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John McCain Diagnosed With Brain Cancer

casebro said:
Any real diagnosis of tumor? Pituitary tumors are removed with minor surgery up the nose. And can press on eye nerves.
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It's aggressive glioblastoma. Above his left eye. A four hour operation with incision above the eyebrow.

CNN said:
It's a very aggressive tumor," said Dr. Sanjay Gupta. He explained that average survival for malignant glioblastoma tends to be around 14 months with treatment. In McCain's case, additional therapy, including radiation, could not begin until the incision heals, which would be in the next three or four weeks.

Still, one 2009 study reported that almost 10% of patients with glioblastoma may live five years or longer, according to the American Brain Tumor Association.
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casebro said:
Any real diagnosis of tumor? Pituitary tumors are removed with minor surgery up the nose. And can press on eye nerves.
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The news reports I read said glioblastoma. Not good.

(Edit) Ninja'd by WP.
 
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Stacko said:
It explains his odd questions during the Comey hearing.
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His doctor says it wouldn't have effected his neurology before his surgery and that it shouldn't after his surgery.

That sorta means that he had odd questions because he is an odd dude.
 
My nephew died of glioblastoma, never made it to kindergarten.

I hope this forces McCain to quit at the end of his term (and that he gets at least a couple years of relatively pleasant retirement), so that there won't be any incumbent Republican piece of crap to try and unseat.
 
Babbylonian said:
My nephew died of glioblastoma, never made it to kindergarten.

I hope this forces McCain to quit at the end of his term (and that he gets at least a couple years of relatively pleasant retirement), so that there won't be any incumbent Republican piece of crap to try and unseat.
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He was just re-elected. He likely won't hang on that long.
 
Well that's very sad news for the senator, his family and his friends. Given the prognosis and the survival statistics provided upthread, I don't know whether to wish him a speedy recovery or as comfortable a time as possible for the time he has left :(.

I have been very critical of senator McCain's tendency to talk a good game but toe the party line. His interim successor will be appointed by a Republican governor and so will be less likely to do the former and more likely to do the latter. His permanent replacement is very likely to be a Republican (McCain won by 12 points in 2016), although if the Democratic Party find a good candidate and some winning polices, that could change.

That said, I hope his health is such that he serves out the rest of his term and retires in 2022 to spend more time with his family.
 
Is it not ironic that McConnel was trying to get enough senators together to vote to repeal Obamacare but couldn't because John McCain was having tax-payer paid surgery. I hope he recovers, but this could be long and costly. I hope it wakes up a few people that they won't have a hope of getting similar treatment if people in McCain's party get their way.
 
angrysoba said:
Is it not ironic that McConnel was trying to get enough senators together to vote to repeal Obamacare but couldn't because John McCain was having tax-payer paid surgery. I hope he recovers, but this could be long and costly. I hope it wakes up a few people that they won't have a hope of getting similar treatment if people in McCain's party get their way.
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"Could be" costly? Having a malignant brain tumor removed would absolutely bankrupt anyone without health insurance (under the assumption that anyone with lots of money would go ahead and spend a tiny percentage of their income on insurance). Even without metastasis, just the surgery and regular scans would be crippling, since most people don't have $50,000-100,000 to spare.

Of course, even if McCain was unemployed and couldn't insure himself, his rich wife could cover anything he needed.
 
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bruto said:
I disagree with much of what McCain believes, and suspect he's less of a maverick than some would wish or like to think, but he's always seemed like someone who at least tries to do the right thing and to address content rather than just party line, and I'm sorry he's ill. And of course he's been a steady and strong voice against torture, and that by itself is a virtue. Anyway, I gather from the first report that his tumor was removed, and one can hope that luck will be with him.
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I feel the same, but my appreciation dips every time I recall his presidential campaign.That single running mate decision had the possibility of placing someone in power - impossible to imagine - far worse and vastly more devastating than Trump. Kind of a mix of Trump, Pence and Ryan starring in a Beverly HillBillies revival show.
 
casebro said:
Any real diagnosis of tumor? Pituitary tumors are removed with minor surgery up the nose. And can press on eye nerves.
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They will need to do an histological / DNA check of the tumor and that will take time. But I doubt doctor would spread around that diagnosis if it was not already relatively certain e.g. they detected slight necrosis of the tissue around the tumor and probably tried to dye a bit f it to see if it reacts (IIRC Glioblastoma can be dyed well but I am not a doctor - just had enough cancer in my family to gather lay knowledge).

I guess their next step will be radiation therapy, and possibly check the DNA of the cell to see what gene are altered (for the therapy and prognosis, if methylation gene are still in , then prognosis is much better).

But yes, due to his age, and how this type of cancer recurs, I would say he is lucky if he has 6 months.
 
Bob001 said:
Is this the kind of cancer that responds to gene therapy or other new treatments? People were giving Jimmy Carter weeks to live, but apparently he's been cured with the latest technology.
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/07/us/jimmy-carter-cancer.html
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Stuff may have changed in the last 4 years, but from my knowledge of 4 years ago : no. If you get the diagnosis , you are dead, it is only a question of how many month and what quality of life.
 
angrysoba said:
Is it not ironic that McConnel was trying to get enough senators together to vote to repeal Obamacare but couldn't because John McCain was having tax-payer paid surgery. I hope he recovers, but this could be long and costly. I hope it wakes up a few people that they won't have a hope of getting similar treatment if people in McCain's party get their way.
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Actually, there is zero irony on this because his healthcare functions like employer paid healthcare which republicans leave generally untouched.
 
BobTheCoward said:
Actually, there is zero irony on this because his healthcare functions like employer paid healthcare which republicans leave generally untouched.
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Sure, just like... Except they get to give themselves (by voting) whatever benefits they wish and pay for them with the precious government money that they are so unwilling to spend on other peoples' health care.
 
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