Cover design is final obstacle to publication of 2nd edition of Woody Weingarten's 'Rollercoaster'

A single design element yet to be decided for its cover is the final barrier to publication of the second edition of Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer or any other lethal disease.

Believe it or not, I, Woody Weingarten, its author, am still struggling to find the best way to disclose on the cover — without screening screwing up the initial design — that it's a completely updated edition. 

It should, however, be only a few weeks, and the addition of a few minute details on the copyright page, before the book will be made available to the public through vendors like Barnes & Noble and Amazon. Keep an eye on my https://woodyweingarten.com/ website to see when the book is launched.

Nancy Fox

The new volume includes up-to-date information on meds and treatments and where to get help, as well as two fresh chapters about the development of my wife's breast cancer, which returned after almost 30 years. 

Overall, it's even more of a tribute to Nancy Fox's bravery. flexibility, and humanness than was the first edition.

Several chapters have been switched around, for clarity, and new transition chapters have been inserted.

I spent an entire year reworking the book so it is current, easy-to-read (sans medical jargon), and useful as a guide to the emotional rollercoaster breast cancer or any other life-threatening disease might kidnap a patient or partner.

I, a longtime voting member of the San Francisco Bay Area Theater Critics Circle, can be contacted by email at voodee@sbcglobal.net or on both of my websites, https://woodyweingarten.comand https://vitalitypress.com. My books include Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner’s breast cancer, aimed at male caregivers; MysteryDates — How to keep the sizzle in your relationship; The Roving I, a compilation of 70 of my newspaper columns; and Grampy and His Fairyzona Playmates, a whimsical fantasy intended for 6- to 10-year-olds that I co-authored with my then 8-year-old granddaughter.

 

Promising pancreatic cancer pill can be taken while it's under regulatory review, FDA says

The Federal Drug Administration (FDA) has expanded access to a promising new drug for pancreatic cancer.

According to a recent story in The Washington Post by Christopher Rowland, "more patients will be able to take the pill while it is under regulatory review. The agency said it recognizes the dire need for a drug to fight one of the most lethal cancers."

The experimental drug was approved two days after the FDA received an access application from the drug's manufacturer, Revolution Medicines.

Dr. Marty Makary

The ultra-quick approval of daraxonrasib "reflects the FDA's strong commitment to facilitate early access to therapies for serious and life-threatening conditions, including pancreatic cancer," the story quotes former FDA Commissioner Marty Makary as saying. 

In trials, the drug "has doubled average survival time for pancreatic cancer patients who have already received conventional treatment," the article continues. "The expanded access program, also known as 'compassionate use,' will be limited to that set of patients as well."

Makary's piece also indicates that the "company said it will provide the drug at no cost to patients in the program. Insurance typically does not cover expanded access drugs before they have been approved."

In one clinical trial, "patients had a median survival of 13.2 months compared with 6.7 months for those people receiving chemotherapy," the story adds.

More information on clinical trials can be found in Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer, aVitalityPress book that I, Woody Weingarten aimed at male caregivers. My other books are MysteryDates — How to keep the sizzle in your relationship; The Roving I, a compilation of 70 of my newspaper columns; and Grampy and His Fairyzona Playmates, a whimsical fantasy intended for 6- to 10-year-olds that I co-authored with my then 8-year-old granddaughter. Check out my website at https://woodyweingarten.com for details.

Controversial former attorney general Pam Bondi recovering from thyroid cancer, Fox News reports

Pam Bondi, Donald J. Trump's former attorney general, is recovering from thyroid cancer, Fox News Digital reports.

According to a recent story by Michael Sinkewicz, Bondi, 60, underwent treatment after leaving the Justice Department in early April. The Fox New website cited a source telling Axios and Katie Miller, ex-White House staffer and podcast host who is married to White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller, reposted the report.

Pam Bondi

"Pam has been quietly kicking cancer's ass the last few weeks," she's quoted as having writtten.  

The Fox story did not list any prognosis.

It does say that Axios disclosed Bondi's health update while reported that she's been appointed by Trump to an advisory committee "focused on artificial intelligence policy."

More information on various cancers can be found in Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer, aVitalityPress book that I, Woody Weingarten aimed at male caregivers. My other books are MysteryDates — How to keep the sizzle in your relationship; The Roving I, a compilation of 70 of my newspaper columns; and Grampy and His Fairyzona Playmates, a whimsical fantasy intended for 6- to 10-year-olds that I co-authored with my then 8-year-old granddaughter. Check out my website at https://woodyweingarten.com for details.

