Tony Snow has liver cancer

[Sampiro]

Since I don't see another thread about it...

He had his colon removed in 2005 and hoped that would end the cancer, but now it's returned in his abdomen and metastasized into his liver. Liver cancer is a usually fatal disease. Google news- it's the most frequently repeated story on CNN today as well.

There are very few people I'd wish a painful debilitating disease on and as much as I loathe his politics and his boss Tony Snow is certainly certainly not one of them. For what it's worth (approximately nothing) I hope for his sake and his family's that he pulls through.

My terror now: new White House Press Secretary Ann Coulter to the rescue.

[Caridwen]

That's really a shame. To be honest he hasn't been looking so well lately. I thought it was the stress of the job.

[uglybeech]

Originally Posted by Sampiro

Liver cancer is a usually fatal disease.

It's not really "liver cancer". It's metastatic colon cancer. And that will have a different prognosis from primary liver cancer.

[Sampiro]

PS- I'm curious if The Daily Show says anything about this since footage of him is frequently used (and completely understandably and rightly) as the butt of jokes (especially his parroting of White House catchphrases and talking points in the face of all logic). Sometimes you would get the opinion watching him that he was thinking to himself "God I hate having to tow the line on this one when everyone knows it's a truckload of bullshit", but then that's pretty much every White House Press Secretary at some point.

[Caridwen]

Didn't he work for Fox before he got job as Press Secretary? Not a huge difference. He was probably hired because he could keep a straight face.

[Sampiro]

Originally Posted by uglybeech

It's not really "liver cancer". It's metastatic colon cancer. And that will have a different prognosis from primary livery cancer.

My bad.

[Actual question, I'm not being sarcastic]- If there is cancer in an organ it does not count as that type of cancer if it did not start there? For example, if cancer in the lungs metastasizes into the stomach, then the person has metastatic lung cancer trather than stomach cancer?

[Kalhoun]

I always say colon-to-liver or breast-to-bone.

Colon-to-liver is what got my mom.

[Sampiro]

Originally Posted by Kalhoun

I always say colon-to-liver or breast-to-bone.

Colon-to-liver is what got my mom.

Mine was lungs to lymph to kidneys, kidney failure being what killed her.

[uglybeech]

Originally Posted by Sampiro

My bad.

[Actual question, I'm not being sarcastic]- If there is cancer in an organ it does not count as that type of cancer if it did not start there? For example, if cancer in the lungs metastasizes into the stomach, then the person has metastatic lung cancer trather than stomach cancer?

If you really want to get into the nitty gritty we should drag a dcotor in here. But generally speaking, when you talk about what type of cancer a person has you refer to it by its site of origin. So metastatic lung cancer would mean a cancer that has spread from the lungs, not to the lungs. The classification schemes that are used to design prognoses and treatment protocols are based on that, so, e.g. Elizabeth Edwards was diagnosed as "Stage IV Breast Cancer" when it spread to her rib, and not bone cancer. I'm not saying that the terminology doesn't occasionally get complicated, fudged o confused -- or that no doctor would every say she has bone cancer or tony snow liver cancer. But as a general rule when you hear something like "liver cancer has a bad prognosis" this almost invariably means primary liver cancer.

[Marley23]

Here's the CNN story.
It sounds like his outlook is really bad. He's got family history working against him, too. I couldn't say very much I like about the guy, but he was classy in his remarks about Elizabeth Edwards last week. I wish them both well.

Sorry about your mother, Sampiro. I remember things were bad months ago, but I didn't know she was gone.

[lavenderviolet]

I'm not a doctor, but I am a medical student.
Once cancer has started to spread, the best way to refer to it is as "Stage IV" cancer of (whatever organ it originated in). The origin is the most important consideration, because the cancer cells behave differently (and respond differently to chemotherapy) depending on what organ they first grew from.
I think simply referring to it as "Stage IV" is preferable than trying to describe the sites of metastasis, because you can assume that once you see evidence of tumors in distant organs that cancer cells have entered the person's blood and lymph fluid and are being dispersed throughout the entire body, even if they aren't yet forming tumors large enough to be detectable in more than one or two places. That's why it is so hard to cure cancer once it's stage IV - you'd have to eradicate every little cancer cell that's hiding out throughout the body, and so far we don't know how to do that without destroying the person's healthy cells too.

Unfortunately, stage IV cancer generally has a very poor prognosis regardless of where it originated and the odds are that Tony Snow and Elizabeth Edwards will die within the next few years. Hopefully with chemotherapy they can enjoy some good quality time with their loved ones before that happens.
In both cases, I consider it very sad news regardless of the person's political stances. I would expect that once you are facing the knowledge that you are terminally ill, you probably don't care quite so much about partisan politics.

[Kalhoun]

Originally Posted by lavenderviolet

Unfortunately, stage IV cancer generally has a very poor prognosis regardless of where it originated and the odds are that Tony Snow and Elizabeth Edwards will die within the next few years.

My personal experience with loved ones with both of these types of cancer is Tony Snow = < 1 year, Elizabeth Edwards = >3 years.

[C3]

Is he married? Kids?

[Llama Llogophile]

Wow, the parties even compete over cancer. First Mrs. Edwards, and then the GOP immediately responds!

OK, that was uncalled for. My bad.

[Sampiro]

Originally Posted by C3

Is he married? Kids?

Married, three kids aged 10 to 14.

