Man Cancer - COMMENTARY

We've done cancer stories especially this month. We've done stories on how PearlieMae allowed her cancer to so advance that it spread to her bones and back. What we haven't done stories on is the unusual cancer conditions. We haven't because there isn't a real concern for their affect. That are many types of the disease and for PearlieMae the big "C" was considered the deadliest of the deadly. PearlieMae considered cancer the disease of death. Once you were so pronounced it was just a matter of time and nothing could dissuade her from that. While hospitalized it was discovered that her cancer was treatable, while she would not be healed her condition could have been arrested. For her mentally and emotionally it was too late. And it was.

Now comes this CBS story that isn't inconsistent with our speculation and suggestions that cancers are a result of several factors, in our opinion, most predominantly location and diet. A man whose wife succumbs to breast cancer develops breast cancer. If we believe that there are methods we all can and should use to prevent and retard the development and spread of the disease. Which we do believe. Then we also believe that cancer can spread in families more so than as PearlieMae believed that you'd get if you go for treatment. That doctors don't know how to cure you so that say you have cancer so they can get you to die.

Information should breed assurance and not fear, in our opinion. Man cancer is not something as men we should be afraid, not something that we should be very very afraid. We don't wish to down play either the disease or the condition. Indeed we believe that in the current condition with the lack of health care and the reluctance within the African-American community to seek immediate care the future looks bleak. Not because of the reluctance which with education and health care can be eroded or reverse. We think a more progressive and beneficial approach, though wholly optimistic, would be a change toward prevention than treatment. The future of treatment is overwhelming expensive.

We came to this story with the news that not all hospitals in our jurisdiction provided an expensive IV treatment for strokes. The research determined that while effective the treatment is only useful in a small (less than 10%) of the affected population. To even be effective with that subset individuals have to be treated quickly which for the African-American and Hispanic population is not their behavior. Rather than having hospital invest in more expensive treatment that is less likely to substantially reduce the number stroke deaths. That's our goal to reduce deaths and encourage treatment.

In our research for the success of expensive IV treatment we discovered how Vitamin D was more effective in the prevention in what the federal government would consider mega-doses. When we say more effective we mean that the population would be larger than without the side effects than in the subset of the more expensive treatment. We will list, in the future, which hospitals are prepared with the more expensive IV treatment for the smart and quick to receive treatment individually. We encourage everyone to become part of that population. PearlieMae was blessed enough to have friends who rushed her to the emergency room when she was not so inclined.

Even more frightening is the public service announcement (PSA) created, we assume, by the US government showing a family moving into a new home and the Realtor telling the father figure that he won't be around to enjoy the new home with the family. The PSA ends with the tag to go the website http://ahrg.gov to to find the test that men should have and the father didn't have. Talk about fear tactics - late at night it'll scare you to death - just in time for Halloween. See it with the lights on!

We did and went to the "Get Preventive Tests" page and other than a BMI, Cholesterol, Blood Pressure and a full battery of cancer tests that you and your doctor should discuss there are no "secret" or special tests that you need as implied by the ad. So if you see it and couldn't find it we just thought we'd let you know!

Give Me 5...

...for stroke.

Hi, I'm Morgan Fairchild. "Morgan Fairchild and Dr. Diana Fite joins the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP), the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) and the American Stroke Association (ASA) to educate the public about stroke symptoms." The American Academy of Neurology (AAN) 

Okay we're not Morgan Fairchild but we loveeeeee her! We'll this editor loves her and when you edit. You rule! You can watch the video that Miss Morgan Fairchild recorded for the campaign. You might not like her performances but we like her characters she makes us laugh and watch. We also created the graphic to operate like it does on the Give Me 5 website. There are more than one "Give Me 5" website which was extremely confusing but - Hey! It's a busy Internet and everybody and their momma appears to be on it. At least it's a family friendly site though it's not health related at all. You can view the Morgan Fairchild which our editor watches just to see her lips move. He's got it bad!

There is some information that anyone can use that we thought we'd share that's available at the Give Me 5. The definition of a stroke beyond the Walk, Talk, Reach, See and Feel.

A stroke occurs when a blood vessel that carries oxygen and nutrients to the brain is either blocked by a clot or bursts. When that happens, part of the brain cannot get the blood (and oxygen) it needs, so it starts to die. Stroke is the third-leading cause of death in the United States and a leading cause of disability. However, research shows the public remains unaware of stroke's warning signs and the need for immediate medical attention, even if the symptoms subside. Call 9-1-1!  (Give Me 5)

 And now ladies and gentlemen, it is our honor to present to you Miss Morgan Fairchild...

Aspirin Cures Cancer

Another review of prior research finds that the most popular form of cancer can be cured or reduced with one of the cheapest and most popular drug on the market. What the report abstract does not answer is how much or how little is necessary to get the results. The danger is in playing doctor instead of seeing a doctor and as long lines form at the emergency room and longer wait times for scheduling an appointment with our favorite physician we may try to fix ourselves. Or even worse to delay treatment rather than seeking the advice of a qualified professional.

If we answer the question do we risk you the reader making the "self fix it" decision yourself? When the news of aspirin's amazing properties began to surface to the news we would personally supplement our own medical regime with a single aspirin before bed despite prior warnings to the contrary and usually when our own perscriptions had been depleted. As far back as March 2005 the New York Times reported: "Because aspirin carries a risk of bleeding, doctors do not currently advise healthy women or healthy men with no clear risk of heart disease to take aspirin to prevent heart attacks or strokes. The study results are unlikely to change that practice."

Don't self medicate! Don't self medicate! Don't self medicate! Now how much is enough? The report does not suggest however earlier reports suggest a baby aspirin amount of a single tablet. Our own usage was always in excess of the recommended amount. A single dollar store tablet is 325 mg and the recommended amount in a child dosage is 85mg.

Our use was daily and though aspirin doesn't protect women from heart attacks their studies showed less usage provided an equal amount of results from a less frequent amount of aspirin. "Regular use of low-dose aspirin does not prevent first heart attacks in women younger than 65, as it does in men, a 10-year study of healthy women has found... ...The amount of aspirin taken by subjects in the Women's Health Study - 100 milligrams every other day - is less than the amount one gets from taking a baby aspirin, which contains 81 milligrams, every day. But the researchers noted that the smaller amount still had the intended effect on blood clotting, as evidenced by blood analyses, by reduced risk of stroke and by the greater incidence of bleeding" the March 2008 New York Times reported.

Aspirin is still a medicine and like any medicine its got its up cancer curing side and its bleeding ulcer, suicide pill of choice down side. Lets leave the prescribing to the professionals.

Enemy Us

The things that cause us (rather them) to die or get ill the most aren't nasties out to do us harm but to quote the comic strip POGO (or FLOOK if you're british) "I've seen the enemy and he is us." The top diesases (heart disease, cancer and stroke) are all avoidable. If we got regular checkups or if we lived a better life (exercising, eating healthy) we would live longer. The implication is that if we took better care of ourselves we'd never die. That of course is completely wrong. 

We (rather they) die of what they die of. We are born to die. In today's climate of rising health costs and rising unemployment the conversations are now about finally doing something about our growing under and uninsured. Failing to address this rising tide will only continue to depress any economic or social growth that a President of Hope might create. In the shadow of a now pandemic (the "swine flu"), failing to protect the most vunerable appears suicidal.

It's not a question of finally doing something, the question is and always was what, how much and when. Both Roosevelts, Calvin Coolidge, Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Carter and Clinton all have tried tackling the same problem with the same belief health care for all citizens. I mistakenly believed that this was a new concern.