Big words to be translated

I find inspiration for blog posts everywhere. I keep open tabs  in my browser holding stories for me to write about. Sometimes I get a little backlog - like right now. I have a backlog and the problem or the source of the back log is ... drum roll.... big words. I don't feel like deciphering them and figuring out if they have content to be worthy of a blog post.

I have a Business wire story on the the first test to diagnose fibromyalgia:

• "First Test to Objectively Diagnose Fibromyalgia Now Available - New Peer-Reviewed Research Identifies Diagnostic Biomarkers for Fibromyalgia SANTA MONICA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--A recent peer-reviewed study, published in BMC Clinical Pathology,^[1] reveals a medical breakthrough discovering multiple biomarkers based upon highly sensitive and reproducible medical investigations. Conducted by the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Chicago (UIC) and EpicGenetics, a privately-held biomedical company, the research has led to the development of The FM/a^® Test (www.thefmtest.com), the first test to objectively diagnose fibromyalgia."
  

The important thing here is that there never has been a real test. But look at those big words!

• 'Drug holidays' beat cancer drug resistance in mice -
  Introducing medication-free spells to some cancer treatments may keep patients alive for longer, studies in mice with skin cancer suggest.
  The animals had melanoma, which can rapidly become resistant to treatments.
  However, a study in the journal Nature showed tumours also became dependent on the drug to survive. Withdrawing treatment caused tumours to shrink.

I would be happy to have a drug holiday every once in a while. I mean am I building up a resistance to some of the medications I am on? Or do the days count when I just forget my pills (oops)? And then the article goes on with lots of big words!

• Skin cancer 'able to fight off body's immune system'
  A deadly form of skin cancer is able to fend off the body's immune system, UK researchers have found.
  Analysis of tumour and blood samples shows that melanoma knocks out the body's best immune defence.
  Potential test could work out which patients are likely to respond to treatment, the Journal of Clinical Investigation reports.
  Cancer Research UK said the body's response was a "complex puzzle".

So they discover treatment and then they find out it doesn't work for everyone.  Great. More research is needed, don't you think?

• Key Enzyme Missing from Triple-negative breast cancer
  Key Enzyme Missing from Aggressive Form of Breast Cancer, Groundbreaking Study Shows
  Feb. 28, 2013 — A groundbreaking new study led by the University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center's Dr. Peter Zhou found that triple-negative breast cancer cells are missing a key enzyme that other cancer cells contain -- providing insight into potential therapeutic targets to treat the aggressive cancer. Zhou's study is unique in that his lab is the only one in the country to specifically study the metabolic process of triple-negative breast cancer cells.
  Normally, all cells -- including cancerous cells -- use glucose to initiate the process of making Adenosine-5'-triphosphate (ATP) for fuel to carry out essential functions. This process, called glycolysis, leads to other processes that use oxygen to make higher quantities of ATP -- but solid tumor cells, which have little access to oxygen, are forced to rely almost exclusively on aerobic glycolysis for survival.

 The next paragraph is a little deep:

• Zhou's study, published in Cancer Cell, showed that the powerful transcription factor complex Snail-G9a-Dnmt1 is over-expressed in triple-negative breast cancer, inhibiting the enzyme 1,6-bisphosphate (FBP1). The loss of this enzyme shuts down the glucose anabolic pathway and promotes the glucose catabolic pathway, leading to a large amount of glucose entering the tumor cells and thus "feeding" the aggressive cancer. This metabolic switch empowers the triple-negative breast cancer cells to suck more glucose from the body, increasing macromolecule biosynthesis in tumor cells and maintaining ATP production despite a dearth of nutrients and an oxygen-free environment.

Way too many big words! But behind it is some very interesting news.

• Early rheumatoid arthritis and resolving fibroblasts segregate according to Dickkopf related protein 1 expression
  Dickkopf related protein 1 (DKK1) has been proposed as the master regulator of joint remodelling. This Wnt signalling pathway inhibitor is involved in osteoblast growth and differentiation. In rheumatoid arthritis, increased DKK1 plasma levels correlate with inflammation and bone erosions. Furthermore, patients with rheumatoid arthritis who carry genetic variants in the DKK1 gene have higher serum DKK1 levels and more progressive joint destruction, suggesting a fundamental role for DKK1 in rheumatoid arthritis. In the diseased joint, synovial fibroblasts are key mediators of bone and cartilage destruction via secretion of matrix metalloproteinases and regulation of monocyte to osteoclast differentiation. In this study we analysed whether DKK1 secretion might contribute to this effect. We hypothesised that synovial fibroblasts from patients with early rheumatoid arthritis would be characterised by high DKK1 expression compared with those from patients with resolving arthritis.

Too many big words but lots of great news here. I am leaving these articles to you, the readers, to decipher as I am taking a break from big words these days. Chemobrain/fibrofog or just plain pain and fatigue are allowing me to do this. And just plain old lack of inspiration.

Well they scared the crap out of us

When women are diagnosed with breast cancer, they are brainwashed scared into thinking that they will get lymphedema and  end up with an arm the size of an elephants. If they have an axillary node dissection where a dozen or more lymph nodes are removed in the hunt for evil cancer cooties, they are given a list of rules for the rest of their life:

• do these stupid wall climbing exercises to make sure your arm doesn't swell up
• never allow anyone to take your blood pressure or stick any needles in that arm 
• never carry a shoulder bag or any bag on that arm that might compromise your circulation
• never lift anything heavy
• never injure your arm or fall on it.
• at any signs of swelling, contact your doctor.

