Returning to the States in 2008, I was struck by the extreme range of income visible in the US compared with the military communities with which I had been associated overseas. Over the past two and a half years, I have become convinced that income inequality is a serious problem for the US and wrote a piece to put my thoughts in order.
I would be honored if you would take a look at Uncle Sam and Gini in the Other Pages column on the right, and let me know what I got wrong in my analysis.
Thanks.
David
February 17, 2011
February 12, 2011
This and That
Second Time to Ring the Bell
I don't know if they do this everywhere, but both the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center and Scott & White Healthcare have a big brass bell that patients ring when they have completed a course of cancer treatment. I rang my first bell at M. D. Anderson in late February, 2002 when I completed my radiation therapy for prostate cancer. Yesterday, I rang the bell after completing my chemotherapy for mesothelioma. It's possible that I'll have one or more additional chemotherapy courses later, but I'm glad to be done for now.
I'll go back for a PET scan and blood work in a month. and the results will set a baseline against which to compare scans and blood work every two months after that.
Jana's CML Blood Test Results
We also got blood test results for Jana yesterday. By mid-July, four weeks after starting Gleevec, Jana's white blood cell count had dropped about 96% and into the normal range. It has remained low since then, and the count on January 20 was actually slightly below normal.
The results of a more sensitive PCR blood test using DNA has also been positive. The test compares the ratio of the cancerous product of the cancer cells with the product of a ubiquitous product of all cells. The goal is to reach zero percent which is called the complete molecular response. At that point there are probably still aberrant stem cells turning out cancerous white blood cells, but the number is too small to be detected by the test.
Here are the results of her three PCR tests for the BCR/ABL translocations.
July 14, 2010: 6%
October 14, 2010: .05%
January 31, 2010: .04%
The change from October may not be particularly meaningful. It's in the right direction, but could be a result of the unreliability of the test. The report provides no interpretation. However, given the 96% drop in the WBC count in the four weeks prior to the first PCR test, I imagine the drop by October would be considered what they call a major molecular response. A complete molecular response is usually accomplished within 12-18 months of treatment with Gleevec, so the timeline for the complete molecular response stretches many months in the future.
David
I don't know if they do this everywhere, but both the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center and Scott & White Healthcare have a big brass bell that patients ring when they have completed a course of cancer treatment. I rang my first bell at M. D. Anderson in late February, 2002 when I completed my radiation therapy for prostate cancer. Yesterday, I rang the bell after completing my chemotherapy for mesothelioma. It's possible that I'll have one or more additional chemotherapy courses later, but I'm glad to be done for now.
I'll go back for a PET scan and blood work in a month. and the results will set a baseline against which to compare scans and blood work every two months after that.
Jana's CML Blood Test Results
We also got blood test results for Jana yesterday. By mid-July, four weeks after starting Gleevec, Jana's white blood cell count had dropped about 96% and into the normal range. It has remained low since then, and the count on January 20 was actually slightly below normal.
The results of a more sensitive PCR blood test using DNA has also been positive. The test compares the ratio of the cancerous product of the cancer cells with the product of a ubiquitous product of all cells. The goal is to reach zero percent which is called the complete molecular response. At that point there are probably still aberrant stem cells turning out cancerous white blood cells, but the number is too small to be detected by the test.
Here are the results of her three PCR tests for the BCR/ABL translocations.
July 14, 2010: 6%
October 14, 2010: .05%
January 31, 2010: .04%
The change from October may not be particularly meaningful. It's in the right direction, but could be a result of the unreliability of the test. The report provides no interpretation. However, given the 96% drop in the WBC count in the four weeks prior to the first PCR test, I imagine the drop by October would be considered what they call a major molecular response. A complete molecular response is usually accomplished within 12-18 months of treatment with Gleevec, so the timeline for the complete molecular response stretches many months in the future.
David
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