ENCORE #172! – “What Would Men Like Better: Bigger Boobs Or Nicer Hair?” vs “What if I don’t have either one?”

From the first moment my wife discovered she had breast cancer in March of 2011, there was a deafening silence from the men I knew. Even ones whose wives, mothers or girlfriends had breast cancer seemed to have received a gag order from some Central Cancer Command and did little more than mumble about the experience. Not one to shut up for any known reason, I started this blog…That was four years ago – as time passed, people searching for answers stumbled across my blog and checked out what I had to say. The following entry first appeared in August 2011…

From the first moment my wife discovered she had breast cancer, there was a deafening silence from the men I know. Even ones whose wives, mothers or girlfriends had breast cancer seemed to have received a gag order from some Central Cancer Command and did little more than mumble about the experience. Not one to shut up for any known reason, I started this blog…That was four years ago – as time passed, people searching for answers stumbled across my blog and checked out what I had to say. The following entry appeared in August of 2011.

My wife was watching TV during one of her after-chemo days, when some daytime TV jabber show popped on. I don’t know which show it was (she didn’t say), but subject of discussion was the question above: What would men like better: bigger boobs or nicer hair?”

Now don’t get me wrong, television always goes for the spectacular, often ignoring truth or reality. I KNOW they were trying to get a rise out of the audience, increase ratings and sell Lexuses and tampons. I KNOW they think they’re being cute, creative, and provocative.

This time they ended up being hurtful and in bad taste – I mean “plumber’s butt crack with a bad case of gas” bad taste. And not just hurting feelings, attacking 1 in 8 women in the US (the number who will be diagnosed with breast cancer some time in their lives) or 2.5 MILLION women (who are breast cancer survivors.)

Not only that, it intentionally and maliciously attacks males as being too shallow to see anything beyond boobs and hair – when the simple fact is that most men DO see past boobs and hair.

It’s sadly humorous that were this show to target any other group of people, the American Civil Liberties Union and various other watchdog groups would be all over them.

But because it is attempting to make women with breast cancer who have had their breasts disfigured with lumpectomies; who have had one or both breasts removed by mastectomies; who have lost their hair through chemotherapy or radiation treatments – feel worse about themselves than they already do (and men to feel shallow and self-centered with absolutely no hope of changing) – the show is okey-dokey with its producers, advertisers and media executives (not to mention the show hosts and audience members).

My question then, is this: “What the heck kind of world do we live in?”

I guess the obvious answer is this: “One that doesn’t give a rodent’s waste end about viciously attacking vulnerable people.”

Harrumph…yeah, I’m struggling.

Have a nice day.

Image: https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5527/10893068965_1d328e8f71_b.jpg

RELATED MEDICAL ISSUES RIGHT NOW! #4: Breast Cancer and the Global Pandemic…

From the first moment my wife discovered she had breast cancer, there was a deafening silence from the men I know. Even ones whose wives, mothers or girlfriends had breast cancer seemed to have received a gag order from some Central Cancer Command and did little more than mumble about the experience. Not one to shut up for any known reason, I started this blog…

From the first moment I discovered my dad had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, it seemed like I was alone in this ugly place. Even ones who had loved ones suffering in this way; even though people TALKED about the disease, it felt for me like they did little more than mumble about the experience. Not one to shut up for any known reason, I added a section to this blog…

The immediate crisis that was Breast Cancer and Alzheimer’s have passed. There are, however ancillary issues like testing and treatments that may not be directly related to BC or A but intersect with them. Harvested from different websites, journals and podcasts, I’ll translate them into understandable English and share them with you. Today: “Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Breast Cancer Mortality in the US”

We all know that the pandemic, through the twin incidence of overflowing hospitals and lockdowns, had an impact on the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer.

But how MUCH of an impact? According to the article, “[We expect that there will be] 2487 excess breast cancer deaths…([an] increase over breast cancer deaths expected) by 2030 in the absence of the pandemic’s disruptions.”

Twenty-five hundred people doesn’t…seem…like a lot over a ten year period. Statistically, it’s a bit more than a half-percent increase (“0.52% (model range = 0.36%-0.56%”).