Second edition of ‘Rollercoaster,’ now a tribute to wife's bravery, moves closer to publication

I’ve just finished proof-reading the formatted version of Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner’s breast cancer or any other lethal disease. 

 

It’s amazing how many typos popped up. And, of course, I, your favorite now and forever editor, couldn’t help improving things with a word or phrase substitution or addition here and there.

 

So, the fixes are in, so to speak, and we can easily move on to the next pre-publication step.

 

This second edition will be a radically different book than the first. It has totally updated chapters on meds and treatments, and completely new ones on my wife’s mastectomy and metastases. It has 40 extra pages.

 

The book contains, too, new transitional chapters, along with major revamps of every other chapter. Its title is more inclusive.

Woody Weingarten

It still is aimed at male caregivers (and patients of any gender) but it’s now also a tribute to the bravery and perseverance of my wife, as well as a memoir of how we coped with her thrice being diagnosed with breast cancer.

 

Meanwhile, instead of waiting for the new version, you may want to dip into my other VitalityPress books. From my website — www.woodyweingarten.com, in case you forgot — you can order a copy (or two or two thousand, depending on the size of your family and how many folks you call friends).

 

My other books are MysteryDates — How to keep the sizzle in your relationship (the title says it all); The Roving I, a compilation of 70 of my newspaper columns; and Grampy and His Fairyzona Playmates, a whimsical fantasy intended for 6- to 10-year-olds that I co-authored with my then 8-year-old granddaughter.

Two pancreatic cancer treatments show promise in clinical trials, New York Times maintains

Two experimental drugs are bringing hope to patients with deadly pancreatic cancer.

According to a recent story by Gina Kolata and Rebecca Robbins in The New York Times, clinical trials show promise for daraxonrasib and a personalized vaccine that employs mRNA technology, best known for its use in Covid-19 vaccines.

 

Researchers presented data supporting this conclusion at a San Diego cancer conference, but neither drug has yet been approved for use. Nor has the data “been published in a medical journal or reviewed by regulators,” the article reveals.

 

Pancreatic cancer kills more than 50,000 Americans each year. “Many patients die within a year of diagnosis, and only 13% of people live for five years after being diagnosed,” the piece says.

Dr. Robert Vonderheide

 Kolata and Robbins quote Dr. Robert Vonderheide, director of the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania, as saying “the statistic that caught everyone’s eye was a doubling of overall survival…To see that effect with a side-effect profile that is manageable unleashed a lot of excitement  in the field.”

Vonderheide wasn’t involved in the new research but is president-elect of the American Association for Cancer Research, the group of oncologists and scientists that hosted the California meeting.

 

Initial findings of the clinical trials were that daraxonrasib gave patients “over 13 months, compared to less than seven months for those who received chemotherapy.”

 

Pancreatic cancer, the story notes, “is different from many other cancers,” Kolata and Robbins maintain. “It is often caught very late, when the disease has already spread widely, because it often presents no early symptoms.…And treatment approaches like immunotherapy that have transformed the outlook for other cancers have not worked for that of the pancreas.”

 

More information on clinical trials and new 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. My other books are MysteryDates — How to keep the sizzle in your relationship; The Roving I, a compilation of 70 of my newspaper columns; and Grampy and His Fairyzona Playmates, a whimsical fantasy intended for 6- to 10-year-olds that I co-authored with my then 8-year-old granddaughter. Check out my website at https://woodyweingarten.com for details.

 

Breast cancer screenings and AI may protect against heart disease, new study suggests

Routine mammograms can “flag the risk of heart disease,” according to a new study in the European Heart Journal.

A recent story by Carolyn Y. Johnson in The Washington Post confirms that information. It also notes that radiologists for decades “have observed that breast cancer screening scans also reveal calcium deposits in the arteries woven through breast tissue, which cause the blood vessels to stiffen.”

According to Johnson, the study shows “how artificial intelligence [AI] can be used…to turn this ‘incidental finding’ into a warning system…a marker of increased risk for heart failure, heart attacks, stroke, and death.”

 

Heart disease is “the leading and often under-recognized cause of death in women,” his Post piece adds.

 

The story says that “studies have shown that many women mistakenly believe that breast cancer is the leading cause of death, and they may not take seriously the much greater risk of heart disease.”

