tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30454827875521366102024-03-17T20:04:18.053-07:00Prostate cancer - Our journey!I started this Blog after being diagnosed with Prostate Cancer in 2010. I thought I was going to die! It was a way of keeping family and friends informed but then became a campaigning tool, helping to make improvements in hospitals nationally. 11 years on, after successful surgery, my PSA is still undetectable. I'm not continuing to Blog about prostate cancer, I'm hoping to leave it in the past, but this blog contains a great archive of information. Daniel Sencierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09789792846850772847noreply@blogger.comBlogger612125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045482787552136610.post-18301973961641135972020-09-13T03:08:00.007-07:002021-08-22T02:58:14.951-07:00Retiring from 'Prostate Cancer World' as my blog passes 300,000 hits!<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGSKf-96lGWD9eKoGGTffZ7QbxsggUusTUmAgnNbkGQhMdOkwJ35km9VODqKw_jZQ40woiGfup55DFrcjKX8SpuBwK4_kY2azNIhs1rrsJ7sKOOk5dJKosWAgEliQgPY-UDx0XZYWN12g/s1920/jonas-lopez-moreno-jonaslm-mareas-de-hierro-ilustracion.jpg" style="font-family: -webkit-standard; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1267" data-original-width="1920" height="330" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGSKf-96lGWD9eKoGGTffZ7QbxsggUusTUmAgnNbkGQhMdOkwJ35km9VODqKw_jZQ40woiGfup55DFrcjKX8SpuBwK4_kY2azNIhs1rrsJ7sKOOk5dJKosWAgEliQgPY-UDx0XZYWN12g/w500-h330/jonas-lopez-moreno-jonaslm-mareas-de-hierro-ilustracion.jpg" width="500" /></a></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(29, 34, 40); color: #1d2228; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(29, 34, 40); color: #1d2228; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(29, 34, 40); color: #1d2228; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(29, 34, 40); color: #1d2228; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Hello everyone,</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(29, 34, 40); color: #1d2228; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(29, 34, 40); color: #1d2228; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">It's now 11 years since robotic surgery and even though I check my PSA annually, it remains undetectable. I've decided to take a break from Prostate Cancer and let others take over, after all, technology has moved on and I'm a bit of a dinosaur in that field now. That said, I'll always be here if you want to get some worries off your chest, and I'm still contacted frequently by newly diagnosed men and their wives.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(29, 34, 40); color: #1d2228; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(29, 34, 40); color: #1d2228; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="mailto:dansencier@yahoo.co.uk">dansencier@yahoo.co.uk</a> is the quickest way to catch me, I'll always reply! </span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(29, 34, 40); color: #1d2228; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(29, 34, 40); color: #1d2228; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>BUT...</b></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(29, 34, 40); color: #1d2228; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(29, 34, 40); color: #1d2228; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I have a new interest, and if you'd like to follow me, come on...</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(29, 34, 40); color: #1d2228; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(29, 34, 40); color: #1d2228; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I founded a FREE Facebook Group in 2016 called 'Sober Inspired Pirates' <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/SoberInspiredPirates" rel="nofollow" style="color: #196ad4;" target="_blank">https://www.facebook.com/groups/SoberInspiredPirates</a></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(29, 34, 40); color: #1d2228; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(29, 34, 40); color: #1d2228; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Facebook Page <a class="yiv8432347567" href="https://www.facebook.com/soberinspiredpirates" rel="nofollow" style="color: #196ad4;" target="_blank">https://www.facebook.com/soberinspiredpirates</a> </span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(29, 34, 40); color: #1d2228; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(29, 34, 40); color: #1d2228; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Website <span style="color: #196ad4;"><a href="https://www.soberinspiredpirates.com">https://www.soberinspiredpirates.com</a></span></span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(29, 34, 40); color: #1d2228; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(29, 34, 40); color: #1d2228; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">We are based on a fleet of Pirate Ships and I'm Captain of the main ship, Freedom. </span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(29, 34, 40); color: #1d2228; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(29, 34, 40); color: #1d2228; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Many of the crew have given up alcohol, but a large percentage haven't. It's all about exploring <i>your</i> relationship with alcohol and deciding <i>what's best for you</i>. We have some great interactions and lots of fun in a completely non-judgmental environment.</span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(29, 34, 40); color: #1d2228; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(29, 34, 40); color: #1d2228; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">With nearly 6,000 members from a worldwide audience, we're growing fast.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(29, 34, 40); color: #1d2228; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(29, 34, 40); color: #1d2228; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>If you'd like to help by becoming a Patron, please find out more at:</b></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(29, 34, 40); color: #1d2228; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(29, 34, 40); color: #1d2228; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://www.patreon.com/SoberInspiredPirates">https://www.patreon.com/SoberInspiredPirates</a></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(29, 34, 40); color: #1d2228; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><br /></div>Daniel Sencierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09789792846850772847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045482787552136610.post-2057126883561216192019-05-29T20:53:00.002-07:002019-05-29T20:53:28.660-07:00Prostate gel spacer reduces bowel and bladder damage during radiotherapy<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="story-body__introduction" style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Helmet, Freesans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.375; margin-top: 28px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
A man with prostate cancer is the first NHS patient in the UK to have a device implanted which can reduce the side effects of radiotherapy by 70%. </div>
<div style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Helmet, Freesans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1rem; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.375; margin-top: 23px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
The liquid gel spacer increases the distance between the prostate and rectum to reduce the amount of radiation absorbed during treatment.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Helmet, Freesans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1rem; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.375; margin-top: 18px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
It is injected before treatment and stays in place during radiation therapy before being naturally absorbed.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Helmet, Freesans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1rem; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.375; margin-top: 18px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
The treatment will now be rolled out to 12 hospitals around the UK.</div>
<ul class="story-body__unordered-list" style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Helmet, Freesans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 18px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<li class="story-body__list-item" style="border: 0px; color: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; letter-spacing: inherit; line-height: 1.375; list-style: square outside; margin: 18px 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 4px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a class="story-body__link" href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5KyL3sPC0YP4mVvGR3WrTM3/what-can-men-do-if-they-re-worried-about-prostate-cancer" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(220, 220, 220); border-bottom-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; color: #222222; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: inherit; line-height: 1.375; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">What can men do if they are worried about prostate cancer?</a></li>
</ul>
<div style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Helmet, Freesans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1rem; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.375; margin-top: 18px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men, with more than 40,000 new cases diagnosed in England each year.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Helmet, Freesans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1rem; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.375; margin-top: 18px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
When it is caught early enough, radiotherapy can be highly effective.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Helmet, Freesans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1rem; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.375; margin-top: 18px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
High-energy X-rays are targeted at the prostate, killing cancer cells and preventing them from spreading.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Helmet, Freesans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1rem; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.375; margin-top: 18px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
However, the radiation is not absorbed by the prostate, meaning that nearby healthy organs can be affected resulting in side effects including rectal bleeding, erectile dysfunction, bowel and bladder damage.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_EFm3Vnpw7X-Xa_gqiiYq33QRF6-s9GMPWcmxEYJDHzT-TQgzzJeRjolvVTy7a-N_Vj2DGfAvILVGLaE6ok-n6Gizrz_OQaZ9ns-03DnZ4KUUgoZH-sBp6Eq5dByckBWKAYGN6BkrTPg/s1600/A.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="351" data-original-width="624" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_EFm3Vnpw7X-Xa_gqiiYq33QRF6-s9GMPWcmxEYJDHzT-TQgzzJeRjolvVTy7a-N_Vj2DGfAvILVGLaE6ok-n6Gizrz_OQaZ9ns-03DnZ4KUUgoZH-sBp6Eq5dByckBWKAYGN6BkrTPg/s400/A.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Helmet, Freesans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1rem; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.375; margin-top: 18px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Alan Clarke, from Bristol, first had radiotherapy in 2011 but cancer returned.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Helmet, Freesans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1rem; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.375; margin-top: 18px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
He was selected to be the first NHS patient to receive the spacer because he was considered to be more at risk of suffering side effects from a second course of radiotherapy.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Helmet, Freesans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1rem; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.375; margin-top: 18px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Two syringes mix together the gel so that once injected, it sets within seconds. </div>
<div style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Helmet, Freesans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1rem; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.375; margin-top: 18px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Prof Amit Bahl, consultant oncologist at the University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust, said: "The space we have created means the rectum will not get the toxicity from the radiotherapy. </div>
<div style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Helmet, Freesans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1rem; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.375; margin-top: 18px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
"In radiotherapy terms this small space will make a huge difference to the patient's quality of life in the long term."</div>
<div style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Helmet, Freesans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1rem; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.375; margin-top: 18px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Dr Sam Roberts, director of innovation and life sciences for NHS England, said: "In studies, its use has been shown to relatively reduce life-changing side effects, such as rectal pain, bleeding and diarrhoea, by over 70%, meaning significant improvements in quality of life for those battling prostate cancer."</div>
<div style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Helmet, Freesans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1rem; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.375; margin-top: 18px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Full article: <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-bristol-48422081?intlink_from_url=https://www.bbc.com/news/topics/cwlw3xz0z48t/prostate-cancer&#38;link_location=live-reporting-story">https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-bristol-48422081?intlink_from_url=https://www.bbc.com/news/topics/cwlw3xz0z48t/prostate-cancer&#38;link_location=live-reporting-story</a></div>
</div>
Daniel Sencierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09789792846850772847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045482787552136610.post-55250374153579970052019-05-21T00:26:00.001-07:002019-05-21T00:28:42.218-07:00Blocking a specific protein, may be a promising strategy to prevent the spread of castration-resistant prostate cancer<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="lead" id="first" style="border-bottom-left-radius: 0px !important; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px !important; border-top-left-radius: 0px !important; border-top-right-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.4; margin-bottom: 20px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Promising research, but can it come through soon enough?</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY4YZ1SxHRNwOrBk0h5zfs9k-iVlySAKsQDL9IhH4Ul7MGeBflRzJNqI_YElN72PFCZ6oaVWoBshqYxhyWjgsmtp0-4Z9KvMm666aBB0JwQC5eIRhbeOQY2BbUzh-VrFSIZnPYbq2LgB8/s1600/PPP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="348" data-original-width="620" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY4YZ1SxHRNwOrBk0h5zfs9k-iVlySAKsQDL9IhH4Ul7MGeBflRzJNqI_YElN72PFCZ6oaVWoBshqYxhyWjgsmtp0-4Z9KvMm666aBB0JwQC5eIRhbeOQY2BbUzh-VrFSIZnPYbq2LgB8/s320/PPP.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="lead" id="first" style="border-bottom-left-radius: 0px !important; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px !important; border-top-left-radius: 0px !important; border-top-right-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.4; margin-bottom: 20px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Researchers at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have discovered that blocking a specific protein, may be a promising strategy to prevent the spread of castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC).</span></div>
<div id="text" style="border-bottom-left-radius: 0px !important; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px !important; border-top-left-radius: 0px !important; border-top-right-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">
<div style="border-bottom-left-radius: 0px !important; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px !important; border-top-left-radius: 0px !important; border-top-right-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Under the direction of BUSM's Gerald V. Denis PhD, researchers have long studied a family of three closely related proteins, called BET bromodomain proteins, composed of BRD2, BRD3 and BRD4, which regulate gene expression. BUSM researchers were the first (in the 1990s) to show how these proteins function in human cancer.</span></div>
<div style="border-bottom-left-radius: 0px !important; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px !important; border-top-left-radius: 0px !important; border-top-right-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">These researchers now have discovered that inhibition of the protein BRD4, but not BRD2 or BRD3, consistently regulated prostate cancer cell migration and invasion.</span></div>
<div style="border-bottom-left-radius: 0px !important; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px !important; border-top-left-radius: 0px !important; border-top-right-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">CRPC is a highly aggressive form of prostate cancer that often leads to the development of lethal metastases. Standard of care treatment for patients with CRPC typically includes a means to disrupt androgen receptor (AR) signalling, and while effective for an average of two-three years, treatment inevitably fails to impede progression due to acquired resistance mechanisms to the AR.</span></div>
<div style="border-bottom-left-radius: 0px !important; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px !important; border-top-left-radius: 0px !important; border-top-right-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">"Our findings are significant because current therapeutic options for CRPC are limited and focus primarily on suppressing prostate tumour cells that rely on AR signalling," explained first author Jordan Shafran, a PhD candidate in the department of molecular and translational medicine at BUSM.</span></div>
<div style="border-bottom-left-radius: 0px !important; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px !important; border-top-left-radius: 0px !important; border-top-right-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">CRPC is a complex, heterogeneous disease, with varying AR states and expression patterns across individual tumour cells. As the disease progresses, prostate tumour cells can become less reliant on AR signalling and use alternative signalling mechanisms to sustain growth and dissemination. "Therefore, it is imperative to identify 'druggable' targets that regulate prostate cancer cell migration and invasion in cells that are either reliant on, or independent of, androgen receptor signalling," he added.</span></div>
</div>
<hr class="hidden-sm hidden-xs" style="border-bottom-left-radius: 0px !important; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px !important; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-top-left-radius: 0px !important; border-top-right-radius: 0px !important; border-top-style: solid; box-sizing: content-box; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; height: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px;" />
<div id="story_source" style="border-bottom-left-radius: 0px !important; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px !important; border-top-left-radius: 0px !important; border-top-right-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">
<div style="border-bottom-left-radius: 0px !important; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px !important; border-top-left-radius: 0px !important; border-top-right-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<strong style="border-bottom-left-radius: 0px !important; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px !important; border-top-left-radius: 0px !important; border-top-right-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-size: large;">Story Source:</span></strong></div>
<div style="border-bottom-left-radius: 0px !important; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px !important; border-top-left-radius: 0px !important; border-top-right-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Materials provided by <a href="https://www.bmc.org/search/site/prostate" rel="nofollow" style="border-bottom-left-radius: 0px !important; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px !important; border-top-left-radius: 0px !important; border-top-right-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; color: #4c7a9f; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><strong style="border-bottom-left-radius: 0px !important; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px !important; border-top-left-radius: 0px !important; border-top-right-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box;">Boston University School of Medicine</strong></a>.</span></div>
</div>
</div>
Daniel Sencierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09789792846850772847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045482787552136610.post-67013410148206134992019-04-22T21:32:00.001-07:002019-04-22T21:33:23.372-07:00Is there a link between prostate cancer and genetic testing?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="subscriber-preview" style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: Yrsa, serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 28px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJDd9k3becosTHJpbySbd0305PYrjtRHRn5tXWmHPWV6r08c2r1fJdITWHyv5Mbvvsw1YZF_N2PAYPWLdOQ4YlplTw8gHjymMD691luxOSydmdsQREIIS2AIeUoiPG7r5kDo-1aDBUCPs/s1600/dna-1020670_1280.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="994" data-original-width="1280" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJDd9k3becosTHJpbySbd0305PYrjtRHRn5tXWmHPWV6r08c2r1fJdITWHyv5Mbvvsw1YZF_N2PAYPWLdOQ4YlplTw8gHjymMD691luxOSydmdsQREIIS2AIeUoiPG7r5kDo-1aDBUCPs/s320/dna-1020670_1280.png" width="320" /></a></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="subscriber-preview" style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: Yrsa, serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 28px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
More than 164,000 cases of prostate cancer are diagnosed in the United States each year, according to the American Cancer Society. Four out of five cases are localized to the prostate, and the five-year survival rate for those patients is 100%. The survival rate is equally high when cancer spreads to nearby areas of the body. But when the disease metastasizes to lymph nodes, bone or distant organs, the five-year survival rate drops to approximately 29%.</div>
</div>
<div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: Yrsa, serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 28px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Almost everyone is aware of the BRCA1/2 gene mutation and its linkage with increased risk for breast and ovarian cancer. But we now understand the BRCA mutations also can be linked with aggressive prostate cancer. Men who have these mutations in their DNA are known as germline mutations. Men who have BRCA1 mutation have up to four times greater risk of developing prostate cancer and those with BRCA2 have up to nine-fold higher risk. BRCA2 mutations have been associated with the more aggressive forms of the disease and an earlier diagnosis -- meaning diagnosed at age 55 or younger.</div>
</div>
<div class="tncms-region hidden-print" id="tncms-region-article_instory_top" style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">
</div>
<div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: Yrsa, serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 28px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
The current standard of care for metastatic prostate cancer is the same for all men, regardless of BRCA status. The first step is to figure out whether cancer responds to treatments which reduce the levels of testosterone in the body (castration sensitive) or whether it is resistant to this treatment (castration-resistant).</div>
</div>
<div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: Yrsa, serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 28px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Men with castration-sensitive prostate cancer are treated with testosterone suppression known as androgen deprivation therapy. The tumours will respond for many years, but will at some point, become castration-resistant. The patients will then experience a rise in PSA, scans may show new areas of metastasis or patients may develop new cancer symptoms. Other treatments may be added, such as chemotherapy and/or radiation. Surgical removal of the prostate is also a treatment option for men with castration-sensitive or resistant cancer that has not yet spread.</div>
</div>
<div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: Yrsa, serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 28px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
A growing number of oncology clinics are genomic testing to guide treatment in men whose cancer has been castration-resistant. Previously, genetic testing was offered to prostate cancer patients of Ashkenazi Jewish descent for a family history of breast or ovarian cancer, but now consideration should be given to test all castration-resistant patients for therapeutic benefit, along with considerations for family members.</div>
</div>
<div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: Yrsa, serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 28px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
There is a treatment called PARP inhibitor that has been used successfully to treat ovarian and breast cancer patients with BRCA2 mutations because it blocks an enzyme which cells need to repair their DNA. The presence of a BRCA gene mutation, plus a PARP inhibitor, creates “synthetic lethality” and causes the cells to die.</div>
</div>
<div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">
<div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box;">
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: Yrsa, serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 28px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Genetic testing is still rare in the treatment of prostate cancer.</div>
<div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box;">
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: Yrsa, serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 28px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Healthy men from families with histories of breast and ovarian cancer could benefit from knowing their BRCA status, which will help their physician design a surveillance plan to detect prostate cancer early. PAA testing has been controversial because it sometimes detects tumours that don’t need to be treated, and this may lead to unnecessary medical intervention. But because BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations have been associated with the most aggressive, fastest-moving forms of prostate cancer, an abnormal PSA result in a man with one of those mutations might be taken more seriously.</div>
</div>
<div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box;">
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: Yrsa, serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 28px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Men who carry BRCA mutations might also face a higher risk of other cancers, including breast cancer, pancreatic cancer and melanoma. Patients can talk to their doctors as to how to screen for these cancers.</div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: Yrsa, serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 28px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
By Dr Monica Rocco</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="tnt-ads-container text-center " style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; min-height: auto; orphans: auto; text-align: center !important; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">
<div class="tnt-ads dfp-ad dfp-unit-requested dfp-rendered dfp-creative-113476988717 dfp-line-item-850358117" data-dfp-adunit="/8438/lompocrecord.com/lifestyles/health-med-fit" data-dfp-custom-pos="fixed-inline-video, stf" data-dfp-size="[4,1]" data-google-query-id="COm8jNKv5eECFUmFaAod17IGkA" data-lazy="true" id="fixed-inline-video" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: block; margin: 0px auto 40px; min-height: 1px; min-width: 4px;">
<div id="google_ads_iframe_/8438/lompocrecord.com/lifestyles/health-med-fit_2__container__" style="border: 0pt none; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; margin: 0px auto;">
<div id="x-video-ad-asset-container" style="box-sizing: border-box; max-height: 0px; overflow: hidden; transition: max-height 1s;">
<div class="video-responsive-ad video-js vjs-default-skin vjs-controls-disabled vjs-waiting vjs-playing vjs-user-inactive" id="x-video-ad-asset" muted="true" style="-webkit-user-select: none; background-color: black; box-sizing: border-box; color: #cccccc; display: block; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; height: 0px; margin: 0px auto; overflow: hidden; padding: 30px 0px 383.421875px; position: relative !important; text-align: left; vertical-align: middle;">
