David Emerson

Nothing in particular

Advanced Prostate Cancer, David Emerson, PCa -

I have absolutely no idea what to write about today? So should I even bother?
Though the doc at MD Anderson said “Go home, live your life for a few months” I can’t help but wonder? At times I think we should be doing something and by something I mean treat this more aggressively. Then I begin to justify our actions or lack of action. My mind is a whirlwind of thoughts at times.This is hard, it’s not very enjoyable at times, most of the time. I don’t let it bother me for more than a few minutes here and there, this just happens to be one on those times.
I can’t believe it’s been two months since we were in Houston? Seems like yesterday.

This from Joel over at www.advancedprostatecancer.net:
The Simple Facts
* Prostate cancer is a complex and problematic disease that affects not only the male patient but also his wife or partner and other family members over many years.
* Each year about 28,000 Americans die from prostate cancer — often a slow and painful death as the cancer spreads to their bones and other organs. (Only lung cancer causes more cancer-related deaths in American men each year.)
* In addition, every year, up to 70,000 men learn that they have potentially incurable forms of prostate cancer that severely impact quality of life and may lead to their deaths.
* By 2020 the number of men being diagnosed with prostate cancer may be as high as 320,000 per year because of aging-related demographics of the American population.
* African-American men have one of the very highest rates of incidence and death from prostate cancer anywhere in the world. They are 1.6 times as likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer and 2.4 times as likely to die of this disease as (non-Hispanic) Caucasian-American men.
* In nearly every state in America, men who are un- or under-insured are at very high risk for diagnosis of advanced or late-stage prostate cancer.
* Despite recent data and media coverage about PSA testing and prostate cancer mortality, the early detection and appropriate treatment of clinically significant prostate cancer remains a critical priority, especially among men at high risk because of family history, ethnicity, or other factors that define such risk.
* We urgently need better tests for early stage prostate cancer – tests that can discriminate between potentially aggressive cancers that need prompt treatment and indolent cancers that can potentially be managed with non-invasive treatments.
* Continuing innovation is imperative if we are to meet the urgent need for treatments that can save the lives and prevent the progression of this disease in men with aggressive and advanced forms of prostate cancer.
* No form of treatment has ever been shown to extend the survival of patients with advanced forms of prostate cancer by more than a few months.

* Every man has the right to know whether he is at risk for clinically significant prostate cancer that might lead to his death.

* Regardless of his age, every man should discuss his individual risk for prostate cancer with his doctor (i.e., his primary care physician and/or his urologist), and request the appropriate use of PSA and DRE tests until better options are available.
* Guidance issued by the American Urological Association in April 2009 (a) emphasizes that “The decision to use PSA for the early detection of prostate cancer should be individualized” and (b) suggests a “baseline” PSA test for well-informed men at age 40.
* Many other professional organizations, as well as the American Cancer Society, encourage discussion about PSA testing between a man and his doctor(s).

A long journey, that has just begun.

Advanced Prostate Cancer, David Emerson, Faith-Love-Hope-WIn, FLHW, Suburban Lawn and Garden -

Tonight our foundation, Faith – Love – Hope – Win (flhw.org) is having our first in what I hope turns into an annual event. A very, very generous man has offered to donate 10 percent of the total sales (between 5 and 8 pm) at his greenhouse to our foundation. The details are within this flyer.

This however is not the point of today’s blog. As I was coming into work today I was thinking about tonight and what Bill is doing for us and other non-profit groups here in Kansas City. I was also thinking about all the other people that are helping and have helped over the years. There are the smaller signs of support and large ones and the difference is not necessarily monetary. Sometimes it’s the little things that touch me, like the simple beauty of that flyer. The two guys that helped us to design it were were so generous to offer their time and talent. One I barely know, the other I have never met, I don’t even know his name.
I guess my points are these; not only am I deeply touched by their kindness and support but I am also rather proud that this little effort Mary and I began four years ago, is starting to gain some serious momentum. True, we’ll never be Livestrong or Komen but that is not our goal or our purpose. It would be ideal for the Prostate cancer community if there was a single, national, powerful group, but that might be someone else’s battle. FLHW has come a long way in four short years, $100,000 raised is nothing to sneeze at! 2009 however, in the midst of this economy, is going to be our best year yet!
I am wandering in my thoughts a bit today but it is my blog and sometimes I do that. I’d like to once again say thank you to our Board, all the volunteers, sponsors, players, donors and attendees that have helped make each of our events successful.
At times the world can be harsh and cruel and hard to live in. At other times the genrousity and kindness of strangers that reminds me that God put me here to help others and do my best to live a selfless life. For me, it’s too bad it took so many years and Prostate Cancer for that to really sink in.

1,832 Choices

Advanced Prostate Cancer, Charity Disc Golf, David Emerson, Prostate Cancer Foundation -

Over the weekend I finally found the time to pull together all of the pictures from our recent disc golf tournament. Funny how much more time I have when I don’t play disc golf!

