A History of Cancer

 A History of Cancer Treatment

Ancient physicians were aware that cancer often came back after it was surgically removed. The thinking for centuries was that a patient was incurable after a diagnosis of cancer had been made.

Cancer treatment developed slowly over the ages. Ancient physicians realized there was no way to treat cancer once it spread, and they felt that intervention might be more harmful than no treatment at all. Major advances in cancer surgery were not made until the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Because of the slowness with which an understanding of cancer improved, fear of the disease became commonplace. Even today with much improved treatments and cure rates many people still consider cancer incurable and put off treatment until it is too late.

There were talented surgeons before the discovery of anesthesia who were known for their swift and precise surgery. Anesthesia became available in 1846. After that, surgical skills advanced so quickly that the next hundred years became known as the “century of the surgeon.”

Towards the end of the 20th century surgeons became extremely proficient in minimizing the amounts of normal tissue removed during cancer operations. In addition, up until that time period, diagnosing cancer usually required exploratory surgery to take tissue samples to be tested for cancer. In the 1970’s, progress in ultrasound technology, as well as CT scans, MRI and PET scans greatly reduced the number of exploratory surgeries.

Treatment of cancer with radiation therapy and chemotherapy have a storied history as well. 

The X-ray was discovered in 1896. It was called X-ray because x is the algebraic symbol for an unknown quantity.  Systems were quickly devised to use x-rays for diagnosis, and within three years radiation was used to treat cancer. However, early in the 20th century it was discovered that radiation could cause cancer as well as cure it. Early radiologists used the skin of their arms to test the strength of radiation to arrive at an estimate of a safe daily dose of radiation. Predictably many of them developed leukemia from regular exposure to radiation.

The last twenty five years of the 20th century saw advances in radiation physics and computer technology combine to make it possible to aim radiation more precisely and to more accurately control the intensity. This combined control of aim and intensity made it possible to decrease the radiation reaching normal tissue while delivering a high dose to the cancer. 

As advances continue to develop, radiation therapy has been adapted to use proton beams instead of x-rays; proton beams do even less damage but are very effective at killing cells. Radiologists can now deliver large, precise radiation to small tumors, and also deliver radiation at the time of surgery. They also have chemical modifiers or radiosensitizers available to them that make cancer cells more sensitive to radiation.

The use of chemotherapy to treat cancer has its roots in World War II. Naval personnel who were exposed to mustard gas were found to experience toxic changes in bone marrow cells. A compound called nitrogen mustard was found to work against cancer of the lymph nodes. This was the beginning of a long series of more effective agents that could be used to kill rapidly growing cancer cells.

Sidney Farber of Boston demonstrated that the use of aminopterin (related to the vitamin folic acid) resulted in remission in children with acute leukemia. That led to a drug called methotrexate, a cancer treatment drug that is widely used today. Metastatic cancer was first cured in 1956, and methotrexate was the miracle drug.

Chemotherapy began to show dramatic results in the 1960’s. Long-term remissions and cures of patients with Hodgkin disease and childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia were achieved in that decade. Cures of testicular cancer occurred in the 70’s. 

In a relatively short time, cancer treatment evolved from surgery only, to include radiation therapy and, finally, chemotherapy. Early in the 20th century cancers were considered curable only if they were localized enough to be removed surgically. Eventually radiation was used to control small tumor growths after surgery. Then chemotherapy was added to destroy small tumor growths. Eventually the power of chemo was amplified by using multiple chemotherapy drugs together. Some fast growing leukemia, and lymphoma responded very well to combination chemo.

The history of cancer treatment is not exactly a glamorous topic, but it does highlight the amazing advances that the medical community can initiate. Rapidly evolving and increasingly ingenious approaches that improve quality of life and even save lives.

Cancer treatment may not be glamorous, but it is pretty close to a miracle.

Bhutan

We are all moving to Bhutan, baby. Why wouldn't we? Don't you want to go?

Bhutan. Located in South Asia, bordered by India and China. Bhutan has a measurement, an indicator, whatever you want to call it, called Gross National Happiness. Along with GDP and GNP and all those boring financial indicators, they have GNH. Imagine a country that cares about the happiness of its people. We have those golden words "the pursuit of happiness" written into the Declaration of Independence like they mean something, but they don't. What they mean is you have the right to pursue happiness in America but nobody is going to help or encourage you and,even worse, corporations and the government are going to go out of their way to make it difficult.