[Sarahfeena]

Originally Posted by Kalhoun

My personal experience with loved ones with both of these types of cancer is Tony Snow = < 1 year, Elizabeth Edwards = >3 years.

Yup...that's my experience, too. The liver is very, very bad. Sometimes people literally live only weeks after it gets there.

These stories are so sad...I can't believe how YOUNG both of these folks are. Dang.

[kunilou]

The news hit me a little too close to home, as my mother died from colon-to-liver.

My sister's colonoscopy was clean. Mine is scheduled for April 20.

[OtakuLoki]

Originally Posted by lavenderviolet

I think simply referring to it as "Stage IV" is preferable than trying to describe the sites of metastasis, because you can assume that once you see evidence of tumors in distant organs that cancer cells have entered the person's blood and lymph fluid and are being dispersed throughout the entire body, even if they aren't yet forming tumors large enough to be detectable in more than one or two places. That's why it is so hard to cure cancer once it's stage IV - you'd have to eradicate every little cancer cell that's hiding out throughout the body, and so far we don't know how to do that without destroying the person's healthy cells too.

A bit a hijack, here - I have the impression that pancreatic cancers are usually considered one of the more deadly ones that people can contract. Is that because of the importance of the pancreas, or is that because pancreatic cancers are not usually detected until they've reached Stage IV?

Either way, I am hoping good things come to both Mr. Snow and Mrs. Edwards.

[Dewey Finn]

[hijack]I believe the president is treated at Bethesda Naval Hospital, but where are senior members of the administration such as Tony Snow treated? Does he also go to Bethesda, or does he visit civilian hospitals, presumably under his government-provided medical insurance?[/hijack]

That aside, I'm sorry for both him and Elizabeth Edwards. This sort of thing is hard enough to have to deal with, let alone having to do so in the light of the public attention.

[lavenderviolet]

Originally Posted by OtakuLoki

I have the impression that pancreatic cancers are usually considered one of the more deadly ones that people can contract.

Yes, pancreatic cancer is notorious for being rapidly fatal, even compared to other terminal cancers.
The reason I was given by the oncologist who lectured to my class about it is that, because of how the anatomy of the area where the pancreas is, a tumor in the middle or "tail" portions of the pancreas can grow silently for a long time before it starts to bump into anything that will be irritated by the tumor's presence and cause symptoms, so by the time the person realizes something's wrong and gets diagnosed, pancreatic cancer is almost always very advanced.

For those "lucky" (relatively speaking) few who are diagnosed while the cancer is still confined to the pancreas, there is a chance that surgery can cure them. It is possible to survive without a pancreas.

Another part of why pancreatic cancer kills so rapidly is because chemotherapy and radiation generally don't work well on it. With many other kinds of cancer, even after it's widespread, chemo can frequently at least slow the cancer down for a while and buy the patient some time. In the case of pancreatic cancer, it's difficult to even slow it down. Hopefully some experimental treatment will change that situation soon.

[Kalhoun]

Originally Posted by OtakuLoki

A bit a hijack, here - I have the impression that pancreatic cancers are usually considered one of the more deadly ones that people can contract. Is that because of the importance of the pancreas, or is that because pancreatic cancers are not usually detected until they've reached Stage IV?

Either way, I am hoping good things come to both Mr. Snow and Mrs. Edwards.

That's what got my uncle. I did not hear that it had spread anywhere else. He had 4 previous cancers; all unrelated. Funny how that's considered a "good" thing in the world of cancer.

[Nava]

Originally Posted by Sampiro

My bad.

[Actual question, I'm not being sarcastic]- If there is cancer in an organ it does not count as that type of cancer if it did not start there? For example, if cancer in the lungs metastasizes into the stomach, then the person has metastatic lung cancer trather than stomach cancer?

Classifying cancers is one of those things that can be done in many different ways. The "metastatic" indicates that it's assumed to have reached there from another place (it is perfectly possible to get unrelated cancers in two organs).

My aunt's had breast cancer twice; since it was 11 years apart, the second one wasn't labeled "metastatic", but if it had been less than 5 years after her first mastectomy, it would have; note that this was according to Spanish practice and MMV in other countries. It seems to be more of a heads up to the doctors to look for other possible tumors than anything else, really.

For your example, what I usually head in Spain is "lung cancer, with metastasis to the stomach". It still means "he's got it bad."

[The Chao Goes Mu]

Tony Snow is the one (former) Fox talking head that I actually liked listening to. I would turn on Limbaugh's radio show if I new Snow was guest hosting. He's eloquent and not overblown like Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity. (ugh) Tony's got class.

Anway, I feel really bad for him and his family. Cancer just sucks.

[Jodi]

Originally Posted by Sampiro

[Actual question, I'm not being sarcastic]- If there is cancer in an organ it does not count as that type of cancer if it did not start there? For example, if cancer in the lungs metastasizes into the stomach, then the person has metastatic lung cancer trather than stomach cancer?

I know it makes a difference for women's reproductive cancers. I was a candidate for genetic testing for the "breast cancer gene" (BRAC-1 and/or 2), which actually is a predicter for breast and ovarian cancer. But the genetic link is to ovarian cancer, not uterine cancer or any other type of reproductive cancer. In determining whether I should have genetic testing or not, the genetic counselor had to confirm that my grandmother (who died of "liver cancer" according to the death certificate from the mid-'80s) actually had metastized ovarian cancer, which was my mom's recollection and which the medical records proved was correct.