Cancer Patients

An estimated 3.5 million cancer patients around the globe are in severe pain from their disease, but many get no relief. In poor countries the cost is considered too high for drugs like morphine when such opioids are often stolen, abused or not taken according to instruction. But some Johns Hopkins University scientists have been working on a solution for those patients, as well as some in the United States, that uses a flexible button-sized disk implanted under the skin that releases consistent doses of painkiller over a month.

An estimated 3.5 million cancer patients around the globe are in severe pain from their disease, but many get no relief. In poor countries the cost is considered too high for drugs like morphine when such opioids are often stolen, abused or not taken according to instruction. But some Johns Hopkins University scientists have been working on a solution for those patients, as well as some in the United States, that uses a flexible button-sized disk implanted under the skin that releases consistent doses of painkiller over a month.

Listings are accepted on a space-available basis. Deadline is 5 p.m. Thursday prior to date of publication at the latest. To submit volunteer items, mail to Volunteers, Patuxent Publishing Co. Editorial, 501 N. Calvert St., Baltimore, MD 21278; email hccalendar@patuxent.com ; fax 410-332-6336; or call 410-332-6497. Historic Ellicott City - Seeking volunteers for the 27th annual Decorator Show House for the following positions: hostesses, preview party assistants, office help, parking assistants and individuals with computer skills.

The University of Maryland School of Medicine has begun construction of a $200 million proton center that will bring the latest in cancer treatment to the region and double investment in the University of Maryland's growing BioPark in West Baltimore. University officials will join state and local officials, including Gov. Martin O'Malley, for an official groundbreaking Tuesday at the site of the 110,000-square-foot facility, which is expected to treat 2,000 cancer patients a year.

Our lawmakers in Annapolis have an opportunity to eliminate a significant disparity in access to chemotherapy for the thousands of Marylanders treated for cancer each year. The access issue is one of cost and the difference in how much insurance companies require patients to pay for intravenous chemotherapy vs. oral chemotherapy. Simply put, when cancer patients are treated with intravenous chemotherapy drugs - which for years were virtually the only treatment option - their share of the costs under most insurance plans is limited to office visit co-pays, usually about $20 or $30 per session.

Just before the new year, a popular Inner Harbor restaurant spread holiday cheer by serving dinner to cancer patients and their families. Sullivan's Steakhouse took over the dining room for one evening at the American Cancer Society's Hope Lodge, an inn that offers free accommodations to patients undergoing treatment at nearby hospitals. The restaurant staff arrived at the lodge Dec. 29 and played host, offering guests their best dishes, their chef and their wait staff. The chef prepared several entrees, and the wait staff served about 50 diners in a festively decorated room at the lodge on West Lexington Street.

It can be one of the nasty surprises for breast cancer patients. After the lump, the biopsy, the surgery, the radiation and the chemo, the wig and the mastectomy bathing suit — as if these things were not enough — suddenly one arm, or both, swells monstrously, painfully. It is lymphedema. And nobody warned you about it. "I never expected it. I never even heard of it," said Tia Neale, a breast cancer patient who lives in Owings Mills. She is resting on an examining table at Mercy Medical Center's Weinberg Center while therapist Maureen McBeth gently massages her chest, stomach, arm and hand, doing manually what Neale's lymphatic system isn't doing on its own anymore — urging the fluid the body makes ceaselessly into the circulatory system and out of the body.

Acupuncture, the traditional Chinese medicine that uses needles for treatment, is increasingly being used with cancer patients. Dr. Ting Bao, an assistant professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and faculty at Maryland's Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Cancer Center and Center for Integrative Medicine, regularly used acupuncture to alleviate pain and treat side effects. Question : How common is it for cancer patients to seek relief using acupuncture? Answer : It is difficult for me to come up with a percentage because there have not been many studies performed to answer this question yet. What I can say is that based on my experience at the University of Maryland Greenebaum Cancer Center, more and more cancer patients are interested in integrating acupuncture into their cancer treatment.

O n land, Viki Anders has some trouble getting around. She walks with crutches, the result of a foot injury and a subsequent condition called complex regional pain syndrome. But in the water, she swims like a dolphin. Early Sunday, a few days shy of her 60th birthday, Anders eased herself into the pool at the McDonogh School and swam the butterfly for 1,500 meters, almost a mile. She did it to raise money for the Johns Hopkins Patient and Family Fund. It assists needy cancer patients and their families with expenses not covered by insurance during their treatment.

Kelly Schwab's world didn't unravel as completely as some teens' lives have after she learned in July that her mother had breast cancer. Fortunately, Donna Schwab was diagnosed early and didn't have to undergo chemotherapy or radiation treatments. Not only is the Columbia mother's prognosis excellent, but, as Kelly puts it, she "looks and acts like herself." Looking from the inside out on a cancer diagnosis and seeing how it rocks a family to its foundation, the junior at Long Reach High School realized she wanted to help teens cope with the pain and confusion that accompany a loved one's life-changing illness.

