It Might Get Messy

Things in my world have been pretty boring for the second week in a row. Given the ups and downs of the past year—spending nearly alternate weeks desperately ill in the hospital, first from the second round of radiation, then from 6 nasty cycles of additional chemotherapy—“boring” is a good thing. 

Being relatively healthy (which is what “boring” means these days) has given me a chance to catch up on some research—stuff we’ve talked about over the past couple of years. 

For one thing, anthropologists solved a mystery that’s been bugging them for a long time. Based on DNA analyses, we know that Paleolithic modern humans (Homo sapiens, Cro Magnon people) interbred with Neanderthal people (Homo neanderthalensis). But. Nobody had been able to locate simultaneous populations of the two species. In other words, scientists couldn’t find where the shacking up went on. Recently, in a newly discovered cave in northern Israel near the Sea of Galilee, a partial skull of a modern human was recovered, and dated to 55,000 years before present, putting it smack dab on the correct moment in time [1]. But the big bonus was that the new cave system shared the neighborhood with two caves that were full of Neanderthal people at the same time. Voila! Our ancestors had their illicit trysts with their neighboring Neanderthals in the then-forested, now-desert, landscape of the Levant. After a relatively short period of time, interbreeding among the two species stopped. Modern humans then spread over the Mediterranean basin and Europe, displacing (one way or another—via competition at best or warfare and possibly dining at worst) Neanderthals to fringe habitats. Homo sapiens didn’t stop their spread at the Eurasian border that was the furthest reach of Neanderthals, but continued on to circumnavigate the globe, reaching the islands of Pacific Oceania most recently, just a few thousand years ago.

The other interesting report is a summary of prehistoric and early historic cancers in human bodies [2]. It turns out that there are sufficient skeletons with primary (skeletal) or secondary (metastasized-to-skeletal) cancers to develop a “baseline” rate of human cancers (unfortunately, the baseline incorporates tumors in individuals dated to the industrial revolution, meaning it’s a rather modern baseline, affected by the unhealthy living and working conditions in late 19th century Britain). The “baseline” rate for cancers in collections of old human bones is about 2% for males and 4% to 7% for females. The male rate is dominated by metastasized prostate cancer, females by gynecological cancers. Rather soon after the data providing these rates, male cancer rates rose drastically due to differential tobacco use [2]. The author of the summary report cited here concludes that the 2% to 7% rate is likely reasonable for prehistoric as well as modern times. Now, the lifetime risk of contracting fatal cancer in the U.S. is presently around 33%. Leaving an enormous delta that medical sciences struggle to explain and explore for life-saving therapies. 

Anyway, back to my own “modern” cancers. I saw my oncologist for a brief appointment this week. Basically, it was a happy visit. Not only have my symptoms not increased, they’ve actually gotten a bit better. My pain level is way down. If it continues so, I’ll start to wean myself off the opiates I take every few hours throughout the day (although, as the doctor points out, the Dilaudid I take is sufficiently strong to help with breathing problems when they occur independent of pain). Now I need to work on regaining strength and weight. And watch for signs of resurgent cancers that could pop up almost anywhere in my body, since there are likely residual malignancies in my lungs, throat, chest, sinuses, liver, and, most ominously, what’s left (after surgical removal of much of it) of my lymphatic system. 

All things considered, it could be a LOT worse at this point. In fact, a year ago the doctors were giving me very little chance to be alive for this year’s holidays. The medical crew at Greater Baltimore Medical Center, and particularly the throat cancer specialists, didn’t give themselves enough credit. They are really good at what they do. And they don’t give up. Several times in the past few years I was more than ready to give up. The doctors and nurses and social workers weren’t ready to let me do so. They went about their business quietly and expertly, and I lived through the brutality of both the massive and recurrent tumors and the incredibly intrusive treatments. And I’m still here to watch my kids grow up, read, practice guitar, write, sketch, cut paper, photograph, and think.

And to think about and thank all of you. Remember the mantra—live ‘em while you got ‘em, because they are NOT forever. And haven’t been for as long as there have been human beings on this planet. But modern practitioners backed up by up-to-date technology can do a lot to give you more of ‘em. So, along with thanking you all for being here for me, I thank again my medical support at GBMC. I couldn’t do it without any of you!

PS—I really appreciate the visit today from New Jersey and Maryland folks. Thank you so much for investing your weekend day in my favor! Beyond the call of duty, and made me feel very grateful and physically much better. Thanks again!

[1] http://www.nature.com/news/neanderthals-gain-human-neighbour-1.16802

[2] http://discovermagazine.com/2013/julyaug/16-history-cancer-afflicted-people-since-prehistoric-times-fossils-show