My main health concern is cancer. Cancer is one of the scariest illnesses there is because there is usually no cure for it, and it can spread quickly throughout the body before anyone even knows they have anything wrong. There are treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation that may shrink the tumors or keep them from spreading, but those don't always work. Cancer is prominent in my family but not just one kind in particular. My grandfather had a cancerous tumor removed from his colon. My uncle passed away in his early thirties from pancreatic cancer, and my grandmother died from bone cancer.
I talked with two of my coworkers about their health concerns. One of them is very young and was only married a few years when her husband was diagnosed and died from stage 4 lung cancer. She was shocked as he had never smoked a day in his life. She agrees with me that supporting cancer research for finding a cure is critical. My other coworker was concerned about something different. She does general ultrasound for a living and frequently scans pregnant women. She sees a lot of young pregnant women who are malnourished because they can't afford proper nutrition. They also do not receive proper medical attention while they are pregnant generally because they do not have insurance.
This just shows that all women do have different health concerns.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Jennifer,
ReplyDeleteIf researchers/medical experts ever find a cure for Cancer then as a nation we will have accomplished a major stepping stone. It will help a lot of our loved ones to live even longer. I mainly wanted to address the lack of health insurance among Americans. Our economy has taken such a turn for the worse that even when we have programs such as Medicaid or even Medicare, those insurance companies are still restrictive as to what procedures they want to pay for. Working for a county hospital were we offer a discount insurance program, we still don't cover a lot of things such as vision services or certain dental procedures. However there is a benefit for pregnant women on our program because they can be seen without a copayment on most of their procedures and that we have a exceptional coverage for our cancer patients. My hope is that eventually legislators can somehow push the health care reform to were it can service all Americans.
Cancer is a major health concern and I am thankful it does not run in my family; as far as I know. I think what is so devastating is that the current treatments kill both good cells and cancer cells. I read recently about a man who had stage 4 melanoma and decided to undergo immunotherapy; they cloned his own cancer fighting cells and then introduced them to his body. He has been cancer free for a few years now. I guess ultimately it would depend on the type of cancer and the aggressiveness.
ReplyDeleteI completely understand why your main health concern is cancer. For a second, I thought I was reading my own blog. My grandmother was diagnosed with Colon Cancer three years ago .Prior to her diagnosis, I could have sworn colon cancer was something only seen in males. I now know the extent of damage cancer can cause on any human regardless of age, sex, race, marital status. I'm grateful by grandmother is still with us as she is now a cancer survivor.
ReplyDeleteI too am concerned with the ever rising costs of healthcare. As you mentioned, you get what you pay for, and unfortunatley that is leaving many Americans in failing health.
ReplyDelete