Share your thoughts on PBS's Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies

Moderators

Have you been watching the Ken Burns documentary "Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies" airing March 30-April 1 on PBS? Share your thoughts with others here!

Frostecat

This is a must see for all those affected by cancer, either themselves or loved ones. Ken Burns does it again, absolutely fascinating program. It's high time something like this was done. Of course, I am a bit partial as I work for PBS!

exbrnxgrl

Fascinating is the perfect word to describe it. I loved the book as well. I think the historical perspective on how cancer has been viewed and treated over time is especially interesting. Intermingled with snippets of real cancer patients adds the human element to it. I have fallen asleep before the end the last two nights, but DVR'ed it and plan to binge watch it over my spring break

Trvler

It is an amazing and heartbreaking documentary. I had to take a night off and DVR it. It is so intense.

keepthefaith

I watched last nights' episode. It was hard to watch at times, but very enlightening. I am amazed at how far researchers have come, yet how far they have to go. Thankful for the efforts and persistence of the Dr's, researchers, scientists and patients that have made it possible for cancer patients to have hope. I ordered the book also.

cp418

The author/oncologist Dr Mukherjee is a genius for his thorough research and detailed compilation of this deadly disease. (I too read the book.) He has succeeded in documenting and communicating the reality of cancer research and treatments for the masses to understand. I can only hope viewers are more than cancer patients and family but the public who must realize - 1 in 2 men, and 1 in 3 women will develop cancer during their lifetime. It is now a worldwide epidemic.

Larkspur

I found it interesting that one of the breast cancer patients shown in the second episode, Lori Wilson, exhibits none of the often-mentioned risk factors for breast cancer: she's not childless and not obese, and as an MD, she undoubtedly leads a healthy life style: no smoking, plenty of exercise, sensible diet; and she has access to excellent diagnostic resources. Yet she developed cancer in both breasts, of different types.

I hope that people who believe that we bring breast cancer upon ourselves through our actions and choices, as documented in the "Stupid Comments" thread, will realize from this episode that much of the time--probably most of the time--breast cancer and many other cancers are simply a matter of bad luck.

Trvler

CP418: That stat absolutely floored me. It is astounding.

Lark: Have you seen the thread about doing everything right and still getting it? I think EVERYONE should read it.

SpecialK

larkspur - both of Dr. Wilson's parents had been diagnosed with cancer, so possibly something genetic at work.

MusicLover

That stat includes skin cancers like Basal and Squamous which are almost never deadly. (Like that little flake on Hugh Jackman's nose is not going to kill him along with Laura Bush's flakes, nope not going to kill her. Thankfully, I might add.)

Hortense

I watched part of it last night after dinner. My husband took one look, realized what it was about, and left the room. He won't watch. I have recorded the series and plan to sit quietly to watch it on my own and be able to digest it properly as there was a lot to absorb. That way I can also take notes to be sure I understand what is being said.

I am among those who have no cancer in their family. I live healthfully, am slim, don't smoke or drink, and never have. I have eaten organic meats and dairy for probably twenty-five years. People who know me cannot believe I got cancer. I knew I had it the moment I found my lump. I think some people simply get it due to several factors in their lives that may trigger something within. Some chemical in a cosmetic or lotion, something in all the plastics that hold our foods, perhaps the aluminum in the deodorant I used helped kick start it along with all the other things. Who knows?

I happened to tune in to the show just as a woman was describing her frustration with the many neurological side effects of chemo she has been experiencing and I was astounded to hear her listing what I have. My own doctor keeps reassuring me that it will improve, but I don't think so as it has been almost two years. Like her, I get sudden gaps in thoughts which I can usually cover, but which are very hard to gloss over when speaking in public. I worry every time I step up to a lectern, and die a slow death inside when a thought gap suddenly occurs half way through a presentation and I see people's faces change as they begin to wonder why I stopped speaking. Typing has become a problem. Often when I look at what I have typed it looks like an eastern European language, not English, which is frustrating. I can spend more time correcting than writing.

Of course, if that is the tradeoff to living without cancer, I can accept it, but perhaps one day women won't have to experience side effects like hers and mine any more.

I just bought a copy of the book today.