And these are for the rest of your life.

Now they come out with a study which says "Breast Cancer Patients’ Fear of Developing Lymphedema Far Exceeds Risk". Well they scared the crap out of this with the 'rules' they gave us.  I even had a special session with a nurse to review everything about lymphedema. 

I was fine for about a year and a half and fell on my arm. Now I wear a stupid sleeve when I work out. I can't have needles or blood pressure taken on my left side. If I wear a watch on my left wrist, no matter how loosely, my arm feels heavy and swollen for days after.
 
So maybe they scared me, but they were right. Crap.

Its about time

Finally, they have done enough research (because the researchers always need to be sure and there are plenty of them out there) to say that there is no connection between breast cancer and thyroid cancer.

For years there have been questions on this. Basically women are more likely to get both. Breast cancer is the most common woman's cancer (I think) and thyroid cancer is most common in young women and growing in incidence. Both are hormone (endocrine) related cancers so I guess it seemed they were connected.

Standard procedure has been for women with both to be tested for Cowden's syndrome which is a genetic condition that has both cancers are indicators. I was tested and I do not have it.

So basically this tells us that all medical research can be proven wrong over time. Can you name one thing that 'they' have not told us was good for us and now is bad or was bad for us and now is good? Which is why everything always needs more research.

Being decisive

I woke up this morning and think (so far) I am in a decisive mood. This doesn't always happen. I can waffle with the best of them. I have been doing a lot of that recently - waffling (but not eating waffles). I have been juggling some decisions recently and think I have finally decided its time to make up my mind.

Some decisions are not that big - changing our home owners insurance policy for example. Our old insurance company is just a pain in the neck to deal with so a change is needed.

Other ones will require some work - I really am going to lose weight - and won't happen overnight. I caught a glimpse of my flabby stomach this weekend and decided it really needs to go away. My problem is that there is limit to how much activity I can do before I have to take it easy for a few days to recover.

Still more decisions will require some confrontation - which I really detest - but in this case its needed. I am not ready to talk about that one yet, maybe I will later.

Unappreciation is taking its toll on me and I have to put an end to it. Its one thing to work as a team but another thing when the communication evaporates with no explanation. It makes one feel unwanted. When its chronic, it needs to end. I don't want anyone to think I'm leaving my husband or something because I'm not. He's stuck with me. Its a different issue completely.

I'm also going to clean the car and pick up the living room. Our downstairs bathroom is a construction zone again. The mess generated by construction gives me urges to clean other things up so there is one area I can be proactive. I can accomplish a lot in 30 minutes of dedicated cleaning. Besides cleaning will make me stop thinking about confrontation, and ailments, and flabbiness. But I can still be decisive.

After rereading this post, I decided I am being vague inmy decisiveness but that is what you get today.

PTSD and cancer diagnoses

I honestly do not believe they needed a study for this one but did so now they can say its true. A recent study examined women diagnosed with breast cancer from 2006-2010 and found that 23% reported PTSD symptoms shortly after diagnosis. This rate was higher for Black, Asian  or under 50 women and apparently the symptoms decline over time.

My comments (because I had to have an opinion) are that:

• I do not think it is isolated to breast cancer patients. I think its probably across all cancer diagnoses and they just have not done a study yet to prove it.
• I think the people who say they did not have PTSD were still stressed. A cancer diagnosis is not something you can bury inside you and not react. 
• Although the symptoms may fade over time, the person with the diagnosis has to learn to cope with the ongoing fears of cancer's return for life.

Ask anyone who has had a cancer diagnosis and talk to them about the stress of diagnosis and fear of recurrence or new diagnosis, and they can tell you without the need for a study. 

I am offended

After thinking about it, I have decided I am offended. Every morning the paper is delivered (yes we read the printed newspaper) and we fight over the comics. Usually I start with the front page and then once my husband has read the comics, he passes them to me.

We both read them regularly and are convinced there is an 'Arlo and Janice' camera in our house documenting our lives which are drawn into the cartoon. We usually snicker about different ones and tell each other which ones are particularly good.

Today I was disappointed by the Bizzarro cartoon. Of course I can't find it online to link here.

Essentially it is a one eyed woman in a bra store, being told that they only sell two cup bras there. I can see the humor in a cartoon woman with one eye and then one of everything else. But from a breast cancer point of view, I can feel the offense. Many women who had mastectomies and did not opt for reconstruction would be happy with a single cup bra.

I guess I think its insensitive and I choose to be offended.

The backstory

We have all see this video that went viral about six months ago. At the hematology clinic in a Seattle hospital, they rocked it out to Kelly Clarkson's "Stronger". There are all sorts of videos that go viral. But we usually never really know why they were made, who made them, or anything else. They are just a video we share and laugh at or with.

 

But this time I found out the backstory to this one. A hockey playing college student spent six months in chemo and helped make the first video.

I think knowing his story gives even more power to the video. We know the context that he was a patient as well and worked with the children in the hospital with him to make the video. There are some real smiles there. My favorite is the little boy with the missing front teeth.