Jan. 20, 2019

Since last I posted, I found out that my cancer is Triple Negative.  At first, I thought that must be good. Anything negative usually is, right?  Not in the case of breast cancer.  It just means that this particular kind of cancer will not respond to the newer drugs that are working wonders.  It only responds to surgery and chemotherapy. And, what they don't dwell on, is, if these two strategies don't work, well, you are kind of out of options.  I've been reading a lot, especially, on breastcancer.org and its message boards.  Many women  on there are sharing a long time survival rate for TN.  And, I also talked to my cousin and found out this we the type of cancer she had years ago and has survived.  She did have a double  mastectomy and a hellish road of chemotherapy, but she is alive and well.  She only means well, but  her cheer-leading attitude kind of pisses me off.  Unlike her, Im just not the kind of person who screams at my boob to stop and leave her body .  Maybe I should be.  I'm not angry at my abbynormal cells.  they are just doing what damaged cells do.  And, I might have to learn to take some ownership in the shit I did that caused it.  I smoked. When I was young I did drugs like LSD, that might have changed my DNA.   I probably inhaled too many chemical fumes in my life.  I've never really cared about eating my daily minimal servings of vegetables.  So, yeah, I can be mad at the cancer, or I can accept the Karma of not taking care of myself.  My doctors are pretty cool.  At least they didn't piss me off.  I don't have far to travel for treatment-- about 12 minutes.  God bless those women who have to travel hours.  The way I drive these days, the traffic would kill be before the cancer.  I told most of the people I'm close to and my closest relatives, except I still haven't told my son.  Adam is a sensitive man.  And , he troubles with a lot of emotional problems, too.  So, if I tell him, is he going to go off on the deep end and start using drugs again?  Sometimes I can read stories about mass shootings and they are always done my a disturbed man who has had a life "trigger."  Like losing a parent.

Wed, Jan 16, 12:15 PM (4 days ago)
to me

Today ups delivered my "welcome package" from KU hospital. It was filled with lots of lovely pictures of the campus and facility and smiling doctors. It also came with instructions to fill out a detailed health questionnaire. The only question missing was when you exited your mother's wound, how loud did you scream? Even though my medical files are all in the ku system, im asked to repeat everything again. I think im just going to print them out and attached to the folder which you are told to bring with you to your first appointment. This piece of mail was very sobering. It outlines your financial obligation and how $50 co pay for specialists will apply each visit.it hit me that this was going to be a very expensive and time consuming illness. Then i researched radiation therapy and did not like what i read about side effects. Hell, am im even going to be able to work? Will it be better just to opt to have my boobs cut off? And i still havent told my son, my cousin, my brother. I dont want to be a cancer hero. I dont even like the word survivor. 

Jan. 11, 2019

Tonight i am going to bed knowing for the first time, i have cancer. Today, ive lived with it for the first time in the daytime. I washed my face, watched "Friends" ate some cereal, all the while I have cancer.  I folded laundry, worked on a freelance project, all while i have cancer. This morning about 8:30 i got the call. After being called back from a mammogram that showed a difference between now and last year, they wanted another scan. It was said to look like a cluster of calcification spots, 3 tiny pin head spots on my left breast. 98 percent of these types of spots are benign. But i knew mine would not be. Why? Because i was not worried. Every mammogram i always sweated the results. But not this time. It didn't matter. I wasn't afraid. I didn't have a bad feeling, just no feeling at all.  It was the sense of calm that made me realized this was it. Now, i have to wait 7 days to see two doctors who will tell me how the rest of my life might go down.  I am not going to lose sleep, in fact, i am quite tired. I told two friends and my husband today. One friend said she knew two women who easily survived this kind of cancer. My other friend:  "we will get through this." My husband hugged me and mumbled something and took the dog for a walk. I totally got it. I love him so much.  

A Whole Town Mourns a Missing Dog

The dog that belonged to no one and everyone is missing.  And an entire town is grieving. 

Believed to be a collie and lab mix, Harper also known as "Lucky," and "Legend," used to lay sentinel at one of the busiest intersections in Corinth, Miss. The intersection at Harper Road and Popular Street was his namesake and home for more than a decade, but no one knows how long for sure. He was always there catching rays when the sun was shining. And, when it wasn’t, volunteers built insulated shelters for him under the nearby bridge.

