MATT LAUER, co-host:
Back now at 8:10. Oscar winner
Michael Douglas
shocked some fans when he announced on Tuesday night that his just-revealed
throat cancer
is in the most advanced stage. The
Hollywood
icon just finished his first week of chemotherapy and radiation and he seems upbeat and optimistic. But what does the future hold? Here's
NBC
's Miguel Almaguer.
Mr. MICHAEL DOUGLAS:
I got
cancer
. So I've got
cancer
, found out about it three weeks ago.
MIGUEL ALMAGUER reporting:
On "
The Late Show with David Letterman
" Tuesday,
Michael Douglas
spoke openly about his diagnosis. The
Hollywood
icon is battling stage
IV
throat cancer
. Still, his spirits are high.
Mr. DOUGLAS:
Let's say I'm -- let's say I'm pretty lit up -- I'm pretty lit up right now.
ALMAGUER:
But
Douglas
knows the disease of often deadly. Fight
cancer
, especially one this advanced, is never easy.
Mr. DOUGLAS:
And the radiation continues to burn your mouth...
Mr. DAVID LETTERMAN:
Yes.
Mr. DOUGLAS:
...and becomes more difficult to swallow. You can't take solids.
ALMAGUER:
Douglas
, who appeared a bit slim, has finished the first of what will likely be eight weeks of treatment. After a biopsy revealed the walnut-sized tumor on the base of his tongue last month, the 65-year-old quickly began chemotherapy.
Douglas
blames his
cancer
on his lifestyle.
Mr. DOUGLAS:
I smoked cigarettes and I drank, and this particular type of
cancer
is caused by alcohol drinking.
ALMAGUER:
But the legendary actor likes his odds. He told
Letterman
he has an 80 percent chance of beating
cancer
.
Dr. GERALD BERKE (Chief of Head and Neck Surgery, UCLA):
It's a very serious problem and it's not to be treated lightly.
ALMAGUER:
Dr.
Gerald Berke
, a
throat cancer
specialist at
UCLA
, says the weeks ahead will be especially difficult.
Dr. BERKE:
He could have some changes in his hair loss from the chemo. He's definitely going to lose some weight. He's probably lost weight already just from the malignancy. He's going to have some mucositis from the radiation, he's going to have some trouble swallowing and he may have some changes in his voice.
ALMAGUER:
Douglas
, who's married to
Catherine Zeta-Jones
, won his first
Academy Award
for producing "
One_Flew_Over_the_Cuckoo
's_Nest" in
1975
.
ALMAGUER:
And his second for the memorable role of
Wall Street
tycoon
Gordon Gekko
in
1987
.
ALMAGUER:
Later this month, "
Wall Street
: Money Never Sleeps" hits theaters. But for now, movies seem an afterthought.
Mr. LETTERMAN:
Did they find it early enough for their liking?
Mr. DOUGLAS:
I sure as......hope so.
Mr. LETTERMAN:
Yeah.
ALMAGUER:
For TODAY, Miguel Almaguer,
NBC
News,
Los Angeles
.
LAUER:
Dr.
Nancy Snyderman
is
NBC
's chief medical editor and a board certified
head and neck cancer
surgeon, and
Peter Castro
is the deputy managing editor of
People magazine
, who recently interviewed
Michael Douglas
. Good morning to both of you.
Dr. NANCY SNYDERMAN reporting:
Hey, Matt.
Mr. PETER CASTRO (Deputy Managing Editor, People Magazine):
Good morning.
LAUER:
Peter
, let me start with you. I mean, I think a lot of people were surprised how upbeat, how good he did look on
Letterman
the other night. When you interviewed him...
Mr. CASTRO:
Right.
LAUER:
...same mental attitude?
Mr. CASTRO:
Going in, he's an entertainer, and he was on. But he was clearly fatigued throughout the interview and really rallied to do it. But our reporter told me afterward that he was really, really tired and understandably so.
LAUER:
Nancy
, I'm uncomfortable getting into specifics because, let's face it, only
Michael
and his doctor know the exact situation.
SNYDERMAN:
I couldn't agree more.
LAUER:
And I
don't want to speculate. But generally speaking, what we do know is they found a walnut-size tumor in his throat. He's gone through a week of treatment right now. Did his condition and his spirit surprise you when you saw him on the air after a week of chemotherapy and radiation?
SNYDERMAN:
His spirit no, his
weight loss
was to be expected. This tumor on the
base of the tongue
spreads -- can spread quickly into the lymph nodes of the neck. And that's probably why they're staging it a stage
IV
and they're concerned. These spread very quickly. And the treatment many times is surgery first. If the patient says 'No, I don't want the surgery,' because frankly it's too big and disfiguring and can impair the voice, then chemotherapy and radiation are sort of the second and third lines of treatment choice.
LAUER:
Let me go to the comment that -- or the question that
David Letterman
asked was, do they think they caught it early enough.
SNYDERMAN:
Mm-hmm.
LAUER:
The fact that it is stage
IV
, does that not tell us they didn't catch it very early?
SNYDERMAN:
It tells you that his prognosis is guarded, that they wish they had caught it early. And he, remember, talked about cigarettes and alcohol. That is a lethal combination. The alcohol does change the lining of the throat, making the carcinogens of the cigarettes more potent. He also had a
sore throat
and an earache. And a soar throat and an earache in a heavy smoker are always big warning signs for
cancer
surgeons.
LAUER:
I think
Catherine Zeta-Jones
also told
People magazine
that she was frustrated because he'd gone to a lot of doctors trying to figure out why he had this
sore throat
and nobody came up with this until the end.
Mr. CASTRO:
He was a lot more sanguine about it than she was. She told us that she was very, very furious. And furious is a word she used that they did not catch it in time. She's not happy.
SNYDERMAN:
And it depends on what doctors you see. You know, sometimes doctors don't think to look down around the tongue, and frankly, for a lot of ear, nose and throat surgeons, you look but you also feel. You have to put your finger in a mouth and feel around. And you can feel these lumps inside tongues and that may be one of the reasons why it wasn't found.
LAUER:
Just also just mention, he's had a very stressful year, too.
SNYDERMAN:
He's had a tough year.
LAUER:
I mean, some difficulties with his son. His ongoing legal difficulties with his ex-wife over some proceeds or revenues from the movie. And so I imagine stress is not the thing you want in your life when you're going through something like this.
SNYDERMAN:
It's not. And the big thing he's going to have to really think about now is nutrition. It is so hard for people undergoing treatment like this to get enough calories into his body. So things -- everything you think that you shouldn't eat for health reasons they're going to want him to eat. Calories, fat, sugar, milkshakes and I wouldn't be surprised if he has a tube put in his intestines or his stomach to help even get further supplementation in.
LAUER:
Well, say it every time we do this story, he's a friend of this show and a friend...
“ ”