<video class="vjs-tech" id="x-video-ad-asset_html5_api" muted="" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 413.421875px; left: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 681.65625px;"></video><br />
<div style="box-sizing: border-box;">
</div>
<div class="vjs-text-track-display" style="bottom: 1em; box-sizing: border-box; left: 1em; position: absolute; right: 1em; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="vjs-loading-spinner" style="animation: spin 1.5s linear infinite; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; font-size: 4em; height: 1em; left: 340.828125px; line-height: 1; margin-left: -0.5em; margin-top: -0.5em; opacity: 0.75; position: absolute; top: 206.703125px; width: 1em;">
</div>
<div class="vjs-control-bar" style="background-color: rgba(7, 20, 30, 0.701961); bottom: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; height: 3em; left: 0px; position: absolute; right: 0px;">
<div aria-live="polite" class="vjs-play-control vjs-control vjs-playing" role="button" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: block; float: left; height: 3em; margin: 0px auto; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-align: center; width: 5em;" tabindex="0">
<div class="vjs-control-content" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: block; margin: 0px auto;">
<span class="vjs-control-text" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; clip: rect(0px, 0px, 0px, 0px); height: 1px; margin: -1px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; width: 1px;">Pause</span></div>
</div>
<div class="vjs-current-time vjs-time-controls vjs-control" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; font-size: 1em; height: 3em; line-height: 3em; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-align: center; width: 4em;">
<div aria-live="off" class="vjs-current-time-display" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: block; margin: 0px auto;">
<span class="vjs-control-text" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; clip: rect(0px, 0px, 0px, 0px); height: 1px; margin: -1px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; width: 1px;">Current Time</span>0:00</div>
</div>
<div class="vjs-time-divider" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; line-height: 3em;">
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; display: block; margin: 0px auto;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box;">/</span></div>
</div>
<div class="vjs-duration vjs-time-controls vjs-control" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; font-size: 1em; height: 3em; line-height: 3em; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-align: center; width: 4em;">
<div aria-live="off" class="vjs-duration-display" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: block; margin: 0px auto;">
<span class="vjs-control-text" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; clip: rect(0px, 0px, 0px, 0px); height: 1px; margin: -1px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; width: 1px;">Duration Time</span>0:00</div>
</div>
<div class="vjs-live-controls vjs-control" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; height: 3em; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-align: center; width: 4em;">
<div aria-live="off" class="vjs-live-display" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: block; font-size: 1em; line-height: 3em; margin: 0px auto;">
<span class="vjs-control-text" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; clip: rect(0px, 0px, 0px, 0px); height: 1px; margin: -1px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; width: 1px;">Stream Type</span>LIVE</div>
</div>
<div class="vjs-progress-control vjs-control" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; font-size: 0.3em; height: 1em; left: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: 0px; text-align: center; top: -1em; transition: all 0.4s; width: auto;">
<div aria-label="video progress bar" aria-valuemax="100" aria-valuemin="0" aria-valuenow="NaN" aria-valuetext="0:00" class="vjs-progress-holder vjs-slider" role="slider" style="background-color: rgba(51, 51, 51, 0.901961); box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 3px; margin: 0px auto; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;" tabindex="0">
<div class="vjs-load-progress" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.2); box-sizing: border-box; display: block; height: 3px; left: 0px; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px; width: 0px;">
<span class="vjs-control-text" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; clip: rect(0px, 0px, 0px, 0px); height: 1px; margin: -1px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; width: 1px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Loaded</span>: 0%</span></div>
<div class="vjs-play-progress" style="background-color: #66a8cc; background-image: url("data:image/png; background-position: -50% 0px; background-repeat: repeat repeat; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; height: 3px; left: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px; width: 2.515625px;">
<span class="vjs-control-text" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; clip: rect(0px, 0px, 0px, 0px); height: 1px; margin: -1px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; width: 1px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Progress</span>: 0%</span></div>
<div aria-live="off" class="vjs-seek-handle vjs-slider-handle" style="box-sizing: border-box; height: 3px; left: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px; width: 1.5em;">
<span class="vjs-control-text" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; clip: rect(0px, 0px, 0px, 0px); height: 1px; margin: -1px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; width: 1px;">0:00</span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-live="polite" class="vjs-fullscreen-control vjs-control " role="button" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 3em; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-align: center; width: 3.8em;" tabindex="0">
<div class="vjs-control-content" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: block; margin: 0px auto;">
<span class="vjs-control-text" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; clip: rect(0px, 0px, 0px, 0px); height: 1px; margin: -1px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; width: 1px;">Fullscreen</span></div>
</div>
<div class="vjs-volume-control vjs-control" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: right; height: 3em; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-align: center; width: 5em;">
<div aria-label="volume level" aria-valuemax="100" aria-valuemin="0" aria-valuenow="100" aria-valuetext="100%" class="vjs-volume-bar vjs-slider" role="slider" style="background-color: rgba(51, 51, 51, 0.901961); box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 0.6em; margin: 0px auto; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 5em;" tabindex="0">
<div class="vjs-volume-level" style="background-color: #66a8cc; background-image: url("data:image/png; background-position: -50% 0px; background-repeat: repeat repeat; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; height: 0.5em; left: 0px; margin: 0px auto; position: absolute; top: 0px; width: 50px;">
<span class="vjs-control-text" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; clip: rect(0px, 0px, 0px, 0px); height: 1px; margin: -1px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; width: 1px;"></span></div>
<div class="vjs-volume-handle vjs-slider-handle" style="box-sizing: border-box; height: 0.5em; left: 4.5em; position: absolute; top: 0px; width: 0.5em;">
<span class="vjs-control-text" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; clip: rect(0px, 0px, 0px, 0px); height: 1px; margin: -1px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; width: 1px;">00:00</span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-live="polite" class="vjs-mute-control vjs-control" role="button" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 3em; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-align: center; width: 4em;" tabindex="0">
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; display: block; margin: 0px auto;">
<span class="vjs-control-text" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; clip: rect(0px, 0px, 0px, 0px); height: 1px; margin: -1px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; width: 1px;">Mute</span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div data-days="30" data-id="03390771-367e-578e-b618-9700f0fc6740" data-instance="subscription" data-views="15" id="lee-subscription-wall" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">
</div>
</div>
Daniel Sencierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09789792846850772847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045482787552136610.post-27791811402353444872019-04-01T06:11:00.001-07:002019-04-01T06:11:19.186-07:00Prostate cancer cells change the behaviour of other cells<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="lead" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 15pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Prostate cancer cells change the behaviour of other cells around them, including normal cells, by 'spitting out' a protein from their nucleus, new research has found.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi06cYqTPzMcx9xfmErGWC-EotHMnsYiwINWDvLVWkf5knkIvCM0NMr9Ob-yuiZS-WV2bS9pbpWStztUFo8WTurmZm7PTWNybpiZMk9SiwEcPEJrgrtAPNvXxCJ78a7fnn1DW7aYPjjzx0/s1600/cancer-cells-541954_1920.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="667" data-original-width="1024" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi06cYqTPzMcx9xfmErGWC-EotHMnsYiwINWDvLVWkf5knkIvCM0NMr9Ob-yuiZS-WV2bS9pbpWStztUFo8WTurmZm7PTWNybpiZMk9SiwEcPEJrgrtAPNvXxCJ78a7fnn1DW7aYPjjzx0/s400/cancer-cells-541954_1920.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="lead" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 15pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 10.5pt;">The tiny pieces of protein are taken up by the other cells, provoking changes that promote tumour growth and -- the researchers believe -- help </span>the cancer<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> hide from the body's immune system.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 7.5pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 10.5pt;">The process has been captured for the first time on video (</span><a href="https://youtu.be/Ye4t9IJpRdo" style="color: #954f72;" title="https://youtu.be/Ye4t9IJpRdo"><span style="color: #4c7a9f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 10.5pt;">https://youtu.be/Ye4t9IJpRdo</span></a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 10.5pt;">) by researchers at the University of Bradford and University of Surrey. The research is published today [26 March] in<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><em>Scientific Reports</em>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 7.5pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Lead researcher, Professor Richard Morgan from the University of Bradford, said: "For tumours to survive, grow bigger and spread they need to control the behaviour of cancer cells and the normal cells around them and we've found a means by which they do this. Blocking this process could be a potential target for future cancer therapy."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 7.5pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 10.5pt;">The research focused on a protein called EN2 that has a role in early development of the brain but has also been found at high levels in many types of cancer cells.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 7.5pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 10.5pt;">The team highlighted the protein using a green florescent tag. The researchers then studied its activity in human prostate cancer cells, normal prostate cells and in bladder cancer, melanoma and leukemia cells. They found that both cancer and normal cells took up the protein from other cells.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 7.5pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 10.5pt;">They also did time lapse photography of prostate cancer cells, taking pictures every five minutes for 24 hours. The resulting video shows the cells eject small parts of themselves containing the green florescent protein that are then taken up by otherwise dormant cancer cells, causing them to reactivate, changing shape or fusing together.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 7.5pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Professor Morgan explains: "We think this is significant because cell fusion in cancer is relatively unusual and is associated with very aggressive disease. It can lead to new and unpredictable hybrid cells that are frequently better at spreading to different sites and surviving chemotherapy and radiotherapy."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 7.5pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Molecular analysis of the normal prostate cells showed that take up of EN2 caused them to express a gene called MX2 that generates an anti-viral response.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 7.5pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 10.5pt;">"We believe the cancer is trying to minimise the chances of the cells around it being infected by a virus, to avoid scrutiny by the immune system," says Professor Morgan.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 7.5pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 10.5pt;">"This could undermine the effectiveness of immunotherapy treatments, which try to use viruses to kill cancer by stimulating the immune system to attack it."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 7.5pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 10.5pt;">The researchers were also surprised to find the EN2 protein in the cell membrane as well as in the nucleus -- which is very unusual for this type of protein. This provides an opportunity to block its action, and the team were able to identify that part of the protein that was accessible at the cell surface to be a potential target for treatment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 7.5pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Hardev Pandha, Professor of Medical Oncology at the University of Surrey, says: "This work follows on from earlier studies at Surrey where detection of EN2 in urine, after secretion from prostate cancer cells, was shown to be a robust diagnostic biomarker of prostate cancer. The more we learn about prostate cancer the more that can be done to identify and treat this devastating disease."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 7.5pt;">
<i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Source: University of Bradford, UK (March 2019)<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
</div>
Daniel Sencierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09789792846850772847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045482787552136610.post-77395770259513932512019-03-24T04:04:00.001-07:002019-03-24T04:16:17.514-07:00April Fools' Day<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 18.399999618530273px; margin: 15pt 0cm; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 18.399999618530273px; margin: 0cm 0cm 22.5pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">Probably the largest non-religious festival celebrated in the western world, yet its origins are as uncertain as whether you’ll fall victim in April this year. The earliest mention of April Fools’ Day or All Fools’ Day came in 1686 England when biographer John Aubrey described April 1st as a “Fools Holy Day.” Way before that, the Roman spring festival of Hilaria, the vernal (spring) equinox paved the way for similar events through the centuries. Held around the 25<sup>th</sup>March in honour of the first day of the year that was longer than the night, it included festivities, games, processions and masquerades, during which disguised commoners could imitate nobility to devious ends. Back to today, you’re gifted an opportunity once a year to get your own back on ‘the boss’ under the protection of “April Fool” but make sure they really do have a sense of humour, or you could end up toast! This is not a practice restricted to individuals but taken up by many large organisations over recent years, perhaps most famously in 1957 when the BBC reported on Italians harvesting spaghetti from special trees. </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4uXiSUndsB6Dd3VG2C4eI0Jv36sSn_zkUuCUs1JcCZmd5eYqSN7x9fS5Te79r43ReJ7AAiULDDnUBUlA4JYHkLKVQvyrsbePTs2afc4N0pBuiMucCgRgDJbjc3FkMiC9eHRMs1C2z_Ks/s1600/spaghetti+tree.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="788" data-original-width="1400" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4uXiSUndsB6Dd3VG2C4eI0Jv36sSn_zkUuCUs1JcCZmd5eYqSN7x9fS5Te79r43ReJ7AAiULDDnUBUlA4JYHkLKVQvyrsbePTs2afc4N0pBuiMucCgRgDJbjc3FkMiC9eHRMs1C2z_Ks/s400/spaghetti+tree.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 18.399999618530273px; margin: 0cm 0cm 22.5pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">This resulted in several hundred asking for information on how to cultivate the ‘spaghetti tree,’ followed by complaints of being humiliated when the truth came out! So, whatever prank you line up, before you cause too much anxiety, make sure you shout, “April Fool!” which will hopefully bring you some forgiveness.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 18.399999618530273px; margin: 0cm 0cm 22.5pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">With an Irish background, I grew up drowning in jokes; it was April Fools’ Day every day! My conversations were so peppered with similes, metaphors and sarcasm that foreigners could barely understand me. However, none of those jokes were designed to hurt, just to make others laugh, which encouraged me to learn even more. Irish jokes were something I could live with, in part because I could relate to an element of personal reflection! </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji41dNqempuPQJYu7n2gq6Vhnbu0_aSmUcXPfNDA34i29kMO1ttlc2yTRjum8Kj7fBlgEo82WhnrZH8PMNbwn6A21XO0g9M80-Tb6C3Q9rlWVEyEvuVtOXzlY6KXBrUOn9R6h4ujLWToA/s1600/Screenshot+2019-02-08+at+14.32.33.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="290" data-original-width="1172" height="97" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji41dNqempuPQJYu7n2gq6Vhnbu0_aSmUcXPfNDA34i29kMO1ttlc2yTRjum8Kj7fBlgEo82WhnrZH8PMNbwn6A21XO0g9M80-Tb6C3Q9rlWVEyEvuVtOXzlY6KXBrUOn9R6h4ujLWToA/s400/Screenshot+2019-02-08+at+14.32.33.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 18.399999618530273px; margin: 0cm 0cm 22.5pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">My mother, born and bred in the Republic, used to say things intended as serious, but we would all fall about laughing. </span><i style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">“Our Daniel has one of those new ‘sat lav’ things in his car now,” or “I’m too scared to ask Google, they might think I’m stupid." </i><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">She once saw a rabbit hopping by the side of the road and remarked, </span><i style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">“Daniel, do you think that’s a real rabbit?” Stunned, I replied jokingly, “No Mum, it’s one of those new hi-tech ones.” </i><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">She explained with a straight face how she’d never heard of those things, but what a good idea they were! She would always start a scolding with, “Look at me, this is no joking matter!” We’d all freeze, trying to look petrified, but the slightest twitch from one of us and we’d all crack up, scattering to avoid the far-reaching (low-tech) broom! </span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 18.399999618530273px; margin: 0cm 0cm 22.5pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">There are the thousands of great jokes that you learn and memorise, stored in a giant ‘Gatling gun’ that you release without warning when the time’s right… <i>Sean and Mick are walking down the road and Sean has a bag of doughnuts in his hand. Sean says to Mick, "If you can guess how many doughnuts are in my bag, you can have them both. "</i>Would that offend you? Maybe if you were Irish? Unlikely though!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivDFK6w2lKKI7vYpDOIfB578PyYu4gby7t10MhdpwKqmmBKIrNG2bblryz1HmTYS_IauHp_WN3o_Xc_weM4QNJFBgQ1Iev0kKeAj6QFypIKtbW2nITUls-DNQ8hyphenhyphenrh_zeFWRnSbYNLL7s/s1600/Screenshot+2019-02-07+at+10.27.25.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="830" data-original-width="706" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivDFK6w2lKKI7vYpDOIfB578PyYu4gby7t10MhdpwKqmmBKIrNG2bblryz1HmTYS_IauHp_WN3o_Xc_weM4QNJFBgQ1Iev0kKeAj6QFypIKtbW2nITUls-DNQ8hyphenhyphenrh_zeFWRnSbYNLL7s/s320/Screenshot+2019-02-07+at+10.27.25.png" width="272" /></a></div>
<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 18.399999618530273px; margin: 0cm 0cm 22.5pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Travelling the world, I recognised that in some cultures, jokes don’t exist. When living in Johannesburg, our TV reception was poor, so I informed our friend Freedom that I’d wait for nightfall and go steal the satellite dish from our neighbour’s roof. He was shocked and explained that it was illegal to do such a thing. When I explained that I was joking, he was even more confused. “So, it was a lie?” he said. I replied, “Yes, sometimes a joke can be a lie, but that’s OK because it’s a joke.” The following morning, he came to tell me that he was going into town, and I wished him a safe journey. He said, “</span><i style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">No</i><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">, I’m </span><i style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">not</i><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">going to town, it was a joke.” I forced a laugh but failed miserably, then sat with him to try and clarify, and we had endless fun practising. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 18.399999618530273px; margin: 15pt 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">So, what is a joke? <i>“A ‘joke’ is a display of humour in which words are used within a specific and well-defined narrative structure to make people laugh and is not meant to be taken seriously.”</i>(</span>Wikipedia)<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">Does that do it for you? <i>Why did the chicken cross the road? In Bangkok? Undoubtedly suicide with a guaranteed outcome! Knock! Knock! Who's there? Cash! Cash who? No thanks, but I'd love some peanuts! </i>Don’t worry, my wife took four takes on that one!<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtgR8J37pG5hLFihXkzVi3kHMx8Q4PoXiXEsZESEhI_kB6FO00itJuNTUHcakCahXrI523hMswDJdRj6leK_G9mYkOcL-spLZ8uGfR240vvow1wG-SdxBhAGQlGo1MwH5s_XuuEP42Mpw/s1600/Laughter+is+best+medicine.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="1024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtgR8J37pG5hLFihXkzVi3kHMx8Q4PoXiXEsZESEhI_kB6FO00itJuNTUHcakCahXrI523hMswDJdRj6leK_G9mYkOcL-spLZ8uGfR240vvow1wG-SdxBhAGQlGo1MwH5s_XuuEP42Mpw/s400/Laughter+is+best+medicine.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 18.399999618530273px; margin: 15pt 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">Jewish, Catholic, vegetarian, football, Essex girl, mother-in-law, race, sex, disability, tragedy, any subject now becomes ammo for jokes. After 9/11 the first jokes came out the same day on social media, and I’ve seen it happen with anything that occurs around the world. Why? Maybe that’s the way some of us handle things when they get so bad! “Death smiles at us all, all we can do is smile back.” </span>(Gladiator)<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 18.399999618530273px; margin: 15pt 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">Then there are the camouflaged jokes; these are the worst kind because they’re always aimed at individuals or minority sections of society. A joke designed to hurt or offend, maybe not intentionally, but under the guise of “It was just a joke,” but often doesn’t feel that way to the receiver! <i>Did you hear about the bulimic stag party? The cake came out of the girl! How do you make a blonde laugh on Saturday? Tell her a joke on Wednesday.</i>Not so good for Bulimic Blondes! <i>My mother-in-law and I were happy for 20 years; then we met each other. Why don`t ducks tell jokes when they fly? Because they would quack up! </i>A bit more general, so less offensive unless you’re a well-read mallard!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 18.399999618530273px; margin: 15pt 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">Having had a cancer scare recently, I can relate to this one… <i>An old soldier went to a clinic for an MRI and was put into the machine by an attractive, young technician. Sometime later, after snoozing to music, the examination was over, and he was helped from the device by an older guy. The veteran gasped, “Wow! How long was I in there for?” <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 18.399999618530273px; margin: 15pt 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4VyWu4_WHeqDLkAvMJrZ-B8gcegFFFSQYq7cdhyphenhyphenBsIMd9nvDo8yi-fkr8qpH39GiUuXSvFQkUiSOMpbYyQEzs9YbkI_4FPu6U_6MpPkFiJvL9UIsZdfqVK5JKtPH9ISXbCNRTRfU8xDY/s1600/laugh.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1461" data-original-width="1600" height="292" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4VyWu4_WHeqDLkAvMJrZ-B8gcegFFFSQYq7cdhyphenhyphenBsIMd9nvDo8yi-fkr8qpH39GiUuXSvFQkUiSOMpbYyQEzs9YbkI_4FPu6U_6MpPkFiJvL9UIsZdfqVK5JKtPH9ISXbCNRTRfU8xDY/s320/laugh.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 18.399999618530273px; margin: 15pt 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">Tell your joke, but be aware of your audience. What may seem very funny to some could be offensive to others, and if you’re amongst strangers, you should be doubly careful. Billy Connolly, a master of the profession, said, "I've always been fascinated by the difference between jokes you can tell your friends, but you can't tell to an audience. There's a fine line you must tread, because you don't know who is out there in the auditorium. A lot of people are too easily offended. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 18.399999618530273px; margin: 15pt 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">The older you get, the more jokes you’ll have heard, sometimes the same ones coming around incessantly, like Jehovah Witnesses. Still, laugh out loud, it’s good for you! I even laugh at jokes when I don’t get them, it seems fair on the teller! If you’ve got a joke that would make me <i>cry laughing</i>, please send it because I haven’t done that in years! Laughter is a wonderful medicine, it improves your health, and it’s free, fun and easy to do. It triggers the release of endorphins, the body’s natural ‘feel-good’ chemicals, allowing you a greater sense of well-being. Laughter burns calories, improves circulation, makes you more popular, inspires hope and one day, if you’re lucky, you may even die laughing!</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 18.66666603088379px;">Monday 1st April, beware, it could be you!</span></div>
</div>
Daniel Sencierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09789792846850772847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045482787552136610.post-49726966588732309692019-03-24T02:50:00.001-07:002019-06-01T20:25:13.955-07:00A selection of my publications in Expat Life Thailand 2016 – 2019<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzHlemWpBKIbqExZHZh4Jc5uyEotGbuSam3xSvjVDVMHdy1CDQh1Cao3ABh-nDPDzBsKnq8uqmVUD4mMqHE6QgvYGFTXSp19laUnyJBQdR-Mn0jlxdO-QT5hVdFqvbM7KTvBP6gO0Tmqk/s1600/expatlife-th-magazine-160809-feat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1096" data-original-width="780" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzHlemWpBKIbqExZHZh4Jc5uyEotGbuSam3xSvjVDVMHdy1CDQh1Cao3ABh-nDPDzBsKnq8uqmVUD4mMqHE6QgvYGFTXSp19laUnyJBQdR-Mn0jlxdO-QT5hVdFqvbM7KTvBP6gO0Tmqk/s640/expatlife-th-magazine-160809-feat.jpg" width="452" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: #0563c1;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18.66666603088379px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: #0563c1;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18.66666603088379px;">Just for the record:</span></span><br />
<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: #0563c1;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18.66666603088379px;"><br /></span></span>
<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: #0563c1;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18.66666603088379px;">Where do we go when we die? (Publishing June 2019)</span></span><br />
<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: #0563c1;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18.66666603088379px;"><a href="http://danielsencier.blogspot.com/2019/03/they-wont-remember-everything-you-said.html">http://danielsencier.blogspot.com/2019/03/they-wont-remember-everything-you-said.html</a></span></span><br />
<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: #0563c1;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18.66666603088379px;"><br /></span></span>
<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: #0563c1;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18.66666603088379px;">April Fools' Day (publishing April 2019)</span></span><br />
<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: #0563c1;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18.66666603088379px;"><a href="https://danielsencier.blogspot.com/2019/03/april-fools-day.html?spref=fb&fbclid=IwAR1UllFJyyfEiHnaOiy5GHYGV3p3lkgY5s0iy5Z5zindbJOrCfg712v77cg">https://danielsencier.blogspot.com/2019/03/april-fools-day.html?spref=fb&fbclid=IwAR1UllFJyyfEiHnaOiy5GHYGV3p3lkgY5s0iy5Z5zindbJOrCfg712v77cg</a></span></span><br />