In the study, “Each model estimated the effect of COVID-19 disruptions on breast cancer deaths among all women aged 30 to 84 years between 2020 and 2030 in the United States.” The scenarios they looked at range from NO COVID19 all the way to “Hybrid delayed and skipped screening and delayed diagnosis and reduced chemotherapy treatment” – which is to say a person skipped BC screening because they just didn’t think it was safe to go out AND when they were screened, they delayed getting diagnosed AND once they were, they had a shorter than average chemotherapy treatment.

This seems like a bunch of unlikely events all piled on top of each other, but I can (and I imagine you can as well) imagine EXACTLY this scenario happening to someone we know or love.

Another study found that “Patients were more likely to be diagnosed with late-stage breast cancer [during relaxed mandates that opened various businesses and services]. Patients with lower income and medical comorbidities were disproportionately affected. These data raise significant concerns regarding the impact of [COVID19] on cancer diagnoses and long-term outcomes, especially in vulnerable patient populations.”

Also, mammography screening has seen a negative impact, “Our radiology department is going to be slammed just catching up with routine mammography screening. Patients who have been waiting for cancer surgery for 2-4 months are not going to want to wait any longer than needed if they have to go and be localized prior to surgery.”

From screening to diagnosis to surgery to chemotherapy, COVID19 has changed how quickly breast cancer can be treated. It has changed how patients can come to the hospital and it has changed because now, an already stressful situation is made doubly so by COVID concerns – both in patients and doctors.

Looking at the number of people expected to die from breast cancer – who would NOT have died if there had been no pandemic – over a ten year period is about 2500. Current numbers for 2021: The American Cancer Society's estimates for breast cancer in the United States for 2021 are: about 281,550 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed; 49,290 new cases of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS); and ultimately, about 43,600 women will die from breast cancer in 2021.

Without any kind of change then, some 436,000 women are expected to die from breast cancer between 2020-2030. An additional 2500 women will die as well.

But, living in Minnesota right now, we find ourselves with increasing numbers of infections. In fact, the “now” report from data tracked by Johns Hopkins reports that, “COVID-19 cases up in 29 states, down in 18, flat in 3”. I wonder if the estimate of the increase in deaths due to breast cancer was perhaps too optimistic. Did they notice that the Spanish Flu Epidemic which lasted from February 1918 through April of 1920 continued to affect the planet for over two YEARS? The population at that time wasn’t even two billion; there was virtually NO international travel, and people pretty much died where they lived; except for the soldiers who were the main vector for the flu. With a current population well over SEVEN billion we might well expect the pandemic to last THREE AND A HALF TIMES AS LONG AS the first modern pandemic – or something like EIGHT YEARS…

Dark? Grim? Yep. I sure hope someone smarter than me has got plans in place, because 3.5 x 2500 = 8750…

Resources: https://academic.oup.com/jnci/article/113/11/1484/6319940, https://ascopubs.org/doi/abs/10.1200/JCO.2021.39.15_suppl.528, https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/public-health/17-states-with-rising-covid-19-cases.html
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ENCORE #171! – “Thanks For Your…um…Support”

From the first moment my wife discovered she had breast cancer in March of 2011, there was a deafening silence from the men I knew. Even ones whose wives, mothers or girlfriends had breast cancer seemed to have received a gag order from some Central Cancer Command and did little more than mumble about the experience. Not one to shut up for any known reason, I started this blog…That was four years ago – as time passed, people searching for answers stumbled across my blog and checked out what I had to say. The following entry first appeared in July, 2011.

One of the things I’ve noticed in this ordeal is that huge expectations have been laid on caregivers.

We are to support our women. The doctors, nurses, families and well, everyone, expects it.

Of COURSE I do that with all my strength, heart and spirit! I love my wife! I am pulling for her, cheering for her, weeping with her, listening to her. I am as there as I can be.

Others cast their support as well from intimate family and friends to people she hasn’t heard from in years, all the way to ones with whom she parted ways less-than-happily. People who follow and comment on her Caringbridge blog (http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/lizstewart1) are legion.

My question then – and still is – where’s my support?

Of course people support me! Right? OK, to be honest, I was sorta expecting a bit more. Maybe a couple of pats on the back, a chuck under the chin and few words of, “Wow, must be tough for ya, eh?”

That was my expectation. The reality is more like an avoidance reaction. For example, one of the men at school has a wife who is going through breast cancer. They have younger children, so a greater burden has fallen on him than on me with one kid out of the house living his own life and then other starting her third year of college.

