I am a three time relapsed Multiple Myeloma cancer patient. I don’t know any four time relapsed MM patients. MM is the medical terminology for bone marrow cancer. MM cancer begins in plasma cells, a type of white blood cell. These cells are part of your immune system, which helps protect the body from germs and other harmful substances. In time, plasma Myeloma cells collect in the bone marrow and in the solid parts of bone to become plasmacytoma. Plasmacytoma is plasma cell Myeloma as a single lesion or tumor. When the plasma cell Myeloma develops into multiple lesions it becomes Multiple Myeloma. Often MM symptoms go unnoticed, delaying a Myeloma prognosis.

Multiple Myeloma is what is called an orphan cancer, meaning very few people have it. About 20,000 people receive a MM prognosis every year. About 10,000 people die from Myeloma bone cancer every year. Approximately 120,000 people in the U.S. have MM cancer. No one knows the exact causes of Myeloma bone cancer or why plasma cell Myeloma forms. An MM prognosis is more common in older people and African-Americans.

This extremely deadly form of cancer has no known 100% cure. However, if caught soon enough with proper cancer treatments available today many MM patients can lead fairly normal lives by using various FDA approved medications that are proving to be very successful in the containment of the plasma cancer cells and control of MM symptoms.

I was diagnosed in July of 2003. However, the first indication that MM was present was in my first annual physical in 1999. A spike in the protein level of my IgG (immunoglobulin). The spike continued through the 2000 and 2001 annual physicals. I asked, at that time, my primary care Dr. about the spikes, his response was...don’t worry about it. Fortunately he retired. I had copies made from his files of all of the medical records that I had accumulated over the years.

The first thing my new, and current, primary care Dr. looked at was the 1999 annual physical. He asked me about the spike in the IgG protein. I told him I didn’t know what it means. He recommended that I do a 24 hour urine sample. I did. The results came back with the test result showing the presence of the Bence-Jones protein. (A Bence Jones protein is a monoclonal globulin protein or immunoglobulin light chain found in the urine, with a molecular weight of 22-24 kDa. Detection of Bence Jones protein may be suggestive of Multiple Myeloma or Waldenström's Macroglobulinemia.) My primary care referred me to an oncologist right away.

I had a consult with him. His explanation of the presence of the Bence-Jones protein was it could be that the protein is just there, or it could be a precursor to Multiple Myeloma. The only way to find out what the presence of the Bence Jones protein meant was a bone marrow biopsy. Three pretty scary words. I was also scheduled to have a bone survey to see if there were any lesions on my bones. A bone survey is a complete set of x-rays of every bone in the body, top of the head to end of toes. The biopsy was quick and painless. I was knocked out for the whole procedure. There were about five nurses and several others who assisted. Two days later the oncologist called me, yeah he called me, and said that I should come into the cancer center and that we would discuss the test results. I saw him the next day. He told me that the biopsy did show the presence of the Myeloma cancer cells. Shocking? Yes. Scary? Yes. Especially when the Dr. told me there is no known cure.

About the middle of the 90s, the MM researchers had sent out a notice to most of the pharmaceutical companies telling them they need a medication that would do this, this and this. The pharmaceutical companies responded with...that drug already exists, it’s called Thalidomide. At that time there was only one FDA approved oral chemotherapy drug on the market...Thalidomide. Yeah, that Thalidomide. It had been banned worldwide since the very early 60s. The makers of Thalidomide, who were in Europe, were trying to get the FDA to approve it as the vast amount of users was enormous here in the U.S. Fortunately the FDA had just appointed a new FDA Executive Director, she said no way is that medication going to be prescribed for anyone through any pharmacy in the U.S. She told the pharmaceutical company that it needed more extensive testing. The drug was used by pregnant women so they could get some sleep while dealing with their pregnancy. Unfortunately not enough testing had been done, when suddenly there were continuous births of children with horrible birth defects. Over 8,000. The common drug used by all of these women was...Thalidomide. It was immediately banned worldwide.

The National Cancer Institute and the MM researchers went before congress to ask for a chance to do a trial study to see how effective Thalidomide was. Congress approved the MM team’s request to do the clinical trial, but the Thalidomide had to be tightly controlled. After the clinical trial ended the test results showed that Thalidomide was effective in about 70% of the patients, if the MM was caught soon enough. An astounding response to a clinical trial. Congress approved prescribing Thalidomide but again, very tightly controlled.

After my oncologist told me about the Thalidomide he said he wanted to be aggressive with it. He prescribed 10mg of Thalidomide every day. In order to get the medication started there were several consent forms that had to be signed, most dealing with do not allow women who are pregnant or could become pregnant to share the Thalidomide.

The bone survey results came back to my oncologist, but my family and I had taken a trip back to the mid-west to visit my mother. The oncologist, before we left, asked for the telephone number of where we could be reached. Wow! He actually called the hotel where we were staying. He called and told me that the bone survey showed no lesions. He told me I was lucky as we caught the MM in its early stages.

I took the Thalidomide for about two years, then my test results showed that the Thalidomide had reached a level that it wasn’t quite within the range of the test numbers. My oncologist then prescribed a steroid called Dexamethasone, 40mg once a week, that I was to take in conjunction with the Thalidomide. Wow, what a steroid! Dex, as it is known by MM patients, immediately started bringing the test results down to a lower level. Good news.