<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: #0563c1;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18.66666603088379px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: #0563c1;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18.66666603088379px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Where do we go when we die?</span></span></span><br />
<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: #0563c1;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18.66666603088379px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://issuu.com/nickargles/docs/expatlife-45">https://issuu.com/nickargles/docs/expatlife-45</a> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: #0563c1;"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none;">Dying was easy/coming back was harder<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: #0563c1; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://expatlifeinthailand.com/lifestyle/dying-easy-coming-back-life-harder/" style="color: #954f72;">https://expatlifeinthailand.com/lifestyle/dying-easy-coming-back-life-harder/</a></span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
How important is Facebook to you?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: #0563c1; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://expatlifeinthailand.com/education/how-important-is-facebook-to-you/" style="color: #954f72;">https://expatlifeinthailand.com/education/how-important-is-facebook-to-you/</a></span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
Prostate Cancer<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: #0563c1; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://expatlifeinthailand.com/health-and-beauty/prostrate-cancer/" style="color: #954f72;">https://expatlifeinthailand.com/health-and-beauty/prostrate-cancer/</a></span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
Retiring to Thailand<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: #0563c1; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://expatlifeinthailand.com/travel-and-leisure/hotels-and-accommodations/retiring-to-thailand/" style="color: #954f72;">https://expatlifeinthailand.com/travel-and-leisure/hotels-and-accommodations/retiring-to-thailand/</a></span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
Kensington International School<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: #0563c1; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://expatlifeinthailand.com/education/kensington-school/" style="color: #954f72;">https://expatlifeinthailand.com/education/kensington-school/</a></span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
In memory of Martin. Updates at: <a href="https://danielsencier.blogspot.com/2018/04/in-memory-of-my-friend-martin.html" style="color: #954f72;">https://danielsencier.blogspot.com/2018/04/in-memory-of-my-friend-martin.html</a>)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: #0563c1; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://expatlifeinthailand.com/love-and-relationship/family/in-memory-of-my-friend-martin/" style="color: #954f72;">https://expatlifeinthailand.com/love-and-relationship/family/in-memory-of-my-friend-martin/</a></span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
Cholesterol: Are you at risk?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: #0563c1; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://expatlifeinthailand.com/health-and-beauty/cholesterol-are-you-at-risk/" style="color: #954f72;">https://expatlifeinthailand.com/health-and-beauty/cholesterol-are-you-at-risk/</a></span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
Al-Saray Review<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: #0563c1; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://expatlifeinthailand.com/food-and-drink/al-saray-the-jewel-of-sala-daeng/" style="color: #954f72;">https://expatlifeinthailand.com/food-and-drink/al-saray-the-jewel-of-sala-daeng/</a></span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
England’s Teachers Heading Overseas.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: #0563c1; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://expatlifeinthailand.com/education/englands-teachers-heading-overseas/" style="color: #954f72;">https://expatlifeinthailand.com/education/englands-teachers-heading-overseas/</a></span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
Visit to Japan.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: #0563c1; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://expatlifeinthailand.com/travel-and-leisure/japan-a-flying-visit/" style="color: #954f72;">https://expatlifeinthailand.com/travel-and-leisure/japan-a-flying-visit/</a></span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
The Penrith Show<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: #0563c1; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://expatlifeinthailand.com/travel-and-leisure/diving-back-into-english-culture-the-penrith-show/" style="color: #954f72;">https://expatlifeinthailand.com/travel-and-leisure/diving-back-into-english-culture-the-penrith-show/</a></span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
Happy Christmas Story<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: #0563c1; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://expatlifeinthailand.com/lifestyle/great-expectations-happy-christmas-everyone/" style="color: #954f72;">https://expatlifeinthailand.com/lifestyle/great-expectations-happy-christmas-everyone/</a></span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
The Milk Boy<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: #0563c1; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://expatlifeinthailand.com/travel-and-leisure/art-and-culture/the-milk-boy-who-became-a-soldier/" style="color: #954f72;">https://expatlifeinthailand.com/travel-and-leisure/art-and-culture/the-milk-boy-who-became-a-soldier/</a></span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
2017 – A year without alcohol<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: #0563c1; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://issuu.com/expatlifeinthailand/docs/expatlife-i37/122" style="color: #954f72;">https://issuu.com/expatlifeinthailand/docs/expatlife-i37/122</a></span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: #0563c1;"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none;">Dear Daniel: A letter to myself, aged 12<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: #0563c1; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://issuu.com/nickargles/docs/expatlife2017_febmar_lores/62" style="color: #954f72;">https://issuu.com/nickargles/docs/expatlife2017_febmar_lores/62</a></span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
Christmases in the 60s<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: #0563c1; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://issuu.com/nickargles/docs/expatlife_i36_lores" style="color: #954f72;">https://issuu.com/nickargles/docs/expatlife_i36_lores</a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: #0563c1;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #0563c1;"> </span>page 8</span></span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
Medical Emergency Bangkok (co-written with Susan Dustin)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: #0563c1; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://expatlifeinthailand.com/author/susan/" style="color: #954f72;">https://expatlifeinthailand.com/author/susan/</a></span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
The fires that cleanse the soul<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
&<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
My Ups and Downs on Internet dating<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: #0563c1;"><a href="https://issuu.com/nickargles/docs/expatlife2017_febmar_lores" style="color: #954f72;"></a><a href="https://issuu.com/nickargles/docs/el_i32_aprmay17_lores" style="color: #954f72; text-decoration: underline;">https://issuu.com/nickargles/docs/el_i32_aprmay17_lores</a> </span><span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: #0563c1;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">pages 46 & 106</span></span><o:p></o:p><br />
<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: #0563c1;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><br /></span></span>
<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: #0563c1;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Coffee Club Review</span></span><br />
<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: #0563c1;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><a href="https://expatlifeinthailand.com/food-and-drink/coffee-club-review/">https://expatlifeinthailand.com/food-and-drink/coffee-club-review/ </a></span></span></div>
</div>
Daniel Sencierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09789792846850772847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045482787552136610.post-44629739440368663742019-03-21T18:20:00.000-07:002019-03-21T18:20:13.450-07:00Do we age with our Music?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0y2WgDQah9v-NLL20J1O2RRTWLl8vNRg5m7-BE6rt-nQpGrWT9l5SYWN8ncPUKNjbPKeg4w5Imkgc2d4Cn94-65_OYRNuc2PANv0Lb_OgN8UFgXK0J3AcCkGBRx1L_197sgh5hRsKX_4/s1600/Radio_Caroline1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="379" data-original-width="550" height="275" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0y2WgDQah9v-NLL20J1O2RRTWLl8vNRg5m7-BE6rt-nQpGrWT9l5SYWN8ncPUKNjbPKeg4w5Imkgc2d4Cn94-65_OYRNuc2PANv0Lb_OgN8UFgXK0J3AcCkGBRx1L_197sgh5hRsKX_4/s400/Radio_Caroline1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">In 1967, I'd joined the Army that May and remember listening when Radio One came on air for the first time. 7 am I think it was, but us soldiers had done a days work by then :-) We'd had Radio Caroline since 1964 but I was more into classical music at that time as I'd played violin in the school orchestra. But for a few years, I'd never tune to another station, Radio One would live forever!</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">As the years went by I found the music I loved was decreasing on that station, and I eventually migrated, along with the music, to Radio Two. I was happy again, with stuff that I recognised, and even though I tried to 'modernise' I just couldn't like much of the new stuff.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Well, I suppose inevitably, Radio Two started to go downhill for me too, and when I moved to Thailand four years ago I found where all my favourites had gone. All the music I like from the 60s/70s had moved to the night shift in the UK, between about 1am and 5 am, which was great because I got to listen at 8 am to 1 pm here in Bangkok.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">I flicked back to Radio One the other day; do people really listen to that stuff? Sounded like the food blender with metal in! I guess it's an age thing.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Thanks to the Internet we can listen to anything from around the world now. Do you know any stations that play a good selection of 60s 70s even 80s music, without a DJ who wants to ramble on for 10 minutes between tracks? Tell me, please! Or even a good 'chat show' where the common man comes on and debates anything/everything, like the James Whale Show?</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Daniel Sencierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09789792846850772847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045482787552136610.post-60017378947820736782019-03-09T00:53:00.001-08:002019-03-19T02:04:06.428-07:00They won't remember everything you said, but they will remember how you made them feel.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="uiqtextpara" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Where do we go when we die?</span><span style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="uiqtextpara" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2VNFJ1HUF9taHkeFb0cuo2GEmKda5NV7NfIV6RZ-MylHWVmQaD0Ms6FZQLnEjizM6M5LhIWULWM0GHW03LLaPhoc1B9qhZL0wapaf2CqKK25XWhv7hvXDlNB6jc4aOAC0ZG1Vyawlp3Y/s1600/Old+laundry.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="970" data-original-width="1600" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2VNFJ1HUF9taHkeFb0cuo2GEmKda5NV7NfIV6RZ-MylHWVmQaD0Ms6FZQLnEjizM6M5LhIWULWM0GHW03LLaPhoc1B9qhZL0wapaf2CqKK25XWhv7hvXDlNB6jc4aOAC0ZG1Vyawlp3Y/s320/Old+laundry.png" width="320" /></a> <span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: large; text-align: justify;">One day you’ll be reading this, and I’ll be dead! It might be this edition, fresh off the press, very unexpected; I hope not! More likely, you’ve found a tatty old copy of Expat Life Thailand in the dusty magazine rack of a derelict laundry in Sala Daeng. You’re there, hiding from the chaos outside! The shouting and screaming of hundreds running swiftly through narrow streets care nothing of who they might target next! The police and soldiers stand by powerless as the onslaught spreads; it’s a free for all! All thoughts of tomorrow are gone, today’s all that matters! Your heart’s pounding, body clammy, mind’s racing. How did I get here? What could I have done differently?</span><br />
<div class="uiqtextpara" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="uiqtextpara" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">It'll be too late soon to have a voice; the dead are silent, everything they ever said distorted and forgotten, leaving others with just, 'how you made them feel.' The only things left, films, sound recordings or scripts like this, unchanging, frozen for eternity, just evidence that you were here once!</span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic_u3Z0lAnLQYOg9A1CY1GuyrVdIapm3ZJ_Fo1h7unsBRQVYHZvoApUAf22Oe3CrYDL0yZZk5e0JCYQ5sAGQDpPUXU2EWwH3ZUNDvetTIaQqOuzwXu6TRS5rQWTxzxRpbeO8MbuZE9d2c/s1600/Graves.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1600" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic_u3Z0lAnLQYOg9A1CY1GuyrVdIapm3ZJ_Fo1h7unsBRQVYHZvoApUAf22Oe3CrYDL0yZZk5e0JCYQ5sAGQDpPUXU2EWwH3ZUNDvetTIaQqOuzwXu6TRS5rQWTxzxRpbeO8MbuZE9d2c/s320/Graves.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div class="uiqtextpara" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I've experienced many funerals and can't remember one which wasn't farcical in some way. At my father's, his then current partner, dear old Ivy, sat near the back of the church out of respect for my mother and her children. We, in turn, felt so sorry for her obvious grief that we sat in the remaining seats behind. The priest had to shout from the altar, his voice echoing over thirty rows of empty pews between him and the rest of us! We didn’t know what my father would have wanted, so there we all were, actors in a B movie comedy! <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="uiqtextpara" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="uiqtextpara" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I dislike those European funerals with the big ugly black limos, the distraught family, some doing their best to look distraught, many just wanting to be seen to be there, to 'pay their last respects.' I'm not even sure what that means! If you want to 'pay your respects,' do it when I'm alive so I can have the pleasure of that meeting! Visit while you can, I sincerely don't want your company when I'm dead when it's all one-way talk. If you don't like me, let's make friends. Know that sometimes, it’s too late! Don't whisper to my spirit after your free tea and sandwiches; you'll be talking to yourself. Don't wait to read my obituary, it’ll probably never be written! Learn about me while I’m alive, speak now, hear my story and tell me yours; I'd like that! <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="uiqtextpara" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="uiqtextpara" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Why does it cost six times that of a business class ticket to fly a dead body to another country, when you’re not even eating from the flight menu? If I die overseas, that's where I want to remain. I don't want a funeral, though I know my body must be disposed of, I want it all done with minimum fuss. Buddhists do it best, don’t you think? Avoid flying in from anywhere to see me dead; I'd rather you gave the fare to someone in need. Ashes? Sure, you can have some, but don't talk to them, it's not me! I'm here now. Talk to me!</span></span></div>
<div class="uiqtextpara" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="uiqtextpara" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">When my father was alive I didn't make much effort at keeping in touch; I had a young family, it could always wait until another day. What I'd give to talk now, tell him where I've been and what I've done. I'd hug him for the first time! When he died, I felt a part of me went with him; that way I still feel close. When my mother went, it laid ruin to what was left; all sleeping demons arriving at once!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="uiqtextpara" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="uiqtextpara" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">So, where do I believe we go when we die? We tell our children, "You go back to where you were before you were a baby." I love that! After nearly 70 years, dipping in and out of religion, <i>searching for the truth</i>, I finally found what sits comfortably, and it's simple... <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwQQlUjZBXovD6bo7tPDR6WK2ViwXCdP8GFH68dpKOCjLvTsNQy6koM-iPeU2OCwHl-slpGeJ1YprI08KI7e8cVO8Ahq_FxI05sghx964nK2t4f4VBcILPmJkhD814E0vpAk_n7e7h9Xo/s1600/Screenshot+2019-03-09+at+15.46.26.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1597" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwQQlUjZBXovD6bo7tPDR6WK2ViwXCdP8GFH68dpKOCjLvTsNQy6koM-iPeU2OCwHl-slpGeJ1YprI08KI7e8cVO8Ahq_FxI05sghx964nK2t4f4VBcILPmJkhD814E0vpAk_n7e7h9Xo/s320/Screenshot+2019-03-09+at+15.46.26.png" width="319" /></a></div>
<div class="uiqtextpara" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">I don't know</span></i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">, and nobody else does; Hindus, Jews, Catholics, Muslims, Atheists, say your piece, but if you claim to know, then you’re in immediate conflict with billions of others. Why should you be right and they wrong?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="uiqtextpara" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">There are roughly 4,200 organised religions in the world. I say ‘organised’ to indicate they probably have a leader, a headquarters and a bank account, but some faiths may only have one person with their own set of unique beliefs; like me!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="uiqtextpara" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="uiqtextpara" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Look at the top five:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="uiqtextpara" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Christianity 2.2 billion<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="uiqtextpara" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Islam 1.5 billion<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="uiqtextpara" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Secular/Agnostic/Atheist 1.2 billion<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="uiqtextpara" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Hinduism 1.1 billion<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="uiqtextpara" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Buddhism 535 million<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="uiqtextpara" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="uiqtextpara" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">When a member of one of those dies, they all have very different scenarios in ‘what happens next,’ and all deal with it in very different ways. So, where my open spiritual mind says and feels that there could indeed be a ‘God Almighty’ would that God really have 4,200 different versions of ‘what happens next?’ Or do we desperately research all 4,200 to find which one suits us best? I know that random reincarnation wouldn’t suit me at all, coming back in the lifeform of anything from a goat to a jellyfish, a pigeon to a tuna, all have obvious downsides; and I can think of worse! Having started out as Catholic and experiencing up to 20 other religions over 60 years, I’ve now parked my soul in the Buddhist bay.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="uiqtextpara" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="uiqtextpara" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">My belief is that those who believe there’s nothing after death are just as wrong as those who believe there’s something, because the truth is, we don't know, and that gives me comfort. It means we enter the final journey knowing there might be nothing, but also that there might be something; an element of hope. After all, if there is some higher being, an Almighty God, they will surely understand why we mortals might, looking at the evidence, have doubts about the 'masterplan.'<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="uiqtextpara" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaMZPvGV3ZqrAMIpO2mf62wQepndOXy2XBMw-Iexr4RNxyW05F-upAXUVuZ4Fig_N0WRv0BLyoggXeFC6i2KCqqHdnj7obuNx07LP86TYNqVtKv0no6Oe8bHNzSC3kHraxA5Nbsw1U6R8/s1600/Joke.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="944" data-original-width="960" height="314" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaMZPvGV3ZqrAMIpO2mf62wQepndOXy2XBMw-Iexr4RNxyW05F-upAXUVuZ4Fig_N0WRv0BLyoggXeFC6i2KCqqHdnj7obuNx07LP86TYNqVtKv0no6Oe8bHNzSC3kHraxA5Nbsw1U6R8/s320/Joke.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="uiqtextpara" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Yes, the dust from my body will float along with yours, journeying for eternity throughout the cosmos, scattering over millions of light years. The energy that makes life possible will dissipate, just as candlelight does when the wind gusts. As to what happens then, I don’t know; you don’t know, nobody knows! <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="uiqtextpara" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">So, go now! Grab your weapon, reload and take your chance amongst the bellowing mob outside. Revel and rejoice in the festival of <a href="https://theculturetrip.com/asia/thailand/articles/songkran-thailand-s-water-festival/">Songkran</a>, where you can die safely a thousand times. I’m gone, but your voice still matters. Talk, shout, scream with joy! </span></div>
<div class="uiqtextpara" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>I’m where we go when we die!</i> </span></div>
</div>
Daniel Sencierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09789792846850772847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045482787552136610.post-58800894779335408482019-02-24T02:23:00.001-08:002019-02-24T02:29:55.559-08:00How to recognise when someone is dying<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html" id="mntl-sc-block_1-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; counter-reset: section 0; font-family: Merriweather, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0.625rem; margin-top: 0.625rem; padding: 0px;">
The dying process usually begins<em style="box-sizing: border-box;"> well before</em> death actually occurs, and understanding this process can sometimes help you recognize when your loved one is dying. There are changes that take place physically, behaviorally, and psychologically in the journey towards death, that are signs that the end of life may be nearing.</div>
</div>
<div class="comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-adslot mntl-block" id="mntl-sc-block_1-0-1" style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: Merriweather, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
</div>
<div class="comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html" id="mntl-sc-block_1-0-2" style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; counter-reset: section 0; font-family: Merriweather, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0.625rem; margin-top: 0.625rem; padding: 0px;">
Death is a personal journey which each individual approaches in their own unique way. Nothing is concrete, and nothing is set in stone. There are many paths one can take on this journey but all lead to the same destination. What happens in the journey of dying, beginning one to three months prior to death, during the last two weeks before death, and during the last few days of life? In this continuum, how can you know when your loved one is dying?</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_vdP91fCprpk3YEf7N21J7Mlg8HJjBYGfXhKriNP7WRMBbjlG27aXwdKL0aC48IRoE4tqRxsvBGjbza8fjbyrkaP-fD2V3vgrED2gsiwqeHCcprDF2ZSuA5xLTFvjVK_oxHsTl83_ZCo/s1600/The-journey-towards-death-1132504_v2-5b84c7c5c9e77c0025c7aa1a.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1001" data-original-width="1502" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_vdP91fCprpk3YEf7N21J7Mlg8HJjBYGfXhKriNP7WRMBbjlG27aXwdKL0aC48IRoE4tqRxsvBGjbza8fjbyrkaP-fD2V3vgrED2gsiwqeHCcprDF2ZSuA5xLTFvjVK_oxHsTl83_ZCo/s640/The-journey-towards-death-1132504_v2-5b84c7c5c9e77c0025c7aa1a.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0.625rem; margin-top: 0.625rem; padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0.625rem; margin-top: 0.625rem; padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0.625rem; margin-top: 0.625rem; padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<h3 class="comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-heading" id="mntl-sc-block_1-0-5" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "FS Albert Extra Bold", HelveticaNeueBold, HelveticaNeue-Bold, "Helvetica Neue Bold", HelveticaBold, Helvetica-Bold, "Helvetica Bold", HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.35rem; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.75rem; margin: 2rem 0px 0px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">
<span class="mntl-sc-block-heading__text" style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Dying Process </span></h3>
<div class="comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html" id="mntl-sc-block_1-0-6" style="box-sizing: border-box; counter-reset: section 0; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0.625rem; margin-top: 0.625rem; padding: 0px;">
As a person comes close to death, <a data-component="link" data-ordinal="1" data-source="inlineLink" data-type="internalLink" href="https://www.verywellhealth.com/the-dying-process-1132514" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0188b5; outline: 0px; transition: color 0.15s ease-out;">the dying process</a> begins; a journey from the known life of this world to the unknown of what lies ahead. As this process begins, a person starts on a mental path of discovery, comprehending that death will indeed occur and believing in their own mortality. The journey ultimately leads to the physical departure from the body.</div>
</div>
<div class="comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-adslot mntl-block" id="mntl-sc-block_1-0-7" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
</div>
<div class="comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html" id="mntl-sc-block_1-0-8" style="box-sizing: border-box; counter-reset: section 0; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0.625rem; margin-top: 0.625rem; padding: 0px;">
There are milestones along this journey. Because everyone experiences death in their own unique way, not everyone will stop at each milestone. Some may hit only a few while another may stop at each one, taking their time along the way. Some may take months to reach their destination, others will take only days. We will discuss what has been found through research to be the journey most take, always keeping in mind that the journey is subject to the individual traveler.</div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0.625rem; margin-top: 0.625rem; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "fs albert extra bold" , "helveticaneuebold" , , "helvetica neue bold" , "helveticabold" , , "helvetica bold" , "helveticaneue" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 1.35rem;">The Journey Begins: One to Three Months Prior to Death </span></div>
<div class="comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html" id="mntl-sc-block_1-0-11" style="box-sizing: border-box; counter-reset: section 0; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0.625rem; margin-top: 0.625rem; padding: 0px;">
The dying process starts to be recognizable for many people in the period between a month and three months prior to death. As we discuss these changes, we may use the words 'he" or "she," but the process is fairly similar regardless of gender. There are some differences.</div>
<div class="comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html" id="mntl-sc-block_1-0-14" style="box-sizing: border-box; counter-reset: section 0; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0.625rem; margin-top: 0.625rem; padding: 0px;">
<strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Behavioral and Psychological Changes:</strong> As a person begins to accept their mortality and <a data-component="link" data-ordinal="1" data-source="inlineLink" data-type="internalLink" href="https://www.verywellhealth.com/nearing-death-awareness-1132500" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0188b5; outline: 0px; transition: color 0.15s ease-out;">realizes that death is approaching</a>, they may begin to withdraw from their surroundings. They are beginning the process of separating from the world and those in it. Your loved one may decline visits from friends, neighbors, and even family members. When she does accept visitors, she may be difficult to interact and <a data-component="link" data-ordinal="2" data-source="inlineLink" data-type="internalLink" href="https://www.verywellhealth.com/tips-on-caring-for-a-dying-loved-one-1132499" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0188b5; outline: 0px; transition: color 0.15s ease-out;">care for</a>. This is a time when a person begins to contemplate their life and revisit old memories. In evaluating her life, she may be sorting through any regrets. She may also undertake <a data-component="link" data-ordinal="3" data-source="inlineLink" data-type="internalLink" href="https://www.verywellhealth.com/the-five-tasks-of-dying-1132489" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0188b5; outline: 0px; transition: color 0.15s ease-out;">the five tasks of dying</a>.</div>
</div>
<div class="comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-adslot mntl-block" id="mntl-sc-block_1-0-15" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="comp mntl-block" id="mntl-block_6-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="comp scads-to-load right-rail__item billboard3-sticky billboard-sticky scads-stick-in-parent scads-ad-placed scads-stuck-bottom" data-height="600" data-parent="" id="billboard3-sticky_1-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; height: 600px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: -330px; top: 2081px;">
<div class="spacer" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: none; height: 302px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: static; vertical-align: baseline; width: 300px;">
<div class="comp billboard3-dynamic mntl-gpt-dynamic-adunit mntl-gpt-adunit gpt billboard dynamic" data-ad-height="250" data-ad-width="300" id="billboard3-dynamic_1-0" style="bottom: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; max-width: none; min-height: 250px; min-width: 300px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-align: center; width: 300px;">
<div class="wrapper" data-google-query-id="CMbsqfqQ1OACFRFgKwod1xsEvg" data-pos="btf2" data-priority="5" data-rtb="true" data-sizes="[[300, 250], [300, 252], [3, 1], "fluid"]" data-targeting="null" data-type="billboard" id="billboard3" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; width: 300px;">
<div id="google_ads_iframe_/479/verywellhealth/vwh_end-of-life-overview/billboard3_0__container__" style="border: 0pt none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<iframe data-google-container-id="5" data-load-complete="true" frameborder="0" height="250" id="google_ads_iframe_/479/verywellhealth/vwh_end-of-life-overview/billboard3_0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" name="google_ads_iframe_/479/verywellhealth/vwh_end-of-life-overview/billboard3_0" scrolling="no" style="border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom;" title="3rd party ad content" width="300"></iframe></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html" id="mntl-sc-block_1-0-16" style="box-sizing: border-box; counter-reset: section 0; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0.625rem; margin-top: 0.625rem; padding: 0px;">
<strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Physical Changes:</strong> The dying person may experience <a data-component="link" data-ordinal="1" data-source="inlineLink" data-type="internalLink" href="https://www.verywellhealth.com/where-did-your-appetite-go-1132086" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0188b5; outline: 0px; transition: color 0.15s ease-out;">reduced appetite and weight loss</a> as the body begins to slow down. The body doesn't need the energy from food that it once did. The dying person may be sleeping more now and not engage in activities they once enjoyed. They no longer need food nourishment. The body does a wonderful thing during this time as altered body chemistry produces a mild sense of euphoria. They are neither hungry nor thirsty and are not suffering in any way by not eating. It is an expected part of the journey they have begun.</div>
<div class="comp structured-content article-content expert-content right-rail__offset lock-journey mntl-sc-page mntl-block" data-bind-scroll-on-start="true" data-sc-ad-label-height="24" data-sc-ad-track-spacing="100" data-sc-breakpoint="54em" data-sc-content-positions="[400, 1400, 1400, 1700, 2000, 2200, 2400, 4600]" data-sc-load-immediate="4" data-sc-max-track-height="600" data-sc-min-track-height="250" data-sc-offset="200" data-sc-sticky-offset="60" id="mntl-sc-page_1-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 26px; margin: 0.5rem 0px 0.2em; min-height: 30em; padding: 0px; text-align: center;">
<h3 class="comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-heading" id="mntl-sc-block_1-0-18" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; font-family: "FS Albert Extra Bold", HelveticaNeueBold, HelveticaNeue-Bold, "Helvetica Neue Bold", HelveticaBold, Helvetica-Bold, "Helvetica Bold", HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.35rem; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.75rem; margin: 2rem 0px 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; word-wrap: break-word;">
<span class="mntl-sc-block-heading__text" style="box-sizing: border-box;">One to Two Weeks Prior to Death </span></h3>
<div class="comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html" id="mntl-sc-block_1-0-19" style="box-sizing: border-box; counter-reset: section 0; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0.625rem; margin-top: 0.625rem; padding: 0px;">
The dying process often accelerates in the last one to two weeks of life and can be frightening for families. The mental changes, especially, can be disturbing to family members. At this point in the journey, it is not advisable to "correct" your loved one if she tells you something that doesn't make sense. Gently listen, and support her in her thoughts. If she claims to see loved ones who have died, simply let her tell you. We really don't have a way to know if these are hallucinations, or if our loved ones have seen something we cannot see. Simply love her.</div>
</div>
<div class="comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-adslot mntl-block" id="mntl-sc-block_1-0-20" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
<div class="comp mntl-block" id="mntl-block_8-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="comp scads-to-load right-rail__item billboard5-sticky-lazy billboard-sticky scads-stick-in-parent scads-ad-placed scads-stuck-bottom" data-height="600" data-parent="" id="billboard5-sticky-lazy_1-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; height: 600px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: -330px; top: 3481px;">
<div class="spacer" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: none; height: 302px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: static; vertical-align: baseline; width: 300px;">
<div class="comp js-billboard-lazy billboard5-dynamic-lazy billboard-lazy mntl-lazy-ad mntl-gpt-dynamic-adunit mntl-gpt-adunit gpt billboard dynamic" data-ad-height="250" data-ad-width="300" id="billboard5-dynamic-lazy_1-0" style="bottom: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; max-width: none; min-height: 250px; min-width: 300px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-align: center; width: 300px;">
<div class="wrapper" data-google-query-id="CI7Vt_6Q1OACFdpGKwodqbAFjg" data-pos="btf4" data-priority="7" data-rtb="true" data-sizes="[[300, 250], [300, 254], [5, 1], "fluid"]" data-targeting="{}" data-type="billboard" id="billboard5" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; width: 300px;">
<div id="google_ads_iframe_/479/verywellhealth/vwh_end-of-life-overview/billboard5_0__container__" style="border: 0pt none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<iframe data-google-container-id="7" data-load-complete="true" frameborder="0" height="250" id="google_ads_iframe_/479/verywellhealth/vwh_end-of-life-overview/billboard5_0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" name="google_ads_iframe_/479/verywellhealth/vwh_end-of-life-overview/billboard5_0" scrolling="no" style="border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom;" title="3rd party ad content" width="300"></iframe></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="comp related-link mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-featuredlink mntl-block" id="mntl-sc-block_1-0-21" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; margin: 1.25rem 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
<a class=" mntl-sc-block-featuredlink__link mntl-text-link" data-tracking-container="true" data-tracking-id="featured-link" href="https://www.verywellhealth.com/talking-to-a-dying-loved-one-1132505" id="mntl-sc-block-featuredlink__link_1-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0188b5; outline: 0px; transition: color 0.15s ease-out;"><span class="link__wrapper" style="box-sizing: border-box;">How to Talk to a Dying Loved One Without Being Awkward</span></a></div>
<div class="comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-adslot mntl-block" id="mntl-sc-block_1-0-22" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
<div class="comp mntl-block" id="mntl-block_9-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
</div>
</div>
<div class="comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html" id="mntl-sc-block_1-0-23" style="box-sizing: border-box; counter-reset: section 0; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0.625rem; margin-top: 0.625rem; padding: 0px;">
<strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Mental Changes: </strong>This is the time during the journey that one begins to sleep most of the time. Disorientation is common and altered senses of perception can be expected. One may experience delusions, such as fearing hidden enemies or feeling invincible.</div>
</div>
<div class="comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-adslot mntl-block" id="mntl-sc-block_1-0-24" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
</div>
<div class="comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html" id="mntl-sc-block_1-0-25" style="box-sizing: border-box; counter-reset: section 0; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0.625rem; margin-top: 0.625rem; padding: 0px;">
The dying person may also experience hallucinations, sometimes seeing or speaking to people who aren't there. Often times these are people who have already died. Some may see this as the veil being lifted between this life and the next. The person may pick at their sheets and clothing in a state of agitation. Movements and actions may seem aimless and make no sense to others. They are moving further away from life on this earth.</div>
</div>
<div class="comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-adslot mntl-block" id="mntl-sc-block_1-0-26" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
</div>
<div class="comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html" id="mntl-sc-block_1-0-27" style="box-sizing: border-box; counter-reset: section 0; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0.625rem; margin-top: 0.625rem; padding: 0px;">
<strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Physical Changes: </strong>The body is having a more difficult time maintaining itself, and your loved one may need help with just about any form of activity. She may have trouble swallowing medications or may refuse to take the medications she has been prescribed. If she has been using pills for pain, she may need liquid morphine at this time. There are signs that the body may show during this time:</div>
</div>
<div class="comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-adslot mntl-block" id="mntl-sc-block_1-0-28" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
</div>
<div class="comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html" id="mntl-sc-block_1-0-29" style="box-sizing: border-box; counter-reset: section 0; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
<ul style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0.625rem 0px 1.25rem 1.5em; padding: 0px; position: relative;">
<li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; padding: 0px;">The body temperature lowers by a degree or more.</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; padding: 0px;">The blood pressure lowers.</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; padding: 0px;">The pulse becomes irregular and may slow down or speed up.</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; padding: 0px;">There is increased perspiration.</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; padding: 0px;">Skin color changes as circulation is diminished. This is often more noticeable on the lips and nail beds as they become pale and bluish.</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; padding: 0px;">Breathing changes occur, often becoming more rapid and labored. Congestion may also occur causing a <a data-component="link" data-ordinal="1" data-source="inlineLink" data-type="internalLink" href="https://www.verywellhealth.com/what-is-the-death-rattle-2249083" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0188b5; outline: 0px; transition: color 0.15s ease-out;">rattling sound</a> and cough.</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; padding: 0px;">Speaking decreases and eventually stops altogether.</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; padding: 0px;">Periods of quietness may be interrupted by sudden movements of a person's arms or legs.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-adslot mntl-block" id="mntl-sc-block_1-0-30" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
</div>
<a class="heading-toc" href="https://www.blogger.com/null" id="journeys-end-a-couple-of-days-to-hours-prior-to-death" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0188b5; outline: 0px; text-decoration: underline; transition: color 0.15s ease-out;"></a><br />
<h3 class="comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-heading" id="mntl-sc-block_1-0-31" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; font-family: "FS Albert Extra Bold", HelveticaNeueBold, HelveticaNeue-Bold, "Helvetica Neue Bold", HelveticaBold, Helvetica-Bold, "Helvetica Bold", HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.35rem; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.75rem; margin: 2rem 0px 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; word-wrap: break-word;">
<span class="mntl-sc-block-heading__text" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Journey's End: A Couple of Days to Hours Prior to Death </span></h3>
<div class="comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html" id="mntl-sc-block_1-0-32" style="box-sizing: border-box; counter-reset: section 0; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0.625rem; margin-top: 0.625rem; padding: 0px;">
The last couple of days prior to death can sometimes surprise family members. Your loved one may have a surge of energy as she gets closer to death. She may want to get out of bed, talk to loved ones, or ask for food after days of no appetite. Some loved ones take this increase in energy to be a sign the person is getting better, and it can be very painful when the energy leaves. Know that this is common, and is usually a sign that a person is moving towards death, rather than away. This surge of energy may be quite a bit less noticeable but is usually used as a dying person's final physical expression before moving on.</div>
</div>
<div class="comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-adslot mntl-block" id="mntl-sc-block_1-0-33" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
</div>
<div class="comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html" id="mntl-sc-block_1-0-34" style="box-sizing: border-box; counter-reset: section 0; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0.625rem; margin-top: 0.625rem; padding: 0px;">
The surge of energy is usually short, and the previous signs become more pronounced as death approaches. Breathing becomes more irregular and often slower. Cheyne-Stokes breathing, rapid breaths followed by periods of no breathing at all, may occur. Congestion in the airway can increase causing loud, rattled breathing. Again, this change in breathing can be very uncomfortable for loved ones but does not appear to be unpleasant for the person who is dying.</div>
</div>
<div class="comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-adslot mntl-block" id="mntl-sc-block_1-0-35" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
</div>
<div class="comp related-link mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-featuredlink mntl-block" id="mntl-sc-block_1-0-36" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; margin: 1.25rem 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
<a class=" mntl-sc-block-featuredlink__link mntl-text-link" data-tracking-container="true" data-tracking-id="featured-link" href="https://www.verywellhealth.com/cheyne-stokes-respirations-2249076" id="mntl-sc-block-featuredlink__link_1-0-1" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0188b5; outline: 0px; transition: color 0.15s ease-out;"><span class="link__wrapper" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Cheyne-Stokes Respirations</span></a></div>
<div class="comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-adslot mntl-block" id="mntl-sc-block_1-0-37" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
</div>
<div class="comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html" id="mntl-sc-block_1-0-38" style="box-sizing: border-box; counter-reset: section 0; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0.625rem; margin-top: 0.625rem; padding: 0px;">
Hands and feet may become blotchy and purplish (mottled). This mottling may slowly work its way up the arms and legs. Lips and nail beds are bluish or purple and lips may droop. The person usually becomes unresponsive and may have their eyes open or semi-open but not seeing their surroundings. It is widely believed that hearing is the last sense to go so it is recommended that loved ones sit with and talk to the dying loved one during this time.</div>
</div>
<div class="comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-adslot mntl-block" id="mntl-sc-block_1-0-39" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
</div>
<div class="comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html" id="mntl-sc-block_1-0-40" style="box-sizing: border-box; counter-reset: section 0; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0.625rem; margin-top: 0.625rem; padding: 0px;">
Eventually, breathing will cease altogether and the heart stops. Death has occurred.</div>
</div>
<div class="comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-adslot mntl-block" id="mntl-sc-block_1-0-41" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
</div>
<a class="heading-toc" href="https://www.blogger.com/null" id="a-word-from-verywell" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0188b5; outline: 0px; text-decoration: underline; transition: color 0.15s ease-out;"></a><br />
<h3 class="comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-heading" id="mntl-sc-block_1-0-42" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; font-family: "FS Albert Extra Bold", HelveticaNeueBold, HelveticaNeue-Bold, "Helvetica Neue Bold", HelveticaBold, Helvetica-Bold, "Helvetica Bold", HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.35rem; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.75rem; margin: 2rem 0px 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; word-wrap: break-word;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 1rem;">Many people wonder if they will recognize if a loved one is dying, and there are often signs which begin a month to three months prior to death. Understanding these signs may not only help you prepare for your loved one's death but may bring you comfort as you face these physical and mental changes. If your loved one is on hospice, your hospice nurse, social worker, or clergy can help you recognize and understand some of the changes, and help you know what will help you support your dying loved one as much as possible.</span></h3>
<div class="comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html" id="mntl-sc-block_1-0-43" style="box-sizing: border-box; counter-reset: section 0; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0.625rem; margin-top: 0.625rem; padding: 0px;">
<br />
By Angela Morrow<br />
<br />
Link to full article: <a href="https://www.verywellhealth.com/the-journey-towards-death-1132504?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=shareurlbuttons&fbclid=IwAR0E_cRFzHrmwGUYj_Apidus9iiBuhuGg-I5_aEAbz73Bef9YY8XCdYiq6A">https://www.verywellhealth.com/the-journey-towards-death-1132504?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=shareurlbuttons&fbclid=IwAR0E_cRFzHrmwGUYj_Apidus9iiBuhuGg-I5_aEAbz73Bef9YY8XCdYiq6A</a><br />
<br />
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="comp js-scads-inline-content mntl-block" id="mntl-block_1-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; top: -10000in;">
<div class="comp mntl-block" id="mntl-block_10-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="comp scads-to-load right-rail__item billboard7-sticky-lazy billboard-sticky" data-height="600" data-parent="" id="billboard7-sticky-lazy_1-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: -330px;">
<div class="spacer" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="comp js-billboard-lazy billboard7-dynamic-lazy billboard-lazy mntl-lazy-ad mntl-gpt-dynamic-adunit mntl-gpt-adunit gpt billboard dynamic" id="billboard7-dynamic-lazy_1-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; max-width: none; min-height: 250px; min-width: 300px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="wrapper" data-pos="btf6" data-priority="9" data-rtb="true" data-sizes="[[300, 250], [300, 256], [7, 1], "fluid"]" data-targeting="{}" data-type="billboard" id="billboard7" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px;">
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="comp post-article mntl-block" id="post-article_1-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: -webkit-standard; margin: 0.625rem auto 1.25rem; padding: 0px;">
<div class="comp article-feedback mntl-article-feedback" id="article-feedback_1-0" style="-webkit-box-align: center; -webkit-box-pack: center; align-items: center; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); clear: both; color: #222222; display: flex; font-family: "FS Albert Extra Bold", HelveticaNeueBold, HelveticaNeue-Bold, "Helvetica Neue Bold", HelveticaBold, Helvetica-Bold, "Helvetica Bold", HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 0.85rem; justify-content: center; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="article-feedback__rating-section js-rating-section" style="-webkit-box-align: center; align-items: center; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 618px;">
<div class="article-feedback__heading" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Merriweather, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Daniel Sencierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09789792846850772847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045482787552136610.post-33386460399428586462019-02-10T19:09:00.001-08:002019-02-10T19:18:20.906-08:00What if PSA returns after surgery!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div align="justify" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px;">
The return of PSA is a possibility that strikes terror in the heart of every radical prostatectomy patient; in fact, for many men, the dreaded follow-up PSA tests after surgery are almost worse than having the operation itself. What will you do if your PSA is no longer undetectable? The good news is, <em style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">you may not need to do anything for years.</span></em></div>
<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />
<table align="center" style="border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; width: 60%px;"><tbody style="box-sizing: border-box;">
<tr style="box-sizing: border-box;"><td style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px;"><div align="justify" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Does the man have a local recurrence of cancer that would respond to radiation, or does this represent micrometastases to lymph nodes and bone? Until now, there has been no way to tell.</span></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />
<div align="justify" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px;">
In a landmark paper -- the largest, most complete study of the return of PSA after radical prostatectomy -- Hopkins doctors have developed guidelines to help patients and doctors know what to do if PSA comes back. Their remarkable effort -- an elegantly simple chart that accurately predicts a man's risk of developing metastatic cancer -- is the post-operative equivalent of the <a href="https://www.evidencio.com/models/show/749" style="background-position: 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #336699; text-decoration: none; transition: color 300ms, background-color 300ms;">"Partin tables,"</a> developed by urologist Alan W. Partin, M.D., and urologist-in-chief Patrick C. Walsh, M.D. Like those now-indispensable tables, this chart has the potential to revolutionize the way doctors and patients make decisions about what to do next.<br />
<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />
"PSA is very sensitive in detecting any recurrence of cancer. That's because only prostate cells make PSA -- so if it goes up after a radical prostatectomy, it means prostate cells are still present somewhere. For all intents and purposes, it means that a few cells escaped the prostate before it was removed, and now have grown to the point where they're producing enough PSA to be detected," explains Walsh.<br />
<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />
"Fortunately, for most men with organ-confined cancer, this never happens. However, for men who had more advanced disease at the time of surgery, the return of PSA is extremely frightening." Walsh originated this study to fill what he describes as a "large knowledge gap" for patients and doctors.</div>
<ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 0px;">
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;">"The first thing many patients want to know is, how long are they going to live?</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;">And the first thing many doctors want to know is, when should they begin treatment, and how should they treat these patients?</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;">Does the man have a local recurrence of cancer that would respond to radiation, or does this represent micrometastases to lymph nodes and bone?"</li>
</ul>
<div align="justify" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px;">
Until now, there has been no way to tell. The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, is based on 10,000 patient-years of follow-up data. Between 1982 and 1997, nearly 2,000 men underwent a radical prostatectomy at Johns Hopkins. Of these, 315 men developed an elevated PSA (defined as being higher than 0.2 nanograms/milliliter). Eleven of these men opted for early hormone therapy, and were not included in the study. The remaining 304 men were followed carefully.</div>
<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />
<table align="center" style="border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; width: 60%px;"><tbody style="box-sizing: border-box;">
<tr style="box-sizing: border-box;"><td style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">On average, it took eight years from the time a man's PSA first went up until he developed metastatic disease -- which suggests that there is no need to panic at the first sign of a rise in PSA.<br /><br /><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="warning" style="background-color: #ebebeb; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; width: 554px;"><tbody style="box-sizing: border-box;">
<tr style="box-sizing: border-box;"><td align="center" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px;" width="554"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">WHAT THE NUMBERS MEAN</span></td></tr>
<tr style="box-sizing: border-box;"><td align="center" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">If you have a Gleason score of 5-7</span></td></tr>
<tr style="box-sizing: border-box;"><td align="center" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px;">Your PSA increased more than two years after surgery<br />
AND your PSA doubling time was greater than 10 months:<br />
Your chance of <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">not developing metastasis</em>(having a bone positive scan) in:<br />
<ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 0px;">Three years: 95 percent<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Five years: 86 percent<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Seven years: 82 percent</ul>
</td></tr>
<tr style="box-sizing: border-box;"><td align="center" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px;">OR your PSA doubling time was less than 10 months:<br />
Your chance of <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">not developing metastasis</em> in:<br />
<ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 0px;">Three years: 82 percent<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Five years: 69 percent<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Seven years: 60 percent</ul>
</td></tr>
<tr style="box-sizing: border-box;"><td align="center" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px;">OR your time to first PSA recurrence was less than two years:<br />
AND your PSA doubling time was greater than 10 months:<br />
<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />
Your chance of <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">not developing metastasis</em> in:<br />
<ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 0px;">Three years: 79 percent<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Five years: 76 percent<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Seven years: 59 percent</ul>
</td></tr>
<tr style="box-sizing: border-box;"><td align="center" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px;">OR your PSA doubling time was less than 10 months:<br />
<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />
Your chance of <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">not developing metastasis</em> in:<br />
<ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 0px;">Three years: 81 percent<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Five years: 35 percent<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Seven years: 15 percent</ul>
</td></tr>
<tr style="box-sizing: border-box;"><td align="center" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">If you have a Gleason score of 8-10</span></td></tr>
<tr style="box-sizing: border-box;"><td align="center" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px;">AND your time to first PSA recurrence was greater than two years:<br />
<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />
Your chance of <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">not developing metastasis</em> in:<br />
<ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 0px;">Three years: 77 percent<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Five years: 60 percent<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Seven years: 47 percent</ul>
</td></tr>
<tr style="box-sizing: border-box;"><td align="center" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px;">OR your time to first PSA recurrence was less than two years:<br />
<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />
Your chance of <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">not developing metastasis</em> in:<br />
<ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 0px;">Three years: 53 percent<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Five years: 31 percent<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Seven years: 21 percent</ul>
<div>
<br /></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div>
<div align="justify" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div align="justify" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; padding: 0px;">
"We set out to ask a few questions, says Walsh: "Could we predict how long it would take for patients who had metastases to show them on a bone scan, and then once that happened, how long would they live? The news is actually quite good: Most patients do very well for a long period of time". On average, it took eight years from the time a man's PSA first went up until he developed metastatic disease -- which suggests, Walsh says, that "there is no need to panic" at the first sign of a rise in PSA. Even after developing metastatic cancer (detected by bone scans and other imaging techniques), men still lived an average of five years -- and if the metastases showed up more than seven years after surgery, men had a seventy percent chance of being alive seven years later.</div>
<div align="justify" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; padding: 0px;">
"When men see their PSA levels rise again, they think that means the cancer is back and they need to get treated right away," says oncologist Mario Eisenberger, M.D., a co-author of the study. "But men often live for years without having the cancer spread. This information will better equip doctors and their patients to decide what treatment -- if any -- is most appropriate."<br />
<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />
This interval between the reappearance of PSA and the first sign of advanced disease can be predicted, the Hopkins researchers found, using three pieces of information:</div>
<ul style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 0px;">
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Gleason score of the pathologic specimen (the removed prostate, evaluated by a pathologist after surgery). Is it Gleason 7 or lower, or Gleason 8 or greater.</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;">The time it takes for PSA to come back. Is it less than two years after surgery, or greater? And,</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;">How rapidly is the PSA level doubling? Is it greater or less than 10 months?</li>
</ul>
<div align="justify" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; padding: 0px;">
Using these criteria, men and their doctors can pinpoint the likelihood of developing metastatic disease. For example: If a man has Gleason 7 disease, has his first PSA recurrence more than two years after surgery, and has a PSA doubling time longer than 10 months, his likelihood of being, free of metastasis at seven years is 82 percent. Conversely, if a man has Gleason 7 disease, but his PSA goes up within two years of surgery, and the time it takes PSA to double is less than 10 months, his likelihood of being metastasis-free at seven years is 15 percent.</div>
<div align="justify" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; padding: 0px;">
"So the first thing these tables can do is reassure the many patients who are going to have a long-term, symptom-free, metastasis-free interval, that close observation is all that's really necessary," says Walsh. On the other hand, says urologist Alan W. Partin, M.D., Ph.D., co-author of the study: "If their chances of progressing rapidly are high, they may wish to start hormonal therapy earlier or get involved in an experimental trial" of more aggressive treatment. "These tables are going to help men who are at low risk and help men at high risk make a more educated decision. We hope it will also decrease the anxiety for some of them." The tables will also provide invaluable baseline data for future drug research, adds Partin. "Until now, it's been difficult to know if a drug was helping someone because you couldn't be sure what the disease would have done on its own. Now, researchers can compare their treatment groups with our study group and tell if their treatment is improving survival."</div>
<div align="justify" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div align="justify" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; text-align: start;">PSA Anxiety:</span><br />
<br style="box-sizing: border-box; text-align: start;" />
<span style="background-color: #f8f1da; text-align: start;">The Downside of Ultra- Sensitive Tests</span></div>
<div align="justify" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; padding: 0px;">
You've had the radical prostatectomy, but deep down, you're terrified that it didn't work. So here you are, a grown man, living in fear of a simple blood test, scared to death that the PSA- an enzyme made only by prostate cells, but all of your prostate cells are supposed to be gone -- will come back. Six months ago, the number was 0.01. This time, it was 0.02.<br />
<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />
You have PSA anxiety. You are not alone.<br />
<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />
This is the bane of the hypersensitive PSA test: Sometimes, there is such a thing as too much information. Daniel W Chan, Ph.D., is professor of pathology, oncology, urology and radiology, and Director of Clinical Chemistry at Hopkins. He is also an internationally recognized authority on biochemical tumor markers such as PSA, and on immunoassay tests such as the PSA test. This is some of what he has to say on the subject of PSA anxiety:<br />
<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />
The only thing that really matters, he says, is: "At what PSA levels does the concentration indicate that the patient has had a recurrence of cancer?" For Chan, and the scientists and physicians at Hopkins, the number to take seriously is 0.2 nanograms/milliliter. "That's something we call biochemical recurrence. But even this doesn't mean that a man has symptoms yet. People need to understand that it might take months or even years before there is any clinical physical evidence."<br />
<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />
On a technical level, in the laboratory, Chan trusts the sensitivity of assays down to 0. 1, or slightly less than that. "You cannot reliably detect such a small amount as 0.01," he explains. "From day to day, the results could vary -- it could be 0.03, or maybe even 0.05" -- and these "analytical" variations may not mean a thing. "It's important that we don't assume anything or take action on a very low level of PSA. In routine practice, because of these analytical variations from day to day, if it's less than 0. 1, we assume it's the same as nondetectable, or zero." </div>
<div align="justify" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div align="justify" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; text-align: start;"> <u style="box-sizing: border-box;">FURTHER READING</u></span><br />
<br style="box-sizing: border-box; text-align: start;" />
<span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;">Pound, CP; Partin, AW; Einsenberger, MA;</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;">Chan, DW; Pearson, JD; and Walsh,PC.</span><br />
<a href="http://urology.jhu.edu/highlights/2.php" style="background-position: 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #336699; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; transition: color 300ms, background-color 300ms;">"New Method to Assess Risk of Advanced</a><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"> </span><br />
<a href="http://urology.jhu.edu/highlights/2.php" style="background-position: 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #336699; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; transition: color 300ms, background-color 300ms;">Cancer After Prostate Removal," </a><em style="box-sizing: border-box; text-align: start;">Journal of the <br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />American Medical Association,</em><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"> Vol.281,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;">pp.1591-1597.</span></div>
</div>
</div>
Daniel Sencierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09789792846850772847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045482787552136610.post-79460810826788518052019-02-10T17:19:00.005-08:002019-02-10T17:39:09.427-08:00Shorter Duration of Radiation Safe in Treating Prostate Cancer<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040;"></span></span><br />
<div>
<h2 class="story-intro" style="border: 0px; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #404040; font-weight: normal;"> This study showed that stereotactic body radiotherapy reduced the duration of treatment from 45 days to 4 to 5 days with no evidence of causing worse toxicity in the long run.</span></span></h2>
</div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040;"> </span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSs8W7229sQ9jjCZAXdsnsswKe-G9YCoGLnKk43KSKaoLUKFOGqAe8NXaXxdOHFWXDfmf3CGtEPKWGVXrASLIu8N0652WKYGx_EOgJE4Lgld6c9464hIJu83NptnjWaC-kX053dqL5Z38/s1600/prostatecancer_AFP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="583" data-original-width="875" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSs8W7229sQ9jjCZAXdsnsswKe-G9YCoGLnKk43KSKaoLUKFOGqAe8NXaXxdOHFWXDfmf3CGtEPKWGVXrASLIu8N0652WKYGx_EOgJE4Lgld6c9464hIJu83NptnjWaC-kX053dqL5Z38/s400/prostatecancer_AFP.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040;"> <div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Men with low or intermediate-risk prostate cancer can safely undergo higher doses of radiation over a significantly shorter period of time and still have the same, successful outcomes as from a much longer course of treatment, according to researchers.</span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><br style="caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040;" /></span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #404040;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64);"> </span></span><br style="caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040;" /><span style="caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040;">The study showed that this type of radiation - stereotactic body radiotherapy - is a form of external beam radiation therapy, which reduces the duration of treatment from 45 days to four to five days with no evidence of causing worse toxicity in the long run. </span></span><br />
<span style="caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040;">"Most men with low or intermediate-risk prostate cancer undergo conventional radiation, which requires them to come in daily for treatment and takes an average of nine weeks to complete," said lead author Amar Kishan, Assistant Professor at University of California, Los Angeles, in the US. </span></span><br />
<div id="web1x1_ros" style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<div data-google-query-id="CPz0vqDAsuACFVobcgodrgcNzw" id="News18/News18_Ros/News18_ROS_1x1_OOP" style="border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<div id="google_ads_iframe_/1039154/News18/News18_Ros/News18_ROS_1x1_OOP_0__container__" style="border: 0pt none; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><iframe data-google-container-id="h" data-load-complete="true" frameborder="0" height="1" id="google_ads_iframe_/1039154/News18/News18_Ros/News18_ROS_1x1_OOP_0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" name="google_ads_iframe_/1039154/News18/News18_Ros/News18_ROS_1x1_OOP_0" scrolling="no" style="border-width: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom;" title="3rd party ad content" width="1"></iframe></span></div>
</div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040;">"With the improvements being made to modern technology, we have found that using stereotactic body radiotherapy, which has a higher dose of radiation, can safely and effectively be done in a much shorter timeframe without additional toxicity or compromising any chance of a cure," said Kishan.</span></span><br />
<div align="center" id="web728x90_ROS" style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040;">For the study, the team included 2,142 men with low or intermediate-risk prostate cancer who were treated with stereotactic body radiotherapy. They were followed for a median of 6.9 years.</span></span><br />
<div id="zdt_display_placeholder_364488" style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
</div>
<div id="zdt_352584_1_wrapper" style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; float: none; font-stretch: inherit; height: 2px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<div id="containerDiv-352584_1" style="border: 0px; float: none; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<div class="zg-mainContainer" id="mainPlayerDiv-352584_1" style="border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; left: -9999px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: fixed; top: -9999px; vertical-align: baseline;">
</div>
</div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040;">Nearly, 53 per cent men had low-risk disease, 32 per cent had less aggressive intermediate-risk disease and 12 per cent had a more aggressive form of intermediate-risk disease.</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040;" /><br style="caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040;" /><span style="caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040;">In addition, the recurrence rate for men with low-risk disease was 4.5 per cent, 8.6 per cent for the less aggressive intermediate-risk, and 14.9 per cent for the more aggressive intermediate-risk group, findings published in the journal JAMA Network Open showed.</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040;" /><br style="caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040;" /><span style="caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040;">Overall, the recurrence rate for intermediate-risk disease was 10.2 per cent.</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040;" /><br style="caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040;" /><span style="caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040;">These are essentially identical to rates following more conventional forms of radiation, which are about 4-5 per cent for low-risk disease and 10 per cent to 15 per cent for intermediate-risk disease.</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040;" /><br style="caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040;" /><span style="caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040;">This method is both safe and effective and could be a viable treatment option for men with low and intermediate-risk of prostate cancer, the study suggested.</span></span>Daniel Sencierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09789792846850772847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045482787552136610.post-21922274123856418682019-01-11T17:40:00.001-08:002019-01-11T17:42:12.310-08:00A page from the 'Book of Life'<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://scontent.fbkk7-3.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/50404269_10156970570679042_8498854085296914432_n.jpg?_nc_cat=107&_nc_ht=scontent.fbkk7-3.fna&oh=51e7b62a573cc7925b382112846592f3&oe=5CCB2DB7" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="No photo description available." border="0" class="scaledImageFitWidth img" height="265" src="https://scontent.fbkk7-3.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/50404269_10156970570679042_8498854085296914432_n.jpg?_nc_cat=107&_nc_ht=scontent.fbkk7-3.fna&oh=51e7b62a573cc7925b382112846592f3&oe=5CCB2DB7" style="border: 0px; position: relative;" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="_5pbx userContent _3576" data-ad-preview="message" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id="js_5" style="caret-color: rgb(29, 33, 41); color: #1d2129; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 6px;">
<div style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 6px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 6px;">
By my good friend, Susan Dustin</div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 6px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 6px;">
What a little contrast brings</div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Yesterday was my first day in 2019 of returning to walk with those in end of life. Standing outside of the hospital I lay my empty hands in front of my deliberately open heart and readied myself to receive and work with whatever would be presented to me. I prayed to offer those I encountered an empathetic grace-filled dignity even though I was feeling below par. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
People often comment to me that my walking with the dying is a laudable sacrificial endeavor. There may be aspects that are extremely emotionally taxing. Some situations also stretch my patience and ability to embrace others without bias. Occasionally there are passages so sacred that my failure to render them through any good account leaves me feeling isolated in the experience. Yet, even within my places of lack, great love and joy resound so profoundly that I am often transported into the divine. I am greatly enriched because I get to care for others in deep and intimate ways. The dying, through what great loss so clearly offers, often impart to me invaluable life perspectives. They, in all their broken frailty, teach me how to live fully! </div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
***</div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
I suffer from reoccurring leptospirosis. The first year I contracted it, I had innumerable fevers, headaches, nausea, loss of appetite and hair, the threat of sight and organ damage, and deep exhaustion and depression plagued me. Throughout the past four years, it has randomly revisited for a month or two at a time. Because the symptoms are not as physical as the first bout, outside of extreme malaise, erratic thought and depression, I’m slow to realize that I am in the throes of it. Once I become aware, I fight furiously to heal and climb out of the pit in which it has cast me. It’s never easy. I eat well, rest when able and force myself to undertake exercises that produce but do not rob me of energy. I engage in positive, gentle thought as I bravely clear through a lot of emotional tears and frustrations. I do my best to keep humor and gratitude alive. Then usually, somewhere out of the blue, as mysteriously as it appeared and had me believing it would never leave, it disappears. Poof! </div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
***</div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Yesterday, several weeks into a Lepto Laze Phase, I was introduced to “Bertha”, a 66-year-old Thai hospital cleaner. Perched in her bed she was hooked up for her last round of a dozen chemo sessions for metastatic cancer. Bald but glowing, she happily greeted me. She informed me that she had intestinal cancer five-years-ago, had been operated on and had chemo, and had been clear until this new invasion showed itself. She chirpily said that the chemo had no side effects and that she’d not missed one day of her six-day-a-week work since she’d been sick save on chemo days. </div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
“No side effects. Without a tuft of hair on your head and face left and you feel you have no side effects. Wow!” I thought to myself. </div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
After a bit of chitchat, I ventured as to what she envisioned for her future once her treatments were over. Imagining a rather serious discussion to ensue, I was surprised when she strongly informed me that she was not worrying or even thinking about the future. “It’s a waste of time to worry about such things. I am living for today. Once I am off this bed, I am back to work.” </div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Wondering if she was avoiding the harsh realities confronting her, I asked what her life has been like and what makes her happy at present. She merrily told me about her family, her work, and her beliefs. She felt she had a good life and even though suffering from an array of diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and cholesterol she was at peace with her lot. </div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
She then laughed, “So, with all this illness, what’s one more disease? I may have them, but they do not have me. They may destroy my body, but they cannot destroy my way of thinking. I hate sitting around thinking too much; it’s pointless. I pray at times and guide my heart, but even that I am not too serious about. I have a good family who loves and visits me when they can. My two children have grown up and are successful, so I have no worries. I’ve lived well until now. I’ve had a full life and I am ready to go whenever it’s my time. Who knows when that day that will be? I cannot plan for it, so I live day by day, one hour at a time. I eat good food, love my family, and really enjoy the hard work of cleaning for others.” </div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Running her hands over her plump, white pajama-clad body she smiled broadly adding, “I will be happy when I get to vacate this old residence in favor of a better one.” </div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
“You are amazing, and I really admire your way of accepting death and importantly living wholeheartedly until its time for you to ‘vacate your old residence’. I had a near death experience some years ago. Since then, when I remember to at least, I offer prayers of thanks at the end of the day! I ask forgiveness for the wrongs I have done (and promise to make amends when and where able), I acknowledge what I could have done better in order to clear my slate so that I am ready to go without unfinished business or regrets. Like you, realizing that life is tenuous, I embrace it by thanking the day and others for what they brought to me. I thank myself for the things I did well, and then ask if it is meant to be, that I will be blessed again with other such moments after I wake! I have not done this as well as I should have lately.” I wistfully responded. </div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
With a look of one who truly knew, Bertha took my hand in hers. I asked if I could give her a hug and a kiss. She nodded affirmatively. As I kissed her and told her that I loved and admired her, she mockingly complained, “That’s not fair! I can’t only receive a kiss, I have to give you one too!” </div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Not waiting for my response, the humble cleaner of guru proportions, grabbed me in her big arms, embraced me generously, and added a loud smooch. </div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
***</div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Usually, when in a Lepto Laze Phase, I am forced to live on a day-by-day and at times an hour-by-hour basis as this dear soul does. I am in no way comparing my health situation to hers; rather it’s my attitude I am comparing. If we are able to honestly face our mortality, limitations, and vulnerabilities positively, we can appreciate our lives and health in ways we may have never envisioned when whole. Each meaningful, energetic, happy moment, has so much value and becomes great gain having been contrasted by deep loss. </div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Bertha, like me, doesn’t possess a sophisticated voice to be able to express deep truths. However, her actions, presence, and way of being in the face of chronic illness and death spoke absolute volumes and gave me a well-needed reminder.</div>
<div style="display: inline; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; margin-top: 6px;">
Seems to me that she’s mastered what she was here in this incarnation to learn and impart. She assuredly has a lovely new mansion by the beach with dolphins frolicking in the waves, waiting for her to occupy it. I think my eventual new model will be a small caravan—and I am okay with that. But for now, it’s time to use what little energy I have in the offering of gratitude.<br />
<br />
I am, again, by contrast, feeling reasonably well, even when running at low battery. And the fullness of truly embracing life, which Bertha so eloquently modeled to me, begins with attitude.</div>
</div>
<div class="_3x-2" data-ft="{"tn":"H"}" style="caret-color: rgb(29, 33, 41); color: #1d2129; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">
<div data-ft="{"tn":"H"}" style="font-family: inherit;">
<div class="mtm" style="font-family: inherit; margin-top: 10px;">
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Daniel Sencierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09789792846850772847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045482787552136610.post-46032133386945312602019-01-10T23:44:00.000-08:002019-01-10T23:44:08.387-08:00Protein found more in advanced prostate cancer could be key to preventing drug resistance<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNss9fOvJV9zvbFihPAqWMDAx4tER0IaYuRHQiX5ipni9xjjS25jk3KtcBCxLlApPs6xdiu75mmYKnpMWlvVKIok20TR6GecC0KvjO8ieqxbiv5CIh2v6ZN_rVvIIv6feRjgNGJvf40fc/s1600/de-bono-prostate-cancer-carousel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="532" data-original-width="945" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNss9fOvJV9zvbFihPAqWMDAx4tER0IaYuRHQiX5ipni9xjjS25jk3KtcBCxLlApPs6xdiu75mmYKnpMWlvVKIok20TR6GecC0KvjO8ieqxbiv5CIh2v6ZN_rVvIIv6feRjgNGJvf40fc/s640/de-bono-prostate-cancer-carousel.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<h1 style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); color: #444444; font-family: ReplicaProRegular, Arial, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 40px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 461.375px;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span></h1>
<div>
<div style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); color: #444444; font-family: Arial, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
A cancer-driving protein is found in the tumours of men with advanced prostate cancer after treatment with hormone drugs but rarely found in early-stage disease, a new study shows.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); color: #444444; font-family: Arial, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
The findings of the major study, published in the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI122819" style="color: #444444; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Journal of Clinical Investigation</em></a>, confirm the importance of a protein called androgen receptor splice variant 7 (AR-V7) in resistance to hormone drugs in prostate cancer.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); color: #444444; font-family: Arial, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
The research, led by scientists at the ICR in collaboration with researchers in the US led by the <a href="https://www.washington.edu/" style="color: #444444; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">University of Washington</a>, also suggests that researchers should look for new treatments that negate its activity.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); color: #444444; font-family: Arial, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
In the study, the researchers examined biopsy samples from two groups of men treated for early and advanced prostate cancer.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); color: #444444; font-family: Arial, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
They developed a new antibody to detect AR-V7 in prostate cancer cells, which allowed them to map its levels much more accurately than before.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); color: #444444; font-family: Arial, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
