My Battle with Merkel Cell Cancer

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My Visit With Dr. Flam
Wednesday, May 04, 2011
First, the labs were done. My Platelet count has dropped from 236,000 to 67,000. My
white count has dropped to 3200 from 6400. My Hemoglobin is stable at 11.7 grams.
When I saw these results, I was somewhat worried but Dr. Flam seemed to feel that this
was a normal reaction to the chemo and that I was doing well. He is encouraged by the
improvement in my symptoms, which he feels is an indication that the chemo is working.
In fact, he is suggesting imaging after the second round of chemo, possibly with an eye
towards following up with more radiation to the posterior mediastinal mass, assuming it is
responding well to the chemo as verified with imaging.
This is all very encouraging.
Meanwhile, I am having only minor symptoms. Constipation for which I have started
Colace (generic).
My sense of taste has lost something since I started the chemo. No metallic taste, but
food does not have the full flavor it had recently. Part of this is a holdover from the
radiation treatments. My mouth remains dry and there is some inflammation of the gums.
I finally have learned that I do indeed have evidence of the Polyoma Virus. I have
antibodies to the T-Antigen of Merkel cell polyomavirus, according to Dr Nghiem. I
suspect I received it in the mid 1950's when given the Salk Vaccine.
I have been interviewed for the the NCI Cancer Bulletin, a free online newsletter
published every other week by the
National Cancer Institute. The interview was conducted by phone today. When the article
is printed, I will post a link to it. The interview was conducted by Edward "Ted" Winstead.
He has previously written about MCC for the NCI. Article 1
Article 2
Posted by David Shuster at 08:32PM (-07:00)
Polyoma Virus Information
Thursday, May 05, 2011
This stuff is beyond my ability to comprehend, but from what I can put together, the story
is like this. In the 1950's, there was pressure to begin inoculating the general population
against Polio. This came both from the general population as there was a high level of
anxiety about the disease which caused paralysis and death among many of its victims,
and also from the companies racing to get the vaccines on the market for financial gain.
The initial doses of the vaccine were harvested from monkey kidneys and the virus was
inactivated by formaldehyde. The Polyoma Virus was a contaminant, slightly more hardy
and not inactivated by the amounts used. I have read some estimated of up to
50,000,000 doses of the vaccine were contaminated before they switched breeds of
monkeys. The vaccine was given in the mid 50's. The evidence of a cause and effect
relationship between MCC and the virus is circumstantial. The virus is present in 80% of
MCC patients in the USA, but not more than 60% of the general population. People with
a reduced immune response are more susceptible to the disease. MCC can be effectively
treated locally by Beta Interferon, injected locally. Beta Interferon is an anti-viral drug. The
Polyoma virus is not found in MCC cases in Australia. Please Note. The virus has
mutated and there is no threat of human to human transmission of the virus. Below are
some abstracts. Merkel cell polyomavirus and MCC 2008: Feng, Moore, Chang
discovered a new human polyomavirus, the Merkel cell polyomavirus Virus integrates in
the genome of most MCC tumors in a clonal pattern (Feng H et al., Science 2008) Viral
My Battle with Merkel Cell Cancer