GBM Treatment: One Small Step at a Time
Brain Cancer. The term strikes fear in even the strongest of us and for good reason. In the past 5-10 years, treatment’s progressed by leaps and bounds in a great many cancers, while in others progress lags. Unfortunately glioblastoma (GBM), the most common of adult brain cancers, is one of the latter. GBM remains an […]
Melanoma Deserves Your Attention
Our skin is the body’s largest organ, so maybe it’s no coincidence that skin cancer is the most common type of cancer. Though there are exceptions, they usually form on skin that had heavy sun exposure – so unlike most cancers that hide inside the body, we can actually see these cancers with our naked […]
My Hero
Oprah’s guest pointed to the place above her collarbone where the tumors first appeared. It’d been a hard fight, with one particularly close call, but she’d made it and now she was a survivor – even a hero. Cue tears from the audience. Normally I’d have been moved, crying along with the show and applauding […]
Mayor Proclaims Holiday – Green Bay Oncology Day
WHEREAS, 1 in 3 of Green Bay’s residents will develop cancer during their lifetimes, driving a need for expert cancer care in our community; and WHEREAS, on August 1, 1976 Dr. Paul Koch founded Green Bay Oncology, the region’s first specialty oncology practice; and WHEREAS, Green Bay Oncology carries on Dr. Paul Koch’s legacy to […]
Aspirin and Gastrointestinal Cancer: It May Keep the Doctor Away
I recently came across a great review article from the UK titled “Aspirin in Gastrointestinal Oncology: New Data on an Old Friend” and I wanted to share some insights I learned from this review. Aspirin has been around for over 100 years and had been used for a long time to treat pain, inflammation and […]
Benign Blood Disorders – Polycythemia
Low red blood cells or hemoglobin called anemia is the most common blood disorder world-wide. However, some patients have hemoglobin that is too high called polycythemia. Polycythemia can be caused by a bone marrow disorder caused polycythemia vera or from other causes outside the bone marrow called secondary polycythemia. Distinguishing between the two became much easier about ten years […]
To Port or Not To Port – Advantages & Disadvantages
Most of our patients who receive chemotherapy, and some patients who receive other therapies for blood disorders, have had a port catheter (or port for short) placed by recommendation of their medical provider for very good reason. A port catheter is a device placed “centrally” into a large, main vein and is generally located in […]
Advance Directives: Your Choices for Your Future
90% of people say that talking with their loved ones about end -of -life care is important, but… only 27% have actually done so. As medicine has advanced and life expectancy has increased, our society has come to see the subjects of dying and death as taboo. The topics are often avoided out of fear […]
Fertility and Cancer
Cancers and blood disorders are being diagnosed at earlier stages and earlier ages. This is positive as treating earlier stage cancers allows for better treatment outcomes than treating the later stage cancers generally does. However, the treatments we often prescribe – surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, additional medications – can affect a patient’s fertility. Fertility is defined […]
Do We Have More Breast Cancer Here?
It began simply enough. An inquisitive colleague asked me if we have more breast cancer in our area than elsewhere. I had been asked this before, and I still did not know. But I should know. The \”Big Three\” cancers in the US are prostate, lung, and colorectal for males and breast, lung and colorectal […]