New site to spotlight 'Grampy' kids' fantasy

Refreshed website to coincide with publication of children's fantasy by grandfather and granddaughter

'Grampy and His Fairyzona Playmates,' a children's fantasy co-authored by me (Woody Weingarten) and my granddaughter, Hannah Schifrin, is definitely ready for prime time.

To embellish the VitalityPress book's publication (tentatively slated for New Year's Day 2021), I'm developing a new, modernized website that will allow readers to more readily access more information more quickly and more visually. 

The exact date of the refreshed site's launch has yet to be determined but, as the cliche goes, you'll be the first to know. Meanwhile, just keep on checking here.

'Grampy and His Fairyzona Playmates,' five years in the making, is aimed at readers between the ages of 6 and 10. It's a four-part story of how a sorcerer, Grandpa Graybeard, repeatedly gets his granddaughter, Lily, and her best friend, Penny, out of trouble after they mess up their magic spells. It also shows how the girls learn from their misadventures.

Hannah Schifrin was only eight years old when she collaborated on the book, which is illustrated by Joe Marciniak in full color.

While you're waiting for 'Grampy' to be published, if you want to make sure I can put one word after another, check out your local bookstore or Amazon and get a copy of "Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer," a VitalityPress volume I aimed at male caregivers. 

And look for, somewhere in mid-2021, for "The Roving I," a compilation of columns I'd written for a group of weekly newspapers over an 11-year period.

New treatments targeting HER2 tumors

Aggressive therapy set for patients with early stage of breast cancer

An aggressive new therapy that attacks an especially perilous early-stage breast cancer is ready for use on patients.

That, at least, is what's cited in an October-November AARP Magazine story regarding a type of cancer known as HER2+ER+.

The multi-disciplinary therapy was first proven beneficial in later stages of the disease, says the piece. 

The article also notes that "about a quarter of all breast cancers are HER2+" — tumors that have "higher levels of a protein called human epidermal growth factor receptor 2, which tends to make them grow and spread faster than other kinds of breast cancer."

Dr. Vered Stearns

Dr. Vered Stearns, director of the women's malignancies program at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, is quoted by the magazine as saying that new treatments that specifically target HER2 can now expected to be utilized in fighting the disease. 

Accompanying the AARP Magazine article are two noteworthy short sidebars:

• "Aromatase inhibitors (which reduce estrogen), used to prevent recurrence, may prevent breast cancer from developing in the first place."

• "An immunotherapy drug, atezolizumab, is being tested in combination with chemotherapy as a new line of treatment for hard-to-treat triple-negative cancers."

More information about other treatments and drugs can be found in "Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer," a VitalityPress book that I, Woody Weingarten, aimed at male caregivers. 

Bayer adjunct loses plea about ignoring safety

Top court in California rejects Monsanto appeal in case where jury ruled that herbicide caused cancer

The California Supreme Court has turned down both defendant and plaintiff appeals in a case where a jury decided the weed-killer Roundup was the reason the defendant contracted cancer.

A story by Bob Egelko in yesterday's San Francisco Chronicle explains that the court denied Monsanto's appeal of a "groundbreaking verdict that found the company's widely used herbicide caused a school groundskeeper's cancer and that the company disregarded public safety in marketing its product."

Simultaneously, however, it rejected a review of the plaintiff's appeal of a lower-court ruling that reduced his damages from $78.5 million to $21.5 million.

The case had been the first in the United States to go to trial among many thousands filed against the giant agribusiness now owned by Bayer, which paid $63 billion for it in 2018. Cancer victims maintain that the problem is glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup and a more concentrated version called Ranger Pro.

Dewayne Johnson

The plaintiff in the groundbreaking case, Dewayne Johnson, had developed non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a blood cancer, after using the Ranger Pro from two to three hours a day over a four-year period as a groundskeeper and pest-control manager for the Benicia School District. At the time of the 2018 trial, lesions covered his body. 

The Vallejo resident testified, Egelko's story says, that "he wore protective clothing but couldn't fully protect his face from wind-blown spray, and twice was drenched with herbicide sprays from a detached hose and a leaking container."