Our lawmakers in Annapolis have an opportunity to eliminate a significant disparity in access to chemotherapy for the thousands of Marylanders treated for cancer each year. The access issue is one of cost and the difference in how much insurance companies require patients to pay for intravenous chemotherapy vs. oral chemotherapy. Simply put, when cancer patients are treated with intravenous chemotherapy drugs - which for years were virtually the only treatment option - their share of the costs under most insurance plans is limited to office visit co-pays, usually about $20 or $30 per session.

In the wake of Maryland's decision last year to make use of medical marijuana legally defensible, the General Assembly is considering what kind of system would facilitate getting the herb to those who, under a doctor's care, need it. After all, cancer patients, glaucoma sufferers and others who find relief in medical marijuana should not have to resort to a rendezvous with a street-corner dealer - a transaction that, of course, is still illegal....

Let me start by saying I don't have the whole "Zaching" thing down yet. Oh, I tried. It's the flex-the-biceps part that gets me. You kind of need biceps first. But everyone else seems to have the hang of it. Men, women and kids are "Zaching. " Celebrities, athletes, regular Joes and Janes are doing it, too. They're "Zaching" all over the country, all over the world. I look for the Coke polar bears to be "Zaching" any day now. Oh, look at that — just saw a photo of Maryland basketball coach Mark Turgeon "Zaching.

The cancer charity of Howard County executive Ken Ulman's brother will team with a Virginia company to run its Half Full Triathlon , a fundraising event in Ellicott City. The Ulman Cancer Fund hopes to save $250,000 or more annually by turning over operation of the event to Rev3. The company will also make UCF an official charity partner for its flagship national race series, which will add Half Full as its 10th event, said UCF Executive Director Brock Yetso.  The shift away from in-house race logistics will allow UCF to spend more energy on its core work.

A new international study shows that treating ovarian cancer with Avastin delays the disease progression and may improve survival. The drug, generically called bevacizumab, seemed to keep the disease from returning for two months. It was delayed five to six months in the highest risk group. The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine , was co-led by Drs. Amit Oza of the Princess Margaret Cancer Program at the University of Toronto and Timothy Perren of the St James' Institute of Oncology in Leeds, U.K. The study began in 2004 and continues for another year.

Editor, The Chesapeake Cancer Alliance is very appreciative of the sponsors, donors, volunteers and attendees who supported our recent fundraising event - The CCA Festival of Trees at the Bel Air Armory. All proceeds support Upper Chesapeake Health's Cancer LifeNet programs, which provide support and services to cancer patients in Harford and Cecil counties. Many thanks to our sponsors: Rosedale Federal Savings and Loan, Kissinger Financial Services, Susquehanna OB/GYN- Drs. Bellantoni & Gotzmann, PayPal Inc., Wells Fargo Advisors-Stephen Holland, Bay Counseling Services, Catherine & Vernon Jones, PNC Wealth Management, Taylor Pickett, George's Customs Towing, Churchville Ruritan, Vascular Surgery Associates, Harford Mutual Insurance Co., Harford's Heart and 2K Marketing.

The Rev. Kenneth Phelps rounds a corner on the sixth floor of the north wing at Harbor Hospital Center and spies a family holding a vigil outside a patient's room. He stops, asks the nurses what is going on. The patient is in a coma, dying.Mr. Phelps comforts the family. He says a prayer for them and whispers another into the dying man's ear. Then he quietly steps out of the room, leaving them to their grief. He tells the family he will be nearby if they need him. The patient died later that day.This is Harbor's oncology ward, where cancer patients reside.

'DocsTALK' series Anne Arundel Medical Center offers a new monthly education series titled "DocsTALK. " The first program will discuss the truth about breast cancer and heart disease at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 25, in the Health Sciences Pavilion, seventh floor, Doordan Institute, Medical Parkway, Annapolis. Dr. Lorraine Tafra, medical director of the AAMC Breast Center, and Dr. Barbara Hutchinson, medical director of the AAMC Heart & Vascular Unit, will speak. Information: 443-481-5555 or http://www.aahs.org/docstalk.

Dr. Paul Chang, a Towson oncologist known for forging close bonds with his patients, died Wednesday at Good Samaritan Hospital of complications from cancer. He was 65. With more than 30 years' experience treating cancer patients, Dr. Chang developed a reputation for showing compassion and concern, as well as kindnesses that extended well beyond hospital visits and treatments. Those who worked with him said he often knew his patients' immediate and extended families and sometimes attended their celebrations.