After about five years of the Thalidomide and Dex combination, my oncologist said the test results were now showing that the Thalidomide and Dex cocktail wasn’t effective any more. He recommended a recently FDA approved medication for MM patients. It is called Revlimid. Rev. is a derivative of Thalidomide. I was prescribed 10mg a day, every day. I also continued with the Dex. There was another drop in the level of MM cells. I took the Rev/Dex combo for about five years. Then its effectiveness leveled off, just falling a few levels above the high end of the test results.

There were no more FDA approved drugs at this time. Then my oncologist who I had been seeing once a month retired. Not only was he a great Dr., he was also a really great guy. I was bummed when he told me he was going to retire. In the ten years of seeing him once a month we found we had a lot in common from politics to religion and about any topic we would discuss. After a while the nurses would have to knock on the exam room door and tell him he had other patients he had to see. Drs. need to see a new patient every 9-14 minutes.

I was now provided a new oncologist who immediately sent a request to my healthcare provider to send me to a specialist outside of our insurance coverage. The request was approved. I met the Dr., a young man and very knowledgeable about MM, at a local cancer center. He is an acute lymphoma specialist. He told me the only method of fighting the MM at this point was to do a Stem Cell Transplant. Three more pretty scary words. He tried to reassure me that this procedure was routine. Yeah right. Routine for doctors and staff, but as far as I was concerned it wasn’t routine for me.

Three days after the discovery of MM I was told I had atrial flutter. Not good news. There were four ways of dealing with the A-fib. Drugs, shock the heart into regular heartbeat, leave it alone, or put a small device that would go into my heart and scorch some nerves, an ablation procedure. Told the cardiologist I would have to think about it, as I was still trying to wrap my head around the Myeloma. Good thing I did, as my primary care called and said he had sent me to the wrong cardiologist. OK. The flutter was first picked up by another cardio Dr, from our old insurance plan. I was prescribed a drug called flecainide. After about three weeks to try to figure out which a fib procedure to do, I was told to go see the new cardio guy. I did. He did three EKGs and couldn’t pick up the flutter. He asked me when I started taking the flecainide. I told him about a month ago, he said sometimes meds take a little time to kick in. He told me to come back in three months for another check-up. He reduced the number of flecainide tabs. I have no problems with A-fib.

After the first meet with the MM specialist, a consult, as I was leaving the exam room, the Dr’s. words were “Tom you’re not supposed to be alive.” I laughed and said...thanks, I think. So far I had beat the life expectancy from seven to ten years.

I did a 14 and a half week pre-stem cell transplant routine of heavy duty oral drugs and sub Q injections of MM killer drugs. Sub Q injection means directly into the stomach. Plus, a drug, Neupogen and very expensive, that helps produce white blood cells. Also by sub Q injection. On top of this I am a Coumadin user, and you can’t take Coumadin and do a stem cell transplant. I had to bridge, switch, to a drug called Lovenox, twice a day by sub Q injection. I also had a battery of tests to do in order to make sure I am ready for the procedure. Balancing Dr’s. appointments and tests with a lot of Drs., and trying to time them with not getting to far away from the bathroom was challenging. I dropped 20 lbs during this procedure. Just not hungry.

Around the first part of December 2013 I was given the big chemo blast to kill my entire immune system. No pain. Just a long four hour procedure. I was told to chew on crushed ice so the chemical taste would not be so bad, it worked. The next day I was admitted to the Cancer Center where I was hooked up to a machine that collected stem cells from the blood. I had a port coming out of my right shoulder area. I was hooked up to the machine. After about three hours the first day, the machine stopped working...not good. I was done for the day. But had about three more days of collection. When I showed up the 2nd day I asked the nurse if the machine we were going to use was the same one we used the day before. He said no and that he had swapped it out for the one in the next room. A person needs a minimum of 2 million stem cells to do a transplant. The specialist told me I may not be able to produce that many as I had taken Thalidomide and Revlimid for over 10 years. After the three days of collection I produced 3.2 million stem cells. The transplant was on.

I was admitted to the hospital on about the 4th of December. The comedy of errors started then.

My wife and I had to be at the hospital at 2 p.m. in order to get checked in. Seemed reasonable. We were finished with all of the paperwork by four. Lots of paperwork when a new patient is being admitted for a stem cell transplant. We were shown to my private room, as all SCT patients are to receive. All patients on this floor were SCT patients or bone marrow transplant patients. The floor has its own ventilation system to keep out, as best as possible, all of the WMD.

I hadn’t had anything to eat since early morning. It was now 5 p.m., then 6 p.m. then 7 p.m. then 8 p.m. I’m really hungry. Nobody had stopped by to see if I was hungry. I finally pushed the little red button on my hospital bed to get some action. The nurse at the nurses’ station said she would connect me with the kitchen. She did. A very upset kind of voice answered and said he would send up some food. It arrived. And before I could say take it back and warm it up, the dude was out the door. Cold mashed potatoes, cold gravy, cold green beans and a cold slab of roast beef. I ate the cold mashed potatoes and gravy. In hindsight I should have called down to the kitchen and told them to get their butts back up here and heat this tray up. I was not a happy camper.