It turns out I have over 1,800 pictures from the event!
Below is a link to the video. The video is approximately 380 of the best shots with a music
soundtrack to boot. It’s about 22 minutes long but well worth your time.

The statistics for the day are in the closing credits so you’ll have to watch the whole thing to find out how we did!

A calamity of errors

Advanced Prostate Cancer, David Emerson, DVT, PCa -

I like to think that I’m a pretty calm, level headed, easy going person and I think those that are close to me would agree. I have come to realize this can create problems, problems that result from people thinking it’s acceptable to provide mediocre service.

Tuesday we went to the cancer center for my four week check up and Lurpon shot. As usual, I went to the lab first to provide a few vials of blood to be sent to the lab. Simply routine I’ve done this hundreds of times, literally.

Next off was a meeting with the doc, and here is where the frustration began. It was a calamity of laboratory errors to be kind.

First, the two new tests we started last month, in order to track the two markers suggested by Dr. L in Houston, were not completed.

Yes, I wrote that correctly and you read it correctly! Even though I provided specimens in late April the lab completely screwed this up.

The urine test was never run and the lab decided that the blood test to break down alkaline phosphate was not needed. Can you believe this?

Someone in the lab decided that because the total level was within the ‘normal’ range, breaking it down further was not necessary. I was and remain furious about this one.

After this part of the discussion with the doc there was not much else we could do except provide more sample and move on. Where we moved on to didn’t make me any happier. It seems the blood samples I had provided earlier in the morning failed to include a sample for PSA. Can you believe it? After four and a half years someone forgot to request the blood draw for a PSA, it was simply left off the lab order!

By the way, later on in the day we did get my PSA; it’s up to 51.13

Next up, oh yes there is more, was my ankle. This part actually contains good news. I’ll just admit it up front; I over did things last weekend. I played disc golf everyday from Friday to Monday, I worked in the yard Saturday and Sunday and over all was on my feet way to long. By Monday night my right ankle, the same one I broke almost three years ago to the day, was pretty swollen. Due to the fear of another blood clot we discussed with the doctor and agreed to run a new ultrasound of my right leg. The good news is nothing was found. After keeping my leg elevated as much as possible over the last few days I can report that it has returned to normal.

Finally, in regards to my PSA, yes we are concerned but we have to stay on track with what we agreed to after leaving Houston. It’s a very hard pill to swallow, it creates anxiety, tension, worry, fear and more. That being said we have to remain faithful that the doctors know what they are doing and the Lord is guiding us down the right path.

Many, many thanks to all of you for your continued prayers, they are powerful and help us more than words can express.

Short, sweet and to the point

Advanced Prostate Cancer, David Emerson, disc golf, PCa, Zac Brown Band -

I’m finally resting after four straight days of disc golf and yard work.
It’s cool, cloudy and raining off and on, so I’m catching up on paper work
for the foundation and paying bills.

As I sit here I’ve got iTunes up and just fired up Zac Brown Band, the song Toes. The course contains the line “..life is good today..”

and it is my friends, it truly is good today.

Younger Men with Prostate Cancer

Advanced Prostate Cancer, David Emerson, PCa -

I know it’s been a while since I had anything personal to say, but I’m just taking the doctor’s advice and getting on with living my life (to some extent).

We are in the midst of six incredibly busy weeks; I had to travel twice on business, we had the FLHW disc golf tournament, a graduation, a very special wedding in June that both Mary and I are a part of, wedding showers, rehearsal dinner, another charity event for FLHW, well you get the picture.

Below is an upcoming article that I received from a friend, Skip’s Twitter feed.

Hope you all have a wonderful and safe Memorial Day weekend. God bless all the men and women in uniform, both past and present!

Finally – the the lady who commented on my last post, you can send me an email at: ‘info at flhw dot org’ (spelled out to avoid spammers).
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While young men with prostate cancer have a low risk of dying early, those with advanced forms of cancer do not live as long as older men with similar forms of the disease. That is the conclusion of a new study published in the July 1, 2009 issue of CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society. The paradoxical findings indicate that there may be biological differences between prostate cancers that develop in younger men and those that develop in older men, and that uncovering these differences may help tailor screening and treatment strategies for patients based on age.

In general, a younger cancer patient has a better prognosis than an older patient with the same type of cancer. Few studies have analyzed the health of younger vs. older men after diagnosis and treatment for prostate cancer, though.

To investigate the impact of age on prostate cancer prognosis, Daniel Lin, M.D., of the University of Washington and colleagues designed a study to examine the association between age at diagnosis and health outcomes in men diagnosed with prostate cancer in the United States. Mining the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database, the investigators identified 318,774 men diagnosed with prostate cancer between 1988 and 2003. Men aged 35 to 74 years were stratified by age at the time of diagnosis, and the researchers examined differences in tumor characteristics, treatment, and survival within each age group.