Trvler

I am sorry you having those residual effects, Hortense. That must be so frustrating. I hope you are correct that one day women won't have to go through this anymore.

When I think about our environment causing cancer, I have to wonder because back thousands of years ago, they had it and they didn't have all these products. I don't know. I don't know the answer. I guess someday people will look back at us and think how primitive our beliefs were. When I see all those scientists from the past pondering things that we know for facts now, that's how I think.

My husband didn't want to watch it either. He was trying so hard and I knew when they started talking about the surgery and showing pictures, he was going to be uncomfortable. He seemed relieved when I told him he didn't have to watch it for ME.

cookiegal

I read the book. I watched about 3/4 of the second episode. Plan to watch the rest.

There are some things that work better than the book, some things not quite as well. It does seem to be pretty faithful to the book with the exception of the patient anecdote.

I will say the operating room scene was a little tough to watch for me.

So glad that they at least mentioned lymphedema.

I really liked the part when they invented Herceptin, and it is interesting to put a face to the names of the researchers. (It's actually much easier to keep them straight.)

It does feel a tad choppy, and visually it is a bit of a crazy quilt of differing styles. The photojournalism isn't blowing me away, and the music score is kind of generic.

I do think it explains well the nature of cancer "breakthroughs" and what goes into them.

It's hard to imagine how hard "Dennis the Menace" had to fight for that first Herceptin trial.

exbrnxgrl

How about having to convince doctors that radical mastectomies were not doing anything to increase survival ? It was a complete misunderstanding of how cancer spread that resulted in these horrendous surgeries which often sought to excise every bit of tissue, skin and muscle in the chest /underarm area. We take for granted that we will be offered either a lumpectomy or simple mastecomy but it wasn't all that long ago that everyone got radical mx'es. I know progress is still too slow, but there has certainly been progress.

GG2

So fascinated by the segment on Herceptin in last night's show.  Like most people, I had never heard of it or Her2 or any of the new words tossed my way when I was diagnosed. Wow, what a story! I loved the part where the women and their supporters who wanted it protested loudly at Genentech headquarters until they yielded and modified the trial requirements. And 20 some years later, it's almost a routine thing at my cancer center. Her2 positive? OK, Herceptin for a year, next question . . .wow!

Jerseygirl927

yes I have watched and have learned some interesting facts. Did not know how long cancer has been around? With the millions of dollars being donated thru the various organizations, there really is no known cure , nor cause? The only one profiting seems to be the pharmaceuticals! Why is the environment not a target for scrutiny for a cause? Why is pesticides not banned because of their harmful effects? Why are harmful chemicals not banned because the cause cancer effects? Should more research be dedicated to gene mutations and how to stop it? Should not more research be done on natural means, such as plant based cures, fruit based cures, seed based cures? So with the immune system being so remarkable, why is science not targeting this system to improve, beef up, or been more research in this area? I like the T cell therapy , which would seem the more promising of therapies.

Is not human life more important than anything else that exists ? So research needs to be geared toward that preservation at every level of science... If bypassing the FDA with patients who are willing to go with new trial drugs, or therapies from other countries who have successful results then surviving must be made more important than approval from a group that controls , even when this group makes choices that are geared by money, and choices not for the betterment of society.

Science is science, trials, theories, every possibility should be tried, if patients are willing. Human life being still the most important. An excellent documentary geared towards people's understanding.

rozem

I read the book and would love to see this...I will have to buy the video series as we don't have access here.  Boooooo

a very interesting read for sure, I couldn't read it until a few years after diagnosis because it was all too raw

wrenn

It can be watched on PBS.org for those without access. If you are not in the US you can add an extension on google chrome called Hola to watch.

I saw both episodes and so far have liked it. I had read the book before diagnosis so it didn't affect me the same way. In fact I couldn't remember much about it.

I was interested to see Sherwin Nuland speak quite a bit in the first episode. He is a surgeon who has written a book called 'How We Die' about how medical science goes overboard to fix us because they love to solve things. The reason he was so passionate was because he had basically bullied his brother into treatment after treatment and the end of his life was hell. Sherwin died of prostate cancer in Jan, 2014 (another reason I was surprised to see him and see him looking healthy).

