Scientists in Edinburgh have discovered a stem cell in dogs which could lead to finding new treatments for bone cancer in children.

The study published in the journal Veterinary Journal found that osteosarcoma, a type of bone-cancer in dogs is molecularly similar to bone cancer suffered by infants. …read the rest of this entry»

It is a myeloproliferative syndrome characterized by the presence of marrow fibrosis (secondary reactive phenomenon due to the proliferation of megakaryocytes in bone marrow), existence of large splenomegaly and extramedullary hematopoiesis.

In peripheral blood Leukoerythroblastic A syndrome with a variable number of leukocytes, normocytic-normochromic anemia, not …read the rest of this entry»

My writing was never intended to be about me, nor has it been, though readers have learned quite a bit about my thinking. However, I’ve decided to make a report about my own health, because this week I celebrate the first anniversary of the day my doctor told me I have an incurable and a terminal cancer. A year already! Time does pass when you’re having fun!I say that only partially facetiously, because these past 12 months have been at the same time the most difficult, the most challenging, the most adventurous and the most wonderful of my life. Those four adjectives probably belong together and form a symbiotic whole. …read the rest of this entry»

“One is the loneliest number that you’ll ever know. Two can be as bad as one. It’s the loneliest number since the number one.”These are the opening lyrics of a song made popular by the pop group Three Dog Night in the early ’70s. The great philosophers and poets of ancient Greece couldn’t have said it any better. We all think we have experienced loneliness. The teenage girl is crying in her room after breaking up with her first love, the young boy is sitting in the back seat of a police cruiser after being caught speeding, and the divorced wife is looking at the empty kitchen table on her anniversary date. These are truly moments of despair, but no one knows loneliness like a person fighting cancer. The physical pain we may feel in our bodies is nothing compared to the pain we so often feel in our hearts and souls. …read the rest of this entry»

Times with family members are irreplaceable and the stuff my happiness is made of. Now I try to make these opportunities rather than wait for them to happen.I want to hang on to the feelings of my new life - it’s a fresh start. I work at keeping these thoughts and feelings close to the surface of my mind, readily available when things don’t go well.Going through a bone marrow transplant in 1987 changed the way I look at my life. Of great importance to me now are my priorities: my family, expanding my interests now that I am retired, painting, travel, and helping others get through what I went through.I’m spending time alone with each of our kids whenever possible. A year ago, our daughter and I spent a week together on Cape Cod, just the two of us. February: Cold, rainy, windswept, we loved it, and we decided to fit in a little time together alone, somewhere, anywhere, each year. …read the rest of this entry»

Soft tissue contained within the large central cavity of a bone as well as within other internal spaces. Bone marrow is responsible for the formation of blood cells. Such marrow is called “red marrow”. As organisms mature, red marrow is replaced by a fatty tissue that does not produce blood cells. That fatty tissue is called “yellow marrow”.