GNH is designed to measure quality of life and social progress within a holistic and psychological framework. Bhutan culture is based on Buddhist spiritual values. The theory behind GNH is that beneficial development of human society takes place when material and spiritual development occur side by side to complement and reinforce each other. The four pillars of GNH are -  the promotion of sustainable development; preservation and promotion of cultural values; conservation of the natural environment; and establishment of good governance.

This is enlightened thinking, the kind that communicates with the human soul, resonates with the human spirit. Never happen in this country because we have created a harsh society, a competitive society, a society designed to suck the life out of peoples' souls in order to keep them in line, keep them down, keep them producing, keep them docile, afraid, broken and defenseless.

We care nothing about the soul in this country, we don't take into consideration what it means to be human, spiritual development is laughed at. Quality of life in this country is measured by income and income only, and the irony is that the powers that be make damn sure that you are not getting ahead financially. I think it is a major source of frustration for humans that the things they really want, really need, have to be suppressed. Love, respect, happiness. We bury these needs deep because they make us vulnerable in this vulture oriented society. And we suffer because of it; they cannot be denied, only ignored.

Remember when you laughed at John and Yoko? Running around doing oddball things to promote peace. They didn't mind people laughing at them if there was a chance they could get people thinking about peace. Such a simple concept and one we long for but would never admit. We want peace with one another, we don't want to fight with co-workers, friends, and relatives. We want a peaceful life and we do want a peaceful world free of war. You can't admit it because you will get laughed at. Because everybody knows there will never be peace, in the world or in your life. This is the point humanity has degenerated to.

The Beatles said all you need is love. They were criticized for being simplistic. People want love, they need it, they long for it. They know deep down that if all humans loved one another life would truly be the celebration that it should be. But nobody will ever admit that it is as simple as that because they know it will never happen.

It would be nice to think that promoting peace, promoting love, promoting a concept like Gross National Happiness would help to break through the barriers we have built between our lives and who we truly are. Most people who have heard about Bhutan probably laugh about it. Like they laughed at John and Yoko. Like they laughed at The Beatles. But if you listen closely you'll notice that it's a nervous laugh. Because they want a world like this, they truly do, but they have to work so hard to cover up that fact.
When I heard about Bhutan I thought what a very cool country, what a very cool concept. I didn't laugh at all. Never entered my mind. It makes me feel good that a tiny country like that exists that is hopefully making the lives of it's people a little happier. A few people getting help to be happy in this nasty world is a good thing.
I know it won't spread. I know it won't change the world. I'm just hoping that it is changing the lives of the people who live there. That makes me feel good.

Another thought just popped into my head. All I want is some truth. Gimme some truth. John Lennon. A wickedly direct song about hungering for truth. If we could all live in truth maybe things could improve. The truth of needing to be loved, to give love, to be happy, to live in peace. Truth is anathema to the power brokers. Our lives, this country, are built on lies, deception, deceit, distortion. It will never change. I hate that.

The hell with it. I'm moving to Bhutan.

 

Booze and Blues: April, Faux Spring, Warmth

Booze and Blues: April, Faux Spring, Warmth: "I have viciously attacked New England seasons and calender months for lying to me. November pretends to be fall, March pretends to be spring..."

April, Faux Spring, Warmth

I have viciously attacked New England seasons and calender months for lying to me. November pretends to be fall, March pretends to be spring. I recently figured out that we have only two seasons in New England. Winter (very long) and summer (very short) . April has been torture. Cold, snow still on the ground. Until yesterday. Yeah, Bubba we have had a few warm April days already BUT yesterday was The one. I felt it in my bones. Heat emanating from my inside to my outside. Got out of work at 6:30, a little food shopping, then hit the road, jack. Window down, smile on my face and in my soul. It felt like a summer night. And summer nights are the only reason to be alive. I'm a big enough man to say thank you, April. Even though I know you will slap me in the face a few more times before warmth creeps into my body on a very temporary permanent basis.
I dug yesterday. I look forward to digging a lot more days to come. Don't mess with me too much, faux spring and lying April. I got ways of dealing with phonies like you.

Owsley Stanley

So Owsley Stanley is dead. Bummer. Another sixties icon, character, voyager, whatever you want to call him, however you choose to look at it, has bitten the dust. For you squares out there, those not in the know, Owsley was huge in the San Francisco scene of the sixties; he crafted, made, produced, mixed, I'm not sure what the proper terminology is, high quality LSD. I know a lot about him, I don't live in squaresville man. I'm kidding about the squaresville stuff, I just wanted to go there for fun; I'm sure there are many of my generation who dug the deal but never heard of Bear (his nickname).