AR-V7 was found in biopsy samples from three-quarters of men whose cancer progressed after treatment with hormone therapy, and expression increased further in men treated with the advanced hormone therapies abiraterone and enzalutamide.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); color: #444444; font-family: Arial, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
But the scientists detected it in less than 1 percent of patients with early-stage prostate cancer, before treatment with hormone drugs.</div>
<h2 style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); color: #444444; font-family: ReplicaProRegular, Arial, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.5625rem; font-weight: normal; line-height: 30px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Important role of AR-V7</h2>
<div style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); color: #444444; font-family: Arial, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Prostate cancers use the hormone testosterone to grow and develop. <a href="https://www.icr.ac.uk/about-us/our-achievements/our-scientific-discoveries/transforming-prostate-cancer-treatment-abiraterone" style="color: #444444; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Abiraterone</a> and similar drugs target the androgen receptor, which is found within cells and detects testosterone.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); color: #444444; font-family: Arial, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Despite the success of hormone therapies like abiraterone, resistance to treatment often occurs due to mutations and structural alterations which side-step androgen receptor blocking to keep signalling active.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); color: #444444; font-family: Arial, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
The study highlights the important role of AR-V7 in this process and suggests that drugs developed to reduce its activity could make treatments like abiraterone more effective.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); color: #444444; font-family: Arial, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Men without AR-V7 survived nearly three times as long on average compared with men whose tumours tested positive for the protein, when treated with therapies targeting the androgen receptor before chemotherapy, the study showed. </div>
<div style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); color: #444444; font-family: Arial, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
The researchers also identified a specific 59-gene ‘signature’ in men with high levels of the protein, which could identify drug targets for new treatments in advanced prostate cancer.</div>
<h2 style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); color: #444444; font-family: ReplicaProRegular, Arial, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.5625rem; font-weight: normal; line-height: 30px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Novel therapeutic strategies</h2>
<div style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); color: #444444; font-family: Arial, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Leader of the study in the UK, <a href="https://www.icr.ac.uk/our-research/researchers-and-teams/professor-johann-de-bono" style="color: #444444; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Professor Johann de Bono</a> said: </div>
<div style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); color: #444444; font-family: Arial, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
“This is the biggest study to date of AR-V7 protein expression in tissue biopsies from men with early and advanced prostate cancer and shows that the emergence of the AR-V7 protein in cells is an important event in the development of resistance to hormone therapies like abiraterone, which was discovered at the ICR. </div>
<div style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); color: #444444; font-family: Arial, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
“We saw that AR-V7 expression is rare in the early stages of prostate cancer, but emerges after hormone therapy alongside other mechanisms of resistance – highlighting its importance in the biology of advanced prostate cancer. </div>
<div style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); color: #444444; font-family: Arial, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
“If novel therapeutic strategies could prevent AR-V7 expression during hormone therapy, it could improve outcomes for men with lethal prostate cancer.”</div>
<div style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); color: #444444; font-family: Arial, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Source: The Institute of Cancer Research</div>
<div style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); color: #444444; font-family: Arial, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>
Daniel Sencierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09789792846850772847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045482787552136610.post-65022747711288835752019-01-05T17:30:00.000-08:002019-01-05T17:30:12.357-08:00Promising news from Australia (Prostate Cancer Research)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(10, 22, 51); color: #0a1633; font-family: "PT Serif", Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Australian scientists have found a genetic marker that could identify which men are likely to develop deadly metastatic prostate cancer and may pave the way for effective treatments.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(10, 22, 51); color: #0a1633; font-family: "PT Serif", Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
The federal government is investing almost $800,000 into researching how prostate cancers spread and become impervious to conventional treatment.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1bffxwohLZt1XJzpVh4H2VA7L75DayHEu3K94DgP0wM_7WtX2Cm0AazPec6D43wKQrPIy_A4Gajvq4SR1Fz1b48VquDjc1vhBhtLecKXKU6BJVMnvNm0WLp6NUyoAHk76FCIVjjZalvY/s1600/895715c787b2b942438703a02c8ce2482adabb52.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="878" data-original-width="1560" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1bffxwohLZt1XJzpVh4H2VA7L75DayHEu3K94DgP0wM_7WtX2Cm0AazPec6D43wKQrPIy_A4Gajvq4SR1Fz1b48VquDjc1vhBhtLecKXKU6BJVMnvNm0WLp6NUyoAHk76FCIVjjZalvY/s400/895715c787b2b942438703a02c8ce2482adabb52.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(10, 22, 51); color: #0a1633; font-family: "PT Serif", Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Roughly 3500 men died of prostate cancer in Australia in 2018, according to national data.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(10, 22, 51); color: #0a1633; font-family: "PT Serif", Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
While localised prostate cancer has very good outcomes - the overall five-year prostate cancer survival rate is 95 per cent - patients with metastatic disease do very poorly.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(10, 22, 51); color: #0a1633; font-family: "PT Serif", Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
The majority of these metastasised cancers are resistant to conventional treatments - androgen deprivation therapy - and become untreatable.</div>
<div class="_1665V undefined" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(10, 22, 51); color: #0a1633; font-family: "PT Serif", Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Just 30 per cent survive more than five years if the cancer spreads to other parts of the body.</div>
<div data-gtm-vis-first-on-screen-6236702_632="13967" data-gtm-vis-has-fired-6236702_632="1" data-gtm-vis-total-visible-time-6236702_632="4000" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Dr Philip Gregory at the University of South Australia will receive $782,078 from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) to investigate a novel molecular pathway that could lead to new, effective treatments.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Dr Gregory’s team found the RNA-binding protein 'Quaking’ is switched on in prostate cancer cells that metastasise.</div>
</div>
<div class="_1lC_G" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(10, 22, 51); color: #0a1633; font-family: "PT Serif", Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
</div>
<div class="_1665V undefined" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(10, 22, 51); color: #0a1633; font-family: "PT Serif", Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
“Surprisingly we found levels of this [molecule with this specific protein] are strongly indicative of cancers becoming more aggressive and resistant to the therapies,” Dr Gregory said.</div>
<div class="_1665V undefined" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
This finding was the springboard for the grant.</div>
<div data-gtm-vis-first-on-screen-6236702_632="15967" data-gtm-vis-has-fired-6236702_632="1" data-gtm-vis-total-visible-time-6236702_632="4000" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
“We are trying to understand how this molecule functions in prostate cancer. It changes the way genes are spliced so we are hoping the molecule or gene splicing signature might be able to diagnose which prostate cancers will become aggressive,” Dr Gregory said.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
“We can make better decisions in terms of treating patients if we can see which particular cancers look to have an aggressive phenotype. Maybe we would take out a tumour earlier or give them more aggressive treatment."</div>
<div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
He hopes to eventually be able to design new therapies that would make the cancers less aggressive and more susceptible to hormonal treatments.</div>
</div>
<div class="_1lC_G" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
</div>
<div class="_1665V undefined" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
“One of the unique things about this molecule is that it works not by controlling levels of genes, but how the gene is spliced within cancer cells. It’s a new way of thinking about how cancer spreads,” Dr Gregory said.</div>
<div class="_1665V undefined" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Health Minister Greg Hunt said the research had the potential to save and protect lives.</div>
<div data-gtm-vis-first-on-screen-6236702_632="137063" data-gtm-vis-has-fired-6236702_632="1" data-gtm-vis-recent-on-screen-6236702_632="137063" data-gtm-vis-total-visible-time-6236702_632="4000" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
“This critical research project is among NHMRC grants worth more than $526 million,” Mr Hunt said.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
“Through the 2018–19 budget we provided a record total of $6 billion to Australia’s health and medical research sector."</div>
</div>
<div class="_1lC_G" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
</div>
<div class="_1665V undefined" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Mr Hunt said since 2013 the government has contributed more $70 million towards prostate cancer research. In 2018 the government subsidised<a data-track-relatedarticle="inarticlelink" href="https://www.smh.com.au/healthcare/new-prostate-mri-rebate-marks-end-of-unnecessary-painful-cancer-biopsies-20180629-p4zoki.html" rel="noopener" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(35, 35, 35); border-bottom-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #707070; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"> MRI scans for prostate cancer</a> checks.</div>
<figure class="_3C7oX" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; float: left; font-family: "PT Sans", "Trebuchet MS", "Arial Narrow", sans-serif; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 32px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Kate Aubusson" src="https://static.ffx.io/images/$width_80%2C$height_80/t_crop_fill/t_sharpen%2Cq_auto%2Cf_auto/31f7d2c534d02b1b8ba21d3076d6acb849d9099a" srcset="https://static.ffx.io/images/$width_80%2C$height_80/t_crop_fill/t_sharpen%2Cq_auto%2Cf_auto/31f7d2c534d02b1b8ba21d3076d6acb849d9099a, https://static.ffx.io/images/$width_160%2C$height_160/t_crop_fill/t_sharpen%2Cq_auto%2Cf_auto/31f7d2c534d02b1b8ba21d3076d6acb849d9099a 2x" style="background-color: #d7dbe3; border-bottom-left-radius: 50%; border-bottom-right-radius: 50%; border-top-left-radius: 50%; border-top-right-radius: 50%; border: 1px solid rgb(244, 245, 247); box-sizing: inherit; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; max-width: 80px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" /></figure><div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
</div>
<div class="_2g0-m" style="-webkit-line-clamp: 3; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #232323; display: -webkit-box; font-family: "PT Sans", "Trebuchet MS", "Arial Narrow", sans-serif; font-size: 0.9375rem; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.33333; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="_2Xaw4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(10, 22, 51); color: #0a1633; font-family: "PT Sans", "Trebuchet MS", "Arial Narrow", sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; orphans: auto; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">
<h5 class="_3NFLJ" rel="author" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; float: left; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: 36px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<a href="https://www.smh.com.au/by/kate-aubusson-1me48n" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #096dd2; font-family: inherit; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Articles by Kate Aubusson"></a></h5>
<ul class="_2BYUe" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; float: right; font-family: inherit; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<li style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://twitter.com/Kaubo?lang=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #0a1633; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"><span class="_3kzaw" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); font-family: inherit; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: 1px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: nowrap; width: 1px;">Twitter</span><svg aria-hidden="true" class="QMY9O" focusable="false" height="1em" width="1em"><use xlink:href="#icon-twitter"></use></svg></a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Kate Aubusson of the Sydney Morning Herald</div>
<div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
January 2019</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Daniel Sencierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09789792846850772847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045482787552136610.post-50412041442642519322018-12-12T23:36:00.003-08:002018-12-13T22:25:06.817-08:00Do you live in New Zealand?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnBBLfwpOdSUcTL8aR9MwAE7akT9F_7iUFZ_OifagC7yq98zpakuTZmbXPioKq6kC9PjDGkmFI2KR1x2aUYKJgqUUP1o2OFuTdNj_dGO5TLXHShNoQCC8Fs5a6goLBtswKUrO27odf8m8/s1600/political-map-of-New-Zealan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1249" data-original-width="1412" height="353" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnBBLfwpOdSUcTL8aR9MwAE7akT9F_7iUFZ_OifagC7yq98zpakuTZmbXPioKq6kC9PjDGkmFI2KR1x2aUYKJgqUUP1o2OFuTdNj_dGO5TLXHShNoQCC8Fs5a6goLBtswKUrO27odf8m8/s400/political-map-of-New-Zealan.jpg" width="400" /></a><span style="font-size: large;">New Zealand is where we're heading this Christmas, and really looking forward to it. Only time to visit the North Island this time, do you live there? </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<br /></div>
Daniel Sencierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09789792846850772847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045482787552136610.post-84442455416427583232018-12-10T21:24:00.000-08:002018-12-10T21:24:10.680-08:00The Milk Boy Who Became a Soldier<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
When they left school, everyone remembers their ‘first job.’ I bet you can? By the time I’d left in 1966, I’d done fruit picking, potato picking, shoplifting and had two paper rounds, though I didn’t get paid for all those!</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6bVX5Tk1XJzVMf_bjYnIhg_MECqnatb8GK0LlwEqGzwlSUtahyphenhyphen8w8PjI_0F9f84syOu8SuDB4jWlVHn-ChuHdH2Sl8RUo79fyI72ZPopIWhfnXCmTRVqbHSfZdV996rNR3TWgoXnW4Qg/s1600/Daniel+school+aged+14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="710" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6bVX5Tk1XJzVMf_bjYnIhg_MECqnatb8GK0LlwEqGzwlSUtahyphenhyphen8w8PjI_0F9f84syOu8SuDB4jWlVHn-ChuHdH2Sl8RUo79fyI72ZPopIWhfnXCmTRVqbHSfZdV996rNR3TWgoXnW4Qg/s320/Daniel+school+aged+14.jpg" width="235" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Daniel aged 14<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
My first real job was as a Co-op ‘Milk Boy.’ It was August 1966, and I’d left school in the July, aged fourteen and a half. England had just won the World Cup, and there was optimism around the country that I’ve hoped to, but never experienced since. I’d already applied to join the Army (see the world, learn a trade), and to the Australian Embassy to become a ‘£10 Pom’ but the real objective was to leave home as fast as possible, and I’d have fled with a travelling circus, such was the desire!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
So, as I went for the interview that morning at the Co-op Milk Depot in Colchester, I knew it was temporary, but I had to convince them that this was indeed a <i>career choice</i>! I sailed through the 3-minute session, and the lady then gave me a math’s test paper. She went to get a pencil, but I spotted one on the windowsill, and when she returned I’d already completed all the questions. She was amazed, even more than my math’s teacher who’d always excluded me in mental arithmetic tests so as not to demoralise the rest.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
Yes, I was in, but thanks to the math’s test, got offered a far better job as an apprentice in the Co-op Laboratories. It was twice as much money, more paid holidays, I could work indoors, wear smart clothes and get free dinner in the canteen, BUT I didn’t want a job for life, just a job until I could escape from Essex! I didn’t know what claustrophobia was, but I’d heard of people who were scared to stay inside, and this was the card I played, the card that led me to my alarm clock ringing at 2.30 a.m. the next Monday morning.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
I’d never seen the clock at that time before, and when I looked from my bedroom window, the street lights were off, there was nobody to be seen! I dressed, threw cold water on my face, then crept from the house like a scared cat! My sister Jacqueline was only two, a ticking time bomb sleeping in my parent’s bedroom; if she woke, the whole house would! A 3-mile run (I ran everywhere) landed me at the depot, half an hour early. Wow! I’d seen milk floats on our street, but never this many, there must have been over a hundred! I was spotted quickly, the obvious ‘what the hell happens now’ face betraying me, and was taken over and introduced to Len; a lovely guy as it turned out. First, we had to check the stock put on the float by the night workers, making sure it tallied with Len’s book, a record of what each customer wanted. There were no calculators then, but there was me, and Len soon realised that he could forget his pencil and notepad, as he shouted string after string of numbers, and I just shouted back the total; he loved me! Twelve pence to the shilling, twenty shillings, ten florins, eight half-crowns or two ten-bob notes to the pound, and a guinea, a nice round twenty-one shillings; nothing easy in those days!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi30wdizg1aU-W4ZPjdAmQ9QCAnReFbI1vOYdPQMwnU74C6DFp2R3N7XlKGtNvjUS2HIxXtchsGXXMAtiyjWs6QUouf1MsEMIT4BGbWSU4yjP8S4-3WqmZkbLN1Lra2RnG7vyseTbhjlaM/s1600/F.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="647" height="158" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi30wdizg1aU-W4ZPjdAmQ9QCAnReFbI1vOYdPQMwnU74C6DFp2R3N7XlKGtNvjUS2HIxXtchsGXXMAtiyjWs6QUouf1MsEMIT4BGbWSU4yjP8S4-3WqmZkbLN1Lra2RnG7vyseTbhjlaM/s320/F.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
There were only a few different things on the packed float, mainly pints, half pints and third pints of milk, small jars of cream and bottles of orange juice, all which came in glass. The milk float was a relatively new thing, batteries the size of suitcases but drove along almost silently. However, you couldn’t appreciate that silence because with all that glass in metal crates, rattling along the bumpy road, you could hear us coming from three streets way; it was deafening!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
By 4 am we were out on the delivery, and Len would make up the hand crates, about three houses at a time. He’d shout what to drop on each step, then off I’d go. Trouble was, every time you got to a step there was a note, ‘one extra pint’ ‘no milk today’ ‘don’t walk on my grass,’ it was as if they were all compelled to say something! I first witnessed why Len was a lovely guy when one morning he said, “Stop! Stand very still and look away from the float, Mrs. Jackson’s coming for her milk.” From the corner of my eye, I watched as this frail old lady sneaked from behind the hedge, tiptoed to our float in her slippers, and helped herself to half a pint. “But she’s nicked it,” I said. “It’s OK,” Len said, “I put it down as a breakage, she lost her husband last year and went a bit batty. What should I do, call the police?” He laughed, and we moved on.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
As we walked up East Hill, Len told me he’d seen almost everything imaginable in his thirty years with the dairy. He’d bagged burglars coming out of houses, helped put fires out, saved a guy who’d had a heart attack and delivered two babies! “You wouldn’t see that much action if you joined the army,” he joked, as I blushed. At the end of the street, we looked back at the float, and Len seemed sad. “You know son, when I had Dobbin, I used to just whistle, and he’d trot along with the milk cart, he saved me a lot of walking, but that said, I suppose I’m fitter now.” Of course, I’d seen the horses only a few years before and knew what he meant. The coalman, rag-and-bone man, undertakers, everybody who carried anything bigger than a letter seemed to have a horse. “What happened to them all Len?” I asked. “They all ended up at the glue factory son, every one of them, young and old.” I guess at the time I was trying to imagine how you turn a horse into glue, would they be sticky enough? Who could possibly need that much glue anyway, but Len said it was called ‘progress,’ and we left it at that.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKsV579xxYSYK_jCr8AgGR3Ci9ebSUaYi6010qRvZduYM6JpfzmHpWxRWncIfRYCev_29fkK0NTCdMugWANAAM4dsMPRtASdQajBx_mBJpGHmtljZnOgubjIGXJ5lk_NuSpMsuaEvfHTc/s1600/G.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="281" data-original-width="320" height="175" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKsV579xxYSYK_jCr8AgGR3Ci9ebSUaYi6010qRvZduYM6JpfzmHpWxRWncIfRYCev_29fkK0NTCdMugWANAAM4dsMPRtASdQajBx_mBJpGHmtljZnOgubjIGXJ5lk_NuSpMsuaEvfHTc/s200/G.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
As the days turned to weeks, I got into the routine, and Len especially liked me on Fridays, because that’s when he collected the money. He would get his scruffy old book out,” Two pints, one cream, one juice and sixpence owing from last week,” to which I’d shout out, “Two and tuppence Len.” He’d knock on the door, the lady would pay, then he’d often show me off by making me calculate any obscure thing he could think of in front of her; it was fun, and for the first time in my life, I felt rather important. Friday was also pay day, and that little brown packet with fifteen shillings and sixpence in was a bag of gold to me. Over six weeks pocket money in one go! Looking back, I’ve never felt that wealthy since!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
Very often, especially after 7 am, housewives would have tea and even biscuits waiting for us. We’d sit around the kitchen table, the grown-ups all dragging the last sliver of goodness from their cigs as I put my sugar in. “Three sugars!” they’d often shout, “It’ll rot your teeth.” I’d never drunk as much tea and was always needing to sneak into bushes for a wee! One lady, Val used to insist that Len had his tea upstairs because she wanted him to help her “lift some heavy things” in the bedroom. I had to look after her cat, who she said ‘got scared’ if it was left alone. Looking back years later, I can laugh and still see how happy Len was after all that lifting. Maybe it was a ‘perk of the job,’ everyone’s job had perks back then. The coalman got free coal, the dockers seemed to get free everything, the civilian workers at the Army stores dressed their entire family, rather conspicuously I thought! So, on Fridays, Len and I helped ourselves to a few bottles each, which he recorded as ‘breakages,’ and everyone was happy.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggAc8MfvBuGEI9Mf-F3hTp1uAVQn-WjHVqvmu93lr4IofqjDNbYQaew8Mrg7SaQceSYrtQz52kJzlvK-kjsQLxLzmm-EpCO5leCwzj6xc7dc9JeTPSdkrX6znDoN74kTJwk_Uw7ruu3TM/s1600/D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="405" data-original-width="304" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggAc8MfvBuGEI9Mf-F3hTp1uAVQn-WjHVqvmu93lr4IofqjDNbYQaew8Mrg7SaQceSYrtQz52kJzlvK-kjsQLxLzmm-EpCO5leCwzj6xc7dc9JeTPSdkrX6znDoN74kTJwk_Uw7ruu3TM/s200/D.jpg" width="150" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
Winter soon arrived and getting up at 3 am with an inch of ice on the inside of the bedroom window and a foot of snow outside was a whole new game for the ‘Milk Boy.’ Our hands were so cold that we lost all feeling, and the chilblains were terrible, but still, we managed to have fun, though Len seemed to go through three times as many fags. Customers were complaining that the birds had pecked through the foil caps and drank the cream from their milk, others moaning that the milk and cream were frozen. What could we do? I was delighted that the birds were so clever, and at the posh looking houses, I’d pop my frozen little finger through the foil to give them a head start!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
A big day at the depot was the introduction of ‘Yoghurt,’ and we were given a tasting sample because they were going to turn us into ‘salesmen.’ After one spoonful, Len and I looked at each other and grimaced; it was like sour milk, we knew it would never catch on! It came in four flavours and in ‘plastic tubs,’ and they would never replace glass! On my very first yoghurt delivery, on the way across the slippery path I went flying, and out popped six plastic tubs like mini-missiles. I thought, ‘thank God they’re not glass,’ until they hit the ground, the lids popped off and I’d painted a ‘Jackson Pollock’ in the snow. I shouted to Len, “Have we anymore Yoghurts?” to which he yelled back, “No son, why?” I paused, “It’s OK!” I then had to make sure it really was OK. There was a rusty spoon by the frozen fish pond; I remember seeing the fish still alive and moving under the ice, how bizarre! I scooped a mixture of yoghurt, snow, and perhaps a little muck, equal amounts to each tub, then pressed the lids back. Then I broke the thin ice on the pond, washing each carton in turn, drying them on my shirt tail. As I ran back to the float, Len said, “You were a long time?” “Needed a wee Len,” I said, more than relieved! That Friday, Len asked the lady at that house if she’d liked those new yoghurt things. I went red; it was a sure giveaway, I’m dead! “They were delicious, thank you,” she said, “Not sure about the flavours though. Did they have nuts in?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJxdOePQYO8QxOxS4zGZ-CZbuxH1pwIKrna4VbF2nVD1gqBHazSpvSGIPvB8UKpbvT9NApJylqHeKoEroMGGWR0cGgWuRVGj6BVsnpRIpImm6pEa-5bN6EQFxHpg4uHliZf56aM42t4rc/s1600/Daniel+Army+aged+15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="206" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJxdOePQYO8QxOxS4zGZ-CZbuxH1pwIKrna4VbF2nVD1gqBHazSpvSGIPvB8UKpbvT9NApJylqHeKoEroMGGWR0cGgWuRVGj6BVsnpRIpImm6pEa-5bN6EQFxHpg4uHliZf56aM42t4rc/s200/Daniel+Army+aged+15.jpg" width="128" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Daniel aged 15</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
Before I knew it my time with Len was nearing an end, and I never would see him again. The Army wanted to interview me, and the Australian Embassy had offered me a ‘£10 Pom’ position, but I’d have to wait a further six months to sail. So, the British Army it was! The Milk Boy became a Soldier on 9th May 1967 and still smiles when he sees yoghurt, and enjoys it occasionally!</div>
<o:p></o:p></div>
Daniel Sencierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09789792846850772847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045482787552136610.post-21111846930055424742018-11-26T23:31:00.000-08:002018-11-29T05:57:00.668-08:00BCCT Award Winners 2018 - Kensington International School<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: large;">I'm proud to feature Kensington International School where my wife has been Head Teacher for over three years...</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRcmSmSxC6iqJJswzCoVR2PH3K8hWNGgsqu8IMsSlUNvFisPAfN9eP-4-GOJDiw5Jy9raTmF6vlDMC4qwYwDr4i5TLYyWDkJ-alW0YlFW_M8ALHOFy05cdH9i1AsFK8-L3Sb3XwlCjrgY/s1600/EL+Dec-Jan92.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1132" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRcmSmSxC6iqJJswzCoVR2PH3K8hWNGgsqu8IMsSlUNvFisPAfN9eP-4-GOJDiw5Jy9raTmF6vlDMC4qwYwDr4i5TLYyWDkJ-alW0YlFW_M8ALHOFy05cdH9i1AsFK8-L3Sb3XwlCjrgY/s640/EL+Dec-Jan92.jpg" width="452" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxCYo9NVtp7mUmFprSejMoPwb53YvSxnhmcPijEW4jIXFaHu27qyZoc10ZSJWOyziUEcA9HEKOKtrmlwTZQ7qjHULqTQsO8yRZLXKhCwxcQsDQ9lvEV9MCKwcrVDDM4WrgqqEzVKBMSBs/s1600/EL+Dec-Jan93.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1132" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxCYo9NVtp7mUmFprSejMoPwb53YvSxnhmcPijEW4jIXFaHu27qyZoc10ZSJWOyziUEcA9HEKOKtrmlwTZQ7qjHULqTQsO8yRZLXKhCwxcQsDQ9lvEV9MCKwcrVDDM4WrgqqEzVKBMSBs/s640/EL+Dec-Jan93.jpg" width="452" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
