Mesothelioma Help Cancer News

Fun Times at the Shore Helped Me and Dad Forget About Mesothelioma

• Joseph Belluck
• Uncategorized

For the most part, summer is the happiest time of year for my family. I sometimes wonder why we stayed in the Northeast, when my whole family loves warm, sunny weather. As you might remember, I am a teacher and I have a wonderful opportunity to move down to the Jersey shore in the summertime. My family grew up going to Cape May and Wildwood each year for family vacation, sometimes several times in one summer. So, by renting a shore house I make it very convenient for my family to come visit me.

This past summer while Dad was resting and allowing his body to become stronger, he took a trip to visit me at the shore. Since my mom and brothers have a hard time getting off work, he made the trip solo. I think that this may have been the only time ever that just my dad and I were able to spend a few days together doing things we enjoy. Father/daughter bonding week it was!

I had planned a few nice dinners at great restaurants that we went to when I was a little girl on our summer vacations, and we were able to reminisce about “the good ole days.” One place that we both love is The Lobster House in Cape May, NJ. I would guess that almost every summer on vacation we ate at this place. Amazing fresh seafood and the best clam chowder! While eating dinner, I could see that my father did not have the appetite that he used to have and we had a lot of leftovers for the next day’s lunch.

The following day I took him to the pool to relax on lounge chairs and do some reading. We relaxed all day and at one point we took a walk down to the ocean, which was next to the pool. It was slow going since walking on the sand was a workout for Dad. We had to stop multiple times for him to catch his breath, but he made it down to take a dip in the ocean. He even dove into a wave, which he has always enjoyed very much. We also were able to take some funny pictures of him showing off his “strength.”

We will both cherish this father/daughter vacation week forever. It was so nice to get him away from his normalcy at home to the beach and to enjoy the things he used to do on summer vacations. I even made comments about how it was easier for him to breathe in the air down the shore. I’m not sure why that would be, but maybe it was just because he was happy and away from all the normal daily stresses he has. Time to get away and forget about how much his life had changed in the last few years was well needed.

I recommend taking short trips, if at all possible, when your loved one is feeling up to it. It is always nice to escape for a short time and to forget about mesothelioma and how you and your loved one’s lives have changed because of cancer. Vacations or short get-away weekends give everyone a short relief to enjoy life and to see the beauties of the world.

After fun at the beach, Dad headed back to Penn Medicine to start his immunotherapy treatments. Find out more about his clinical trial next week.

Battling Pneumonia and Mesothelioma

• Joseph Belluck
• Faces of Mesothelioma

In my previous blog I talked about keeping Dad as healthy as possible and away from germs that could be brought into the house while he recovered from his chemotherapy. Sometimes it’s impossible to know how someone was exposed to germs that makes them sick, but unfortunately, this past summer that’s exactly what happened to my father. He developed pneumonia and was very quickly on his way to the hospital.

This was a very scary thing to happen to him. It was early June when my mom had to take him to the emergency room because he could not breathe, and he was having very violent coughing attacks. He was also at the very end of his chemotherapy treatment when he landed himself in the hospital, so his immune system was already suppressed and he was very weak.

I received the phone call from my mother on a Friday to let me know they were at the hospital, but at that exact time they did not even know what was going on. She told me to stay put and she would keep me updated. I kept in contact the entire weekend while simultaneously training for my new summer job at the local yacht club – all the while hiding how upset I was. Sunday morning I got a call from my mom, and the doctor had requested I come home to see him.

I was very scared to hear this from his doctor in the ICU. He had said that they were going to have to intubate Dad, and I might not be able to talk to him again. This was serious, and they did not know if he would recover because of how run down his body was from the chemo treatments.

I raced home first thing and went straight to the hospital. When I got there, the doctors had decided that they were going to be able to get away with not putting Dad on a ventilator after all, which was amazing news. From the time that I left the shore and the time it took me to get home, his vitals were stabilizing and he seemed to be getting a little better. I sat with him all day Sunday and talked to him, with him not responding of course, but it made me feel better and I think it made him feel better that I was there.

Dad was in the hospital for another week or so and was finally released to come home. He had an appointment with his University of Pennsylvania doctors within a few days after he left the local hospital near my parent’s home. His doctors at Penn had told him that he could not finish the chemotherapy because of how sick he got and it was to the point where his body was unable to fight off a sickness by itself. This showed that the chemo totally knocked his white blood cell count to almost nothing and he could no longer fight off germs. His new goal was to get stronger and healthier before the next step: immunotherapy.

Keep reading next week about how Dad and I were able to put mesothelioma on hold, at least for a week, while we enjoyed a vacation at the Shore.

Register for a Conference This Spring for Mesothelioma Support

• Lisa Hyde-Barrett
• Nurse's Corner, Uncategorized

Mesothelioma patients and their families often need support. Sometimes it is found in the small community of other mesothelioma patients, other times leaning on your own family and friends is all that is needed.

