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Biotech / Medical : VD's Model Portfolio & Discussion Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Vector1 who wrote (8280)	10/1/2000 11:42:36 PM
From: Arthur Radley	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9719

Vector, Sorry to hear about your dad. Your post was very descriptive, but one that we all should pay close attention. Katic Couric(NBC-Today Show) lost her husband at a very young age to colon cancer. She has become very active in promoting proper screening for this disease. She and some of her friends are sponsoring a major awareness benefit on October 8th. Details can be found on www.webmd.com. As for INKP, the drug that the FDA just approved isn't a cure...but, from what I've heard, the major problem for people seeking the test is the preparation process. Many people just can't drink that much liquid...especially something that taste as horrid as the Fleet and Nylite products. For sure, the doctors will prescribe the INKP pills because it will surely eliminate the delays and rescheduling of the process when people come in and the colon has not been cleansed. In a way Visicol is like the Gillette razor...give the razor away and sell the blades.

To: Vector1 who wrote (8280)	10/2/2000 12:04:32 AM
From: CYBERKEN	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9719

I lost my own father to prostrate cancer last year (he was 80). While we necessarily put a dollar figure here on the progress of science in the sector, it helps to pause and remember occasionally that a much better world is being built, brick by brick, in biotech.

To: Vector1 who wrote (8280)	10/2/2000 8:51:55 AM
From: scott_jiminez	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9719

I URGE EVERYONE OVER 40 TO HAVE A COLONOSCOPY EVERY 5 YEARS AT A MINIMUM. DO NOT DELAY. DO IT NOW. I've been good about the prostate thing but not about colonoscopy. The graphic nature of your post (and the fact we're about the same age) is about the only way to truly get the point across. Thanks Vector. I will get myself off my caudal colon and pursue it. Scott.

To: Vector1 who wrote (8280)	10/2/2000 3:31:51 PM
From: RCMac	Respond to of 9719

>> I URGE EVERYONE OVER 40 TO HAVE A COLONOSCOPY EVERY 5 YEARS AT A MINIMUM. DO NOT DELAY. DO IT NOW. << Couldn't agree more. Physicians not only recommend this, I understand, but they actually go through this themselves pretty religiously. Colon cancer is, in effect, pretty cooperative with a cure, as it is both more easily detected and more easily cured than most other cancers. The cancer develops in isolation, in the polyps growing inside the colon, and develops slowly for a considerable time before it spreads. That means that it is nearly always easily found and easily dealt with, merely by snipping out the polyps before the cancer spreads down the polyp stem to the colon wall -- but you find it only if you look for it, with a colonoscopy (not just a sigmoidoscopy, which inspects only the lower third or so of the colon). The consequences, if you don’t look for it and don’t find it, are extremely nasty, as you described. This mild inconvenience balanced against the awful consequences of not doing it -- really a no-brainer. >>The procedure itself is not too bad. << Agreed. Not everyone has the unpleasant experience Tomato described -- I believe only a small minority do. (The concern before your first one, about that particular intrusion, is a bigger obstacle for many people, I think.) I've had three, with a valium IV, without problem, essentially without pain. The liquid prep is unpleasant, and INKP’s pills will surely be a significant improvement. The colonoscope injects some air into the colon, balooning it for better vision, and the worst bit, in my experience, is some mild cramping in the 6-8 hours after, as you eliminate that extra air in the colon. No big thing. Partly as a result of the above experiences, and with the sense that more and more people will be having these procedures, I’ve held some INKP for a while, from about 4 (not a big position, but more than a “smidge”), and expect to hold for a while. --RCM