On PBS - Cancer: The Emperor of all Maladies

Options
Trubrit
Trubrit Member Posts: 5,796 Member
in Colorectal Cancer #1

On your local PBS station for those in America.

A documentary based on the book of the same name.  It is in three parts.  It is on as I type but repeated tomorrow and maybe other days.

I have the book, have not completed it, but it is deep and not an easy read. 

The documentary is going to be good, I believe. 

Sue - Trubrit

Comments

  • lilacbrroller
    lilacbrroller Member Posts: 412 Member
    #2
    Options
    amazing

    Yes! I've been watching it. Wow.  Fascinating. Great job Ken Burns.  

  • Trubrit
    Trubrit Member Posts: 5,796 Member
    #3
    Options
    lilacbrroller said:

    amazing

    Yes! I've been watching it. Wow.  Fascinating. Great job Ken Burns.  

    And

    Siddhartha Mukherjee, the author of the book. 

    I am glad that he is a major part of the documentary. 

    Watching those little children, really makes me appreciate how easy I had it, during treatment. Really guys, we don't have too much to grumble at for the most part. 

    Sue - Trubrit

  • marbleotis
    marbleotis Member Posts: 720 Member
    #4
    Options
    I actually read the book

    I actually read the book while going through chemo.  It was - by far - the best book I ever read.  I was clicking through the channels last night and landed on PBS.  There was a man talking about cancer and it was interesting.  After about 5 minutes his name appeared and that he was the author of that book.  Needless to say I watched the whole episode (vol 1) and will keep looking for vol 2.

    It is a very deep, long, difficult and stunning read.  There were nights I could not put it down.

    Super-interesting!

  • NewHere
    NewHere Member Posts: 1,427 Member
    #5
    Options
    Going To Watch It

    Ken Burns usually does a real good job and when I heard about this on the radio it immediately caught my attention.  iTunes has it and can also be found on the PBS website (in case people missed it).  I am going to watch them in the next couple of days.

  • LindaK.
    LindaK. Member Posts: 506 Member
    #6
    Options
    I am watching too

    I taped it and have watched almost all of the first episde.  It makes me sad (only part way through) that not much seems to have changed in 100+ years.  With all the money put towards cancer and now being a widow due to cancer, it also makes me mad.  Watching the children suffer just makes me cry.  I'll probably watch it all this weekend, looking forward to it.

  • tanstaafl
    tanstaafl Member Posts: 1,313 Member
    #7
    Options
    while waiting for the next big thing

    On colon cancer, what astounds me is how we don't use what we do know, and how special interests dictate our choices.  Costing billions and years of life. 

    We are gypped starting on day 1. Did anyone discuss vitamin D3, cimetidine, celebrex or PSK?  Probably not. Years off right there. Yet Life Extension has been ragging on about them for 12-25 years.

    Did they take a suite of biomarkers? Or even CEA?  Don't even always do CEA before surgery.  If you are advanced or mCRC and they didn't take things like CA19-9, AFP, CA125, d-dimer, LDH, ESR, hsCRP - you were short changed what many got in 3rd world countries (The Chinese ca 2010 have an export system called C-12 that automatically samples a spread of 12 cancer biomarkers).

    Never mind the latest tech fads and pie-in-the-sky, we are failing on the basics.

     

     

  • LindaK.
    LindaK. Member Posts: 506 Member
    #8
    Options
    tanstaafl said:

    while waiting for the next big thing

    On colon cancer, what astounds me is how we don't use what we do know, and how special interests dictate our choices.  Costing billions and years of life. 

    We are gypped starting on day 1. Did anyone discuss vitamin D3, cimetidine, celebrex or PSK?  Probably not. Years off right there. Yet Life Extension has been ragging on about them for 12-25 years.

    Did they take a suite of biomarkers? Or even CEA?  Don't even always do CEA before surgery.  If you are advanced or mCRC and they didn't take things like CA19-9, AFP, CA125, d-dimer, LDH, ESR, hsCRP - you were short changed what many got in 3rd world countries (The Chinese ca 2010 have an export system called C-12 that automatically samples a spread of 12 cancer biomarkers).

    Never mind the latest tech fads and pie-in-the-sky, we are failing on the basics.

     

     

    Had to turn it off

    I couldn't watch any more, it was too depressing.  Maybe because we believed in our doctors and nothing worked for my husband. I wonder if any of them know what they are doing.  

  • sflgirl
    sflgirl Member Posts: 220 Member
    #9
    Options
    LindaK. said:

    Had to turn it off

    I couldn't watch any more, it was too depressing.  Maybe because we believed in our doctors and nothing worked for my husband. I wonder if any of them know what they are doing.  

    Agree

    It was very depressing.  If it was meant to imply any hope it was exactly the opposite

  • Trubrit
    Trubrit Member Posts: 5,796 Member
    #10
    Options
    Distressing!

    I certainly found parts of it distressing. When they said that in the past, Doctor's and Nurses didn't care about the patient's pain and discomfort, I cried. I mean, I literally cried. I also cried when Luke died, and the old gentleman, who was so poorly, was weeping and wanted to live so badly. Yeah, it was not an easy watch, and the book is not a easy book. But I am glad that I watched it, and found the history fascinating, albeit very, very sad. 

    I belive the author of the book is genuinely concerned about finding not so much a cure, but why Cancer cells go out of control, and thus, we can prevent and drop the need to cure. 

    Trubrit - Sue

     

  • annalexandria
    annalexandria Member Posts: 2,571 Member
    #11
    Options
    Trubrit said:

    Distressing!

    I certainly found parts of it distressing. When they said that in the past, Doctor's and Nurses didn't care about the patient's pain and discomfort, I cried. I mean, I literally cried. I also cried when Luke died, and the old gentleman, who was so poorly, was weeping and wanted to live so badly. Yeah, it was not an easy watch, and the book is not a easy book. But I am glad that I watched it, and found the history fascinating, albeit very, very sad. 

    I belive the author of the book is genuinely concerned about finding not so much a cure, but why Cancer cells go out of control, and thus, we can prevent and drop the need to cure. 

    Trubrit - Sue

     

    I found it both distressing and hopeful

    I think the work being done in immunotherapy is astounding and holds a lot of promise for future treatment.  The story of the little girl who is doing so well now after almost dying was just amazing.

  • Steve444
    Steve444 Member Posts: 105 Member
    #12
    Options
    Mixed bag

    I've been watching it the last couple of nights.  While it's informative, it has also brought forward some emotions I haven't felt since my initial diagnosis.  for example in the third episode I was watching today, the gal talked to people bluntly about their outlook.  A comment was made about stage IV not being curable and that you will die from it rather than other causes.  Kinda hit home and drew a tear or three.  I ended up spending the day scanning pictures and wrapping up digitizing old VHS tapes of the kids.  Removing clutter and wrapping some things up I've been procrastinating on.

Discussion Boards