The food I was given for each meal tasted like it had too much salt. Nobody told me that the chemo blast might affect your taste buds. It did. After a few days of this, I couldn’t handle it any more so I subsisted on grilled ham and cheese, grilled cheese, ham sandwich, cheese sandwich, even the milk tasted like it had salt in it. My breakfast every day, was milk with frosted flakes. I dropped another 20 pounds while in the hospital for 20 days.

The re-infusion of my own stem cells took place on December 5 and 6. A really great infusion expert handled the re-infusion. Not much to it, warm up my stem cells, make sure all of the code numbers were the same, hook them up to the port, hang it upside down so the whole thing is gravity feed. Talley ho. I was closely watched for the first 48 hours to make sure there were no side effects. There weren’t.

I was a model patient. For a while. Several nurses would stop by on their breaks and I would discuss the wide world of the web with them. Since I had retired as Vice President of Marketing for a leading web development team that developed high end web sites for law firms the nurses listened to every word. It didn’t hurt for me to discuss this as I was pretty much out of it. Every morning at 8 a.m. I was given what I call a “pepper upper.” Called Ativan. Every four hours, yeah I took advantage of it. I am also a Coumadin person, but one cannot take Coumadin and have a SCT. I was bridged to Lovenox. (Lovenox is a needle in the stomach, twice a day. My stomach was black and blue as I had to do Lovenox injections twice a day for two weeks prior to admission to the hospital.) However, the next big surprise came when the staff said I could no longer take the Vicodin for the three compression fractures pain in my lower back. It has acetaminophen in it. I would have to take oxycodone. The nurse asked me if I had any pain coming on, to let him know. My response was “Yes.” I said yes I could feel pain coming on as we spoke. Oxycodone was in my hands in five minutes. Ativan every four hours, oxycodone every four hours. I had it worked out, repeat drugs every two hours and I’m out of it. Made my boring days much more pleasant.

Then the comedy of errors began to really happen. Totally unexpected by me.

After the infusion of my stem cells, I was told to get out of bed and walk around the floor level I was assigned. Bad idea as far as I was concerned. Even though the floor was dedicated to transplant patients, there were a lot of visitors. All probably contagious with some type of WMD. So I walked around my room. Each patient had their own private room.

I was hooked up to a monitoring device 24 hours a day. I called it “my robot.” Then occasionally another device was hooked up, another robot. The first robot took blood pressure, temperature and pulse. After about a week a nurse came in to take my temperature. 100.1. I told her that was kind of low, so she took it again, 101.5, which sounded a little closer to reality than the 100.1. I told the nurse that the 101.5 sounded a little closer, then I asked her which one was she going to use. She said let’s use the lower one. Huh!? So she did.

This robot thing lasted for the entire time I was in the hospital.

One day the nurse came in to take my temperature. I had her take it three times from the same robot. None of the three were the same. I told her to go get another robot, she did, again three different temps. Completely different from the first three. Then I told her to get a third robot and leave the first two in the room so they wouldn’t get confused. Again three different temperatures, all different from all of the others. Nine different temperatures with three different robots. I asked the nurse which temp she was going to use, she said she didn’t know. Didn’t know? Huh!? I joked with her about a “service contract” with these robots, she didn’t get it. She left the room in a huff. I never did find out which temperature she used.

After about four days, I decided I wanted to take a shower. Each room has its own shower. I called the nurse, told him I wanted to take a shower. He said he’d be right there. About five minutes later he walked in carrying what looked like a large Target zip lock baggie and a roll of paper tape. I asked him what’s with the baggie. He said it was to cover up the port. Ports are not supposed to get wet. I said you’re kidding me. He said no and began taping this un-sterilized Target baggie to my chest. I was stunned. I asked him if there were any adhesive patches that were specifically made for this type of issue. The nurse said yes but they were extremely expensive. Extremely expensive?! At this level of care?!

The next day the specialist who made the rounds each morning came in. While she was checking me and my chart out I told her about the three different robots and the nine separate temperatures. She didn’t seem too interested. Especially when I told her I thought it would be a good idea to check the contracts when purchased to see if there was any kind of “service agreement” attached to the contract. She laughed and left the room without answering or even acknowledging my question. I was not pleasant with her for the remaining time I was in the hospital. Blow me off like that is not a good idea.

Next...My hair was beginning to fall out, so I called the nurses station and told them time to shave my head. The male nurse came in and said the shears had been stolen. What? Stolen? He said yes both pairs. I told him they were probably at the Spring Valley Swap Meet, and we both laughed. Fortunately I had brought my electric razor with me. It is not set to trim hair on the top of the head, just shave and trim sideburns. We used it. Stolen hair trimmers, from the hospital, crazy. Give me some more Ativan and oxycodone, quick.

No problem with diarrhea or nausea. They have meds to help with everything. If I ever felt either of these coming on, just push the little red button.

All beds were hooked up to a monitoring device that had an alarm so if a patient fell out of bed, the nurses would come running. I was never that close. However, when one has to use the bathroom, one has to push the little red button. Sometimes I would cut it kind of close. Even a matter of a couple of minutes. If I had to wait more than 30 seconds I’m out of the bed, grabbing my robot and heading to the bathroom, setting off the alarm. Did I care? No. When you have to go, you have to go. The nurses finally got it. Hedges will head to the bathroom as quickly as possible. No accidents in my bed.