He was very gentle, very shy and did not care for human company. Few, even long-time friends who fed and watered him consistently could ever get close enough to touch him without him moving along.  Some might say it was the personality of any older Southern gentleman who just wants his freedom and to be left alone. And, maybe to chase a few fire trucks now and then.

He was loved and taken care of by hundreds of passersby; well-fed and always with clean water nearby. The city dog catcher is noticeably missing from this story and Harper’s freedom was never threatened, even though his camp site was only minutes from the city animal shelter. And, although they tried many times to catch him, he was like a wise old hobo outsmarting the police.

In many ways, this is a story that is only now being told because Harper is missing. The fact that he was homeless was a secret kept safe by a lot of folks in the town, and, even, his hometown newspaper. Because publicity might have led to a bad outcome for Harper.

You see Corinth has a leash law.  This does not bode well for a homeless dog.  But living in a place where individuals value their freedom of choice to live in mansions or under a bridge, somehow people felt the decision to live the life Harper apparently loved, was Harper’s choice.  There were stories of many people trying to befriend the dog and take him home.  But Harper’s place in the shade of a utility box by the intersection was home.

Friends put out water, food, an old car seat that he did not sleep on, preferring instead the concrete sidewalk or grass, depending which way the sun chased a shade.  Businesses nearby also had food and water sitting outside. 

He was a street-wise old roamer, just as likely to be seen two or three miles away near local sandwich shops as at the intersection.  But it was the intersection where he spent most of his days, snoozing in the sunshine or watching cars go by.

There were weeks in his younger years, when Harper would go missing.  After one of those “vacations,” he was seen shortly after with a female beagle and several pups.  Many little “Harpers” are said to be around the city and are prized by owners if you can find one with Harper’s blood line.

Harper had a special meaning for me.  Each time I made the long drive from my home in Kansas City to my mother's home in Corinth, I would pass Harper. And, I knew, I was almost home. 

Some might wonder, rightfully so, how different Harper's ending might have been, safe in someone’s back yard or on a living room hearth.  But just as many believe it would have taken the life out of the old dog.  

For now, Corinth is just waiting for whatever closure might come one day about Harper.  He led a good life, residents say.  And Corinth was able to witness something truly amazing with Harper—a community of people who pulled together to take care of an old dog who slept at an intersection and just wanted his freedom.

Creating a Non-Surgical Neutering Solution for Dog: The Scientist Behind the Science of Zeuterin

People born in the year of the monkey like Dr. Min Wang are supposed to be tenacious problem solvers. An animal lover, Dr. Wang’s problem was a haunting statistic that kept him up at night.  Almost 2.7 million healthy, adoptable cats and dogs—about one every 11 seconds—are put down in U.S. shelters each year.

The answer in Dr. Wang’s eyes was a better, faster, less-invasive solution to surgical spaying and neutering and for the past 25 years he has doggedly pursued this challenge.  His diligent work has given new life to a product first introduced almost a decade ago, but is today being launched as Zeuterin™; this time, with an improved training protocol in place. Enthusiasts are hoping the new protocol of thoroughly training veterinarians on its use will make Zeuterin one of the most exciting breakthrough strategies in pet population control in this century.

As Research and Scientific Partner at Ark Sciences, a global animal pharmaceutical product company, Dr. Wang was paramount in bringing Zeuterin to the U.S. marketplace this past February when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) manufacturing approval came through. The product is a one-time injection done under the supervision of a certified veterinarian for male dogs 3 to 10 months of age that renders the dog permanently sterile.

Dr. Wang’s history of meeting the challenges of population control started with the human species many years ago in China. 

“I came to America in 1989 to study male reproductive research at the Center of Reproductive Science and Technology, School of Medicine, University of Missouri – Columbia,” Dr. Wang recalls.  “I worked with my mentor and friend, the late Dr. Mostafa Fahim.”

By that time, Dr. Wang had already made a name for himself as Director of the Center of Birth Control and Regulation and Associate Director of Human Embryology and Histology at Xi’anMedical University in the study of male contraception and infertility. Dr. Wang received his medical degree in 1978 and his graduate degree in biological reproduction in 1984 from Xi’anMedical University, Xian, Shaanxi.

