Save the Boobies

Well if you looked at my last post and watched the video you might have some idea on what I want to talk about today.

Breast Cancer.

Yes, there you have it, I've said the dreaded "C" word and I'll say it again.

Cancer, Cancer, Cancer, Cancer.

OH NO I'M GOING TO DIE! I'VE SAID THE "C" WORD!!!!

Ok, well I'm not, and a niether will a very high percentage of women (AND MEN) if caugh early.

If you didn't catch the last post don't worry, here's the video again.






Now I know. Some people are going to say this video is sexist. Or they're going to say that it make light of a very serious condition that kills so many people. Or I can't believe they said Boobs. They're objectifying women and turning them into sex objects.

Dude, seriously, lighten up. We need some humor in this issue.

As a society we've turned cancer into a death sentence. Something that you are very lucky to survive. I swear the social stigmatism on people with cancer is worse that those that are depressed. At least the depressed person is just to lazy to do anything. The person with cancer on the other hand is a walking corpse to be pittied and avoided lest the cancer become cantagious.

We've turned this into such a serious condition that people are afraid to even do the proper screening. They would rather just not know.

This is quite frankly the dumbest possible thing you could ever do. Caught early, it's actually fairly easy to take care of. My mom went through it. It is stressful. It is scary. It was about 6 months of hell. That was from identifying the 1mm sized lump on a mammogram to the biopsy and removal of the lump. Afterward she went to some of the Breast Cancer survival group meetings. She didn't feel like one of them. The women had been living with it for years and lost a breast or two. My mom, had a small lump removed and no scar. Both her boobies are bouncing happily in her pool. (that really took a lot for me to say)

This is why I love that video. It puts a little humor into the situation. I have a shirt that's bright pink. On the front it says "Hands on Crew" and has a picture of two hands palms out. On the back it says "Squeeze a Boob Save a Life". Joking, but serious at the same time. A lot of breast cancer is detected by a significant other. What can I say. Guys like boobs. :-)

So overall the whole point of this post is to say. Add a little humor to the situation, let women know that Breast Cancer is not a death sentence. Do your self breast exam or let you bf/gf do it for you. I know I like to help my wife. :-) Go to your yearly Mammograms. If they see a spot get it checked out. Don't go into Ostrich mood and stick your head into the sand. Get it taken care of early and you'll most likely have to happy bouncing boobies instead of one or none.



*disclaimer: I'm not a doctor. I'm a nursing student and male. I'm not here to diagnose you. I'm not here to say that it isn't a serious condition. Quite the opposit. It is, it needs to be taken care of. Don't be stupid. :-)

Moe's Backroom Amber Ale

Well, went out and picked up some Tap Room no. 21 Moe's Backroom Amber Ale. That was the beer i was talking about in the last post.

Dang Tigers lost. Wings too. Ah well.

Watched Leno. Have something to talk about later. Thought about it many times. Good month for me to discuss it too.

For your teaser though. Watch this.

First, the beer.

Nothing tonight, maybe some Labatt if i can find any. I think i drank it all. Tomarrow though, I'm going to Lansing with my Mom and her friends to watch the U of M vs. MSU rivalry game. They picked me up some Tap Room 21 Moe's back room Lager. I must admit this is one of my favorites. It has a very smooth creamy flavor. It's a red which means some nice flavor but not heavy like Guienness.

So, now that i got the important stuff out of the way, let's chat about what's been on my mind. This is of course nursing. My whole world revolves around nursing and the medical world. I swear i'm having nightmares of swollen lymph nodes chasing me and popping in my face. *shudders*

The other nightmare that i have is this H1N1 type A influenza. (AKA Swine Flu) The nightmare isn't that me or my kids might catch the dreaded pandemic, it's hearing about all the over blown reactions to it. School closings so that hopefully those that are sick get better with out infecting others. Parents keeping their kids home if they find out one person has it for fear that the little snotter will get it and die. To be honest I did hear about one school that closed down in an intelligent way. They picked a 3 day weekend and turned it into a 5 day weekend. Theory behind this was that those that were sick and just infected would go through the stages of illness and return with out being contagious. It was a sound theory passed on the science of illness and was only done because a vast majority of the school was abscent any way because of the flu.

Unfortuently the whole death angle on the swine flu has got a lot of parents soiling there undies. Guess what though, in any given year about 36,000 people die from flu-related causes. ( 1 CDC ) That's not just the swine flu or the bird flu it's all the varieties of the flu out there.

The flu is a very adaptive and highly contagious virus. It affects the elderly and young children the most. This is the population that has the most deaths. The thing that most people don't understand is that by young children we're mostly talking about the under 5 population. You know, the ones that aren't in school.

The most effective way to stop the transmission of the flu is proper hand washing. In nursing we actually have a test on hand washing. This is how important we feel it is.

You wash for at least 15 secounds. Count it out. It's a long time. Also one of my classmates told us that studies show the dominant thumb gets missed. So rember that when you're washing you hands after you change that dirty diaper. If you don't do it right you might be eating recycled baby food.

Ok, now that i've gone off on that tangent lets talk about why we're freaking out about this swine flu. I really can't completely blame the media. For the most part the dumb. They're a mob that spouts what ever it hears as fact.

I blame the medical community itself. We as nurses are taught to teach and promote wellness in the community. That is where the problem is, we've educated the people to a point where they know to be afraid.

We all know that nursing students and those going to be doctors go threw a period in their education where they and everyone around the is dying or has some incurable disease. We've learned so much about disease process and the signs and symptoms, we just haven't learned when to actually be worried and when it's just a normal process that will cure itself.

Well, we've currently got the average joe educated enough that when he reads a study and sees flu causes death he believes that's everyone including him. He doesn't know the language used in medical studies and misinterprets them.

It's like showing a kid a knife and saying this is really sharp, it will cut you. Then handing it to them and expecting them to use it safely. Most likely they're going to drop it and never use one at all and then hide from knives for the rest of their lives.


Ok, done rambling now.
Just remember, wash your hands.