On Healthcare and Modern Medicine

I think I've had a fever for five or six days now, but it's finally broken and I notice a minor improvement in how I feel. Nevertheless, I'm not up for conceptualizing, planning and writing a forceful, detailed commentary on modern medicine and health care. But I do want to say how amazing I think modern medicine is, and how lucky I feel to live in an age where even something like antibiotics are now taken for granted. Beats the heck out of dying from infection.

I do, however, wish that this country (USA) had a more humane and less barbaric approach to the needs of its citizens though, with respect to health care. I definitely believe we're individually responsible to maintain to the best of our abilities our bodies - so people who drink and smoke and eat to excess and abuse their organism and then expect the state to fix them up at its expense are assholes. But there should be some universal access to both preventative medicine and acute care. That seems to me like a fundamental human right. I'm not talking about the right to have massively-expensive end-of-life surgeries that prolong one's bed-ridden existence by three months at the cost of three-hundred-thousand dollars. Rather, I'm talking about being able to go to the doctor when you have a sore throat and you need antibiotics because you have an infection.

The fact that we have so many millions of Americans who are hard-working and yet uninsured is profoundly disturbing. What incentive, especially in a stagnant, depressed, or contracting economy, does business/capital have to offer health care benefits as an incentive to labor when there's a surplus of workers throttling each other to secure a position? None, of course. And should it even be the business of business to insure the health of its workers? I don't think so. Whatever the best way forward is, it's not what we have right now.

"And that is, the dope can be addictive..."

"Hi. My name is Robot, and I am an alcoholic. Fortunately, for me, I’ve been able to stay sober for the past seventeen years, much of that time with the help of a bicycle and the myriad benefits that particular piece of machinery bestows upon its frequent users.

I bring up my alcoholism to make a point about doping that I think escapes most who would judge a young rider harshly for straying down the garden path of EPO, CERA, Ozone, transfusions and testosterone trickery.

And that is, the dope can be addictive..." Read more at Red Kite Prayer.

Rhabdomyosarcoma - Cancer in Kids - My Friend's Son Has It (frown)

Much to my dismay, I just found out that the son of a friend and fellow cyclist is suffering from the childhood cancer Rhabdomyosarcoma. My dad died of liver cancer, and my mom survived her own bout with the "C", so I know the devastation that this disease can cause. To protect his privacy, I won't publish my friend's name or that of his son, but if you'd still be willing to send some positive energy to "The Son of the Friend of Joe's who has Cancer," it would be greatly appreciated.There's nothing like Childhood Cancer to make one's own personal problems seem small by comparison, eh?

[Ed. Pause while readers send positive energy.]

OK! Having sent your positive energy, and with a new perspective on life (thankful for what you have, right?) you now want to know what is Rhabdomyosarcoma? Well, according to the Internet:

Rhabdomyosarcoma is a fast-growing, highly malignant tumor which accounts for over half of the soft tissue sarcomas in children. Less frequently, other soft tissue sarcomas are found in children: fibrosarcoma, mesenchymoma, synovial sarcoma, and liposarcoma.

Rhabdomyosarcoma often causes a noticeable lump on a child's body. If the tumor is located internally, the symptoms depend on its location. For example, tumors in the nasal passage may put pressure on the eustachian tubes; a bladder tumor can cause trouble urinating; an orbital tumor may cause the eye to protrude.

About Rhabdomyosarcoma

Rhabdomyosarcoma tumors arise from a cell called a "rhabdomyoblast", which is a primitive muscle cell. Instead of differentiating into striated muscle cells, the rhabdomyoblasts grow out of control. Since this type of muscle is located throughout the body, the tumors can appear at numerous locations. The four major sites in which rhabdomyosarcoma is found are:

* head and neck; around the eyes -- 35-40%
* genitourinary tract -- 20%
* extremities -- 15-20%
* trunk (chest and lungs) -- 10-15%

Depending on the "histology" of the cells (how they look under a microscope), the tumors are classified as one of the following:

Embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma. Most common type, usually found in children under 15 and in the head and neck region and genitourinary tract.

Botryoid type. A variant of the embryonal type; the tumor arises as a grape-like lesion in mucosal-lined hollow organs such as the vagina and urinary bladder.

Alveolar type. A more aggressive tumor which usually involves the muscles of the extremities or trunk.

Pleomorphic type. Usually seen in adults and arises in muscles of the extremities.

Embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma is considered the most treatable form of the disease. The prognosis is also affected by the location of the primary tumor. Orbital and genitourinary track rhabdomyosarcomas have a better prognosis than do tumors which originate in the head and neck, extremity, pelvic, and trunk locations.

Prognosis also depends on the stage of the tumor. The Intergroup Rhabdomyosarcoma Study Group has defined a set of guidelines, which assign the tumor to groups 1-4 depending on the extent of the disease. For more information, see the PDQ on the staging of rhabdomyosarcoma.

Treatment

Rhabdomyosarcoma is treated by a combination of surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation.

Surgery. Resection (removal) of the primary tumor. If necessary after chemotherapy or radiation has shrunk the tumor.

Chemotherapy. The following chemotherapy agents are commonly used: vincristine, cyclophosphamide, dactinomycin, adriamycin, ifosfamide, VP-16.

Radiation. External beam radiation is used in some cases of rhabdomyosarcoma.

Statistics

• Accounts for 5-8% of childhood cancers.
• 70% of all rhabdomyosarcoma cases diagnosed in the first ten years of life.
• Usually affects children the ages of 2 to 6 and 15 to 19.
• The peak incidence in 1-5 age group.
• Overall, 50% of the children diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma survive 5 years.