Hospital beds are not comfortable. My wife and a friend went to a home medical supply and bought me a very comfortable mattress the same size as my bed. The nurses were astounded. They had never thought to tell the patients that this is an option. OK. I started something.

Actually I started a lot of things in my room. The long conversations with the nurses after midnight. Guess I was the only one who could speak “nurse.” sort of a...tell me about your troubles with your husband or boyfriend. I should have been charging them by the hour. But full of Ativan and oxycodone certainly helped me get through the conversations. Just nod my head yes and no. Oh, and could you get me another oxycodone, I feel some pain coming on.

I finally realized I didn’t have to order my next day’s meals from the iTab, or whatever they use to tell me my options for meals the next day. Pizza was never mentioned. So I told the menu person I wanted some pizza for lunch. Bad idea on my part, it gave me severe diarrhea issues. But like I said, there is a powerful med for everything at the hospital. But the pizza, with everything tasted great.

After about 15 days in the hospital I was beginning to think I wouldn’t be released until after the New Year. Much to my surprise the Dr. who did the rounds told me I had an infection somewhere, somewhere? Huh!? And that they were going to try a third antibiotic with a little broader spectrum to kill infections. Yeah, broader spectrum, bring it on. It worked. I woke up about 2 a.m., after three days, in a cold sweat. After I pushed the little red button the nurse said this is great as your fever has broken. The Dr. told me if my infection was permanently gone in three days I would be released. It was gone. I came home on Christmas Eve. Best Christmas present I ever had, or will have.

After release from the hospital I was still on the Lovenox. The specialist told me he would prescribe some more. The pharmacist called the next day and asked me if I wanted to fill the prescription for Lovenox. I asked him what the co-pay is. He said $4,000. I told him don’t fill it. I immediately called my primary care. He said let me take care of it right now. About ten minutes later the special care pharmacy called and said they had the Lovenox ready. I asked about the co-pay, the fellow said it’s free. Huh!? Free!? He said yes, and then asked me if I wanted to have it delivered...I said, of course. He was at my front door in about 15 minutes.

I continued to see the specialist at the cancer center weekly for the next three months. Labs were done once a week. The labs always had good test results. I was put on a maintenance dose of a drug by sub Q injection every week.

Two new meds had been approved by the FDA in about July of 2015, fortunately as the stem cell transplant was not working any more. One of the new meds was by sub Q injection...I rejected it right away. The other was another derivative of Thalidomide. Pomalyst. I selected it. Within three months my monoclonal (myeloma) protein count went from 0.8, high end of the spectrum, to “no monoclonal proteins detected.” Meaning the MM cells are still there but the sophisticated test can’t find them. Ha. Ha. Kind of like “hide and seek.” This same test result has been ongoing for the past five months. However, my platelet count has been low, my daily dose of the med, a 1mg capsule, was reduced to one capsule every other day.

I also have an immunoglobulin infusion, 25gms per day, once a month. To help my immune system. The infusion is a two day effort. The first day I also receive a Zometa infusion and a B-12 shot. The infusions take about 4 hours.

I continue to see my oncologist once a month. Labs once a month. So far so good, April 25, 2016.

I am a member of the San Diego Multiple Myeloma Support Group. Our Support Group is under the umbrella of the International Myeloma Foundation, (IMF) www.myeloma.org. If anyone has any questions about Multiple Myeloma there is a toll free number on the IMF web site.

The Support Group meets the second Monday of each month. Membership in the Support Group is free for all patients, family members, caregivers and guests. We always have a guest speaker who will have MM as their topic. Guest speakers have included Dr. Brian Durie, Executive Director of the International Myeloma Foundation, an attending physician at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and the Director of Myeloma Research for AMyC Consortium; Dr. Morie Gertz, Chairman, Internal Medicine, Hematology and the Transplant Center, at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. The Support Group has also had Dr. Alberto Bessudo. Dr. Bessudo's areas of interest include tumor immunology, lymphoma and lung cancer. He is a staff member at Scripps Hospital in Encinitas and La Jolla.

For the past three years I asked my city council representative to declare a day in March to proclaim March is Multiple Myeloma Awareness Month. My council member made it happen. You can see the 2014, 2015 and 2016 videos of the city council meetings HERE.

For the 4th year in a row I submitted the forms to the “San Diego Business Journal” to participate in their annual HealthCare Champions Awards. For the fourth year in a row the San Diego Multiple Myeloma Support Group was recognized as a Finalist.

One last piece of advice...You need to start getting an annual physical...now.

On Dec. 24, 2017, an influential nationalistic member of the Danish parliament, Søren Espersen, said, "Wolves attack small children and old people. It's nuts to have them in Denmark...[translated from the Danish]."  Espersen is a member if the Danish People’s Party (DF).  In May, 2017, former Danish Minister of Finance (Secretary of the Treasury) and center-right conservative party member, Henning Dyremose, compared the policies of the DF to the Ku Klux Klan.  Dyremose later explained that he made the remark based on his childhood experiences while living in America.