According to the Chronicle article, the jury determined that Monsanto "should have known the product was carcinogenic, and 'acted with malice or oppression' by failing to notify Johnson's employer."

Bayer has indicated it may consider further review of Wednesday's rulings, which most likely would mean seeking a federal court judgment. The company has previously said it would pay nearly $10 billion to upwards of 125,000 claimants, as well as setting aside another billion for potential future plaintiffs. Those settlements, announced in June, haven't yet been finalized and, in fact, have been challenged by some plaintiffs' lawyers. 

Information on other suits against manufacturers can be found in "Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer," a VitalityPress book that I, Woody Weingarten, aimed at male caregivers.

Children's four-part tale of wizard, fairies due

Publication date set for kids' book, 'Grampy and His Fairyzona Playmates' 

Hooray! A tentative publication date, Jan. 1, has been established for 'Grampy and His Fairyzona Playmates.'

The 50-page children's book, a true collaboration of me, Woody Weingarten, and my granddaughter, Hannah Schifrin, has been — as Hollywood publicists often shout — "five years in the making."

Surprisingly, perhaps, recent delays weren't caused by Covid-19 but by our desire to make the book the best possible available for readers between the ages of 6 and 10. 

A four-part fantasy, 'Grampy and His Fairyzona Playmates' focuses on how a sorcerer, Grandpa Graybeard, repeatedly gets his granddaughter, Lily, and her best friend, Penny, out of trouble after they mess up their magic spells. It also shows how the girls learn from their misadventures.

Hannah was only eight years old when she co-wrote the book, which is colorfully illustrated by Joe Marciniak.

While you're waiting, for anybody who wants to see first-hand that I can put one word after another, why not check out your local bookstore or Amazon and get a copy of "Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer," a VitalityPress volume I aimed at male caregivers (one, admittedly, that I'm considering updating). 

And look, probably in mid-2021, for "The Roving I," a compilation of columns I'd written for a group of weekly newspapers over an 11-year period.

Docs push 'peace of mind' surgeries over survival

Double mastectomies gain favor as ratio of 1 in 8 U.S. women getting breast cancer remains the same

Women with cancer in a single breast are increasingly opting to remove both — prophylactically.

That's despite more treatment possibilities now being available and despite medical experts saying the double mastectomy doesn't necessarily lead to better outcomes.

Reporting by Alexandra Sifferlin in a Time magazine story cites a study of 5,080 women with early stage breast cancer published in JAMA Surgery to the effect that a 20% increase is being driven in part by the patients' surgeons. The study, which considered women who had an average risk for cancer in the second breast, also surveyed 377 of the patients' surgeons.

Although the doctors — who generally did recommend a double mastectomy for patients at high risk — initially leaned toward breast-conserving surgery for average-risk patients rather than CPM, or contralateral prophylactic mastectomy, they were apt to change their minds, the story says.

Why? 

"To give patients peace of mind" and to "avoid patient conflict" — rather than "to reduce recurrence or improve survival."

Women whose surgeons were among those most reluctant to perform a double mastectomy "had only a 4% chance" of having one, the study showed, while the likelihood of women whose doctors were most open to getting CPM having both breasts removed was 34%.

Dr. Steven Katz

Sifferlin's story quotes Dr. Steven Katz, prof at the School of Public Health at the University of Michigan, as saying, "The emotional reactions to cancer frequently prime patients to desire the most aggressive approach. Our results underscore that most surgeons today favor less aggressive approaches to surgery, and it's challenging for them to communicate with their patients that bigger is not better."

The Time article also says that Katz's earlier research "found that a woman's fear about cancer recurrence or her desire to avoid regret can also lead to a decision between her and her doctor to choose more aggressive surgery."

Katz suggests women should consider getting a second opinion, although 95% of breast-cancer patients are treated by the first physician they see.

In a companion Time story that acts as an introduction to Sifferlin's, Alice Park notes that "women now have more information about their disease — down to the very DNA of their tumors — than ever before, so they can make more informed decisions about how aggressively they want to be treated."

She further writes that "scientists also have an evolving understanding of how women can better endure treatment with fewer side effects — and they have plenty of options to do so, from getting more sleep to practicing yoga or eating healthfully."

