Topics discussed:

1) New meeting place at Stanford:
a. Consensus of those in attendance was that the location at the Stanford Cancer Center was very good and that meetings should continue to be held there. The board has voted to reimburse the $5 parking fee for those that attend.

2) Donald shared that he had been asked to be a guest speaker at a Doctor’s Symposium for prostate cancer representing the patient experience

3) New officers and board members were nominated and elected from those in attendance.
a. John is now President replacing Donald
b. Valorie will stay on as Vice President for another term
c. Patti is assuming the responsibilities of Secretary
d. The Treasurer position remains open and Mark will continue in that role and handle CPSG financial matters until the board can discuss
e. Esther and Christina are At Large members of the board

Congratulations to all the new officers and board members and thanks to Donald and Mark for their efforts over the past two years.

4) Patient Stories: Pat and Christina shared updates on their Cyberknife experiences

5) Valorie shared updates on the web site which continues to be a wonderful support tool for patients. There are a number of new links as well as increased support by several doctors on the message board which makes the CPSG site very unique.

6) General Discussion
a. Impact of radiation therapy long term – how can we get some more definitive studies to share with other patients
b. What is the impact on gaining health insurance after treatment with the Cyberknife in terms of a pre-existing condition. Patti was going to research
c. Recognize the bias of doctors- patients have the responsibility to take charge of their health care decisions
d. Importance of people who have had radiation treatment to drink water to cleanse their system was discussed by Bob

The next meeting will be at the Stanford Cancer Center, 875 Blake Wilbur Dr. rooms 2103 and 2104 on April 2, 2005 from 10-12. The board will meet in those rooms from 9-10 am. We hope to see you there.

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