Quote for October

A Prayer for the Ephesians Eph. 3:14-21

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom His whole family in heaven derives its name. I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.


Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen!


Friday, November 11, 2011

Welcome to This Heart of Mine

Hi,

This is a song I discovered a couple years ago when I heard Shaun Groves perform at a Christian Music Festival in Del Mar, California. The festival is called Spirit West Coast. It is the only song I have ever found that is similar to what I experienced when I gave my whole heart over to God in 2007.

I had accepted Christ as my Savior, been filled with the Holy Spirit, and had been baptised in the Holy Spirit years ago. However, I had never let go of wanting to control my own life, instead of handing it over to God. One day I finally let go of wanting to hang on to my health, my daughter, and my Dad. I had been afraid that God would take those things away from me, if I let Him have them. My Dad and my daughter are still here. My health is worse, but I benefit from being in God's will for my life, rather than trying to figure out everything for myself.

This song by Shaun Groves speaks about letting God into all the corners and closets of our life. It can be found on UTube with Shaun singing the lyrics.


Welcome Home
By Shaun Groves c 2001 New Spring Publishing Inc./ASCAP
 
Take me, make me
All You want me to be
That’s all I’m asking, all I’m asking.

Welcome to this heart of mine
I’ve buried under prideful vines
Grown to hide the mess I’ve made
Inside of me. Come decorate, Lord.
Open up the creaking door
And walk upon the dusty floor
Scrape away the guilty stains
Until no sin or shame remain.
Spread your love upon the walls
And occupy the empty halls
Until the man I am has faded.
No more doors are barricaded.

Chorus: Come inside this heart of mine
It’s not my own. Make it home.
Come and take this heart and make it all Your own
Welcome home.

Take a seat, pull up a chair.
Forgive me for the disrepair
And the souvenirs from floor to ceiling
Gathered in my search for meaning.
Ev’ry closet’s filled with clutter
Messes yet to be discovered.
I’m overwhelmed, I understand
I can’t make this place all that You can.
I took the space you placed in me
Redecorated in shades of greed
And I made sure every door stayed locked
Every window blocked and still You knocked.

Take me, make me
All you want me to be
That’s all I’m asking,
All I’m asking.

Sunday, November 6, 2011

PRRT Peptide Receptor Radionuclide Therapy

PRRT is a therapy to treat neuroendocrine tumors that has been used for several years (possibly a decade) in Europe. It uses radioactive elements attached to Octreotide to shrink the tumors. This treatment works because most neuroendocrine tumors have receptors that bind the naturally occurring chemical somatostatin. Octreotide is simply a synthetic version of somatostatin, so Octreotide goes straight to NETs just like somatostatin would.

Somatostatin is a naturally calming compound. When it goes to the cell membrane of a carcinoid cell, it attaches to its receptors on the cell membrane. Then it makes the cell slow down and not produce so much of the neurotransmittors, peptides, or hormones that the tumor usually makes. Therefore, somatostatin is part of a feedback mechanism that tells cells that their secretions are not necessary, so the cells decrease making the secretions that incidentally make carcinoid patients sick.
Since it is a somatostatin analog, Octreotide goes naturally to carcinoid cells, and when a radionuclide is attached to Octreotide then the radiation affects the carcinoid tumor. There are three different radionuclides that have been used in PRRT: Indium-111, Yttrium-90, and Lutetium-177. One of the reasons to use one of the radionuclides versus another is that they have different ranges of penetration.

The doctors use the radionuclide that will penetrate the tumor, but not destroy normal tissue that is around the tumor. Indium-111 has the shortest range of penetration; Lutetium-177 has a range of 2mm; and Yttrium-90 has a range of 12mm. There is more information about PRRT on the Caring for Carcinoid Foundation website at www.caringforcarcinoid.org/PRRT.


The use of Gallium-68 DOTATE PET/CT and PRRT is so new that scientists just had their first conference June 23-26, 2011 at Bad Berka, Germany. Patients are considered for PRRT if their scans show an inoperable tumor(s) that can be measured on the scans, or if their symptoms are not well managed by Sandostatin or Octreotide therapy. This website contains information for patients who want to have PRRT at Bad Berka, Germany: http://www.prrtinfo.org/.

PRRT requires a series of treatments. Reading the accounts of patients (on Cancer Compass) who went to Rotterdam for PRRT reported that they would go for one week at a time, and stay at a local hotel. The treatment would take place at a medical center to which they returned several days in a row. The patients would have to stay over the weekend to make sure they were well enough to travel, then fly home on Monday. A couple years ago people were writing that they would return home for a couple months before returning for treatments two through four. Results were usually very good, with tumors shrinking and symptoms being reduced.

However, I have learned this year that PRRT can have side effects that include leukemia and bone marrow toxicity. The leukemia was written as an effect that can show up later in life, but a woman suffering from bone marrow toxicity had it happen immediately after her PRRT treatment. Her bone marrow was not making the proper amount of platelets and red blood cells, but she was being treated for the condition and was recovering. This just reminds us that every treatment has side effects, so we need to know what they are and how to fight them.

There isn't much data in the USA, yet, on PRRT. However, this weekend (11-11-11) there is a conference at MD Anderson Medical Center in Houston, Texas, under the leadership of a Dr. Lao, about the progress they have made on doing PRRT in this country. Possibly, next week I can report on a date for PRRT to be available to us without a flight across the ocean.

Update: Well, there is no date for PRRT in the US. There are still hoops for the doctors and universities to jump through before the therapy is available in the USA. If you would like to see a synopsis of what happened at the conference at MD Anderson Medical Center, see this blog www.lucysnoidblog.blogspot.com . Lucy was at the conference and she has a great account of how PRRT works and why it is not available here.

Praying for the best possible result,
Sharon