Cold Blooded

I sat in the oncologist’s waiting room and stared at cold-blooded fish that circled in the fish tank. Like sharks who wait patiently for the kill. There will be a kill today. At 10 AM.

The cold frosted glass door opened. The receptionist asked if there have been any change of address or health insurance since my last visit.

No was my reply.

Two more minutes passed. The fish stared at me as I stared back. The nurse opened the door, announced my name, I followed her to the tiny treatment room. A chill was in the air. Chemo treatment rooms are never warm.

I sat in cold fake leather chair. I covered my lap with a tiny blue flannel blanket. The same blankets the stingy airlines offer their cold customers. I draped one blanket around my legs and tried to cover my chest with another baby blanket. The artic air conditioning cooled the room. Baby blankets tried to keep me warm. They failed.

The busy nurse looked drained of life from this job. Just another patient getting chemo. Her icy fingers found a vein. She inserted a cold needle into my body. She taped the tube to my arm and hung a clear bag of saline solution over my head.

A hot-blooded man began to chill.

Ten minutes passed. I looked at the plastic bag over my head. Empty. Nurse returned with a brand new bag of the old chemo (A cocktail that has been so effective for so many years!). The nurse removed the empty bag of saline and plugged in my cold cancer cocktail.

I sat in the chair motionless. I watched chemo float through the clear tube to the needle in my arm. The chemo crept up my arm slowly. Arm began to freeze. The chemo cocktail circulated my carcass. The chemo entered my heart. Cold chemo cocktail was pumped thru my entire body. Cold chemo killed some cancer cells. Cold chemo cocktail killed some of my brain cells too. I think. Can’t really remember that part I was cold and numb.

Drip, drip, drip.

The chemo bag emptied poison into my cold dying body. I sat helpless in a chair.

My body went cold. I began to shiver. Whenever I get cold I feel like I am dying. Parts of my body were dying during chemo.

Sixty minutes later the nurse inspected the bag with fingers covered with plastic gloves.

You are done Mr. Beckstein.

The nurse held my elbow with polar paws. She pulled the cold needle out of my vein. I held the white round cotton ball over my leaking vein. The efficient nurse wrapped eight inches of adhesive tape over the fat cotton ball and around my elbow. Not much hair left inside my arm anymore.

“Do you think you can stand up? She asked.

Yes.

I will find your friend to take you home Mr. Beckstein.

Thanks

I slowly shuffled out of the cold chemo treatment room.

I hate the cold.

Finding Your Best Diet

Finding Your Best Diet

The limited research on popular weight-loss plans drives home two messages: (1) weight loss is hard, and (2) finding the optimal diet for you as an individual is the only way to succeed. Here is some common-sense advice on how to choose a diet that suits you.

Long-term weight control is based on changing your eating patterns (and your physical activity habits) for a lifetime. Anyone can go on a diet for a couple of weeks, or even a couple of months, but those who lose weight and keep it off adopt a diet plan they can sustain (with some calorie adjustments) for years. Here, then, are some tips on how to choose a diet that suits you:

Do a self-assessment.

Most overweight people eat out of habit and in response to emotions rather than because they’re hungry. To learn what leads you to overeat, observe your usual diet for a week: Keep track of what you eat, when and where you eat, who you’re with when you eat, and how you’re feeling when you eat. Also make note of your portion sizes (many overweight people eat larger portions and more calories than they think).

This process will give you an idea of your trouble spots and help you decide what diet plan will work best for you. For example, if your portion sizes are too large, you might find that a diet program that provides prepackaged or prepared meals, because you won’t need to make decisions about portion size.

If you are an emotional eater, a diet plan that offers counseling or support groups might be best for helping you cope with the emotional issues that are driving you to overeat.

Find a diet that fits your personality and lifestyle.

You might be the type of person who is most comfortable with a diet that provides daily menus and recipes -- or you might prefer a plan that offers lists of foods from which you can pick and choose (or even provides prepackaged foods). You might require a diet plan that addresses some of your health concerns -- the need to lower your sodium, cholesterol, or fat intake -- or allows you to eat meals away from home because you travel a lot.

Choose a diet that is well balanced.

Trendy diets such as the Atkins plan may produce quick weight loss, but they don’t offer the full complement of vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients your body needs to stay healthy -- and they typically lead to weight regain when you go off the diet. These diets are also hard to stay on for the long term because they strictly limit the types of foods you can eat. The best strategy is to go on a calorie-controlled diet plan that includes all of the food groups and doesn’t deprive you of your favorite foods.

Posted in Nutrition and Weight Control on May 28, 2008

Lifetime Probability of Developing Colon Cancer

There will be an estimated 108,070 new cases of Colon Cancer in the USA in 2008. The lifetime probability of developing Colon Cancer for women is 1 in 19 ; for men 1 in 18.

Colon Cancer is highly preventable when patients are regularly checked and screened via colonoscopy. For years there was only one drug to treat this cancer. Now there are five.

The five year survival rates have increased to 65 percent, but when localized colon cancer is detected early and treated surgically, the survival rate is 95 percent.

Source : May 2008 AARP Bulletin page 13

Dietary Factors and the Development Of Colon Cancer

Colon cancer is one of the most common malignancies in Western countries: both men and women face a lifetime risk of nearly 6% for the development of invasive colorectal cancer. Epidemiologic studies have shown that several dietary factors contribute to the development of Colon Cancer,

• high fat,
  
• red-meat ,
  
• obesity
  
• lack of vegetables
  
• lack of fiber in the diet.
  

In the great majority of cases, colorectal cancer arises from an initially benign overgrowth of colonic lining, a so-called adenomatous polyp which acquires with time harmful mutations and transforms into a dangerous colonic carcinoma. Observational studies suggest that the adenoma-to-carcinoma sequence takes up to 10 years. Although nearly half of Western population may harbor adenomatous polyps by the age of 50, it is estimated that only a few percent of adenomas will progress to cancer.

Adapted from materials provided by University of Helsinki, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.University of Helsinki (2008, May 7). Discovery Of A Novel Mechanism For The Development Of Colon Cancer. ScienceDaily. Retrieved May 12, 2008, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2008/05/080505125625.htm