Daniel Sencierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09789792846850772847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045482787552136610.post-73716138991203543502018-11-24T23:54:00.001-08:002018-11-24T23:56:18.640-08:00 Online tool can help men make prostate cancer treatment choices <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK5GnaI9VxxfTn38cBZ88k0XKqt3ocjpSRxOsF3DnHfIv48JATxMPZP4glkPnTilkkGIh_Tp_vpj9eo9LnEXm6RRHabD-8sZ2y9O7DbUXicASL1-tJ6r-FFxqhk1pfOHvAFthRJt6l10Q/s1600/prostate-cancer---3198930.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="557" data-original-width="991" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK5GnaI9VxxfTn38cBZ88k0XKqt3ocjpSRxOsF3DnHfIv48JATxMPZP4glkPnTilkkGIh_Tp_vpj9eo9LnEXm6RRHabD-8sZ2y9O7DbUXicASL1-tJ6r-FFxqhk1pfOHvAFthRJt6l10Q/s400/prostate-cancer---3198930.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "lato" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "lato" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">A web-based tool can let a man with prostate cancer see how thousands of other men in his situation have chosen to be treated, which may help him better understand his own options, a US study suggests.</span><br />
<div style="border: 0px; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Early-stage prostate cancer may not need treatment right away, or ever, because these tumors often don't grow fast enough to cause symptoms. Because treatment can have side effects like impotence and incontinence, doctors sometimes advise men to put off surgery or radiation and instead get regular screenings to reassess whether the cancer warrants intervention.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
</div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-size: large;">"There is often no one correct treatment option because the choice of prostate cancer treatment depends on personal preferences around treatment benefits and risks," said senior author Dr Karandeep Singh of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-size: large;">"There are already a number of great resources available to the prostate cancer patient community to support this shared decision-making process," Singh said by email. "However, there are no tools that help patients discover what treatments similar men chose when faced with a similar decision."</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Singh and colleagues set out to develop a tool that fit the bill. They used data on treatment choices made by 5,016 men diagnosed with prostate cancer to develop a web-based tool that predicts the most likely treatment choice based on what other men in similar circumstances have chosen.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Then, they asked another 2,527 men with prostate cancer to try out the tool and see how often the program predicted the treatment choice these men would pick for themselves. The tool, it turned out, was highly accurate.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-size: large;">"This tool is not meant to replace the shared decision-making process but rather to augment that process by helping patients focus their preparation on likely treatment options prior to meeting with their urologist," Singh said.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Patients and doctors can use the tool here: <a href="https://bit.ly/2Kjprcw">https://bit.ly/2Kjprcw</a></span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-size: large;">It's only meant for men with early-stage tumors that haven't spread to other parts of the body. It won't predict treatment decisions for men with more complex cases.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-size: large;">For men who do have early-stage tumors, the tool focuses on aspects of the prostate cancer diagnosis, patients' age and weight, and any history of heart attack or diagnosis of diabetes.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-size: large;">When men are only 45 years old with lower-risk tumors, they will probably see that similar patients are pretty evenly divided between opting for radical prostatectomy surgery and choosing active surveillance, that is, skipping treatment in favor of periodic reassessments to see if cancer warrants intervention.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-size: large;">By age 55, men with low-risk tumors might see that more than half of similar patients choose active surveillance and less than 40 percent opt for a radical prostatectomy. And by 65, men with low-risk tumors might see that about two-thirds of similar patients pick active surveillance.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-size: large;">One limitation of the study is that it wasn't designed to prove whether or how the web-based tool might help men make treatment decisions or see how happy patients are afterward with the choices they made, the study authors note.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Even when men seem similar on paper in terms of their demographics and the particulars of their tumor, how well the web-based tool predicts what's best for them might vary from one man to the next, said Dr. Kari Tikkinen of the University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital in Finland.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-size: large;">"Sure, this data can be reassuring to those whose own values and preferences concur with the option machine learning is suggesting as the most common choice," Tikkinen, who wasn't involved in the study, said by email.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-size: large;">"However, even in this kind of excellent situation it may not help patients," Tikkinen said.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-size: large;">A man who is very opposed to surgery because of the risk of incontinence or impotence, for example, may not want to choose surgery just because that's what the tool says most similar men would do, Tikkinen said.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-size: large;">But tools like the one tested in the study can still help men have more focused and nuanced conversations with their doctors about what treatment may be ideal for them, Tikkinen said.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-size: large;">SOURCE: https://bit.ly/2Bm8MlN European Urology, online October 11, 2018.</span></div>
<span style="border: 0px; font-family: "lato" , sans-serif; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />Read more at <a href="https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/health/online-tool-can-help-men-make-prostate-cancer-treatment-choices-10952258">https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/health/online-tool-can-help-men-make-prostate-cancer-treatment-choices-10952258</a></span></span></div>
Daniel Sencierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09789792846850772847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045482787552136610.post-69398016850076472018-11-10T23:35:00.002-08:002018-11-10T23:35:33.844-08:00Harry Patch - An amazing man<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="byline" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; caret-color: rgb(40, 40, 40); color: #282828; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 10px; margin-bottom: 5px;">
<div>
<div class="bylineBody" style="color: #333333; float: left; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.48em; padding: 0px 5px 0px 0px; width: 380px;">
<span itemprop="author">Harry Patch was part of a bloody war of which today we are being asked to '<i>remember the dead.</i>' </span></div>
<div class="bylineBody" style="color: #333333; float: left; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.48em; padding: 0px 5px 0px 0px; width: 380px;">
<span itemprop="author">I'm asking you to also remember the few people who sent all those millions to their deaths so that maybe, just maybe, we can prevent it from all happening again one day.</span></div>
<div class="bylineBody" style="color: #333333; float: left; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.48em; padding: 0px 5px 0px 0px; width: 380px;">
<span itemprop="author"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgok1Ad8EFUu8C9o-gO62lIVIzqIE0_ptXFIb9M5E5_5ZujqCeliDZ5UknGuWZtap-GGtab7dnJFIelDENoWHPuFzwrNc7AbQ_SQOf7IStZckNGPcKubJgnqKa409RI1b9BP7y0zaUKMgs/s1600/Screenshot+2018-11-11+at+14.14.55.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="984" data-original-width="984" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgok1Ad8EFUu8C9o-gO62lIVIzqIE0_ptXFIb9M5E5_5ZujqCeliDZ5UknGuWZtap-GGtab7dnJFIelDENoWHPuFzwrNc7AbQ_SQOf7IStZckNGPcKubJgnqKa409RI1b9BP7y0zaUKMgs/s320/Screenshot+2018-11-11+at+14.14.55.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="bylineBody" style="color: #333333; float: left; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.48em; padding: 0px 5px 0px 0px; width: 380px;">
<span itemprop="author"><br /></span></div>
<div class="bylineBody" style="color: #333333; float: left; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.48em; padding: 0px 5px 0px 0px; width: 380px;">
<span itemprop="author">Read some of Harry's story here...</span></div>
<div class="bylineBody" style="color: #333333; float: left; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.48em; padding: 0px 5px 0px 0px; width: 380px;">
<span itemprop="author"><br /></span></div>
<div class="bylineBody" style="color: #333333; float: left; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.48em; padding: 0px 5px 0px 0px; width: 380px;">
<span itemprop="author">By Peter Parker</span></div>
</div>
<br /><div class="cl" style="clear: both; display: table;">
</div>
</div>
<div id="mainBodyArea" itemprop="articleBody" style="caret-color: rgb(40, 40, 40); color: #282828; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 10px;">
<div class="firstPar">
<div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; padding: 0px 0px 0.7em;">
Pte HJ Patch, number 29295, C Company, 7th Battalion, Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry, took his place within the fighting force at the bottom of a long and complex chain of command that ended, by way of a regiment, company and platoon, in a section of some 14 men. </div>
</div>
<div class="secondPar">
<div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; padding: 0px 0px 0.7em;">
Patch, who was called up in October 1916 at the age of 18, served as a private and became part of a Lewis machine-gun team when he arrived in France the following year. At this time, companies tended to be allotted four Lewis guns each. Gun crews were special, excused the everyday duties to which most rankers were subjected, and were expected instead to spend their time keeping their weapons in good working order. They operated as an individual unit under the command of the “No 1”, in Patch’s case a man called Bob Haynes. Patch always knew, and later could only remember, the three other members of the team by their nicknames. No 3 was known as Maudy (“There was an actress of that name. He had a good sense of humour,” Patch recalled), while Nos 4 and 5 were known as Jack and Jill. </div>
</div>
<div class="thirdPar">
<div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; padding: 0px 0px 0.7em;">
The bonds between Lewis gun team members were particularly strong. “We were just that little body alone and we shared everything,” Patch recalled. “You could talk to them about everything and anything. I mean, those boys were with you night and day, you shared everything with them and you talked about everything.” Such camaraderie helped men endure the harsh conditions at the front. </div>
</div>
<div class="fourthPar">
<div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; padding: 0px 0px 0.7em;">
The son of a master stonemason, Henry John Patch was born in the village of Combe Down, near Bath, on June 17 1898, and his family’s roots were buried deep in the Somerset soil. His father, whose family came from a village near Glastonbury on the other side of the county, had been born at Claverton, a mile or so from Combe Down, while his mother was from the neighbouring village of Monkton Combe. The Patches had thoroughly colonised this small corner of England, and by the outbreak of the war there were 14 different Patch families in Combe Down. Harry was 16 and an apprentice plumber when war broke out in 1914, and was anything but enthusiastic. </div>
</div>
<div class="fifthPar">
<div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; padding: 0px 0px 0.7em;">
“While a lot of the local lads went and joined up in the local regiment, the Somerset Light Infantry,” he recalled, “I never gave it a second thought. I never felt the need to get myself into khaki and go out there fighting before it was 'all over by Christmas’. I’m not saying I knew any different, but at my age I was keen to continue my apprenticeship.” </div>
</div>
<div class="body">
<div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; padding: 0px 0px 0.7em;">
By 1916, however, Britain could no longer rely on volunteers to fill the ranks. Conscription was introduced at the start of the year and Patch was drafted into the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry (DCLI) in October. </div>
<div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; padding: 0px 0px 0.7em;">
The following July, he and the other four members of his close-knit Lewis-gun team were pitched into the Third Battle of Ypres, otherwise known as Passchendaele, the last major battle of attrition fought on the Western Front. The offensive began on July 31 1917 in heavy rain – the heaviest for 30 summers – and they soon got bogged down in the Flanders mud. When it ended on November 6, with the capture of the ruined village of Passchendaele, Britain and her Empire had suffered some 310,000 casualties. </div>
<div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; padding: 0px 0px 0.7em;">
During the four months, from June to September, that he spent in the trenches, Patch never had a bath or a change of clothes. Body-lice were a constant irritant, as were the rats, grown fat on the plentiful corpses, which gnawed their way through equipment, devoured rations, and ran across the faces of sleeping soldiers. “It doesn’t matter how much training you’ve had,” Patch recalled, “you can’t prepare for the reality, the noise, the filth, the uncertainty and the calls for stretcher-bearers. Anyone who tells you that in the trenches they weren’t scared, he’s a damned liar. You were scared all the time.” </div>
<div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; padding: 0px 0px 0.7em;">
Patch first went into battle on August 16 in an action subsequently named the Battle of Langemarck, after the village that was its chief objective. “I’m told we attacked on August 16,” he remarked, “but the date doesn’t mean much to me. I know it was about six weeks before I was wounded, so I suppose the middle of August is about right. I remember the names – Pilckem Ridge was one and the other was Langemarck – but it is such a long time ago that I can’t quite connect them up in my head.” </div>
<div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; padding: 0px 0px 0.7em;">
Patch may have forgotten the exact dates and places, but he knew what a battlefield was like. It was during his unsteady progress through a hellish landscape, ruptured by countless artillery shells, that he came across a young soldier from A Company of the 7th DCLI, which had led the attack. Of all the terrible sights he encountered, it was this that would remain with him throughout his extraordinarily long life. The soldier, Patch recalled, “was ripped open from his shoulder to his waist by shrapnel, and lying in a pool of blood”. Seeing men from his own battalion, he begged to be put out of his misery. In Patch’s terse but eloquent phrase, “he was beyond all human help”, and died before anyone could draw a revolver and comply with his desperate request. “It is an image that has haunted me all my life,” Patch said some 90 years later, “seared into my mind”. </div>
<div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; padding: 0px 0px 0.7em;">
The battle was not over, however. At one point during the advance a German emerged from a trench, bayonet fixed, and ran towards Patch. The 19-year-old drew his service revolver and shot the German in the shoulder. Still he came on. </div>
<div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; padding: 0px 0px 0.7em;">
The gun team had made an unusually humane and highly irregular pact that they would not shoot to kill unless absolutely necessary, and Patch remembered this code as he again took aim. “I couldn’t kill him. He was a man I never knew, I couldn’t talk to him. I shot him above the ankle, above the knee. He went down. He said something to me in German – God knows what it was – but for him the war was over.” </div>
<div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; padding: 0px 0px 0.7em;">
When C Company reached the German trenches at around midday, they found them empty. By the harsh standards of Passchendaele, the attack had gone reasonably well. Patch and his comrades had emerged unscathed, but their luck would last only another month. On the night of September 22, the Lewis-gun team were making their way back into the reserve trenches, walking across open ground because there were no communication trenches in this area of the front line. They were waiting in a huddle while No 1 was “attending to the call of nature”, when a shell exploded above them in a flash of light. Patch was thrown to the ground, and lay there conscious but “incapable of anything” for a couple of minutes before realising that he had been hit in the groin by shrapnel. He applied the field dressing that all soldiers carried with them and waited for the stretcher-bearers. </div>
<div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; padding: 0px 0px 0.7em;">
Taken to a casualty clearing station, he had his wound cleaned and dressed by a doctor, but the shell fragment that had caused it remained in place. The anaesthetising effects of shock were wearing off, and he began to feel acute pain. Since his injury was less serious than many of those at the clearing station, he was obliged to wait until the following evening before being seen by another doctor. </div>
<div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; padding: 0px 0px 0.7em;">
He was told that the shrapnel could be removed but warned that no anaesthetic was available. Patch decided it was worth enduring two minutes of further pain, so four men held him down while the shell splinter was cut out of him and the wound stitched. Patch declined to accept the two-inch-long metal fragment as a souvenir, and was relieved to learn that his wound had been classed as “a Blighty one”, meaning he would be invalided back to Britain. </div>
<div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; padding: 0px 0px 0.7em;">
He was taken initially to hospital in Liverpool, where he received a letter from Bob Haynes informing him that the three other members of the Lewis team had been killed by the shell that had wounded him. “There was nothing left, nothing left to bury. My reaction was terrible; it was like losing part of my life.” Patch’s physical wounds would heal, but the death of these men was something from which he never really recovered. </div>
<div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; padding: 0px 0px 0.7em;">
Following his discharge from hospital he was sent to a convalescent camp at Sutton Coldfield, near Birmingham. There, he met his future wife, Ada Billington. </div>
<div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; padding: 0px 0px 0.7em;">
It was not until August 1918 that he was deemed fit enough to resume training, at Tidworth camp in Wiltshire. He dreaded being sent back to the front, but an additional chest injury, suffered when he was shelled, had not healed and prevented him from carrying heavy equipment, so he was ordered back to hospital. This delay, lasting several weeks, may well have saved his life. When the guns fell silent on 11 November 1918, Patch was still in training on the Isle of Wight. </div>
<div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; padding: 0px 0px 0.7em;">
“The war might have been over,” he recalled, “but its effects were never far away.” </div>
<div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; padding: 0px 0px 0.7em;">
Like most of those who had survived the war, Harry Patch simply returned to his former life as a civilian and settled down to married life. But he returned to Combe Down “thoroughly disillusioned”: “I could never understand why my country could call me from my peacetime job and train me to go to France and try to kill a man I never knew. Why did we fight? I asked myself that, many times.” </div>
<div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; padding: 0px 0px 0.7em;">
He never spoke about the war – not even to his wife of 57 years. In this regard, he was not unusual. As Dennis Goodwin, founder, along with his son, of the World War One Veterans’ Association, puts it, these men “simply retreated into their own shell hole of memories”. </div>
<div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; padding: 0px 0px 0.7em;">
Patch was haunted, in particular, by the dreadfully wounded soldier who had begged to be finished off. The young man had cried out “Mother!” as he died, and Patch believed this cry was one of greeting rather than despair. “I’m positive that when he left this world, wherever he went, his mother was there,” Patch wrote towards the end of his life. “From that day I’ve always remembered that cry, and that death is not the end.” </div>
<div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; padding: 0px 0px 0.7em;">
He left the Army with his faith in the Church of England “shattered”. In an attempt to revive it, he joined the church choir. “In the end, I went because I enjoyed the music and had friends there. But the belief? It didn’t come. I felt shattered, absolutely, and didn’t discuss the war with anyone from then on, and nobody brought it up if they could help it.” </div>
<div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; padding: 0px 0px 0.7em;">
This attitude persisted well beyond the immediate aftermath of the war. Patch refused to join veterans’ associations, had no wish to revisit battlefields, never attended a regimental reunion and avoided all war films. He did, however, keep in touch with his old “No 1”, Bob Haynes, until he died in the 1970s. </div>
<div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; padding: 0px 0px 0.7em;">
Patch did his best to repress all memories of the trenches. It was only at the age of 98, when he moved to Fletcher House, a residential care home in the Somerset city of Wells, that a minor incident brought those memories back. The door to his room was opposite a linen cupboard, and one night someone switched on the fluorescent light inside. Flashes of light came through the glass panel above the door to Patch’s room. Half asleep, he was transported in an instant back to Passchendaele. “It was the flash of a bomb,” he recalled. “That flash brought it all back.” He had been suffering from bad dreams about the war, and decided that the time had come to face his demons. </div>
<div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; padding: 0px 0px 0.7em;">
In the autumn of 2004, aged 106, he was persuaded to travel to Flanders for a BBC documentary, <i>The Last Tommy</i>. He was filmed at Tyne Cot, the largest British war cemetery, containing almost 12,000 graves, many of them holding unidentified bodies. </div>
<div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; padding: 0px 0px 0.7em;">
“Some of the boys buried here,” he remarked, “are the same age as me, killed on the same day I was fighting. Any one of them could have been me. Millions of men came to fight in this war, and I find it incredible that I am now the only one left. Just like them, when I went over the top I didn’t know whether I would last longer than five minutes. We were the PBI – the Poor Bloody Infantry – and we were expendable. What a waste. What a terrible waste.” </div>
<div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; padding: 0px 0px 0.7em;">
The documentary makers also persuaded Patch to meet one of Germany’s last-surviving veterans on September 22, the anniversary of the loss of his three comrades in the Lewis-gun team. A year older than Patch, Charles Kuentz had also fought at Passchendaele. He, too, had suffered the loss of a close friend, killed by shrapnel beside him in a trench. Like Patch, Kuentz had never talked about his experiences until being asked to do so after reaching his centenary. When the veterans laid a wreath together, Patch leaned out of his wheel-chair to pick up an acorn, and presented it to Kuentz. The German died a few months later. </div>
<div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; padding: 0px 0px 0.7em;">
Patch never courted publicity and occasionally complained that he was tired of talking about the war, but it was inevitable that he would attract attention as he became one of the very last survivors. Even towards the end of his 111-year-long life, when he was widely recognized as a spokesman for his generation, he was not in the least afraid to state his opinions. “For me, November 11 is just show business,” he once said of Armistice Day, and he rarely lost an opportunity to express his abhorrence of warfare. </div>
<div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; padding: 0px 0px 0.7em;">
Last year, he returned to Flanders to unveil a stone plaque at the spot where he went into action for the first time. It would be the final visit to the Western Front by someone who had fought there. In recognition of his status as the last surviving soldier who had fought in defence of Belgium, he was appointed Knight of the Order of Leopold. He was also made an Officer of the Légion d’honneur. </div>
<div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; padding: 0px 0px 0.7em;">
“I greatly appreciate the way your people respect the memory of those who fell, irrespective of the uniform they wore,” Patch told the French ambassador. “I will wear this medal with great pride and when I eventually rejoin my mates it will be displayed in my regimental museum as a permanent reminder of the kindness of the people of France.” </div>
<div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; padding: 0px 0px 0.7em;">
On June 17 this year Patch celebrated his 111th birthday with a party in the garden of Fletcher House. The following day, his portrait went on display at the National Portrait Gallery. </div>
<div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; padding: 0px 0px 0.7em;">
At 9am on July 25, only a week after the death of Henry Allingham, aged 113, Harry Patch died. At the time of his death, Britain’s last veteran was also the oldest man in Europe and the third-oldest in the world. He remained alert and articulate until the end. </div>
<div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; padding: 0px 0px 0.7em;">
Following his death, much was made of the example he set as a soldier, joining up “to defend the nation”; but this ignored the facts. “I didn’t want to go and fight anyone,” he wrote in his autobiography, “but it was a case of having to. When it came, army life didn’t appeal to me at all, and when I found out how rough-and-tumble it could be, I liked it even less. I had no inclination to fight anybody. I wasn’t at all patriotic. I went and did what was asked of me and no more.” </div>
<div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; padding: 0px 0px 0.7em;">
When asked what he thought about the idea of a state funeral for the last veteran, Patch had replied: “Overall, the idea was all right, I suppose, wanting to honour the generation who fought, but I wasn’t interested. I want to be buried in Monkton Combe alongside my family in the churchyard.” After a public funeral at Wells Cathedral, this wish was granted. </div>
<div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; padding: 0px 0px 0.7em;">
The poet Charles Hamilton Sorley, killed in the Battle of Loos in 1915, wrote of the “millions of the mouthless dead”, but until now those dead have always had a spokesman. Now that Last Post has sounded for the last veteran, there is no one left to say: “I know what it was like. I was there.” </div>
<div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; padding: 0px 0px 0.7em;">
* <i>'The Last Veteran: Harry Patch and the Legacy of War’ by Peter Parker (Fourth Estate) is available from Telegraph Books for £12.99 + £1.25 p&p. To order, call 0844 871 1515 or visit <a href="http://books.telegraph.co.uk/" style="color: #234b7b; font-weight: bold; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">books.telegraph.co.uk</a></i></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Daniel Sencierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09789792846850772847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045482787552136610.post-7202892983443084522018-10-26T02:02:00.000-07:002018-11-03T00:52:35.122-07:00Tears in Heaven...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="color: silver; font-family: "open sans" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); color: #6aa84f;">A post from my great friend Dusty's blog...</span></span><br />