He died in an automotive crash. In Australia. He moved there because he was convinced there was another ice age coming. What a shame. I think he was 72. I would have preferred to see him live out his natural life. See if he made it to 100. That would lend some credence to my opinion that what people did in the sixties was not life threatening.

LSD sparks a negative reaction in most folks. Even people who once thought it was a good idea but have since been re-wired by mortgage vampires, employers, and insurance salesmen to see all alternative things as bad. LSD is the one drug I long for, the one I missed. I have never been a huge druggie; done a lot of pot, some hash, cocaine, bunch of pills but never overboard or crazy out of control. Never as a lifestyle. I firmly believe that had I tried LSD as a youngster I would be a different man today. It might have opened my mind, given me a different vision, different point of view. It might have freed me up to discard the straight jacket my parents fitted for me at birth, a straight jacket I wear to this day. I would still do it today but only under closely supervised conditions; there are many demons and dark corners in my mind. I'll get back to me in a minute.

Here's the deal. Owsley was closely associated with the Grateful Dead and other San Francisco rock bands (Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver Messenger Service etc); but primarily with The Dead. The Dead used to conduct acid tests; these were concerts where acid was handed out to concertgoers - it was legal at that time. Then The Dead would do their thing. It was not a go crazy, let's party kind of thing. They were considered experiments to see how LSD could benefit the human mind, to see if the psychedelic experience could change your perspective and open you up to things you were never aware of before. Owsley supplied the acid; he was renowned for high quality LSD. And he made many different varieties that resulted in different types of highs.

Excuse me, I was temporarily blown away. A bird just landed on the cable outside this room. Looked directly at me for three seconds. Then took off. I believe there was a message there.

His obituary in Rolling Stone includes comments from surviving members of the Grateful Dead. Bob Weir's was best. He said "Owsley taught us to question everything, he taught us that REALITY IS SUBJECT TO INTERPRETATION."  I love that line. It gets to the core of what I am about, what I want.

I am a unique, strange, intelligent, talented individual trapped in the body of a boring lower middle class man. Still wearing the straight jacket. My parents would grab my LP's off the record player and replace them with death recordings; sounds of people being tortured and killed. They made me listen to them at night, in the dark, until I fell asleep. I never fell asleep. I don't know if this twisted my mind but that is a story for another time and place.

I have also been conditioned to be responsible. Go to work, pay the bills, suppress my dignity, do the chores, generally be a good boy. A functioning member of society. I have been re-wired.

But it did not take deep down. I know there is an alternative reality,a different way to look at things, a different way to experience things and a different way to interpret what happens in your life. The thought fascinates me. I am squirming underneath, trying to find a way out, a way to get to this alternate truth and a way to express myself purely with no filters. To air out my soul, reveal my true essence.

LSD was outlawed in the sixties. Imagine an entire generation thinking creatively? That is unacceptable. Society functions by keeping people down, by suppressing individual thought, by condoning mindless submission and punishing individuality.

Owsley and many like him were trying to find another way, a better life, a more inspired existence. He was not a loon, he was a pioneer. But average people cannot accept an approach like this; everything has to be pre-approved, antiseptic, legal, FDA approved. In other words most people will not try anything mind expanding unless it has been approved by the very people who are trying to keep you in your place. How far do you think you'll get with that approach?

I dearly want to shed my straight jacket. It is the single, most hideous thing that chokes off my air supply and keeps me underachieving. I don't necessarily need LSD to do it. Although that might be the quickest route. Studying, learning, thinking, questioning, trying, trying, trying will get me there.

Today I am just celebrating the life and influence of Owlsey Stanley. I worship the thought process, the openness, the unique approach to living a life. Every time one of these sixties icons dies a little bit of me dies with them. Because I identified with what they thought, how they lived, their approach to life; but I allowed myself to be brainwashed into living the life that they, and I, rebelled against. Every death reminds me that time is slipping away.

I have to expand my mind, my thought process. I have to blow the straight jacket apart. Or I will NEVER get what I want. Me. Peace of mind.

I hope Owlsey is in heaven right now with Jerry Garcia and Pigpen, sharing acid with god. Maybe acid IS god. Something to think about.

Booze and Blues: March

Booze and Blues: March: "March is a lying whore. One day its sixty degrees, the next day its twenty degrees, it snows, it rains, it exploits your emotions. November ..."

Booze and Blues: I'm lonely

Booze and Blues: I'm lonely: "No visitors. Yet. How am I gonna get rich? I'll get you in here. Once you discover me I become an addiction. Haven't had enough time yet to ..."