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Holiday Party
Spouses Day
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Next Week...
December13
Holiday Party - Spouses Day
Coming Up...
December 20
Dark - No Meeting
December 27
Dark - No Meeting
Announcements
December 6
Christmas Shopping Spree With Underprivileged Children
Meet at 6:00 pm at the Salvation Army Relocation Center at Sepulveda and Wilshire. Contact MIKE YOUSEM for details and to let him know you will be coming.
December 11
Auxiliary Holiday Party
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This Week...
Prostate Cancer Update, WVRC on 6 December
MIKE YOUSEM led the Pledge. LENNY, returned from AWOL last week, led us in Silent Night. LENORE MULRYAN gave the Invocation, first suggesting, “Let us talk to God”. She asked for consideration for UCLA and Karl Dorrell, and I think many of us were ambivalent about his coaching. There were several guests. PP STEVE SCHERER had a Special Guest, Ann Johnson. LEO TSENG again brought Dwight Heikkila, his Special Guest. Bill Coffin was the Special Guest of STEVE PATTISE. Our visiting Rotarian was Michiko Kainuma, and her husband – she belongs to the Ebisu Tokyo Club, and is in Music Education.
CEO CHRIS thanked SEAN McMILLAN for running the meeting last week, and noted that the idea of a “Big Game” preview of our cross-town rivalry should be considered for an annual event. SHERRY DEWANE passed out lists of items our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan would very much appreciate receiving. I have a copy of the complete list, if you need guidance, and you can bring the items to any meeting. SHERRY will see that they get shipped in a timely manner. This is an excellent project – and our troops over there really appreciate whatever we can send.
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December birthdays
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Leo and guest
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Ray and guest
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Steve and Bob
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Steve and guests
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On the first meeting of each month we celebrate the birthdays of our members – and first up this month was ANN SAMSON, who came aboard on the lst in Tacoma. CHRIS BRADFORD was close behind, electing the 2nd, in LA, or course. PP DAVID WHITEHEAD liked the 6th – but he may not enjoy the double fine that this produces.
Anyway, he was born in Glendale. ED WRIGHT returned us to the State of Washington, taking the 9th in Yakima. PP HOMER NEWMAN liked Brawley on the 18th. PP JIM COLLINS chose Huntington Park on the 20th, and MARK ROGO brought us back to LA on the 22nd. ELOISE SISKEL liked Gosport (and we know you know that is in Indiana), on the 23rd. DR RALPH BEASOM elected the 29th in Seattle – and did you know he has a twin who is also a physician?
Today is special in history – Thomas Edison demonstrated the first Gramophone, by reciting “Mary Had A Little Lamb”. This was verified by PP PETER MORE, who was there at the time…As his recognition, PETER came forward and recited the first verse, in a very touching performance.
I have received some very good news about former member KEN LEVER. As you may recall, he has been battling cancer – and they just got a report that he is ‘STABLIZED’. “What it amounts to is if you can picture a train having to go into reverse, it takes miles of braking to first stop (stabilize) before it can actually begin to back up (kill cancer cells). We’re just “stopping” now and that’s a milestone in itself.” You can reach KEN at (818) 222-6935, 24711 Via Modera, Calabasas 91302.
LEE DUNAYER introduced our speaker, Dr. Richard Y. Lam. He is a Board-certified Internist and Oncologist, specializing in the treatment of Prostate Cancer. He received his BA in Biology, then his M.D. and postgraduate Residency in Internal Medicine all at UCLA (Obviously a good man!) He belongs to and is active in his professional organizations, and his topic today is Early Detection of Prostate Cancer.
Dr. Lam had an excellent PowerPoint presentation, which he used to good advantage. First, some statistics: There are about 200,000 prostate cancer cases each year, and some 30,000 deaths – it is the third largest killer among cancers, being surpassed only by lung cancer and gastro-intestinal cancer. One of every six men in the U.S.will have detectable prostate cancer. What is prostate cancer? It is a group of replicating cells, without any direction or pattern. Family history and genetics play a part. It is particularly prevalent in those over 50, and if you are 80 or more, your chances of having – or getting – it is over 80% probable.
What are some of the causes and symptoms of prostate cancer? Symptoms include the need for frequent urination, getting up several times per night, and a weak urinary stream. Yet many cases go undetected. With early detection, 99% of cases are curable. If discovered later, the survival rate drops to about 30%. There are arguments for and against screening. An obvious disadvantage of testing is the strain that it puts the patient under, waiting for results, etc. The arguments come down to the fact that neither positive results nor negative are 100% accurate.
Lets look at the well-known PSA test. The initials stand for Prostate Specific Antigen, and it is a blood test. Anyone fifty or older should have one every year, and if the results are 2.5 or above, that is a serious warning sign. Since the incidence of prostate cancer is age-related, the older you are, the more likely you will get it. However, if you are seventy, for example, and otherwise healthy, a high PSA reading requires a quick response. Over eighty, and something else will probably get you first. Screening is the next step in detection.
What are some of the causes of a high PSA reading? Normal aging is a factor – or even abnormal sexual activity! (And I’ll leave that definition to you) Another step in detection is a Prostate Examination, and most of us are familiar with this rather uncomfortable process. However, even a ‘rookie’doctor doing his internship can usually pick up cancer symptoms while conducting this exam – so it does work.
Stage One means the cancer is only found in one area. Stage Two is reached when the cancer is larger – that is, it is found in more than one area of the prostate. Stage Three is an advanced spread, and Stage Four is where it has metasticided to other areas of the body – lymph nodes, for instance. The obvious goal is to detect the cancer before it gets to Stage Four – the sooner, the better.
The next step is a prostate biopsy, or an ultra-sound exam. The ultra-sound will show areas where cancer is likely, while a biopsy withdraws some tissue, which is then studied at the lab under a microscope. The scale here starts with a five, going up to ten. Both these exams will tell us more about the seriousness of the cancer. All of this information must be integrated with the general health of the patient, his age and how he feels.
There are of course many types of treatment. One option is just to keep an eye on it, and wait and see how it develops. Curative procedures include surgery and radiation. Surgery has many variations, one of which today is where a machine – literally – does the cutting, being directed by a doctor seated at a screen giving him a complete view of the area being treated. This is called robotic surgery, and one obvious advantage is that the resulting incisions are small and separate, rather than producing a long, perhaps 6-inch or longer – scar. Another advantage is that the possibility of leakage afterward is reduced to less than 5%, somewhat better than with regular surgery. Of course, there are no long-term studies as to how robotic surgery will continue to work ten or fifteen years in the future.
Obviously, all treatment techniques are constantly improving. Dr. Lam, thank you for bringing us up to date on the state of the art today.
Thought for the Day – A leader without a sense of humor is like a grass cutter at a cemetery. You have a lot of people under you paying absolutely no attention.
Remember – next week, the 13th, is our Annual Holiday Meeting. It’s Spouse’s Day, and you won’t want to miss it.
