Dora, I am sorry to hear about the increase. My prayers are with you and
Henry. I forget, did he ever start a chemo regime in the fall of 2006?

Gourd Dancer

I am so sorry, Limey.  Where is he to receive radiation, assuming it's
palliative.  I don't recall seeing the use of Decadron before.  Is that just
something to counteract the side effects of Dilaudid?

I'll keep him and you in my prayers.

Dora,

I've got a similar pattern but other than the numbers, am feeling
pretty good.

Here's some news, I don't know how effective Provenge is, I don't
think that anyone does but
it shows that there are new treatments in the pipeline.

Quote follows.

SEATTLE, Jan. 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Dendreon Corporation
(Nasdaq: DNDN - News) today announced that the company has been
granted a broad European patent covering the company's lead product
candidate PROVENGE® (sipuleucel-T), the Company's investigational
active cellular immunotherapy for the treatment of advanced prostate
cancer. European patent No. 0 870 022 B1 covers the composition of
matter of PROVENGE as well as the company's other active cellular
immunotherapy (ACI) product candidates, such as NEUVENGE(TM)
(lapuleucel-T), which utilize Dendreon's Antigen Delivery Cassette(TM)
technology. The patent also covers methods of activating antigen
presenting cells in vitro with certain fusion proteins developed by
Dendreon, including the fusion protein that is used in PROVENGE.

"The approval of this broad patent covering PROVENGE and our other
active cellular immunotherapies in Europe is an important milestone
for the company," stated Mitchell H. Gold, M.D., president and chief
executive officer of Dendreon. "While our priority is to obtain the
approval of PROVENGE in the United States, the issuance of this key
patent solidifies the commercial potential of PROVENGE and our ACI
platform on a more international basis. Prostate cancer is a global
unmet need with, according to Cancer Research UK, approximately
670,000 men diagnosed with the disease each year, and we believe that
PROVENGE could have a worldwide impact on the treatment of prostate

-kh  hang in there!!!!

Dora,

I'm very sorry to hear of Henry's condition.

I'm not any kind of an expert, but I'd like to recommend that you and
Henry look into some additional treatments.

One thing to consider is "second line" hormone therapy.  Has Henry's
oncologist looked at that?  Has Henry already had it?  The drugs
typically used for this are ketoconazole and estradiol.  There are
also others.  These drugs are not well tolerated by everyone and don't
work for everyone.  But some men get an extra amount of time from
them.  I seem to recall that some men have gotten as much as two years
of low PSA from second line hormone therapy, but I'm not sure of
that.  Men who have "failed" first line hormone therapy with Lupron
and Casodex may still benefit from "second line" therapy.

Another drug that is sometimes used is docetaxel.  It is a
chemotherapy drug approved for prostate cancer, not a hormone therapy
drug.  It used to be used only at a late stage in advanced cancer, but
I think it's now being used at earlier times on the theory that if you
hit the cancer with it while it is small you can get longer benefit
than if you wait until it has grown.

Yet another thing to consider is clinical trials of new, experimental
treatments.  Henry is still healthy, which makes him a good candidate
for some trials.

I don't want to get any hopes up about clinical trials.  Experimental
treatments are, after all, experimental.  Most of them don't work out
and many that do provide only limited benefit or only to some
patients.  But they might be worth looking into.

There are two websites that can be used in the U.S. to find clinical
trials:

  http://www.cancer.gov/clinicaltrials/search
  http://clinicaltrials.gov

They should show the same set of trials but have different search
options.  Clinicaltrials.gov is simpler to search.  Cancer.gov gives
more sophisticated options.

Entering a trial is something that could be discussed with Henry's
oncologist.  The oncologist may be able to give advice about whether
this is a good idea, assist in finding something appropriate and, in
some cases, might be able to facilitate entry into the trial by
submitting test results.

Best of luck to you.

   Alan

Dear Dora,

I can't give you better advice than you've already received.  Henry is
in good hands.  I might add that he shouldn't be pressured into doing
anything he doesn't want to do.  I wish you both well and am keeping
you in my thoughts.

I would like to append a famous poem, which is also one of my
favorites.  It reminds me of you, Dora, and all the other good women
in this sisterhood who love and care for their men well into old age,
often when they themselves are ill.  These are the wives who are
willing to accompany their husbands on the journey of life, *wherever*
it will lead them.   They are the "pilgrim souls" referred to in this
poem.  The poet declares his eternal and unconditional love for his
wife, and even adds that, as they age together, she only becomes more
beautiful in his eyes. And to make sure the wife doesn't forget any of
this, he has memorialized his sentiments in a book, which the wife can
take down and read whenever she likes.

[Note: This is just MY interpretation.  Also, please don't get hung up
on details, like the fact that the man is speaking from the "great
beyond".  It's the feelings that are important, not the timeline.]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

WHEN YOU ARE OLD

-- by W.B. Yeats.

When you are old and grey and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true,
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face;

And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.

Take good care.

Leah