<div class="entry-content" style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: "PT Serif", Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 1.5em 0px 0px;">
<div style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">
<span style="font-size: large;">It’s late afternoon and I’ve just finished a haphazard first meal of the day and am sitting in front of my computer screen crying to Eric Clapton’s, <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">“Would you know my name if I saw you in heaven? Would it be the same if I saw you in heaven?”</span> His heartfelt lyrics make me wonder if anything would ever be the same again. If we would know each other over “there” and if<span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;"> it</span></span> or <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">we</span></span> would finally be better when our tears were wiped away?</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Today, however, my tears have not yet been wiped away and they flow freely from a deep well of groaning and grief that has no other way to express itself. I participated in the cremation of younger brother Nong Dton, our palliative care team’s 27-year-old sole male nurse. He was the same age as my daughter and the only child of parents similarly aged to me. He was cheekily playful, musical to the core, and an ethical hard worker when it came to caring for those in end of life. He tragically died last week in a midnight motorbike accident.</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Hearing the news, the hospital staff collapsed on the floor, wept, and was unable to eat for a great while. <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">“I’ll find my way through night and day…”</span> Then bravely reaching outside of their loss, they rallied to ensure his religious ceremonies and cremation would be a success. They wanted to lift the family’s burden and show that their child was loved and appreciated. They worked tirelessly for many days with tears in their eyes and smiles on their faces. They tended to a myriad of details with the greatest dedication in order to send our brother off well.</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">“I must be strong and carry on…”</span> Thais are experts at facing death. They have been actively involved in religious rites and sitting with the bodies of their dead relatives before they can even walk. They do so gracefully, tenderly, and kindly. They also contain an inherited sense of resolute acceptance that if you are born then you must suffer, and finally die. Today, I was deeply impressed by the number of attendees whose considerable difference in social standing meant little in contrast to the shared sense of love and loyalty. Yet no matter how used to dying any of us may have been, we all had to be very brave as we cried, sang, prayed, hugged each other, and sat for long stretches in painful silence. No matter how long you have worked in palliative care, imbibed a healthy death culture, practiced religious beliefs and forms of paying last respects, or given grieving processes there seems to be a timeless thread throughout our shared humanity. We all hurt deeply over our losses. We try to make sense of tragedy, even when there may none to be found. We often search out eternity from our narrow, earth-bound perspectives. We vehemently resist believing that birth, suffering, and death is all there is to our existence. We also come together in grief and prove that we are more alike than different!</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The master of ceremonies, much like any traditional religious leader, instructed us that there was no death, just a change of apparel, or body and residence as she put it. She said we would miss Nong Dton, we would hurt and feel empty, yet he was not lost to us. She then cleared his karmic slate by asking for his forgiveness for any intentional or unintentional hurts or mistakes we’d made towards him and assured him that we’d forgiven him for any of his misdeeds. Older sisters P’ Dtuck and P’ Jim, the heads of palliative care reviewed his life and sang a Thai song of eternal love for him. P’Jim crooned just as soulfully as Eric Clapton had over the loss of his young son. She declared we’d never forget our younger brother, and asked him not to forget us. “<span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">Would you know my name if I saw you in heaven? Would it be the same if I saw you in heaven?…”</span></span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">
<span style="font-size: large;">As we placed fragrant incense and sandalwood flowers and his nurse’s uniform and motorcycle gear under his coffin, we prayed we’d all know each other forever in a better place. A place where tears are wiped away and sorrow has been forgotten in the light of the joy and love we share. I knocked on his coffin and announced that it was Susan, his older sister visiting him, as Thais have taught me to do. I thanked him for being him in such a beautiful manner and wished him safe, good travels. P’Jim added as his coffin was being shuffled into the furnace, “Go well young brother. I love you. Do not forget us. We’ll follow you when it’s our time to go!”</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">“Beyond the door there’s peace I’m sure and I know there’ll be no more tears in heaven…”</span> In the meanwhile brother Dton, <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">“Would you hold my hand, would you help me stand…” </span>so our sense of shared fragility and oneness would lift us from our knees in order to better navigate this messy thing called life, loss, and death.</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">
<span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700;"><span style="font-size: large;">Tears In Heaven</span></span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gygCzRaSSss" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #117bb8; transition: all 0.1s ease-in;"><span style="font-size: large;">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gygCzRaSSss</span></a></div>
<div style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Would you know my name</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">
<span style="font-size: large;">If I saw you in heaven?</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Would it be the same</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">
<span style="font-size: large;">If I saw you in heaven?</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I must be strong and carry on</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">
<span style="font-size: large;">‘Cause I know I don’t belong here in heaven</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Would you hold my hand</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">
<span style="font-size: large;">If I saw you in heaven?</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Would you help me stand</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">
<span style="font-size: large;">If I saw you in heaven?</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I’ll find my way through night and day</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">
<span style="font-size: large;">‘Cause I know I just can’t stay here in heaven</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Time can bring you down, time can bend your knees</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Time can break your heart, have you begging please, begging please</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Beyond the door there’s peace I’m sure</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">
<span style="font-size: large;">And I know there’ll be no more tears in heaven</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Would you know my name</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">
<span style="font-size: large;">If I saw you in heaven?</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Would it be the same</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">
<span style="font-size: large;">If I saw you in heaven?</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I must be strong and carry on</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">
<span style="font-size: large;">‘Cause I know I don’t belong here in heaven</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Songwriters: Eric Patrick Clapton / Will Jennings</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://sudustin.wordpress.com/2018/10/24/tears-in-heaven/?fbclid=IwAR140F-yc7CrJRRsRgk0C02XqD0EBeL02HrK8ts5cdIf1QA3-roFMdbJ8mI">https://sudustin.wordpress.com/2018/10/24/tears-in-heaven/?fbclid=IwAR140F-yc7CrJRRsRgk0C02XqD0EBeL02HrK8ts5cdIf1QA3-roFMdbJ8mI</a></span><br />
<br /></div>
<div style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">
<span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0wZEAdI3QIS2oZioQvquz4Jv-x-T7-ZbSeA65Bnq0CtefEQL_1_wzm5FGIFibSVLjNlg9k2c21s0wyQ4kxKKOGPu8UdWWX-E02Wbq9SW6pfFtyFbZOQ8VntsORzjwjYfCKwsJEwF7Tq8/s1600/Screen+Shot+2018-10-26+at+15.03.30.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="766" data-original-width="436" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0wZEAdI3QIS2oZioQvquz4Jv-x-T7-ZbSeA65Bnq0CtefEQL_1_wzm5FGIFibSVLjNlg9k2c21s0wyQ4kxKKOGPu8UdWWX-E02Wbq9SW6pfFtyFbZOQ8VntsORzjwjYfCKwsJEwF7Tq8/s320/Screen+Shot+2018-10-26+at+15.03.30.png" width="182" /></a></span></span></span></div>
</div>
<div style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">
<span style="font-size: large; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Susan Dustin “Dusty” Hattan (Aldous) – An Arsenal of Optimism</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: large;">© Susan Dustin Hattan (nee Aldous) October 2018</span></div>
</div>
</div>
Daniel Sencierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09789792846850772847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045482787552136610.post-16183097395625657752018-10-16T09:47:00.002-07:002018-10-24T06:07:13.651-07:00Kensington International Officially the Best in Thailand<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxq7OZRt3CK08NOjMVlfccz8eFGpc78ls2elUHC3ixZt-G-sqUUZLzBh1EL89-NJBba_KC3EKVtl5tYhkxJ3XQy9AAGKac2RioT29SRPOvbNibAXUWUPbRiTzjRmbXzPhkOKqAPPzFRoc/s1600/IMG_8908-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1265" data-original-width="1600" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxq7OZRt3CK08NOjMVlfccz8eFGpc78ls2elUHC3ixZt-G-sqUUZLzBh1EL89-NJBba_KC3EKVtl5tYhkxJ3XQy9AAGKac2RioT29SRPOvbNibAXUWUPbRiTzjRmbXzPhkOKqAPPzFRoc/s320/IMG_8908-2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Beverley Petch (my wife), has been very busy in Thailand for the past three years, building what is now recognised throughout Southeast Asia as a flagship school of Early Years Education. Kensington International School has won the award for ‘Outstanding Small Company’ in the Thailand International Business Awards, held annually by the British Chamber of Commerce. Beverley said, “I am so proud of the directors, teachers and every member of staff, who through sheer dedication to a ‘child first’ philosophy have helped to make our school so successful.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Kensington International School is now an internationally recognised beacon of excellence, attracting considerable interest and hosting deputations from governments and professional organisations throughout Southeast Asia, including Japan, China, Vietnam, Indonesia, Macau and Taiwan. In May this year, they were invited to showcase at the ‘Annual Learning Spaces’ conference held in Singapore, where they presented their ‘vision of future education,’ and in December, they feature at the ‘Asia-Pacific International Schools Conference’ in Hong Kong.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Kensington website: <span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: #0563c1; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://www.kensington.ac.th/" style="color: #954f72;">http://www.kensington.ac.th</a></span></span><o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
Daniel Sencierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09789792846850772847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045482787552136610.post-16836971136585969702018-10-13T02:57:00.001-07:002018-10-13T02:57:07.666-07:00The Author can change anything!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgst7VHjt2M3SMy5BqN_jmBKNkpEKGZadLaCk6c4yefyg0OhlzKs791TSGVf268c0yRwAe6Xp1LuM6MXojez6SdQiIqIue68nV2-ahQsjuCzYTZ6T_dyGVG5E-on2dzgVQ1K-4uL4M5IpE/s1600/kerst-rudolf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="315" data-original-width="851" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgst7VHjt2M3SMy5BqN_jmBKNkpEKGZadLaCk6c4yefyg0OhlzKs791TSGVf268c0yRwAe6Xp1LuM6MXojez6SdQiIqIue68nV2-ahQsjuCzYTZ6T_dyGVG5E-on2dzgVQ1K-4uL4M5IpE/s640/kerst-rudolf.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
</span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<o:p> </o:p><span style="font-size: large;">I’m here today with thousands of others, no idea why, I can’t ever remember <i>not</i> being here! I’m trying to memorise everyone’s name, but they all look so alike! It’s incredibly crowded, everyone talking at once, I can barely hear myself think! Food is plentiful; it’s as if they don’t want us to stop eating, though it’s a bit boring and hard to pick up as it moves by so quickly. They look after our health and any time I see someone sick they are whisked away immediately, though I’ve never heard back from anyone as to what the hospital's like. We see the sun shining through when the big rusty doors open at the end, but it’s always over too quickly, and we all wonder what it’s like beyond those doors. We’re told that one day we’ll all be out of here, so we must be patient! We were chosen, apparently, because we were the fittest and a special day awaits us all, but it only comes around once a year. We never get any news from the outside world, just the occasional sparrow that drops in through the ceiling grid to steal our food, but they never stop to chat. A pigeon told us once that we’re in a sort of ‘holding camp,’ but he was too busy throwing bread over his head to elaborate. I’ve heard ‘</span><i><span style="font-size: large;">holiday camp</span></i><span style="font-size: large;">’ mentioned by the human called ‘vet,’ who said she was really looking forward to spending just two weeks in one; so that’s reassuring. The pigeon also mentioned ‘Christmas,’ a time when you get lots of presents and take part in a big feast, so I’m looking forward to that too; more variety than we’re eating now, surely? There are no toilets so the floor is a terrible mess, but every night this giant machine slowly screams along, spraying everywhere, picking up everything and dropping straw behind it. We all get so scared when it bunches us up at one end, then we have to jump over it, that’s how I know I can’t fly; we are more frightened of crushing each other than of the machine, which does leave the floor clean and more comfortable! Maybe we’re being punished for something terrible we did when we were too young to remember; there must be some purpose to all this! Every day seems like the last here and you lose track of time, wishing something different would happen, anything really! I believe in a beginning and an end, so this must be the middle, but I’m not sure how far we are from either end. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Well, somebody heard me because something different has started to happen! Towering machines belching black smoke have arrived outside, I can hear them, I feel the throbbing through the ground and everyone is getting very excited. The rattling feed conveyers have fallen silent, and the big doors screech as they slide open, and yes, they are staying open! It’s cold, windy and raining outside, but the smell of crisp, fresh air has filled our lungs with so much goodness, we’re all just taking deep breaths, staring at each other; hoping this moment will last forever! The machines seem to be offloading lots of youngsters; they’re not sure what’s happening or where they are, all running around like headless chickens! One shouts, “How long have you been here?” I shout back, “Nearly a year I think, but it’s our turn to join in the feast, so we’re leaving on that machine you arrived on.” They all look so scared, I guess like we did when we arrived, but they’ll soon settle in and look forward to the ‘Festive Season.’ The men loading seem anxious to get us on board, they are acting a bit rough, kicking out sometimes, but one mentioned “piece work” so I guess they can’t be that bad.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;">“First lorry ready!” shouts one of the humans. On the road now, so crowded we can’t move, but at least we can’t fall over and the fresh air is filtering through every tiny space, fluffing up our feathers, making us all look so much more elegant. As I peer through the open vents, I feel so lucky, I can see what’s outside, and it’s more beautiful than I could have ever imagined. Creatures, like us but a lot smaller, soaring through the sky, other animals grazing in the lush green fields, young ones playing with their mothers; I wonder if I did that when I was young? Maybe I had a mother? Humans, just like ‘vet,’ pushing prams, old people feeding pigeons, young humans playing with dogs, oh such a wonderful world, I feel so blessed to be part of it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;">We’re turning down a bumpy side-road now, the rains getting heavier, turning white and flakey, and I see a sign pointing to somewhere called ‘Abattoir,’ sounds so French, exotic even. As we arrive, another lorry pulls out, a huge colour picture of one of us smiling on the side. I didn’t even realise we could, and now I feel silly because I’m trying to smile. ‘Happy Turkeys’ it says on the side of the other lorry, but I wonder why they can’t see out like we can? Our engine has juddered to a halt; the doors are opening, more shouting, looks like this could be the end of the line. It’s amazing how exciting the unexpected can be!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;">As the doors open to our new home a terrible smell, a stench of fear rushes out to engulf us! Nobody wants to go in, but the humans are getting angry and prodding, kicking shouting, forcing us forward. A pigeon by the door mutters, “Only the author can save you now.” “What do you mean?” I replied, “How can we contact this <i>Author</i> you speak of?” “His wife has read the first draft, it upset her greatly and she’s already spoken to him, so you’ll have to wait and see. He does have the power to save you; the Author can change anything!” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcRHA20Ci3S7oM_DUukWAYZfU5dSmjkjnMEVah7IrKsSBPImnX17Ql5_8NcEmg84aCsMpesvLCWo58M2fXQIGVi_WWIaT4KPYPn8GuvdEPZ1QlDm7YkKd65HAAw5_Jf-dwdI-btCRe1DM/s1600/thanksgiving-images-688539.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcRHA20Ci3S7oM_DUukWAYZfU5dSmjkjnMEVah7IrKsSBPImnX17Ql5_8NcEmg84aCsMpesvLCWo58M2fXQIGVi_WWIaT4KPYPn8GuvdEPZ1QlDm7YkKd65HAAw5_Jf-dwdI-btCRe1DM/s320/thanksgiving-images-688539.gif" width="307" /></a><span style="font-size: large;">Wait, something strange is happening, my wings suddenly feel strong, bursting with energy, and the others are furiously flapping too. Many have started flying out of the lorry in front of me, bumping into each other, squawking loudly as they soar into the cold, cloudy sky. This is amazing, we can fly, but how's that possible? We're all in the air now, circling in a big flock above ‘Abattoir,’ looking down at the humans who all seem to be in disbelief. But where do we go now, what do we do, who will lead us? The same pigeon flaps past, I’m sure he’s grinning, “Don’t worry, you’re safe now, the Author’s wife saw your plight, so he’ll script you to a place where you can all have a wonderful time, after all, it is the Festive Season!” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;">“Happy Christmas everyone!”</span></div>
<o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Dedicated to our Granchildren: Quincy, Joshua, Dante & William</span></div>
</div>
Daniel Sencierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09789792846850772847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045482787552136610.post-15181351251870395862018-10-05T01:46:00.000-07:002018-10-05T01:50:43.862-07:00On the day that I die<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(38, 40, 42); color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_2Jf38Wxm_-VBiPYKiSUipOgAvJePP0c1jAwpNzfyIuWYHCsMHir3wbRLWQoWL1qmnkDVOFnJlucKsfXjJzRw5lLRaf4-PlHYWzKjcRFrJXzb-u5M7At_usm2OdrwI_e2gAqbjeFJM9g/s1600/Screen+Shot+2018-10-05+at+15.45.12.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="832" height="269" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_2Jf38Wxm_-VBiPYKiSUipOgAvJePP0c1jAwpNzfyIuWYHCsMHir3wbRLWQoWL1qmnkDVOFnJlucKsfXjJzRw5lLRaf4-PlHYWzKjcRFrJXzb-u5M7At_usm2OdrwI_e2gAqbjeFJM9g/s320/Screen+Shot+2018-10-05+at+15.45.12.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(38, 40, 42); color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 14pt;">On the day I die a lot will happen.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(38, 40, 42); color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: #26282a; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 14pt;">A lot will change.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: #26282a; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 14pt;">The world will be busy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: #26282a; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 14pt;">On the day I die, all the important appointments I made will be left unattended.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: #26282a; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 14pt;">The many plans I had yet to complete will remain forever undone.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: #26282a; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 14pt;">The calendar that ruled so many of my days will now be irrelevant to me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: #26282a; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 14pt;">All the material things I so chased and guarded and treasured will be left in the hands of others to care for or to discard.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: #26282a; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 14pt;">The words of my critics which so burdened me will cease to sting or capture anymore. They will be unable to touch me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: #26282a; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 14pt;">The arguments I believed I’d won here will not serve me or bring me any satisfaction or solace. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: #26282a; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 14pt;">All my noisy incoming notifications and texts and calls will go unanswered. Their great urgency will be quieted.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: #26282a; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 14pt;">My many nagging regrets will all be resigned to the past, where they should have always been anyway.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: #26282a; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 14pt;">Every superficial worry about my body that I ever labored over; about my waistline or hairline or frown lines, will fade away.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: #26282a; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 14pt;">My carefully crafted image, the one I worked so hard to shape for others here, will be left to them to complete anyway.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: #26282a; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 14pt;">The sterling reputation I once struggled so greatly to maintain will be of little concern for me anymore.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: #26282a; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 14pt;">All the small and large anxieties that stole sleep from me each night will be rendered powerless.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: #26282a; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 14pt;">The deep and towering mysteries about life and death that so consumed my mind will finally be clarified in a way that they could never be before while I lived.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: #26282a; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 14pt;">These things will certainly all be true on the day that I die.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: #26282a; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 14pt;">Yet for as much as will happen on that day, one more thing that will happen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: #26282a; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 14pt;">On the day I die, the few people who really know and truly love me will grieve deeply.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: #26282a; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 14pt;">They will feel a void.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: #26282a; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 14pt;">They will feel cheated.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: #26282a; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 14pt;">They will not feel ready.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: #26282a; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 14pt;">They will feel as though a part of them has died as well.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: #26282a; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 14pt;">And on that day, more than anything in the world they will want more time with me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: #26282a; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 14pt;">I know this from those I love and grieve over.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: #26282a; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 14pt;">And so knowing this, while I am still alive I’ll try to remember that my time with them is finite and fleeting and so very precious—and I’ll do my best not to waste a second of it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: #26282a; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 14pt;">I’ll try not to squander a priceless moment worrying about all the other things that will happen on the day I die because many of those things are either not my concern or beyond my control.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: #26282a; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 14pt;">Friends, those other things have an insidious way of keeping you from living even as you live; vying for your attention, competing for your affections.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: #26282a; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 14pt;">They rob you of the joy of this unrepeatable, uncontainable, ever-evaporating 'NOW' with those who love you and want only to share it with you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: #26282a; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 14pt;">Don’t miss the chance to dance with them while you can.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: #26282a; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 14pt;">It’s easy to waste so much daylight in the days before you die.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: #26282a; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 14pt;">Don’t let your life be stolen every day by all that you believe matters, because, on the day you die, much of it simply won’t.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: #26282a; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 14pt;">Yes, you and I will die one day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: #26282a; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 14pt;">But before that day comes, let us live...<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: #26282a; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 14pt;">~ John Pavlovitz<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
</div>
Daniel Sencierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09789792846850772847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045482787552136610.post-91768052724772201032018-10-04T23:06:00.003-07:002018-10-05T00:27:25.232-07:00Greed! <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<iframe allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ifZGlU4nj-g" width="560"></iframe><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">This does it for me, it says it all! This should be shown in all schools at a very early age.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: large;">'Greed' has taken over! Personal, business, government, a festering swamp full of the world's most ugly people. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: large;">I've witnessed it this year when a close friend died, leaving a small fortune to his daughter. She, in turn, wasn't prepared to give a penny to help her father's widow, now living in dire poverty in a very poor country. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: large;">I saw it with the banks, who in the past decade, pillaged our society only to be rewarded with bonuses, bailouts, and knighthoods.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: large;">We see it in almost every oil-rich country that has a starving population, because only a few, the most powerful, the greediest...</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: large;">THEY WANT IT ALL.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: large;">Greed! - the biggest problem that mankind faces today!</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
</div>
</div>
Daniel Sencierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09789792846850772847noreply@blogger.com0