiation Oncologist at the Nevada Cancer Institute, will be returning to discuss radiation treatments and radiation clinical trials and studies. We would like him to also discuss new NCCN guidelines for treating early prostate cancer versus watchful waiting.

Announcements will include an opportunity for Us TOO Las Vegas to help in an upcoming Ed Randall's Bat for the Cure prostate cancer awareness night at a Las Vegas 51's Minor League baseball game.

UsToo Carson City Meeting Notice

The meeting is set for 7:00pm Thursday, January 14, 2010 at the carson Tahoe Resource Center. January's meeting will be a round table of participants discussing their PC history, treatments, and current conditions. The last part of the meeting will be devoted to what's new in the PC and Internet world.