But this spring, mesothelioma patients and their families have two opportunities to learn, draw support, and empower each other at conferences from two of the leading organizations and brings breakthroughs and hope to the mesothelioma community. Both of these conferences are excellent ways to meet other people on the journey of mesothelioma, to increase your knowledge of the disease, and to listen to experts in the field.

2015 International Symposium on Malignant Mesothelioma
March 2-4 • Bethesda, MD
The Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation and The National Cancer Institute

For more information and to register, visit curemeso.org.

11th Annual International Asbestos Awareness Conference
The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization
April 17-19 • Washington, DC

“More than 30 renowned experts and asbestos victims from ten countries will present the latest advancements in disease prevention, global advocacy, and treatment for mesothelioma and other asbestos-caused diseases. Patients and families will also look back at our accomplishments over the past eleven years and ban together in hope for a future free from asbestos disease.”

For more information and to register, visit asbestosdiseaseawareness.org.

Wherever you might be in your journey with mesothelioma, it helps to have support and to know you are not alone. These learning opportunities offer all of us a chance to empower ourselves with the latest knowledge and to maybe think of our journey in a different way.

Expression of CD10 Enzyme May Serve as Prognostic Factor for Mesothelioma Patients

• Nancy Meredith
• Research, Treatments

Expression of an enzyme known as CD10 in malignant pleural mesothelioma tumors correlates with more aggressive cancer cell growth and shorter survival times, according to a new study published in the Annals of Surgical Oncology.

CD10 is a zinc-dependent cell surface enzyme expressed in both normal tissue and malignant tumors. Previous studies have indicated that CD10 expression in certain malignant tumors, including malignant melanoma, predicts tumor aggressiveness. Researchers led by Dr. Kyuichi Kadota of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York set out to test whether CD10, which is expressed in malignant pleural mesothelioma, can be used to predict mesothelioma patient survival.

The research team looked at 176 malignant pleural mesothelioma cases among three different tumor subtypes (148 epithelioid, 14 biphasic, and 14 sarcomatoid) in order to determine negative or positive expression of CD10. Patients whose tumors showed positive CD10 expression were found to have significantly shorter survival.

“Tumoral CD10 expression correlated with aggressive histologic types and higher miotic activity and is an independent prognostic factor for patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma,” write the study authors in the conclusion to “Tumoral CD10 Expression Correlates with Aggressive Histology and Prognosis in Patients with Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma.”

Their finding is significant because the current best mesothelioma prognostic markers—cancer stage and cancer type—are limited in how accurately they can predict patient survival outcomes. Additional prognostic factors, the authors say, are necessary to optimize mesothelioma treatment options and to better stratify patients in clinical trials.

Treatment options for mesothelioma, a highly-aggressive form of cancer associated with exposure to asbestos, include radiation, chemotherapy, and surgery. Despite improvements, however, none of these options have proven to be particularly successful, and mesothelioma prognosis remains poor. According to the study authors, the median survival for mesothelioma patients is less than two years.

In general, patients who receive a mesothelioma diagnosis while the disease is in Stage 1 or 2 have a much better chance of successful treatment. Early diagnosis, however, can be difficult due to the disease’s long latency period of 15 to 60 years and its tendency during early stages to mimic non-life threatening ailments such as the flu.

There is still no cure for mesothelioma, but new treatments have made it possible to manage it as a chronic disease, and some patients live with the disease for years. Potential new mesothelioma therapies, meanwhile, are constantly being explored. Research topics run the gamut from novel (such as gene therapy) to common (e.g. the active ingredient in vinegar).

‘Hellos from Heaven’ Keep Me Going

• Joseph Belluck
• Faces of Mesothelioma, Family, Mesothelioma

In the middle of the night last night, I woke up and instantly began to cry. My husband asked me what was wrong and I answered, “It was Dad.”  In my dream, my Dad was here, but we didn’t know for how long. He was singing with his band. The song was a song about faith, one that I had never heard before, but it was complete in my dream. The image and sounds are embedded into my brain.

I then went in to check on our two month old baby girl and I began to cry all over again. She looks just like Dad and sometimes, when I look into her eyes, it’s like he’s staring back at me. A flood of emotions overtook me; they were a combination of sadness, love, and gratitude.

Even though the sting of losing Dad remains with me at all times, reminders like those I experienced last night reaffirm that he’s always with me. These little miracles tend to bring me to tears at first, but once I regain my strength, I am so grateful to have them.

They always say that God works in mysterious ways, ways that we have no way of understanding. Perhaps it’s the mystery of these unexpected “Hellos from Heaven” that astound me the most. I believe that God provides these gifts to show us His love, that His hand is in everything.

Dad always talked about the beauty of the world and everyday life. What may seem like an ordinary day is full of wonder and miracles.  We just need to open our eyes to see them. So many times, we are too busy with the hustle and bustle that we forget to stop and look around. Even when he was feeling his worst, Dad reminded me that there was good in every situation.

Time is not guaranteed to any of us, and it is important to recognize that. Life is too short to spend it being inconsiderate or rude. There are far too many chances to be kind; take them. Find the good, and when you get a “Hello from Heaven” be sure to take a minute and cherish it.

Know more about Mesothelioma and how you can deal with it.