Søren Espersen wants an open season on Danish wolves, as does a coalition of European nationalistic parties, on behalf of sports hunting, sheep and other livestock farmers, and to undermine the science of the European Union. For the sake of ecosystems stability and species conservation, the EU Habitats Directive gives wolves maximum protections, and at first only allowed the destruction of wolves verified to be a direct threat to humans. And it offers incentives for member states to pay compensation for livestock loss.  This occurred as a result of the 1979 Berne Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats, which went into effect in 1982.  European countries that are not a member of the EU, such as Norway, do allow limited hunting of wolves, and there are efforts now to intensely expand culling wolves.  This Nordic fear of wolves makes no sense to senior science advisor, Susanne Hanssen, of the Norwegian Environment Agency.  Only one case of a fatal wolf attack is recorded in its entire 1200 year history.  Sweden has occasionally flouted the directive, with special hunting permits, with the EU responding with warnings.  The EU has also allowed a culling of 40 wolves in France, which polarized many.

To be fair, it isn’t only far-right, nationalists who want to hunt down wolves when perceived as a threat to livestock.  “If you can’t eliminate animals that attack, the situation won’t get any better,” said José Bové, a Green member of the European Parliament, who was formerly a sheep farmer in Aveyron in southern France. “All the efforts to protect shepherds, whether it’s fences or dogs or whatever — none of them have worked.” --Politico

An underlying motivation for Europe’s far-right, nationalistic parties to spread myths, such as Denmark’s Espersen with the big bad wolf fairy tale, is to destroy the European Union.  On Dec. 16, 2017, the leadership of these parties convened "For a Europe of Sovereign Nations” in Prague, Poland (already facing EU sanctions for putting the constitutional judiciary under significant executive government control).  Here they “attacked the EU for its migrant policies, accused its leaders of trying to create a super state run by Brussels and praised U.S. President Trump's approach to migration." 

That’s also true in the US: “The recent anti-wolf campaign represents an extraordinary cultural and political victory by the far-right wing in the Rocky Mountains. A loose coalition of some ranchers, hunters, and anti-government zealots demonized the gray wolves reintroduced to Montana and Idaho from Canada in the mid 1990s by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. They cast the animals as huge, aggressive, disease-ridden monsters bent on ravaging livestock, elk, deer, and even people.”

While it is true that there have been historical attacks by wolves on humans, such as 7,600 fatal attacks … documented from 1200–1920 in France, the truth of wolves’ danger is an entirely different story. Most of those attacks occurred wherever Europe was waging wars and directly threatening wolf existence.  In southern Asian countries, where spreading population densities have wiped out wilderness habitats, and where there is little scientific oversight and education to help people understand the wolf, there have been 200 reported deaths by wolves since 1950.  In that period, 3 fatalities have been documented in North America and eight in Europe and Russia combined. 

Putting all that in perspective, in 2013 alone 1.25 million people died as a result of vehicles… and in the 20^th century alone, at least 200,000,000 (200 million) have perished in wars.  Additionally, “each year, dogs kill or injure many more people than wolves.  In 2012, the World Health Organization reported that, worldwide, over 55,000 people die annually of rabies, 99% of them infected by dog bites.  Children are especially at risk, since they are bitten by dogs 3-5 times more frequently than adults.” --(Overall & Love 2001 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11417736?).  And in the UK alone, “Government officials and senior police officers were presented this week [Jan. 21, 2017] with findings indicating that around 15,000 sheep were killed by loose dogs in 2016, more than ten times higher than the number previously thought.”

That’s not to justify that it’s OK for wolves to kill people.  As with driver’s ed, people simply need to learn how to live with the presence of the wolf since it is scientifically considered an animal of human importancefor the sake of a planet with a functional biosphere capable of supporting civilization.

The first chapter of “wolf-ed” would be to sift fact from fiction: "News media are attracted to controversy, and wolf recovery, depredations, control programs, and most any other wolf-related topics seem irresistible.  The Yellowstone wolf reintroduction was intensively covered by sixty international media.  Popular information about wolves is often biased or inaccurate (Wolves and Human Communities). When wolf stories appear, the extreme views of opponents and supporters of wolves are often highlighted, further polarizing the issue.  The way the media covers wolves leaves the impression that they are more of a problem than other animals (Reintroducing the Gray Wolf to Central Idaho and Yellowstone National Park)"
 
Through a scientifically understood function, called trophic cascade, large predators enrich the essential biodiversity and ecological stability of the planetary habitats which gives us oxygen and helps clean up our carbon footprints, give us our food,  etc. All the biology which supports civilization is enriched by the top-down effects of the wolf. 

The impact of shooting a wolf is quite exactly, emotionally and otherwise, the same as a home invasion where the burglar shoots a family member. It is devastating to the family, lo the community, and as a keystone species with the capacity for a trophic cascade, it devastates the entire ecosystem.

Returning to the Danish issue, over two centuries ago wolves had been hunted into extinction in this tiny country of 5.7 million.  Evidence indicates that they were “…functionally extinct in Denmark at least since 1750.”  In 2012, a dead wolf was found in southern Denmark and soon after, someone spotted the first wild wolf since 1813.  Later DNA analysis of a female’s feces indicated that she had traveled over 550 kilometers (341 miles), from a wilderness near Berlin.  The working theory for  their return is that they had been “…young wolves rejected by their families who [were] looking for new hunting grounds," according to Peter Sunde, senior scientist at the Aarhus University Institute for Bioscience. 