Today, more than 7,000 miles and a million memories lie between his native China and what is now his home in Columbia, Mo. and where his research program is based.  Ark Sciences Research and Development is located at MU (University of Missouri) Life Sciences Business Incubator at Monsanto Place.

The Early Years

A long and arduous journey led this poor farmer’s son from a small country village to a top university in China to a brilliant career in both human and animal population control.

Dr. Wang was born in 1956.  His rural countryside home in the Shaanxi Province was 200 miles from Xi’anCity where he attended medical school.

“It was a completely country and traditional farm life I had growing up.  For generations, my family worked the land, growing wheat and corn when the weather permitted; which wasn’t often, and the soil was very poor,” he said.  For most of the families in the countryside, including Dr. Wang’s family, hunger was almost a constant companion.

Although farming had been his family’s occupation for generations, it was his grandfather, a man who only knew how to write his last name, who set him on a different course.

“My grandfather told me that I had to do better than farming.  He told me, ‘you have to get an education,’ ” Dr. Wang said. 

In China at that time around the Cultural Revolution beginning in 1966, getting an education was almost an impossible task. When Dr. Wang was barely a teenager, the government shut down the schools.  For several years, until free education was allowed again, Dr. Wang read everything he could get—old newspapers, discarded books—anything to continue his path of self-study.

Finally in 1972, Dr. Wang was able to return to high school and graduate at age 16.  He immediately began teaching at a local elementary school upon graduation from high school. 

Later, he passed the rigorous entrance exams of one of China’s most prodigious medical universities, Xi’anMedical University, and was accepted—something like only 1 percent of those who apply are accepted.

“Education would have been my choice to study had I had a choice,” Dr. Wang said.  “But in my country, while the education is free, the choice as to what to study is not.  I was placed in the medical school to become a doctor.”

 “From the country to the city was very exciting, but shocking.  I was only 19 and making my way around a city of millions of people when I had been used to a small rural community. The University gave you a bed roll to sleep upon and that was about it.”

Population, Policy and Hope

After obtaining his graduate degree in 1984, he began his work at the Center of Birth Control and Regulation. Dr. Wang threw himself into researching strategies to deal with China’s serious population problem.  Families were not allowed to have more than one child under most circumstances. The policy was introduced in 1979 to alleviate social, economic and environmental problems. The controversial policy has been implicated in an increase in forced abortions, female infanticide and under-reporting of female births.

Dr. Wang, who has one daughter, understood then and now the reasoning behind China’s population control measures.  As a six-year-old child, he lived through the 1962 massive famine that caused some 30 million deaths.  “China had to do something; people were starving to death,” Dr. Wang said.  Those memories, along with the knowledge that he might one day make the lives better for his four half-sisters drove his research in those early years.

“The birth control methods that were widely used then were products only for women. The birth control pill first introduced in China was a very high dosage and many women had side effects.  An IUD would not work on poor women who sometimes were so undernourished that their bodies would reject the IUD,” Dr. Wang said.  “And not everyone wanted a surgical option.”

“I focused on the male sperm function,” he said.  “This area was new and difficult because it was necessary to reduce the sperm without reducing the testosterone in men.”

Above all in those early years, Dr. Wang said, he adopted a life-long commitment to creating products and strategies that would do no harm to the human body.  “It’s not enough that a product be effective; it has to be safe,” he said.  That guiding principle would follow him throughout his research life, extending eventually to his research with animals.

In 1984, the Chinese Academy of Science chose Dr. Wang as the Young Research Fellow of the Year and awarded funds to continue the male contraception and infertility research. In 1986, the Chinese Family Planning Commission awarded Dr. Wang funds to pursue research and development of a spermicidal agent for male contraception.

Dr. Wang and his team created one of the first Chinese spermicidal products; it was made from an extract of a peach tree leaf and used for several years before newer products were introduced.

 “Those were years of celebration. I was young; I could work long hours. It was greatly satisfying work,” he said.

 Coming to the U.S.—and Staying

Because of the nature of Dr. Wang’s research and its importance to China’s population control policy, he was given an opportunity to travel to the United States in June 1989. He came to the U.S. as a visiting scholar to participate in male reproductive research at the Center of

Reproductive Science and Technology, a unit of the School of Medicine at the University of Missouri in Columbia.