The analysis revealed that, over time, men are being diagnosed with prostate cancer at younger ages, likely due to more extensive screening. Also, younger men are more likely to be treated with prostatectomy, have less aggressive cancers, and have a better chance of survival after 10 years compared with older men. However, among men with advanced prostate cancers, the youngest men (aged 35 to 44 years) have a particularly poor prognosis compared with older men. These young men are more likely to die from cancer or another cause sooner than older men with similar forms of cancer.
While the reasons for this unexpected finding are not clear, the researchers suspect that young men with advanced prostate cancer may have biologically more aggressive forms of the disease than the forms that are diagnosed in older men. Additional studies are needed to determine what, if any, underlying differences exist between advanced prostate cancer found in young men vs. those found in older men. These studies may help clinicians improve screening in young men and could ultimately lead to the development of better treatment strategies for these patients.

###

Article: “Treatment and survival outcomes in young men diagnosed with prostate cancer: a population based cohort study.” Daniel W. Lin, Michael Porter, and Bruce Montgomery. CANCER; Published Online: May 22, 2009 (DOI: 10.1002/cncr.24324); Print Issue Date: July 1, 2009.

Words to live by…

David Emerson, PCa, wordle -

It’s been a long time since I created a ‘wordle’. If you are familiar go to www.wordle.net. You can link to a blog or just provide a list of words. This was created using all of the tags I have used in my blog over the years. Click for a link to a larger version.

Wordle: Prostate Cancer

Caution – flying plastic!

Advanced Prostate Cancer, Charity Disc Golf, David Emerson, FLHW, Kansas City Disc Golf, Prostate Cancer Foundation -


This evening, twenty four hours later, I still find myself exhausted! However, without a doubt, it was worth every minute, every step, every throw!

Yesterday we held the 2nd Annual FLHW Disc Golf Tournament. Though the weather started off a little cool and breezy, by mid-day, the winds subsided, the clouds passed, and the sky was a clear blue with a warm sun shining down on us. The day ended up being absolutely perfect.

We had 78 disc golfers and were privileged to play on a private course, located on an unbelievable piece of property here in southern Johnson County, Kansas. The owner is a wonderful and extremely generous man to whom Mary and I owe much gratitude.

I’ll provide more details and many, many more pictures in a few days. We are very pleased that we raised somewhere in the neighborhood of $3,000. All of which will be donated to the Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF) to support the research needed to develop improved treatments and a cure for advanced Prostate Cancer.

Mary and I would personally like to thank each of the Board members who generously dedicated their time to making this event a success, all of the sponsors, volunteers and players that shared in our mission for a cure. God bless all of you!

Fwd: There will be tears.

Charity Disc Golf, David Emerson, Kansas City Disc Golf -

I have been in Orlando all week, away from Mary and Brad.

During this time and as I mentioned in my last entry, we lost a dear friend.

I haven’t really had the opportunity to reflect and let the memories flow or to take a minute to be, if nothing else, sad.

I sense that tonight, after Brad is asleep there will be tears.
—————
Tomorrow will be crazy busy as Mary and I prepare for Saturday’s second annual FLHW disc golf tournament. At this point I would guess we will end up with close to 100 disc golfers. The weather is supposed to be ideal, the anticipation is unbearable at times. I look forward to the day and once again having the opportunity to promote the need for early detection and support of the research to find a cure for PC.

Pictures and a full update in a few days.

A repeat performance? and Sea Creatures

David Emerson, disc golf, Glucosamine, kansas city corporate challange -

Sunday is the 2009 Kansas City Corporate Challenge Disc Golf event and my friend Gary and I will be defending our gold medals. See this post; ‘We are the Champions…“

I’m not expecting a repeat, since I really haven’t played very well the last few rounds. You can bet though I am hoping for a turn around by this weekend!

Not that it’s an excuse or that it has impacted my game in any way, but my knees have been hurting. It started when I came off steroids after concluding chemotherapy. It primarily hurts when I sit for a while or after sleeping. The more active I am, the less I notice it. I tried to use this as an excuse for more disc golf, but Mary wasn’t buying it.

My docs weren’t much help (it’s not their specialty) except to suggest I see an Orthopedic Specialist if the pain became too severe. Monday I asked a few runners I work with and they all suggested Glucosamine.

Glucosamine is a compound found naturally in the body, made from glucose and the amino acid glutamine. Glucosamine is needed to produce glycosaminoglycan, a molecule used in the formation and repair of cartilage and other body tissues. Production of glucosamine slows with age.

Glucosamine is available as a nutritional supplement in health food stores and many drug stores. Glucosamine supplements are manufactured in a laboratory from chitin, a substance found in the shells of shrimp, crab, lobster, and other sea creatures.

Though I’ve only taken it four times, I already feel the difference! I only hope it continues to get better as I continue to take it.