I am curious to see how much things change in the final episode since so far it does seem like progress is very slow. I guess that is because no one had really figured out what cancer was for such a long time.

Very well done doc IMO>

DivineMrsM

I read quite a lot of non fiction, and tried to read Emperor of All Maladies but could not get interested in it and returned it to the library. To my surprise, I really like the documentary. Still have the third installment to watch. As I mentioned on another thread, I like the indepth coverage which is so much better than watching Dr. Oz sandwich a cancer segment in between a Botox conversation and a colon cleansing recipe. We are watching physicians renown in the field of cancer discussing this disease, not some recently diagnosed celebrity suddenly become spokesperson without knowing much about it.

I appreciate that the program is commercial free, giving it the attention and importance fitting to the subject matter.

Some material covered in this documentary I have already known about. I credit this forum for being up on many things bc related. I read the book about Herceptin, and Barbara Bradfield, even tho I am not Her2+. It is a good book, written by Robert Bazzell, NBC medical correspondent. It's called "Her-2: The Making of Herceptin, A Revolutionary Treatment for Breast Cancer." One thing I rarely hear about is the discovery or creation of anti estrogen medicine, which I recently found out was initially developed by a woman doctor in the 70s I think it was, and she eventually was able to realize it could be used to treat bc.

SweetHope

Whew! That third episode was the toughest to watch. It fluctuated between discouraging outcomes and setbacks to hopeful immunotherapy (but, unfortunately, not applicable to BC). I found myself yelling at the TV and thankful that I was watching alone. It portrayed a honest view of today's fight with cancer: a individual's unique problem requiring specialized treatment...and not the old one type = one treatment approach.

GG2

cookiegal, Your comment "So glad that they at least mentioned lymphedema." reminded me that only patient Lori Wilson mentioned the L word. None of the doctors or researchers did.  I have decided that L is not really an issue or concern for cancer specialists. It's not cancer, it's not fatal, it's a side effect. Other than getting me a referral to a certified lymphedema therapist, I don't even think my doctors made note of it. 

MusicLover

Sweethope, I did not watch part 3, is that what was said immunotherapy not applicable to bc? Did they state why? Thanks.

ruthbru

As of yet it is not.....it is a brand new field and they are just starting to unlock the keys. The doctors and scientists seemed very excited about where this might lead for all kinds of cancers....which are more inter-related then they thought before. I felt more hopeful for the future by the end.

SweetHope

MusicLover, the immotherapy has been very successful only on melanomas and kidney cancer. If they gave an explanation why, I missed it; as it was certainly only a one sentence explanation because they squeezed so much other info into a two hour segment.

And like Ruthbru said it is a brand new field.

SweetHope

Did anyone else catch the five second, two sentence referral to spontaneous, unexplained reversal of symptoms? I think that could be a six hour documentary on its own.

SpecialK

While not treatment per se, I participate in a Her2+ recurrence prevention vaccine trial which is immunotherapy based. The peptide vaccine - injected over two years - encourages the immune system to defeat a recurrence. The prelimary trial results indicate a 50% reduction in recurrence at this point

SweetHope

Special K, That is very encouraging!

Since the review of initial trial on Herceptin showed that many were erroneously labeled Her2+ but still had a good outcome, maybe your trial will benefit all of us. Am I asking too much?

dltnhm

I posted this on both threads.

Re : immunotherapy and breast cancer.

Here's one link that addresses this and includes information on trials that are taking place.

http://www.cancerresearch.org/cancer-immunotherapy...

Hope this helps some delve further into this. I'll post on the other thread too.

Diana

dltnhm

Special K

Is this the trial you are taking part in?

http://www.mdanderson.org/newsroom/news-releases/2...

MusicLover

SweetHope, I think I misinterpreted your comments, you meant that they only referred to those cancers (melanoma and kidney) when they discussed it.

cp418

BMS - Bristol Myers Squibb is conducting massive research into immuno-oncology and were one of the many sponsors for this program. Also, if I am correct they are the pharma company who finally funded the researcher from TX (forget his name) - who pursued the melanoma and other cancers for immunotherapy.