> From: Drew Hammond <ahammond@swain.main.nc.us>

> To: vianet@i-2000.com

> Subject: info on recrrence?

> Date: Thursday, August 07, 1997 9:26 PM

>

> In your e-mail to me suggesting that I contact Dr. Lewis, you mentioned

> that one can never be sure about leiomyosarcomas since they have a high

> propensity to recur. Have you in your travels and studies found a

> reasonable explanation as to why recurrence is more likely in

> lieomyosarcomas than other cancers?

>

> My surgery site is healing nicely (almost 6 weeks post surgery) and I'm

> back to work now in North Carolina though only part-time and in a (too)

> near minimum wage position, but work and activity none-the-less. We

> will not be returning to our jobs and home (under construction) in

> Honduras for at least one year as my surgeon informed me that the most

> likely time for recurrence is within two years and Honduras is a scary

> place to have to deal with detection and care.

>

> I'm still plotting a course for our future. Tonite, I e-mailed my

> Radiation Oncologist at UAB (Alabama) and informed him that I had

> decided against radiation therapy at this point. I'm composing another

> letter to Dr. Lewis with some questions but thought perhaps you might

> have an information source concerning recurrence in leiomyosarcomas.

>

> The best information I've found so far merely states variations on the

> following:

>

> >Why Cancer Can Recur

>

> >Recurrence means 'the reappearance.' When cancer recurs, it means that the disease that >again. Cancer may recur after several months, a few years, or many years.

>

> >Cancer that has recurred is very much like the first cancer in the way that it starts: >Abnormal cells begin to grow and multiply quickly. If not stopped, cancer cells can >destroy normal tissues and organs.

>

> >previous treatment was meant to destroy the original cancer and the cells that may have >broken away from it. However, a small number of cancer cells may have survived and only >now have grown into large enough tumors to be detected.

>

> >The cancer that recurs is the same type as the original cancer, no matter where it is >found. For example, if colon cancer recurs in the liver, it is not liver cancer; it is >colon cancer that has spread to to the liver.

>

> A further note, I have used your Web Page numerous times as it is a

> wealth of information. It/you have been one of the most important

> factors in maintaining my sanity through all of this. I do want to

> contribute something, but feel I need to wait until I'm sure that our

> insurance company is indeed going to cover the majority of the financial

> burden in my case. There are, at this time, unsubstantiated and

> lingering doubts in my head that they will pay, but until some checks

> have been written I'll be concerned. We were pretty well stretched thin

> during our house construction and then this cancer thing popped up...

> ahh, such is life... and you know, I'm rather fond of it!

>

> Thank you so much for your time and attention!

>

> Sincerely, Steven A. Durham <sdurham@bevillst.cc.al.us>