A couple of days ago, USA Today ran a piece on Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee's book, The Emperor of All Maladies. The piece is called "We'll Learn to Live with Cancer, Suggests New Book," and it focuses on the history of cancer and its treatments. As the title suggests, Mukherjee believes that we may not cure all cancer, but we'll continue to get closer and closer. Ultimately, we'll have to look at cancer as a chronic disease, one that might not go away completely, but which we can control for a long time.
Which is, in some ways, how we're dealing with Follicular NHL. Newer treatments for all cancers are genetically-based, taking advantage of what we know about gene mutations and their effects on cancer. Follicular NHL is no different, and some treatments like Velcade seem to work for a while and then need to be repeated. Not ideal, but dealable, I guess.
This book is getting quite a bit of attention. NPR's show Fresh Air did a segment with the author earier this week. He's a pretty brilliant guy. Recommended listening.
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