Get a Prick... at GB Meet on Cancer Screening and Prevention on Sunday 13th May
Recently many of us in Mumbai were startled to learn of how someone who's well known in the community here, a young guy, good looking and very articulate, was diagnosed with early stage cancer. He is apparently responding well to treatment and hopefully will come out of it, but it was an eye-opener in the way that just reading articles or general information, never is about the risks of cancer, and also the ways in which it is possible to detect it an early stage and treat it succesfully. With this in mind we were really happy to get a proposal from Dr.Prasad Raj Dandekar, who's a young and dynamic oncologist (cancer specialist) for a special workshop for GB on cancer screening and prevention, with specific reference to the types of cancer of which gay men might be more at risk. Dr.Dandekar is a consultant oncologist at Hiranandani Hospital and he is also planning to work with the Humsafar centre on this issue, and perhaps also a separate session for queer women with special reference to the types of cancer that might affect them. The meeting will consist of a short talk by Dr,Dandekar on what cancer is, how it can be prevented, detected at an early stage and what possible treatments might be, It will not be a heavily technical discussion, but will have lots of room for questions and answers, so you can use this to get all the information you need on the subject, So please don't be put off by the serious nature of the subject - this is one talk which could literally help save your life, and it could just involve simple checks and changes to your lives. As one example of this, Dr.Dandekar has suggested a way to make the prevention practical. One of the biggest causes of liver cancer is the Hepatitis B virus, which can be sexually transmitted and is definitely something that could affect gay men who don't take precautions in sex. Unlike HIV which is the risk we're more aware of, Hepatitis B does have a vaccine, and long term GBites will remember that years ago we had taken the initiative to get people vaccinated at a GB meet. But there's a whole new crowd that comes for GB meets now, and Dr.Dandekar suggested that this would be a great opportunity to offer them the service. You can, of course, get yourself inoculated by any doctor on your own, but it can cost you a bit, since the vaccines usually come in vials of 10 doses, so if you're doing it alone then 9 are wasted, or doctors suggest you wait till a day on which there are more recipients, but then its easy to forget that. So it makes sense to do it in groups and the cost will be picked up by GB. All you have to do, if you come for the meet and want the vaccination, is to remember that you will need to get booster doses a month from then, and then six months from then (for which we will arrange suitable meets). I know this is hardly going to sound like a fun meet - you get a talk on cancer and then an injection! But as I remember those earlier GB inoculations, it actually almost became fun as a surprising number of guys almost started howling when they had to get injected, but were greatly comforted when the handsomest guy in the room held their hand (and only their hand!) And of course there is NO compulsion to have the injection (and some responsible guys may have already been inoculated), but its really an ideal way to prevent a really awful and possibly terminal disease in about as informative, interesting and even fun way as possible. Please note that the venue for this meet will not be our regular one at Roti restaurant near Andheri station since that has closed for renovation. But we've found another excellent location, also near a station - Mumbai Central this time. Its very accessible from station, bus terminus and road from both west and east sides. It is in Orchid City Centre Mall, the big mall opposite Mumbai Central Bus Depot, in Shahi Dawat Restaurant (I think it was Nando's till recently). The time will be 4-7 pm and here's the full address: Shahi Dawat Restaurant, Orchid City Centre Mall, Ground Floor, Next to KFC, Opposite Mumbai Central Bus Depot, Mumbai Central East Mumbai - 8.
