Roy Scheider, Actor in ‘Jaws,’ Dies at 75

I was watching the NBC nightly news yesterday when Brian Williams announced Roy Schneider died of complications of Multiple Myeloma in a hospital in Little Rock. Most people probably don't realize Brian helps raise funds for the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation ( http://www.multiplemyeloma.org/ ). Also, the Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy ( http://myeloma.uams.edu/ ) is one of the top facilities in the United States for treating Multiple Myeloma. I was curious what the complications were and now I know...

"Roy Scheider, a stage actor with a background in the classics who became one of the leading figures in the American film renaissance of the 1970s, died on Sunday afternoon in Little Rock, Ark. He was 75 and lived in Sag Harbor, N.Y.

Mr. Scheider had suffered from multiple myeloma for several years, and died of complications from a staph infection, his wife, Brenda Siemer, said." New York Times, 2/11/08.

Microbes are out to get us in case you haven't noticed. I suspect if Roy hadn't been immunosuppressed and fallen victim to staph bacteria, he would still be with us.

However, we don't need to think of all bacteria as being bad and in need of immediate erradication. There is a growing movement toward "growing" bacteria that will help us attack cancer and harmful bacteria. This is done by splicing segments of DNA into the bacteria DNA that enables the bacteria to replicate proteins which are designed to act in the presence of other drugs to destroy cancer. You can read all about it here: http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2008-01/germ-could-save-your-life

SPEP Test Result of 2/5/08

They say the third time is th charm. I had the charming m-spike of .28 mg/dl, a .06 increase from last time which is essentially the same. So, I appear to be on a plateau of some sort. I will continue to take the cancer drugs and maybe go back to Mayo for a check up a couple of months early. I continue to hope for an m-spike of zero but that is beginning to look less likely with each passing month. We will just have to stay the course and wait and see what happens.

Complete response (CR):
Treatment outcome where there is no detectable M protein in the serum and urine (using immunofixation) and normal percentage of plasma cells in the bone marrow or absence of myeloma cells by staining techniques; also referred to as complete remission

Very good partial response:
Treatment outcome where there is a greater than 90% decrease in M protein; also known as near complete response or very good partial remission.

Source: Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation
http://www.multiplemyeloma.org/