They have now formed at least one pack with young, and perhaps two, due to suspected attacks on sheep in other wilderness areas.  Danish sheep farmers, having no experience with a large predator, are understandably concerned,.  Since 2012, farmers have received compensations of over 50,000 kroner ($7,000.00) for confirmed losses. 


Culling wolves as a preventive measure may only be a perception.

"As human populations continue to grow and we expand further into wilderness areas, we will have to find better ways to coexist with wildlife: particularly those that threaten our livelihoods or even our lives." BBC Earth: When you start killing wolves, something odd happens

Explaining a 2014 study, Guillaume Chapron of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences feels that the problem, and therefore solution, lies with us. "Wolves are quite adaptable to humans," he says. "The question is whether humans are adaptable to wolves."

Whilst killing an animal perceived as a threat may seem like an easy solution, it may not prove the most effective in the long-term. In fact, [the study] suggested that wolf culls can backfire in the short term by increasing the frequency of wolves killing livestock.

"Our results undermine the justifications used to kill wildlife," says [coauthor of the study, Adrian Treves of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. "Therefore, more broadly, predator control as a government policy needs to be scrutinized."

***

The preponderance of the scientific evidence shatters the myth of the big bad wolf.  Arguably the most successful to adapt (in terms of distribution) of all mammals next to man (woman), wolves are integral to the evolution and stability of a great many habitats on the planet, from the arctic wolf of the far north to the near-solitary maned wolf of Argentina… and the highlands Himalayan wolf to the hot deserts Arabian wolf, just to name a few.  They provide a huge service to every ecosystem within which they interact, and not only by scavenging dead animals and directly controlling fauna, which are diseased or otherwise devastate habitats with overpopulation, from small rodents to the ungulates, such as deer, elk and the bighorn.  The beneficial impact of this large intelligent predator actually trickles down (please excuse this economically nasty word) to the very fundamental fabric of any habitat, increasing biodiversity, through that ecological function described above, the trophic cascade.

When wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone in 1995, this is what happened.  Its physical geography actually changed, beneficially.

“There is no doubt that wolf attacks on humans have occurred in Europe, although there are few verified reports of attacks past the beginning of the twentieth century. Today there is considered to be very little risk to humans from wolves in Europe, yet public attitudes remain negative. Research shows that wolf attacks are perceived to be more common than they actually are, and fear of wolves is still a significant factor in opposition to wolf recovery in many areas.

This fear can be effectively addressed by good education, through lectures, talks, information centres and publications about wolves. It is important that education is carried out in all sections of society, and is honest about the risks posed by wolves. Denying that wolves are potentially dangerous can be counter-productive, as anti-wolf campaigners will accuse conservationists of deliberately misleading the public. Better understanding of the risks reduces fear. Education should include discouraging the public from feeding wolves or approaching too closely, as most incidents where people have been injured by wolves in the last few years have involved animals that had become habituated to being around people and associating them with food.”--The Wolves and Human Foundation

And let us not forget that man’s best friend was a wolf in a time long forgotten except through the DNA evidence

(This is thought to be the final photo of Kim Wall -- an image capture from a smartphone video -- as she sailed out of Copenhagen Harbor onboard the Nautilus.  Seen also is Peter Madsen)

October 21, 2020, UPDATE-- Please see the major updates below, including Peter Madsen’s briefly horrific escape, having threatened guards with a false gun and explosive device wrapped around him,Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2020, from a Copenhagen prison, where he has been serving a life sentence since 2018. 

Here is a 1 minute video of his capture

A bizarre case of manslaughter or homicide -- that has begun to remind this writer of the 2011 Scandinavian TV crime series, “The Bridge” – just got stranger than fiction. Yesterday, August 21, a decapitated, armless and legless torso of a woman was discovered not far from that bridge.

BACKGROUND:
Several hours after 30-year old Swedish journalist, Kim Wall, had sailed out of Copenhagen Harbor on Thursday evening, August 10, onboard the Nautilus, touted as the world’s largest homemade submarine, it went missing. The journalist’s boyfriend raised an alarm after he’d lost contact with her, informing the police that Kim had been on a freelance assignment for an article about the submarine and its inventor and owner, Peter “Rocketman" Madsen.   

Madsen is considered a hero among some circles, not only for the submarines he has built (with the help of many) but also for his work to help launch a Danish rocket into orbit.  See "From Earth to Mars," by Petre Guest.

(2-1/2 minute video documentary, released only 3 months ago, describing Peter Madsen's space ambitions)

(1-1/2 minute video by Washington Post.  It includes a brief profile of Kim Wall)

(clicking on this image will take you to many of Kim Wall's investigative journalistic work, including an article on UNH's STEM Discovery Lab)

(From left to right: the sunken Nautilus being raised, Swedish journalist Kim Wall, Danish inventor Peter Madsen)

Danish and Swedish police and coast guard immediately launched a major search of the area the submarine had likely navigated late that Thursday night. On Friday morning at 10:30 AM, the submarine was sighted just south of the Copenhagen island of Amager, in the Køge Bay overlooking the Baltic. The boat had sailed under the very bridge connecting Sweden with Denmark, where the award-winning 2011 crime fiction had been filmed.  That fiction opens with the shocking discovery of a woman's body, cut in half at exactly the Danish-Swedish border, on the Øresund bridge-tunnel.

