Julie Pippert: Using My Words

Foreword: I'm not a medical person, or any kind of expert. This post shouldn't be taken as God's word carved in stone by Moses. In other words, don't consider it to be any kind of authority or use it to treat, diagnose, or select medications. Do your own research and talk to your doctor, an actual expert, who, you know, went to medical school and stuff. This post is merely my best understanding of cancer and cancer treatment and prevention, as related to our situation, based on what I've learned from reading and talking to doctors. Author's Note: If you aren't interested in the cancer discussion and the things I learned, and only want to know the outcome of our appointment with the oncologist yesterday, skip to the end. I've divvied this up by sections, so go to the last section. What would you do if one day a postcard arrived in the mail to warn you that sometime in the next three years you would be diagnosed with cancer? Would you believe it? Change an...

That Thing That Shall Not Be Discussed: It has been a rough week for me this week. I anticipated it would be, because the signs pointed that way. I knew it would be a week of tweaking my drug regimen to control symptoms, and it has been. I knew it would be hard to keep up with life's demands as I tried to care for myself, and it has been. I knew I'd get down and tired, and I have been. I started a new medication and it seemed to be doing some good so I was really hoping this week wouldn't happen. But it did. I had to ask too much of my husband and kids, again, as I couldn't really fulfill my full role. I hate that most of all. I hate feeling let down by my regimen of meds. I hate feeling disheartened. I hate feeling like my life is a battle to not be seriously ill. I hate the way the physical problems affect my emotions. But. If I'm honest, on the new drug regimen I am much better than a month ago. Some of the worst symptoms didn't manifest. We are getting close...

Have you ever noticed that life tends to hand out lemons with the left hand and lemonade with the right hand? The lemons... Tuesday night, still reeling from the knowledge that our dog has cancer , I was laying in bed, my arms flung wide. You might imagine this was Drama Personified, but it wasn't. My lymph nodes were so swollen I couldn't put my arms down. "Great," I snuffled nasally to my husband, because my sinuses were burning and my eyes were running, "Next it will be the thyroid, and then I'll go to this awesome social media conference on Thursday looking like a runaway boa that swallowed a Bocce ball." He snorted at me in laughter, which was not the sympathy I was begging for, pitifully. "It will move up to the pituitary and then we'll all be sorry," I said threateningly and vengefully. He fast-forwarded through the American Idol auditions. I sniffed. He looked at me. I sniffed again. He sniffed. We looked at each other. And we flew...

Adenocarcinoma. This is a common form of colorectal cancer. From About.com Definition of Adenocarcinoma Let's break it down. "Adeno-" is a prefix that means "gland." In general, glands secrete things and are classified as endocrine or exocrine. Endocrine glands secrete things into the bloodstream, like hormones. Exocrine glands secrete things that go outside of the body, like mucus and sweat. A carcinoma is a malignant tumor that starts in epithelial tissue. Put the two words together and you get "adenocarcinoma," which means a malignant tumor in epithelial tissue, specifically in a gland. Cause of Adenocarcinoma Virtually all adenocarcinomas develop from adenomas. In general, the bigger the adenoma, the more likely it is to become cancerous. For example, polyps larger than two centimeters (about the diameter of a nickel) have a 30-50 percent chance of being cancerous. You can learn more about polyp size and colon cancer risk by viewing the Polyp Size...

Friday a.m. My dog began acting so oddly I was concerned enough to call the vet. They squeezed me in for the morning appointment and I called my friend to take Persistence, and completely dropped everything planned for the morning. HIGH: Haven't thought of one yet. LOW: Dog is sick and my day was shot. noon After a thorough examination by the vet, the dog is declared to have tumors and we get an immediate referral to a surgeon. HIGH: The location of the tumor gives a hopeful possibility that it is benign, or at least not the most aggressive cancer. The vet is highly entertained by my story about Fuqua (that's Few KWAY not fuck WA) Street confusion. He said that story beats his former non-native favorite which was Bexar (that's BEAR not BEX arr) County confusion. LOW: My doggie is sick. My doggie needs surgery. My doggie is uncomfortable. My beautiful chocolate only 7 years old Lab might have cancer. And we are going to have to schedule surgery, which probably costs as...

When I tell people that pollution made me sick, I get one of two reactions: absolute agreement or utter disbelief. I'm not sure why we’re so skeptical that we have a serious pollution problem in our country and that pollution is unhealthy. I think it’s an understandable disbelief, though; it’s the same disbelief we feel when people do terrible things to other people on purpose. But it happens, such as polluting our environment with harmful things---however inconvenient it might be to accept this. It's inconvenient to believe that the industry that makes Houston so prosperous is also the thing that is most harmful to it. It's inconvenient to believe that there are harmful pollutants in our air, water, soil, food, shampoo, cosmetics, and yes, even our children's toys. It's inconvenient to believe that these things---these everyday things---could seriously harm us and our children. But more than that, it's scary, so it's easier to turn our faces and hide from t...

Last week I announced today's Hump Day Hmm topic as: "Where I'd like to go next." This can be your personal goal, professional goal, cultural or societal goal, political goal...you get the picture. Just tell us something about how you'd like the future to be. Link back to me in your post, send me the link to your post at j pippert at g mail dot com and I'll add you in to the list! I had three or four other post ideas in mind in answer to that question, which strikes at so many things for me. But, in light of Monday's news , my words are sort of jumbled, unprocessed...a Chicka Chicka Boom Boom mess after falling down from the coconut tree. Two things are clear in my head, though. Clear Thing One: Silent Spring One commenter asked if I'd read Rachel Carson's Silent Spring . I have. A little known fact about me is that I aspire(d) to be an anthropologist. I figured this out a little too late, without enough confidence, after I stumbled into what woul...