A member of

The Association of Prostate Cancer Support Groups (S.A.) Inc.

 

OUR GOLDEN RULE: We do not give medical advice, your GP, your Urologist and Allied Health Professionals are the only people who are legally qualified to give you medical advice.

We do however give you our wholehearted support.

 

JULY 2005 NEWSLETTER

Meeting held in the Boardroom at

NOARLUNGA COMMUNITY HOSPITAL.

On Wednesday July 6th 2005 at 6.30pm.

 

Thank you to Noarlunga Community Hospital for allowing us to use the Boardroom for our meetings.

 

Thanks also to our Sponsors: Woodcroft Community Health Services, Port Noarlunga Christies Beach RSL Sub Branch, and all who support our Group. A special thank you to Melva and Les Trickey, for their donation of $100.00.  This is very much appreciated by our Group.

 

Chair: John Shields.

 

Present: 22

Welcome to Barry and Lee.

Apologies: Artie, David, Jim, Bill, Harold and Anne, and Jack and Christine.

Thank you to Rona for the lovely Silk Painting. We will raffle it at our August 3^rd meeting.

Thank you also to Nola for the Persimmons.  I have two of them on the windowsill to help them ripen.

Tonight we had our around the table chat and Barry told us that he had been diagnosed recently and wanted to get more information from our members about their own personal experiences when they were diagnosed, to help him make his decision about treatment options.

Several members shared their experiences and gave Barry and Lee a good insight into the outcomes of the treatments that are available to him.

It was good to see both Barry and Lee attending our meeting together.

I know that this is not always possible, but I believe very strongly that it is the best thing to do.

Our Wife/Partner is our number one source of Support. We are here to give them our Support as well.

I have said before that Prostate Cancer does not only affect the Man who has it

Prostate Cancer also affects the person who is nearest and dearest to him, so as well as attending all Medical appointments together, where practicable, it is equally important to attend a Support Group together. This gives the Ladies the opportunity to Support each other through these trying times.

PROTON TREATMENT FOR CANCER

We then watched a brief Video of a story about Proton Treatment for Cancer that commenced in California a Decade ago.

Proton treatment reaches the deepest Tumours and the beam is focused only at the Cancer site, avoiding healthy tissue.  The report said that 8000 people had already benefited from it.

The Proton Treatment “Machine” is nine stories high and weighs nine tonnes.

Reminds me of the first Computers.   They took up a whole room.

An Australian man was shown being placed in the machine for treatment and when interviewed, said that he was not happy with the cost, ($60,000.00) or the fact that he could not have this treatment here.

The report says that this lifesaving procedure is still on the drawing board despite being promised three years ago that it would be built at Sydney`s R.P.A Hospital.

There were three Proton Scientists trained to perform the procedure here, but two have had to go overseas to find work because the State and Federal Governments will not commit financially to it.

According to the report Australia is one of the few Countries without an active program in doing this.

                              

Built in California ten years ago, promised to us three years ago, it cannot be too far away then. !!!

(Perhaps our Governments are waiting until the size of the Machine has been reduced to a “Notebook” ?) 

Professor Villis Marshall said that there is not much interest in this Treatment world wide.

This would help to explain why our Governments are not in a hurry to spend our money on it.

This was followed by part of the Audiotape produced by Health Researcher, Phillip Day.

 

CANCER-THE WINNABLE WAR

Philip believes that we are what we absorb, and compares food as a treatment alternative to drugs.

I have given the tape to Peter to put in the Library if anyone would like to hear it all.

You can also get more information on his website:-

Go to our website www.pcsog.org, and under 2005 meetings, July 6^th 2005 Wednesday 6.30pm, click on to Cancer -  The Winnable War, and Phillip Day.

Ken brought in the information/forms about Clinical Trials.

It certainly is comprehensive and would take some time to digest, and it validates what was said on the video at our last meeting. They are extremely careful, and do not leave any stone unturned. Thanks Ken.

Ken has also helped us to get three Guest Speakers this year, and that has been a big help to us.

Geoff has also given me the name and address of another Guest Speaker for later on.

All of this is a great help to the Group and very much appreciated.

While it is very important that we meet together as a Group to give Support to each other, it is also good to have Guest Speakers to help increase our knowledge and to add variety to what we do.

Phyllis then gave us an update on her progress, since having double bypass Heart Surgery.

She is progressing well and getting a lot of benefit from the exercise sessions at F.M.C.

Support Group Information

The Information Service has moved into Noarlunga Library on Level 3 and has been open since July 4. We need Volunteers to visit each of the Libraries and the Health Service Offices to make sure that a good supply of information about our Support Group and Prostate Cancer is maintained in our community.

Thank you to all Members who have offered to take information to the various Health Service Offices and Libraries, and to Brian and Rhonda who are already doing this, it is really appreciated.

Members could also take some information with them to put in their Doctors waiting room.

Ask your Doctor about having a Prostate Cancer Information Display alongside the other Pamphlets.

We received a letter of thanks from the Cancer Council South Australia for our $25.00 donation.

LONG TAN DAY.

Letter from Port Noarlunga Christies Beach RSL, inviting us to lay a wreath at the Vietnam Veterans Long Tan Day Service, which will be held at the Clubrooms on Thursday, 18^th August 2005 at 11.00am.

The RSL is one of our Major Sponsors who also have been advertising our Support Group on their internal TV, six days a week, since soon after our first meeting nearly two years ago.

If anyone you know is a Vietnam Veteran, or knows someone who is, please let them know about the Service  Commemorating the Battle of long Tan is very important to our Vietnam Veterans.

MITCHAM MEETING.

The next meeting of the new Mitcham Support Group is on Thursday 28^th July.

The meeting will be held at Colonel Light Gardens RSL. 4 Prince George Parade, at 7.15 pm.

Phyllis and myself will be attending this meeting and we encourage you to attend if possible

and help this new group become established. We know from experience how important this is.

Association Meeting

The main news to come out of this meeting was that our Association was successful in obtaining a Grant of $26,760.00 over four years.

Our Association will receive $6000.00 in the first year, and a representative from the Department of Health and Ageing will visit a meeting of our Association before the end of the year, possibly November.