 

Dr. Mary Cushman

Mary Cushman, professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the University of Vermont, who wasn't part of the study, is quoted to the effect that if women were educated while getting a mammogram, "it could be a game changer."

She also contends, according to an email she wrote, that “it is a clarion call that younger women [under 50] do have risk, that it can be detected, and that detection of risk should lead to interventions.”

 

By 2050, it is projected, “a third of women between the ages of 20 and 44 will have some form of heart disease,” the study says.

 

More information on cancer and heart disease 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. My other books are MysteryDates — How to keep the sizzle in your relationship; The Roving I, a compilation of 70 of my newspaper columns; and Grampy and His Fairyzona Playmates, a whimsical fantasy intended for 6- to 10-year-olds that I co-authored with my then 8-year-old granddaughter. Check out my website at https://woodyweingarten.com for details.

Susie Wiles, Chief of Staff for Donald Trump, Reveals She Has Breast Cancer, Will Work Anyway

Susie Wiles, Donald Trump’s chief of staff, plans to keep working while being treated for breast cancer.

Wiles did not announce those facts, the president did. Today. He said the prognosis for his longtime confidante was “beyond excellent,” according to a story by Dan Diamond in The Washington Post.

Susie Wiles

Donald Trump

Two people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to the Post indicate she’s working on White House strategy in regard to this year’s midterm elections, “encouraging officials to focus on affordability and other messages with bipartisan appeal."

Wiles, 68, a longtime political strategist, helped Trump win the state of Florida in 2016, and then managed his 2024 presidential campaign.

The Post piece indicates she’s honing in on “priorities such as drug price cuts and [tamping] down controversies around vaccines.”

According to Diamond’s article, Trump notes on Truth Social that during the treatment period Wiles “will be spending virtually full time at the White House, which makes me…very happy!”

Critics complained that Trump was politicizing breast cancer, just as he's politicized other difficult health and social situations in the past.

The story says that “Wiles has described her role as empowering Trump’s agenda, rather than serving as a check on his impulses, a break from some past chiefs of staff who have said that their most important role was saying no to the nation’s leader.

The piece continues: “She has also described Trump as having ‘an alcoholic’s personality,’ saying he ‘operates [with] a view that there’s nothing he can’t do. Nothing, zero, nothing,” among several comments that were published in a pair of Vanity Fair articles that drew national attention last year.

More information on political activities can be found in Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer, aVitalityPress book that I, Woody Weingarten aimed at male caregivers. My other books are MysteryDates — How to keep the sizzle in your relationship; The Roving I, a compilation of 70 of my newspaper columns; and Grampy and His Fairyzona Playmates, a whimsical fantasy intended for 6- to 10-year-olds that I co-authored with my then 8-year-old granddaughter. Check out my website at https://woodyweingarten.com for details.

Major update on the way for 'Rollercoaster: How a man can overcome his partner’s breast cancer'

If you’ve read 2015’s first edition, major changes should be instantly obvious in the second go-‘round of what’s been retitled as Rollercoaster: How a man can overcome his partner’s breast cancer or any other lethal disease.

Ruth Schwartz

The follow-up manuscript is currently in the hands of The Wonderlady, Ruth Schwartz, a book midwife who's sure it will be professionally readied for publication and sale throughout the world by spring.  

Schwartz’s hiring has been “a fail-safe action, a triple-check,” said I, Woody Weingarten, the book’s author and a lifelong journalist.

That’s because I’ve, indeed, updated “all of it,” after more than a year of intense research, rewriting, and fact checking, trailed by a helpful proof-reading by my son and caregiver, Mark.

Rollercoaster now includes several entirely new chapters pertaining to the cancer diagnoses and treatments of my wife, Nancy Fox, and how we coped with them. Like the rest of the book, they're a tribute to her and her courage.

One revised chapter details a truckload of new meds, and another explores multiple breakthrough treatments. A later section shows both agencies and books where help is available.

Anecdotes and humor are sprinkled throughout, to leaven the volume's heavy theme.

My other books are MysteryDates: How to keep the sizzle in your relationship; The Roving I, a compilation of 70 of my newspaper columns; and Grampy and His Fairyzona Playmates, a whimsical fantasy intended for 6- to 10-year-olds, co-authored with my then 8-year-old granddaughter. Check out my website at https://woodyweingarten.com for details, including buy-buttons for Amazon, Barnes & Noble and a bevy of other vendors.