But I sorta expected a bit more camaraderie when he told me about it through his email response to my announcement. Instead, we avoid each other and never say a word about breast cancer. Some of the women at school ask about my wife. Lots of them. Many of them. Our church supports her and people ask about her all the time.

But the people I get to thank for their support?

Crickets chirping in the auditorium as I speak into the microphone, “Thank you for your support.

Image: https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5527/10893068965_1d328e8f71_b.jpg

ALZHEIMER’S RESEARCH RIGHT NOW! #16: The Cause of Alzheimer’s Progression Isn’t What They Thought It Was…SURPRISE!!!

From the first moment I discovered my dad had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, it seemed like I was alone in this ugly place. Even ones who had loved ones suffering in this way; even though people TALKED about the disease, it felt for me like they did little more than mumble about the experience. Not one to shut up for any known reason, I added a section to this blog…

Every month, I’ll be highlighting Alzheimer’s research that is going on RIGHT NOW! Harvested from different websites, journals and podcasts, I’ll translate them into understandable English and share them with you. Today: Plaques and Tangles...NOT what we thought!

Sometimes I think the Human species, in particular the one that lives in the United States, thinks it knows everything. Boss Nass says in Star Wars: Episode One has a similar opinion regarding the Naboo, the Humans who share the world with them. He said to Princess Amidala, “The Naboo think they are so smarty. They think their brains so big.”

We’ve found out that we don’t REALLY know as much as we thought we did. After we “took care of COVID19”, we discovered that things we never even thought about were affected by a cascade of troubles whose root is the pandemic. For example, it’s doubtful that in the summer of 2020 anyone even thought about food and product SHORTAGES (except for sterilizing wipes and toilet paper!), yet here we are, images of countless cargo container ships sitting idle while we go shopping and find empty shelves…

Why would we be surprised that scientists and doctors singing the praises of cures that take care of Alzheimer’s “plaques and tangles” and that all we have to do is find a pill that, when popped, would make the plaques and tangles for “POOF!”.

And here we are; at least two “wonder cures” for Alzheimer’s a lost cause…“For the first time, researchers have used human data to quantify the speed of different processes that lead to Alzheimer’s disease and found that it develops in a very different way than previously thought.”

Huh…how long have they been really trying to find a cure?

“Alzheimer's disease was first described in 1906. In the century since then, scientists have made remarkable strides in understanding how Alzheimer's affects the brain and learning how to make life better for affected individuals and families. Below are some important milestones in our progress, including the founding of the Alzheimer's Association in 1980, which has played a key role in advancing research and raising awareness of the disease.”

Where the previous treatments targeted the proteins found in plaques and tangles, this new data finds that instead of SPREADING from one place in the brain, the proteins start all over the brain and grow individually…

“‘The thinking had been that Alzheimer’s develops in a way that’s similar to many cancers: the aggregates form in one region and then spread through the brain,’ said Dr Georg Meisl from Cambridge’s Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry, the paper’s first author. ‘But instead, we found that when Alzheimer’s starts there are already aggregates in multiple regions of the brain, and so trying to stop the spread between regions will do little to slow the disease.’”

As you can imagine, we seemed to have been blindsided by our battle against cancer – because that’s how cancers grow. A cancerous lump in the breast “leaks” cancer cells, which pass through the bloodstream and “take root” elsewhere in the body – the technical term is that the cancer “metastasizes”.

Of course, Alzheimer treatments are created that tackle the problem as if it were a cancer…

But that’s apparently not how Alzheimer’s works. “In AD, tau and another protein called amyloid-beta build up into tangles and plaques – known collectively as aggregates. Brain cells die off because of the interaction with the invasive proteins, and the brain begins to shrink. This results in memory loss, personality changes and difficulty carrying out daily functions.”

At this early stage, there’s nothing to be “done”, but unlike cancers, autoimmune diseases, such a Rheumatoid Arthritis and Multiple Sclerosis, can start in different places of the body; different joints or body systems for example.

While doctors still don’t have RH and MS “under control”, perhaps further research will show that treatments for autoimmune diseases will provide insight in to developing new treatments for Alzheimer’s.

Resources: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/10/211029152240.htm, https://www.alz.org/alzheimers-dementia/research_progress/milestones

Image: https://www.meduniwien.ac.at/web/fileadmin/_processed_/e/1/csm_shutterstock_142671010_4683b6bf13.jpg