Can you pledge a buck?

[JesusA (imported)]

Prof. Richard Wassersug, my colleague in research on the eunuch community, has applied for crowd-sourcing for one of his projects on Prostate Cancer. As he writes:

My project is not about curing prostate cancer per se. Rather it is about helping patients adapt to the side effects of prostate cancer treatments. The goal of my project is to document how consistent (or inconsistent) MDs are in telling patients about the side effects of androgen suppressing treatments. That is a prelude to developing "standards of care" for what doctors should tell patients about androgen deprivation side effects...and how to manage those side effects.

I seek your help. At this point I am not so much concerned about raising the money as I am about raising the number of donations. If you go to the site, you'll see that both dollar amounts and number of donations are listed for each project. I figure if I can get my number of donations up greatly, that will draw attention to my project and help, in turn, to bring in money. At this point am begging folks to donate from one to five dollars. The catch is that it would be a big favor to me if the donations were each of single dollar amounts! By that I mean I would rather get five donations of one dollar each than one donation of five dollars.

If you watch the Youtube video of Richard describing his project on the Startacure site, he talks about Adrogen Deprivation Therapy and Hormonal Therapy. These are euphemisms used by those working with prostate cancer patients. Both really mean CASTRATION – sometimes surgical, though more often chemical.

Recent research, though, is arguing that surgical carries much less risk and may be the castration-of-choice for PCa patients.

Information that we have gathered from the Eunuch Archive community has been helpful in providing support materials for PCa patients and work with PCa patients has informed our attempts to help voluntary eunuchs receive chemicals or surgery.

If you are willing to pledge a buck or two to help the project, please go to

http://startacure.com/start-a-cure/ (http://startacure.com/start-a-cure/)

and click on the link in the second row leading to Richard's project.

Richard's lectures, publications, and radio interviews have long been supportive of the Eunuch Archive community. A request for us to support one of our strong and very public supporters should not be taken as a precedent for more requests for funding good causes (unless they are directly relevant here and are passed by the Moderators' Board, which approved this post).

Thank you,

Jesus

[janekane (imported)]

My grasp of biology, both theoretical and applied, led me to the view, by 1986, that surgical castration posed far less risk to me than any sort of chemical castration. Of course, back then, I was guessing, because there was no hard data I could find.

Theoretical biology? The work of the late Robert Rosen, of Dalhousie University, for instance. The Second (posthumous) Edition of Rosen's "Anticipatory Systems" may be informative; the last time I checked, it was very much in print and readily purchased.

Organisms, according to Rosen (and similarly, me) are inherently anticipatory systems.

The making of decisions, including about castration, is an inescapably an anticipatory process...

In my role in the universe of an anticipatory system (a person), I anticipated cancer risk, and what I anticipated was my not getting surgical cancer risk reduction was, as best I could guess, equivalent to willful suicide. That is not true for most people as I found it to plausibly be for me.

Sometimes, guessing is as good as it gets.

So, I guess that my being transgendered and autistic were necessary aspects of my genotype/phenotype for me to have lived long enough to join the Eunuch Archive.

My purpose was avoid being a cancer patient, as I had not identified any close relative who had developed cancer for whom the cancer was not terminal when first found.

By 1986, I had concluded that chemical castration was not, based on my grasp of theoretical biology, profoundly counter to my best interest, and I have never found any evidence that surgical castration remains other than biologically optimal for people having genetic cancer risk factors comparable to mine.

With prostate cancer that first develops late enough in life and is sufficiently slow in progressing beyond dysplasia, doing nothing may be the way to the best outcome; what makes that view problematic is being accurate in understanding how such cancer will progress. Sometimes a slow progressing prostate cancer cell, so I gather, may encounter an additional mutation and "take off like wildfire."

For myself, I am working on completing my July budget, and anticipate being able to find one or more dollars to help Wassersug's project.

Are any of us other than anticipatory systems?

[kristoff]

I've made a pledge. Anyone else?

I just made 3 more.

[Uncle Flo (imported)]

I, the E.A. resident cheapskate, am making a pledge also. --FLO--

[tugon (imported)]

I contributed. It is easy to do and for a good cause.

[Cainanite (imported)]

I believe this is the direct link.

http://startacure.com/projects/what-sho ... e-therapy/ (http://startacure.com/projects/what-sho ... e-therapy/)

[nvrgag44 (imported)]

I will enthusiastically make several contributions of $1. Having had 40 beam radiation treatments in '06 and given injections of Lupron every 3 months for a year and a half and also knowing others who have been through prostate cancer I'm very familiar with this subject. There was a wealth of information I wasn't given at the time of diagnosis to assist in my treatment choice decision. I didn't even know what the Lupron injections were. I was just told they were part of the treatment. The side effects from the collateral damage due to the radiation are still popping up. The latest is scar tissue in my urethra that I've had 3 surgeries for since last autumn. The scar tissue blocks urination without warning and I end up in the ER getting a catheter. Before the last surgery it took an aggressive urologist to even get the catheter in. The last surgery in early May involved cutting the scar tissue out and wearing a 30fr catheter for 3 weeks. It seems to be OK now but my days of writing my name in the snow are gone. I get a cystoscopy on Tuesday, 7-9. That will tell the results and hopefully put this issue behind me. The urologist I saw back in '06 has thankfully retired and this new group seems much more competent.

In '08 I experienced rectal bleeding that took 2 cauterizations to fix. I would bleed without warning and wore adult diapers away from home. That problem seems to have been solved by a good gastroenterologist.

The radiation also damaged my testicles. My T levels run anywhere from about 130 to mid 200s. I no longer get an erection or ejaculate but I can still experience a satisfying orgasm. My libido is nothing like it used to be but still good enough for me as I close in on age 70. There were times it was a distraction and the “one eyed snake” did make the decisions. I’ve been prescribed Androgel but so far haven’t used any of the month’s supply sitting in our medicine cabinet for the last several months. I actually like effects of a lower T level. I’m much more laid back, relaxed and the whole family, including me doesn’t miss my former sometimes explosive bad temper. I never did have excessive body hair and never found it at all masculine or attractive. It’s now much thinner and all but non-existent on my legs, arms, arm pits and butt. My chest is very thin and lighter colored. My pubes are about 1/3 what they were before. My testicles are about the same size but my once average size penis is about half what it once was. Let’s face it, at my age a smaller cock is no big deal.

It’s not all bad. The cancer is gone and my PSA runs a consistent .5 or so. In retrospect I know my biggest mistake was not questioning the original urologist and just accepting his advice with blind faith without consulting other doctors. If the cancer was to ever return and castration was an option it’s something I would definitely consider.

Glad I saw this post and good to see someone taking up this cause.

BTW: I consider Lupron to be poison. I was miserable and didn't even know why until I started reading about it online. I always say I learned what a woman's menopause must be like. After a year and a half I refused any more injections. It took about 3 months but I stared feeling normal again. My guess is that at about $1300 per injection they would have left me on that stuff for the rest of my life if I let them. And they never said a word about it.

[considering (imported)]

I've given. This is important research in an area that has an effect on any doctor who has to discuss this with a patient. Buying in for a buck, or a bit more, simply helps are community. What he's trying to do is codify for medical professionals what they should do as opposed to the selection of things told, if any at all.

[nvrgag44 (imported)]

Took care of my pledge made in post #7 of this thread yesterday.