From a bustling city of more than eight million people to sleepy, little Columbia with its population of about 100,000, was the quintessential meaning of culture shock. 

“It was summer and school was out,” said Dr. Wang.  “I felt like the whole town was deserted.  It was hard; I couldn’t find food that I was used to eating; I was living in a small dorm room in a little town whose streets were all but empty of people and I could barely speak English.  This was not the exciting America I had seen on television.” 

His saving grace was the researcher he came to study under, Dr. Mostafa Fahim. “Dr. Fahim was a very good person; he encouraged me and drove me everywhere,” Dr. Wang recalled.

Dr. Fahim’s research in using therapeutic ultrasound as a strategy for male contraception fascinated Dr. Wang.  Only now is Dr. Fahim’s research in that area meeting with renewed interest amongst population control groups, like the one funded by the Gates Foundation.

What was supposed to have been a three-month stint in Columbia turned into a life-long endeavor.

 “I had a chance to do research in New York and Houston, but after some adjusting, I realized that (MU) was the place for me,” he said. 

Dr. Fahim went on his behalf to China in October 1989 and asked the Chinese government if he could “borrow” Dr. Wang for another six months.  Since their research continued to look for solutions in human reproduction and results were freely shared between countries, the government agreed.  Eventually, Dr. Wang asked for and was granted a two-year work visa, and after that, he applied and received permanent residential status. In 1995, he became a United States citizen.

In addition to ultrasound, Dr. Fahim was also doing breakthrough research in the role that the nutrient zinc plays in the male human reproduction system.  Dr. Fahim was Egyptian and research had been underway for several years investigating how a zinc deficiency in Egyptian males could create growth abnormalities and sterility.

“I thought the study of zinc was very exciting and had a lot of possibility to help the human race,” Dr. Wang said. “Dr. Fahim and I were close friends and shared the philosophy that product has to be effective; but first, it has to be safe.”

From Human to Humane

After  about a year researching the zinc deficiency theory working toward a human population control technique, it became clear that a more pressing problem was under the researchers’ nose right here in the United States—millions of unwanted and homeless pets were being euthanized each day at U.S. shelters. And, globally, millions and millions of strays were roaming the streets of third world countries; some spreading the deadly rabies virus.

“There was also a sea change in the way Americans were viewing their pets,” Dr. Wang said.  “They were no longer just possessions; they had become family members.  And no one wants to see a family member euthanized.”

Could a less invasive, cheaper and safer mean of sterilization be an answer to the homeless pets problem?

The answer, Dr. Wang and Dr. Fahim realized had been proven time-and-time again in their laboratory studies using a zinc mixture to sterilize male dogs.  What followed were nine years of lab research and four years of clinical trials and studies conducted at top veterinarian hospitals and shelters across the country. The trials perfected the product and the procedure of giving male dogs of a certain age an injection in their testes.  From there, it was a matter of the long and thorough road to FDA approval.

“As noble the cause, nothing would have been possible without those early angel investors who were all animal lovers and who, at that time, took a real leap of faith in us and our vision,” Dr. Wang said.   

Finally in 1991, Dr. Fahim received a patent on a product that eventually was used in the U.S. and Mexico during the early 2000s called Neuterisol.  But its roll-out in the U.S. was short-lived because the company introducing it did not take proper precautions to train veterinarians on how to use it.  “The injection site and the amount have to be very precise,” Dr. Wang said.  “It came to market in the U.S. with little training support offered to veterinarians.  The product was sound, but the training protocol was lacking.”

Now, a decade later, another company who currently owns the patent is dedicated to not making that same mistake.  Ark Sciences received FDA approval to distribute Zeuterin in the U.S. this past February. The roll-out has been very methodical and focused on extensive veterinarian training on its use.  Veterinarians must be certified through an online course and actual operating time to be approved to use Zeuterin in their practices and in shelters.

Zeuterin, which gets its name from a combination of “zinc” and “neutering,” works by causing fibrosis, or scarring, in the tubules that produce sperm in a dog. The trained veterinarians sedate the dogs, apply the shots and then reverse the sedation. Since the procedure still leaves the dog looking intact, the dogs are also given a tattoo "Z" on the inside of their left leg to indicate that they can no longer reproduce. 

