Re: [Paddlewise] Free At last, Free at last!

From: hmgwarner <hmgwarner_at_shaw.ca>
Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2008 19:55:38 -0700
Wow,  I've been overwhelmed by the response to my post.  Thanks to all for 
your thoughts.

About vaccinating children in Russia with BCG.  This would be done to combat 
Tuberculosis.  BCG is a mild virus or strain of TB.

DON'T READ FURTHER IF YOU ARE SQUEAMISH!

Using it to treat bladder cancer was developed by a Doctor at Kingston 
General Hospital in Kingston Ontario about 30 to 40 years ago.  What 
motivated him to pump it into some poor guys bladder is beyond me.  But boy 
am I glad he did.  What it does inside the bladder is kill all the living 
cells, cancerous and healthy ones alike.  Since the bladder is like our skin 
and is constantly renewing itself.  You can see how this works.  The healthy 
cells are renewed the cancerous mutated ones killed.

After the first treatment you've killed 90% of the cells.  After the 2nd 
you've killed 90% of the remaining cells.  this is repeated six times. 
Three months pass and you're scoped.  Then you start all over again but only 
for three treatments at a time until you've had enough or you complete the 
regime. BCG is highly contagious which means I have to stay at home for 24 
hours after each treatment and shock just about the entire bathroom with 
bleach.

If at any time the BCG should enter the blood stream from the bladder 
(through a nick or cut from the catheter) then the patient will develop TB 
like symptoms (High fever and yellow skin are the most common but they can 
also be far more serious) and the treatments will have to come to an end. 
Since the catheter is 2 feet long this is a real possibility.  These things 
are called French Catheter's and when I first saw them I asked the nurse if 
she had anything like a small Japanese subcompact.

BCG could also stand for British Columbia Government and I had a standing 
joke with my first nurse.  After the first treatment I told her I was going 
home to P....s Off the BC government.  At the end of the second treatment 
she'd tell me, "don't you do it.  They'll just raise our taxes."

Now here's an irony for you I grew up just outside of Kingston and one of my 
close friends father was the Chief of Surgery at KGH.   Dr. Jacobs.  was 
reputedly also Rommels physician in North Africa.  Strange world.

Gordin Warner
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Received on Tue Sep 23 2008 - 03:42:10 PDT

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