ANA Discussion Forum
General Category => Inquiries => Topic started by: Lee Mc on June 30, 2010, 09:21:12 am
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My husband (ex-husband now :() was diagnosed with an AN 5 years ago. He had his AN removed surgically and is doing well now. Fast forward 4 years and I was diagnosed with an AN as well. How can we possibly ignore environmental causes when something like this occurs? A friend living 1 street over was also diagnosed with an AN a year before me. 3 people within a block with AN's? Crazy. Anyone else hear of spouses both being diagnosed with AN's? Or neighbors?
Lee
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Lee,
That is very weird. I don't think they have ever proven environmental for these AN's, and very very weird that both you and your ex (sorry about that) both have them.
Statistics say 1 in 100,000!
Crazy like you said.
How big is your AN? Did you have treatment?
~At least you have your own little support group going, just have to travel down the road :D
Maureen
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that is VERY strange - is there a plant nearby causing a higher rate of other yhings, like birth defects?
K
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My husband and I both have brain tumors - his a meningioma and mine a 9th cranial nerve schwannoma (much like an acoustic neuroma but not on the 8th cranial nerve). I also am a six year breast cancer survivor - luckily the breast and the brain tumors are not related. I completely agree that there are environmental concerns and where we lived for the past 40 years (Cape Cod) there have been studies and articles written.
Sheryl
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Hi Lee .....
Welcome to this forum of caring, supportive friends.
Yes, your situation does sound like an extreme coincidence. I have not read of any studies done on pinpointing geographic locations of AN patients. It would be an interesting study.
I think there have been studies showing a confirmed correlation between environmental conditions and cancer. My mother lived in a farming area where large quantities of pesticides were used (many years ago now) and she and a sister and a brother all died from cancer. However, ANs are benign so they would not fall into any environmental/cancer studies.
If anyone reads or knows anything about this, share it with us.
Clarice
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Hi Lee.
Yours is the first case of an ex-hubby/wife both having ANs. Nice to be unique, huh? I don't worry about my ex-husband getting an AN because I'm pretty sure he doesn't have a brain anyway! :D Sorry, couldn't resist that one!
Back on topic - my surgeon told me he had 3 AN patients that all lived in the same apartment building. I don't think I'd be moving in to that place!
I guess it's just another one of those mysteries about ANs that haven't quite been figured out yet. Hopefully soon, someone will have some answers.
Hope you are doing well!
Lori
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Wow, that is a new one to me, Lee! I thought it was unusual that I know of two other people in my hometown with AN's, but three people within one block is incredible. I agree with Kay, I would be checking into other reported health issues for that area.
- Dennis
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Lee ~
I have no idea what caused the genetic mutation that produced your ex-husband's AN - or yours - and I haven't read/heard about this happening on any kind of regular basis.
The issue of environmentally-caused cancers (or benign tumors) has been around a long time. Over the years, I've seen a host of things branded as 'causing' tumors both benign and malignant. Some are purely speculative but some are later proven carcinogens. Lately, cell phones have been targeted by some as a potential cause of cancer and, specifically, acoustic neuromas. I'm a firm skeptic on that one but there is no doubt that our environment often can (and does) increase our chances of developing tumors, be they benign or malignant. The problem is that, too often, with these suspected environmental dangers, we never seem to know for a fact what is actually dangerous and what just seems to be suspect due to weird, admittedly dubious coincidences. It's frustrating. We can't live in a cocoon and yet, no one wants to take unnecessary, avoidable risks, especially where tumors are concerned. Unfortunately, I don't have a solution but the question is certainly germane. Frankly, in your case, moving to another neighborhood might be a prudent course of action.
Jim
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Wow this is the first time I've heard of a husband (ex) and wife both having AN's, that's wild. Environmental? Interesting...I'm pondering :)
Welcome to the forum and sorry an AN brought you too us, but here we are all sharing our journeys together.
Take care,
Liz
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Hi Lee and welcome
In this thread (http://anausa.org/forum/index.php?topic=7803.0) you will read about a trip I did to a small village in England (where my in-laws live) where I met.....*drumroll please*... a husband/wife AN couple. She had AN surgical removal a few years before our trip there, he was in "Watch/Wait" (at the time... I don't believe he's been treated yet). I had a picture of us posted in that thread but not sure what happened. They have lived in the small village for quite some time and for them, we were not able to figure a "trigger" for the spousal AN growths (ie: environment, etc). For them, just a fluke.