As a private boat raced towards the submarine, Madsen jumped overboard, after which it suddenly sank. Once on shore, Madsen explained that he didn’t know where Kim Wall was, saying he’d dropped her off by the coast of southern Copenhagen near a restaurant. He also stated that the submarine sank due to a small ballast problem that grew unexpectedly critical as he tried repairing it. Mysteriously, he is whisked away by the police, and the next bit of news is that Madsen has been arrested on manslaughter charges. Following a preliminary court hearing, which is constitutionally required within 24 hours of an arrest, his attorney, Betina Hald Engmark, stated that he pled innocent but would not contest the court’s ruling that he remain incarcerated for 24 days while the police investigated the case. The court-hearing was closed to the public, in the interest of Kim Wall’s family, stated the defense, so the facts of the case have only trickled slowly into the public domain, and has also been the source of much speculation.

The submarine sank in shallow waters – 7 meters, some 20 feet -- so it was immediately salvaged by a crane-barge and brought to Copenhagen for the police to complete a forensic investigation. A police spokesperson then stated that the submarine had been willfully sunk. It was also disclosed that a ship in the heavily navigated sound separating Denmark from Sweden had nearly collided with the submarine in the night hours of early Friday morning, August 11, right at the time when Kim Wall’s boyfriend had alerted the police, and that it had sailed on the surface without exhibiting legally-required lights.

Three days ago it was learned that on Monday, August 14, Peter Madsen had changed his story, admitting that Kim Wall had accidentally died in the submarine and that he’d given her a burial at sea. This shocks her family, colleagues and friends in Sweden, as well as the many Danes acquainted over the years with “Rocketman” Peter Madsen.

As ships and helicopters searched for Kim Wall’s body, yesterday afternoon, August 21, a man cycling along a dike overlooking the Baltic by the wetlands on the southern tip of Copenhagen’s Amager Island was shocked when he came upon the floating torso of a decapitated, armless and legless woman. After a preliminary obduction, a police spokesperson stated this afternoon (aug. 22)  that the torso might be that of Kim Wall, but final confirmation still awaited a DNA analysis.  That report is anticipated for release tomorrow, August 23.  The torso's limbs and head had been severed by human intent, according to the preliminary autopsy.

This story will be periodically updated as the facts come to surface.

(Copenhaen police at the site of the torso find)

UPDATE, Wednesday, August 23, (7:30 AM CET:)  >>Der er en match<< "There is a [DNA] match [to Kim Wall]" tweeted Copenhagen police.  This evidence contradicts a statement made yesterday by Madsen's attorney, Betina Engmark, where she stated (translated):  "No evidence has been brought forth that this body has anything to do with my client.  And therefore these two events [Kim Wall's disappearance while with Madsen and discovering the torso] should not be linked.  This is what the police is  doing, and that is not appropriate."

Peter Just, chairperson of the board of directors for Peter Madsen's private space and submarine research innitiatives, released this statement (translated from the Danish):  "[We] are furioius over what has occured to Kim Wall.  Something horrific happened onboard [the submarine]..."  He went on to explain, on a very sad note, how this spells the end of years of work from many people deeply vested in contributing to the knowledge of pushing the boundaries of humanity's outer and deeper limits.  "The dream is shattered for us all.  The project pales in comparison with a meaningless loss of human life. There is no longer a desire to continue. Confidence is broken."

In a 9 AM (CET) press briefing, just now broadcast on Danish TV-2, Copenhagen police homicide chief inspector, Jens Møller, disclosed that though metal had been attached to the torso, it had failed to keep her submerged.  Further, that despite the intentional sinking of the submarine, forensics found blood traces in it that also match Kim Wall's DNA profile.  Jens Møller added (tarnslated), "Regarding the autopsy, I can confirm evidence of post-mortem cuts on the  torso, which appear to be an attempt to prevent the torso from rising to the surface from the sea floor due to the accumulation of gasses."

In a 4 PM statement to DR (Danish public TV), defense attorney Engmark said (translated), “My client and I are very relieved that the find [torso] has finally been identified by the police. We are gratified that this part of the case has been resolved.” She concluded by reiterating Madsen’s plea of innocence to murder charges.

 MAJOR UPDTE, OCTOBER 20, 202O:  Convicted sex-murderer, Peter Madsen, captured after escaping from his life sentence.  Here is the story from The Guardian:  Peter Madsen threatened a prison employee with what appeared to be a homemade explosive device before fleeing from Herstedvester jail, pursued by guards, who alerted a nearby police patrol.

Madsen had tried to hide in a white van but officers surrounded the vehicle and dragged him out. They then handcuffed him to a fence while waiting for bomb disposal officers to arrive.

The Ekstra Bladet tabloid posted a video of Madsen sitting calmly on the grass with his hands behind his back while armed officers watched from a short distance away. After several hours, specialists established the belted bomb-like object around his stomach was a fake.

Police then arrested Madsen and took him back into custody. Nobody was physically hurt during the escape, the head of the prison, Hanne Høegh Rasmussen, said on Tuesday in a press conference, but she added that the incident had traumatised her employees.