The product is being met with great enthusiasm from animal control and homeless animal advocates across the country as a safe and effective solution to surgical neutering. Currently, in the U.S., it is only approved for male dogs 3 to 10 months old.  But Dr. Wang said that it is only

a matter of time before the product will be approved in the U.S. for use in older dogs, as is already the case outside the U.S.

One of the healthy benefits of Zeuterin, Dr. Wang believes, is that some of the testosterone of the male animal is left intact.  Studies have been published throughout the years, most recently in 2013 from the University of California at Davis, about the health effects of surgically neutered and spayed dogs, especially those under one year of age.  But more research is needed, Dr. Wang cautions.  As with surgical castration, Zeuterin may or may not eliminate male behavior such as roaming, marking, aggression or mounting in dogs.  Formal statistical evidence comparing neutering via zinc versus castration is not yet there.

What the Future Holds

There is still much work to be done in the area of humane population control for animals. Dr. Wang’s research continues on ways this non surgical approach could benefit groups of animals other than just companion animals--from farm to zoo to animals in the wild. 

Dr. Wang will get there.  With the support of his wife, Shiela (her English name), and that of their grown daughter, Yang Wang, he is certain his work will advance and be used to alleviate human and animal suffering across the globe.  He’s receiving recognition for that work, too. In 2013, the Alliance for Contraception in Cats & Dogs (ACCD) presented Dr. Wang a Special Achievement Award during its 5^th international symposium on non-surgical methods of pet population control in Portland.

But for Dr. Wang, there is one dream not yet realized.  In what seems to be a cruel twist of fate, his wife is allergic to pets. Dr. Wang dreams of one day settling down on a big farm with lots of outside pets.  He’s looking particularly for a black lab and beagle mix.  This was his first and only pet he owned in China growing up. 

When food was scarce, he would share with “Dog.”  The next “Dog,” will surely have plenty of food and the love of a good man whose legacy will be creating a world in which every pet is wanted and loved, and where the starvation, sickness, and the killing of homeless pets can finally stop.

Change of Lifestyle Furniture Sale: Goodbye, my beautiful antiques! I will entertain all reasonable offers on almost everything.  Please see my second post following this one, featuring my 20-year milk glass collection.  I would be willing to sell the complete collection.  I also have a collection of unique salt & pepper shakers ). I live in Kansas City, MO. in Waldo.  Email kathiekerr@gmail.com or TEXT ONLY: 816-651-0308.  I will update frequently, depending on what sales.

cherry? writing desk. 30" wide by 58 " tall: $125

Unique corner cabinet: Hard to find one that is this simplistically beautiful in more of a mission style. Six shelves.   Sorry, not willing to negotiate on this one. I paid $1100:  Firm: $950.  One kind of like it, but, I will admit it's nicer, is selling on ebay for $4,500.

Note to my Kansas City Friends:  I am selling my 20-year-old milk glass collection.  Here are a few of the pieces.  Shown by appointment only. Email me at kathiekerr@gmail.com

candy dish $3

MILK GLASS EPERGNE 3 HORN FLOWER VASE $10

8  WESTMORELAND 10 1/2" WIDE DINNER PLATE MILK GLASS BEADED RIMS / HOBNAIL PLATES : $10 each

vase: $3

covered candy dish:$5

candle stick holders: $3 pair

Rare Fenton cigarette lighter: $10

complete dinner setting for six: plate, dessert cup, wine glass, water goblet, cut and saucer: $30 each

bottom of cigarette lighter

Bottom of low-footed 13.5" wedding cake service platter: $20

Top of low-footed wedding cake 13.5"serving platter: $20

Two pairs of eggs cups 4.5" tall: $10 a pair

 Vintage A-016 Fenton White Hobnail Milk Glass footed Oversize Goblet - 6 1/4" Tall.  I have 3. $10 each.

oblong dish: $5

about 11" tall candy dish with lid: $20

Pitcher: $5

side of dinner plates

sugar bowl, top and glass spoon: $10

bonnet toothpick holder: $3

20" tall vase: $15