Again, welcome.
Phyl
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I have often questioned the "environmental" component
:-\
Sam Rush posted this weird one about his dog... :-\
http://anausa.org/forum/index.php?topic=7870.0
DHM
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I don't worry about my ex-husband getting an AN because I'm pretty sure he doesn't have a brain anyway! :D Sorry, couldn't resist that one!
OMG Lori :D :D :D :D You are so hilarious!!! :D :D :D :D :D :D
DHM
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Wow!! Thank you all for your replies!! I did end up moving from the area due to the divorce. My ex is still in the same town, but I moved 20 miles away not knowing at that point that I was going to be diagnosed with the same health problem shortly after. There is a copier company nearby, approx 2 miles away, but I haven't heard about other health problems in the immediate area. I do know that before the builder bought the land that it was once used as an apple and peach tree orchard. I did wonder about all the pesticides. I thought there would be more husband/wives out there with AN's. I'll give the thread some more time for posts. ~~Lee
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Well, I am not a mathamatician nor profess to be an expert on Randomness, BUT having read some books about randomness, and if ANs are random THEN clusters of occurrences of ANs would be considered perfectly normal. In fact, if ANs are random, the lack of clusters of occurrences would be abnormal.
Neal
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Back to my dog. Daisy continued walking funny and lost most of her hearing. She finally was put to sleep after her arthritis became untreatable and she couldn't get up. An autopsy was NOT done., so the vet's diagnosis was never proven, and I never did pay for an MRI.
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Sam,
Speaking of husband and wife with acoustic neuromas,
That was an interesting post. :D Did you press the wrong post?! :D Anyway, Sorry to hear about Daisy. I know where this belongs- the thread where Liz lost her lab.... :'(
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Hi, While we are on the track of environmental causes has anyone worked for McDonald's in the 90's with the "Qing" ovens. I worked for McD for 30 years and personally know of 5 people with varying forms of brain tumors. I have been one of the lucky ones with AN.
Just curious
Paula
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Moe
That was the correct thread. Someone brought up the subject of Sam Rush's dog. re: environmental factors, and I was just giving a follow-up
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My husband is a mathematician.
He says that while the chance is quoted as 1/100,000 PER YEAR, the lifelong probability of getting AN is 1 in 1,000 (that would be 100x1/100,000, assuming one lived 100 years); that means that if you know 1,000 people (say, at work or in your company), then 1 person would have an instance of an AN. Now, with that, the probability that during a lifetime two people had ANs would be 1/(1000x1000), or 1 in one million. That means that there are, statistically, about 300 couples in the U.S. that have such issue, looking at a lifetime. (Btw, my husband's company has 1,600 people and there are 2 people with brain tumors there -- it's an information company, so no environmental issues are involved.) [if you assumed a lifitime to be 80 years, you can re-run the numbers above... slightly lower probabilities]
Recent medical research (from Europe) seems to be stating that the incidence is actually higher, perhaps 5/100,000. Then the lifelong probability of getting AN is 1 in 200.
AnnaMaria
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Annamaria, very interesting and nicely put! It makes sense to me. Mickey
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Wow AnnaMaria, your husband is brilliant! Thanks I actually understood all of that and it made sense :o
Anne Marie
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FWW...my doc just told me last week, that the statistics are much higher now; he said closer to 1/5000. I thought that was a lot compared to 1/100,000, but I didn't ask more about it.
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IMO part of this has to do with earlier detection of ANs now with the advanced technology in MRIs. Many ANs are being found much earlier, before they have done extensive damage. The stats may be changing temporarily because of that.
Clarice
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FWW...my doc just told me last week, that the statistics are much higher now; he said closer to 1/5000. I thought that was a lot compared to 1/100,000, but I didn't ask more about it.
Did you forget a zero? 1 in 50,000 would be double but 1 in 5,000 - 20 times the previously understood frequency - is statistically a MASSIVE jump. It implies 60,000 new diagnoses each year. Yikes! :o
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Coincidence, environmental ?? I can tell you I've had 3 benign tumors & no one in my family has had this problem, or in my neighborhood.
However, that doesn't rule out that it can be random & also due to something environmental.
Very interesting. In the meantime, I wish you all the best.
Always good thoughts, Nancy
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I don't worry about my ex-husband getting an AN because I'm pretty sure he doesn't have a brain anyway!
girl you are somethin else ;D
priceless is all i can say , priceless !