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I see 'pancreatic cancer commercials' with Jimmy Carter pretty often - and that is about all I hear about it...
maybe they need to use a sappy song while they show pictures of people dying for 2 minutes to get people's attention
ok that was a bad joke
I saw something recently about how the government is suddenly interested in doing something about alzheimer's because they've realized that it's draining medicare
I guess it's all about money...
that and what's 'cool'
and it goes in spurts...
for a while it was hip to be involved with HIV/AIDS
at some point it switched to breast cancer
apparently what each disease needs in order to get it's 15 minutes of fame, is for an A-list celeb to be stricken with it
I bet if someone like Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Britney Spears or Angelina Jolie came up with pancreatic cancer it would be all you'd hear about
p.s. you don't have cancer!!
HUGS 
When are you going to know? And I didn't know all this before, so thanks for the info.
kitty, if we have PSAs about Pancreatic Cancer, I've never seen them but I seriously doubt that there are any. And you're right. Sappy songs and maybe sad faced little puppies would raise money. whadyathink? LOL! I'm laughing but it's not really funny.
You mention that it was hip [who says that anymore?!] to be involved with HIV/AIDS and you're right...millions of dollars were raised and so much progress was accomplished because of it. That's why Randy tells Congress he would be thrilled to have AIDS instead of Pancreatic Cancer. That really says it all.
As Randy says, Pancreatic Cancer has no Michael J. Fox because people die so fast. I think it's going to take a group approach of famous people who have lost loved ones to PC. Someone like Daniel Day-Lewis would be incredibly effective as a fundraiser...I'm just daydreaming here, he's about the most private person I can think of and I read that he had a poor relationship with his father, the British Poet Laureate Cecil Day-Lewis to start with, so it's probably a no go, but someone of his celebrity could do wonders.
Amber, my doctor just called and while one of the enzymes has returned to normal, the other is till elevated. The good news is that it has remained at the same level. YAY! So I'm to moderate my drinking - my huge alcohol consumption of a glass of wine with dinner occasionally. Srsly, he said that's perfectly fine. More difficult for me is the cheese and dairy...I cut it out completly for the week prior to the retest as he asked, but realistically with my bones, I need the calcium, so he suggested low fat cheese. YUCK! I think I'll up the amount of yoghurt and modify the amount of real cheese.
He wants me back in July to repeat the blood work. That's the way it's going to be, he'll keep close tabs on the enzymes to see that the levels are holding steady. As long as I'm feeling well and they're okay, I'm good to go. WOOT!
Kitty is right, there's a commercial with Jimmy Carter talking about all the family members he's lost to pancreatic cancer. It's a somber serious commercial. I can't say it's gotten anyone to act.
Most importantly, how are you doing?
I saw the show, 20/20, Dateline, one of those, on Randy Paush. Seems like a pretty remarkable guy. And he was one BEFORE all of this occurred.
Hang in there kid, we're all thinking about you.
Brian, Randy Pausch is my new idol. I watched his Time Management video on YouTube last night and was touched, entertained and educated.
I'm doing fine. Did you not read the update up there ^ ? LOL!
/sticking my tongue out and running.
Yes, but I can still ask, can't I?
Awesome news! CONGRATS! {{{hugs}}}
YAY!! see I told you ya don't have cancer!!
Brian, of course and I'm glad you do.
Amber, I'm pretty happy about it too!! {{{one armed hugs back atcha
kitty, yes Mom, but I still needed to hear it from the doctor to be sure.
Actually to be serious for a moment, the tests are only an indicator, as I wrote, there is no early detection test for PanCan...it's one of the things that needs to be developed asap. And I'm at risk for nearly 'any' kind of cancer. My older brother - is fighting lung cancer and my father's side of the family has had breast and stomach cancer as well as pancreatic cancer. My GP says my chances for having some kind of cancer are higher than average.
But for now I'm FINE!!!
I don't know if you'll find this funny or not (I'm hoping you do) but our gallows humor is, every time my friend and I get our pap smear or get our boobs squished or bloods checked or whatever, whatever we get done at the doc's and we have to wait for the results, when we get them, we say to each other, resigned, "well, now we just wait for the CANCER TO START!"
Especially that knee cancer; I hear it's quite the killer.
(I SAID it was gallows humor!) ;-P
Jocelyn, maybe you have found your calling..fund raising for pancreatic cancer. Seriously. Call up 'ole Steve and get him to donate. SERIOUSLY!
What a terrible disease. I am completely at a loss when I see how much is spent on improving ways to kill us (Military) as opposed to the amount spent on improving our lives.
What a f*cked up world.
Amber, not to mention the BIG TOE cancer.
Of course it's funny. What's the alternative? *g*
Daisy, you're not the first person to suggest this to me. I did fund raising for 20 years and was oh so happy to get out when I did. But I am considering getting involved with this...the situation in Canada is worse than in the States as far as public awarness is concerned.
I think Steven Jobs should be leading the charge! Of course he could donate a large amount of money and that would be fantastic but since he was so very lucky to have survived pancreatic cancer he really could do great things as a spokesperson.
And as a sidebar, that article I linked to really was an eyeopener wasn't it? I will have to think long and hard about buying an Apple product again.
Donn, I don't pretend to understand how the system works. Or doesn't work as the case may be. But I suspect that even if all the Military dollars were given to the medical research community tomorrow, Pancreatic cancer research would *still* be at the bottom of the heap begging for funding because it's a hellishly difficult disease to even detect let alone cure.
I like the idea of cutting military funding... although I'm not some idealistic hippie... I realize we do need some sort of defense system
at the risk of sounding totally unpatriotic, I'd rather see them cut the stupid space program - how much does it cost to send a freakin' probe to Mars? and WHY??? just because we're curious??
I'd be curious to see what the world would be like without babies dying of cancer - or old people's brains turning to swiss cheese!!
maybe they could use the money they spend on the military and the space program and start producing people with spare parts (just to be clear, I said people WITH spare parts not people FOR spare parts)
I was telling Sam the other night that I think people should be born with 2 of everything essential
you have two kidneys and two lungs, why not two hearts, two livers and two pancreases?
they could make room for them by eliminating all the seemingly useless organs like spleens, gall bladders appendixes
kitty, only if we can grow two heads and the second one is guaranteed to be migraine free!
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