In 2018, Madsen was sentenced in the Copenhagen city court to life in prison for killing Kim Wall, a 30-year-old reporter from Sweden whom he lured onboard his homemade submarine with the promise of an interview. He dismembered her body and dumped it at sea..."

Here are a couple of short (under 1 minute) videos of the dramatic capture of the horribly dangerous man

Here is a summation, from The Guardian, of the entire Peter Madsen case (my original article here was written in 2017, prior to the court case and the horrific evidence which it brought forth):   

"A Danish inventor has been sentenced to life in prison for the premeditated murder and sexual assault of the Swedish journalist Kim Wall on his submarine in August last year.

The judge, Anette Burkø, and two jurors found Peter Madsen, 47, guilty of all three of the main charges of premeditated murder, aggravated sexual assault and desecrating a corpse.

“This is a cynical and pre-planned sexual assault of a particularly brutal nature on a random woman who, in connection with her journalistic work, accepted an invitation for a sailing trip on the accused’s submarine,” Burkø said, explaining the rare decision to hand down Denmark’s most severe sentence.

Wall’s parents, Ingrid and Joachim Wall, who had followed much of the trial from the courtroom, were not present for the verdict, although the seven family seats were taken by other friends and relatives.

Wall was 30 when she died. The journalist had reported from all over the world for Time magazine, the New York Times and the Guardian, among others. Her boyfriend told the court she was “incredibly ambitious” and “amazingly curious”.
[...]
The case has gripped Denmark ever since Wall failed to return from a trip on Madsen’s self-built Nautilus submarine on 10 August. Madsen was a semi-celebrity at the time of his arrest, having made a name for himself with three self-built submarines and two crowdfunded manned space projects.

Burkø said his version of events – that Wall died when an accident filled the vessel with toxic exhaust fumes – was “not credible and not consistent with the following decision to dismember the body”. Madsen had changed his explanation for Wall’s death several times, Burkø noted.

She said the court instead believed the prosecution’s theory that he had sexually tortured Wall to fulfil a violent sexual fantasy.

It is very unusual for a life sentence to be handed down for the murder of a single person in Denmark, where prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment serve an average of 16 years.
[...]
Over the course of the 11-day trial, spread over seven weeks, prosecutors presented their case in often horrific detail. But Madsen himself refused to go into detail in court, calling Wall’s death “a very, very traumatic event which I do not want to describe”.
[...]
During the trial, the court heard from a woman to whom Madsen had confessed that he was “a psychopath, but a loving one”, a judgment backed up by a forensic psychiatric report that described Madsen as a “perverse polymorph” with “psychopathic traits”.

Such was the interest in the trial that the Copenhagen district court opened up a special room with a video link on some days to accommodate as many as 115 journalists from 15 countries. Wall’s parents attended the trial most days and quietly took notes from specially reserved seats beside the media section.

UPDATE, 5 AM Copenhagen, October 21, 2020:  In an interview broadcast during the 5 AM, October 21, 2020, Danish TV2 news, Denmark’s Minister of Justice (Attorney General), Nick Hækkerup, stated that aside from ensuring that such an incident never be repeated, it will be unlikely that Peter Madsen will continue being interred in the top-security Herstedvester Prison near Copenhagen. It houses up to 158 of Denmark’s most heinous and predatory criminals, but with psychiatric care, other therapies and education etc. readily available to the inmates. During Madsen’s 2 years of a life sentence since 2018, he manipulated a female prison guard to fall in love with him, ruining her career, and also manipulated 39-year old Russian activist, Jenny Curpen, in a self-imposed exile in Finland, to marry him in 2019.  In this BBC story, she accuses Denmark of having demonized Peter Madsen.

Jenny Curpen

The day the virus came –
Damn its double name –

Is the day the world closed down
With a terra firmer frown.

It’s sneaky Sino-start,
In some weird menu mart,

Made a fast getaway,
Anxious to make hay

In other earthly venues
Via air and H2O avenues.

First, it hit Italia,
Then Washington State, et alia.

Great Britain stayed aloof,
Until the blueblood proof

Turned out to be threadbare,
A la My Lady Fair.

The Big Apple caught the blues –
Still struggles with bad news.

Wherever Old Glory waves,
They’re in their man-made caves.

They sneak out just to shop,
The more TP to cop;

Then hurry back to catch
The daily D.C-TV match.

There, experts do mental dithering,
Maintaining faux distancing,

As the Orange Man cometh with, “Me,
Myself, and screw thee” --

While medics cry out in vane
For PPE for the pain

Of answering the call
In some unprotected hall.

Price-gouging is the name
Of a dangerous PPE game.

D.C., instead of leading,
Resorts to blame-game bleeding.

For speaking truth to power,
Good guy Fauci makes ‘em glower.

The MAGA hats come down so hard,
That now he needs a bodyguard.

Kudos to the Congress, all
For getting on the ball,

And dishing out the moolah,
Without a lot of hoopla.

There’s another bright story:
Those guys and gals in their glory –

The ones who are out around town,
Moving things and people around.

They join the medics,
Catch all the headaches,

As we in our lairs,
Singly, in pairs,

And some larger groups,
Send them, in whoops

Of humble appreciation
For all they are doing for our besieged nation.