In addition, Park contends, "women are becoming empowered to make better decisions, and research is even revealing what they should know about the potential biases of the doctors who treat them."

More information about choices of treatment can be obtained by reading "Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer," a VitalityPress book that I, Woody Weingarten, aimed at male caregivers.

Finishing touches being done on kids' book about misadventures of sorcerer and young fairies

Last-minute enhancements are being added to the front and back covers of "Grampy and His Fairyzona Playmates."

When they're completed, the text and illustrations of the children's book, co-authored by me, Woody Weingarten, and my granddaughter, Hannah Schifrin, will be done except for a few technical details. Can publication of the fantasy be far behind?

Enchanting, full-color illustrations by Joe Marciniak greatly enrich the storyline, which features a sorcerer, Grandpa Graybeard, who frequently has to get his granddaughter, Lily, and her best friend, Penny, out of trouble when the two eight-year-old fairies mess up their magic spells. Their misadventures become great fun for all three and for young readers who love to let their imaginations run wild.

While "Grampy and His Fairyzona Playmates" is being finalized, I'm also editing "The Roving I," a book that will contain a compilation of columns I'd penned over an 11-year period. By deleting some hyper-local references, I expect the book's appeal to be more universal.

Meanwhile, for those who want to see first-hand that I can put one word after another, check out through your local bookstore or Amazon "Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer," a VitalityPress volume I aimed at male caregivers (one, indeed, that I'm thinking about updating). 

If 80% benefit from a treatment, is that enough?

Researchers confirm lone targeted radiation dose may work as well as longer breast-cancer course 

Can one dose of targeted radiation be as effective a breast-cancer treatment as a longer course of radiation?

Yes, according to a story by BBC health reporter Rachel Schraer last week that reports as well that researchers "said people who received the shorter treatment were also less likely to die of other cancers and heart disease." 

There exists a challenge to the study, however.

Some cancer specialists point out, the BBC piece says, that 20 percent of the patients studied received extra doses of radiotherapy.

         Professor Jayant Vaidya

According to Schraer's article, Professor Jayant Vaidya, lead author of the study, while noting that 80 percent still benefitted, "said he had expected a proportion of the women to need extra radiotherapy, since post-op tests could reveal tumors were bigger or more aggressive than expected."

Targeted Intraoperative Radiotherapy, which was developed by doctors at University College London, where Vaidya toils in addition to having a private practice, involves the lone dose being delivered by a small device placed inside the breast directly on the site of the cancer immediately after the tumor is surgically removed.

The procedure takes place during the same operation as the removal.

Standard radiation treatments normally call for between 15 and 30 additional hospital visits, although that number has temporarily been reduced to about five because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Findings, involving 2,298 women with breast cancer in 10 countries, were based on 10-year marks and reported in original research. This follow-up study, which tracked women up to five years after their treatment, confirmed the original conclusion.

Previous studies, not incidentally, "had shown the [single-dose] treatment also had fewer radiation-related side-effects, including pain and changes to the breast's appearance," Schraer writes. 

Information about other treatments can be found in "Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer," a VitalityPress book that I, Woody Weingarten, aimed at male caregivers. 

Story of wizard and fairies 'in homestretch'

Children's fantasy by the author of 'Rollercoaster' and granddaughter is getting close to publication

Illustration by Joe Marciniak for 'Grampy…'

Neither snow nor rain nor gloom of night, to borrow a phrase, can stop my writing. 

Nor can the coronavirus. 

Although Covid-19 has caused a major delay in the publication of "MysteryDates," which may not find its audience for another year or so, it won't be able to stop the public from seeing "Grampy and His Fairyzona Playmates," a children's fantasy co-written by me, Woody Weingarten, and my granddaughter, Hannah Schifrin.

The collaborative effort — about a wizard, his fairy grandaughter and her fairy best friend will be published any month now, even though we're Sheltering in Place just north of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Pre-publication details, as they say, are rapidly being ironed out — and are entering the proverbial homestretch.

Also in the offing (a little further down the 2020 road) is "The Roving I," a compilation of columns I'd penned over an 11-year period.

For those who need to see that I can put one word after another, check out "Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer," a VitalityPress book that I aimed at male caregivers (and which I'm seriously thinking about updating).