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Mom Removes Daughter with Leukemia from Hospital

A mother has removed her eleven year old daughter from a hospital in Phoenix, Arizona. The child has leukemia. She also has a heart catheter in place, and could die if she doesn’t go back to the hospital soon. At the time I am writing this blog, police do not know where the child has been taken to. Leukemia is a serious condition. It is the cancer of the blood forming tissues in the body, including the bone marrow, and the lymphatic system. There are many types of leukemia, including some forms that are more common in children than in … Continue reading →

Risk Factors for Leukemia

Doctors often can’t explain why one person develops leukemia and another person does not. Research has pointed to certain risk factors that can increase a person’s chances of developing this cancer, even though the exact causes are still a mystery. Exposure to high levels of radiation. This includes people who have been exposed to nuclear power plant accidents and atomic bomb detonations. This also includes people who have been exposed to extremely high levels of radiation as part of a medical treatment. Most radiation used for diagnosis is a very low level and is not linked to leukemia. Exposure to … Continue reading →

EMFs and Safety

Call me dumb, but I just never stop to think about the electromagnetic fields (EMFs) around me. Yet these little invisible lines that come from power lines and electronic devices are all around us. Then there are the radio frequency EMFs emitted by wi-fi, baby monitors, routers, and cell phones. It seems like I always have at least one of those things, if not more, in constant reach. If that doesn’t cause enough concern, some believe that something as simple as a lamp plugged in but not on may be doing harm. Electric fields (V/M) occur even when something plugged … Continue reading →

What are Bleeding Disorders?

Blood clotting (also known as coagulation) is how the body controls bleeding — it changes blood from a liquid to a solid. Proteins in the blood work together to stop bleeding. But if a person is missing or lacking in certain proteins, they may have a bleeding disorder. The term “bleeding disorder” covers a wide range of problems that all have one result: poor clotting and prolonged bleeding. Your doctor may refer to a bleeding disorder as coagulopathy, abnormal bleeding, or clotting disorder. Other things can cause bleeding disorders besides clotting protein deficiency: Defects in the blood vessels Abnormalities in … Continue reading →

Dogs Helping to Refine Human Cancer Treatments

Approximately six million dogs are diagnosed with cancer each year. Companion animals with cancer can be used by researchers as models for human cancer, to help develop new treatments for man and animal alike. Comparative oncology isn’t a new idea. Dogs were used for testing bone marrow transplant techniques in the 1960s and 1970s. In the 1980s and 1990s, dogs were used to test limb-saving treatments for bone cancer. In 2003, the National Cancer Institute formally founded the Comparative Oncology Program, which aims to use pets to learn more about cancer — and to test and refine new therapies that … Continue reading →

Is Your Green Thumb Harming Your Preschooler?

Mommy, mommy, how does your garden grow? If you are one of the millions of parents around the world, who uses gardening as a means of escaping from the stress associated with raising young human beings, then you might want to brace yourself for some disturbing news: A new study found that children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) had a significantly greater likelihood of exposure to household pesticides compared with a control group. Translation: Parents of preschoolers, who use pesticides on their grass, in their gardens and around the house have a greater chance of developing cancer. According to the … Continue reading →

BrushTest

Have you seen the ads from the American Dental Association? A quick, easy test is now available that can detect unhealthy cells in the mouth long before they turn into oral cancer. Oral cancer is more common than you may think — it is about as common as leukemia (but seems to get less notice in the news). Oral cancer takes more lives than melanoma (skin cancer) or cervical cancer. Bad news — oral cancer is on the rise among women, young people, and non-smokers. More than a quarter of all oral cancers develop in people who DO NOT SMOKE … Continue reading →

What is Gingivitis?

Gingivitis is a mild form of gum disease — a bacterial infection of the tissues and bones that support the teeth. The gingiva is a fancy name for the gums; gum disease that spreads below the gum line is called periodontitis. Periodontitis is more severe, causing gums to recede and making teeth loose. Plaque in the mouth contains bacteria that can irritate the gums and cause tissue to break down. If you don’t remove plaque by brushing and flossing, plaque can spread below the gum line or harden into tartar on the surface of your teeth. Risk factors for gingivitis … Continue reading →

Cancer Drug can Cause Heart Failure

Novartis announced that Gleevec, a cancer drug they produce, could cause diminished hear function in some patients. This is tremendously important for cancer patients who also suffer from heart disease, or an unrelated heart condition. The active drug imatinib mesylate is used in two types of cancer: chronic myeloid leukemia and gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GIST). Patients with heart disease or a heart condition who need this drug can still take it, if no other alternatives are suggested by the doctor, however they have to be closely monitored for heart failure. It is not wise to discontinue the drug without talking … Continue reading →