Keeping the flu bug away!

Winter is a time that brings the flu bugs.  A healthy diet with lots of fruits and vegetables is very important, along with lots of water to help flush our bodies of its impurities.  This can be tricky, but we can make sure we help our children by giving them what they need......good vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.  Like the old saying, "an apple a day keeps the Doctor away." 
Shakleekid's Incredivites - It is a vitamin loaded with 23 essential vitamins and minerals, vitamin Dand lactoferrin.  Lactoferrin helps build the immune system in children.  The vitamin D helps to support strong bones and teeth, a necessity for our children.  Now this is a vitamin we all want for our children!

Cold Day

It is a cold day in Michigan today.  It is up to 16 degrees and down to 1 degree in the night.  The house feels cold even though heater is running.  Have an extra sweat jacket with a scarf on while in the house.  Hands are freezing.  My house really isn't that cold, looking at the snow and ice makes me cold!

Husband home from surgery today with some pain.  Dcotor's orders for him to sponge bathe for 5 days, no shower.  It is driving him crazy, especially having to wear the neck brace for 6 - 8 weeks. 

Husband gets out of hospital today with brother-in-law in the hospital today with chest pain.  When it rains, it poors, only it is winter out.  The saying should be, "when it's snows, it storms".  Or, "when it's cold, it snows".  Whatever sounds the best, if any of them do. 

Goodbye to everyone and good luck in the future.  Yvette

My last day with my students for the semester

Today was my last day with my Medical Assistant students and was a sad day for me.  I cried when they left because my students are off flying on their own now.  I was glad to see them complete the class and their success with learning everything we taught about being a medical assistant and drawing blood.  Even though I was glad, it is still sad because I do build a relationship with my students.  I have taught and mentored them through the whole semester.  On to new students next semester.

I am really glad that this class is almost done.  I hated having to take the course, but it flew by really fast.  woohoo.  Nothing against the teacher, I just can't stand writing because of all the do's and do not's.  Always having to write how somebody else thinks we should write, never being able to really express ourselves as we are.  We have to fit into a certain mold the academic world thinks is appropriate, all they while taking away who we really are.  We should be able to expand who we are the way we are, and be accepted for it, and our skills molded.  I think the writing world has too many rules, guidelines, having to learn language discourse.  Perfect example is my 10 year old daughter is an artist, but yet, she has to learn math, and science which is not who she is.  She is very bored with these classes and does not learn well because she is simply not interested.  Yet, the academic world says this is what our students have to learn and she will not choose an occupation where it is a necessity.  I think we should mentor and teach our students in the areas they are strong in.  Not everybody is going to be a scientist, or writer.  Forcing our children into areas they do not excell only causes stress and feelings of rejection.  I do not know many people who like the feelings of rejection or failure.

my paper

Stomach Cancer

Anita “Yvette” Clark

CM229

Final Project Unit 9

Kaplan University

11/19/2010

According to the National Cancer Institute, “stomach cancer is the second leading cause of death in the world, most common amongst our family, friends, and the community.” (2000)  Stomach Cancer may be caused by Helicobacter Pylori infection in the stomach and consumption of processed foods, while a possible cure may be the usage of a specific vitamin therapy.

 While working in the medical field, exposure to these patients with this disease has been great and seems more men than women are affected, and more common in the elderly population. (Whitehouse, Slevin, 1996)   While working in the hospital, I questioned Nurses’ and Doctors’ about their thoughts on why so many people were being diagnosed with stomach cancer?   Some responded with uncertainty and others speculated the cause may be due to past history of Helicobacter Pylori infection in the stomach.  Yet, other questions remained whether it could be due to the amount of processed foods one may have in their diet on a continuous basis?  Does the H pylori infection cause scarring in the stomach lining?  Can stomach cancer occur due to lack of digestive enzymes in the GI tract? Are there any types of supplements and/or specific herbs one can use to heal the stomach?  There are so many questions concerning stomach cancer and what can be done to change it.

            Helicobacter Pylori infections in the stomach cause a lot of changes in the cells lining the stomach; and are known as conditions called, “Atrophic Gastritis or Intestinal Metaplasia.” (2010)  Atrophic Gastritis is a condition where the normal glands in the stomach are either reduced or made to be totally absent, which eventually causes inflammation in the lining (2010).  When the body recognizes inflammation in the stomach, the immune system will begin to attack the damaged cells in an attempt to heal the lining (2010).  Other change to the cells in the lining that may produce pre-cancerous cells in the stomach is “Intestinal Metaplasia” (2010).  This condition is where the normal lining of the stomach is replaced by cells that closely resemble the normal cells lining the intestinal walls, and people with this condition experience what is called, “chronic atrophic gastritis” (2010).  These changes in the stomach may be related to H pylori infection because of the changes that occur to the cells in the lining, but it is not known exactly if these bacteria are the exact and main cause (2010).  However, there has been some research done on the H pylori bacteria possibly converting some of the chemicals in our foods to chemicals that cause mutations in the DNA of the cells lining the stomach, such as the preservatives in our lunch meats, i.e. nitrates and nitrites (2010).  On previous TV programs watched, there has even been mention that cooking our foods on grills, or smoking foods possibly being a cause for the changes of the DNA of our cells in the stomach lining.  Again, there is no scientific research that can pinpoint this as an exact cause.

            Stomach Cancer may also be caused by environmental changes, meaning the continuous habitat one lives in all their lives (Whitehouse, Slevin, 1996).  There has been strong evidence proving when people move from their country of origin to another country, that over a generation or so, they develop the same types of stomach cancer as the people who have lived in that country all their lives (Whitehouse, Slevin, 1996).  Japan is a prime example of this where the people who have lived there all their lives experience stomach cancer at higher rates than the rest of the world, with ratios of 78 per 100,000 of the population compared to 10 per 100,000 in the USA (Whitehouse, Slevin, 1996).  There is speculation that one of the reasons why the Japanese have a higher rate is due to the nitrates in their drinking water (Whitehouse, Slevin, 1996). 

            Those who have stomach cancer may experience many symptoms that vary from person to person which can be, bloating in the upper abdomen, discomfort, vomiting, nausea, loss of appetite, weight loss, occasional vomiting of blood, passing blood in the stools, with the main symptom being constant indigestion (Whitehouse, Slevin, 1996).  Although one may be experiencing these symptoms, having any one of these symptoms does not always mean one has stomach cancer.  Indigestion may be one of the diagnoses, which is the minor common condition, and the major common condition associated with these symptoms is benign stomach ulcers (Whitehouse, Slevin, 1996). 

            Stomach cancer is a disease that is not easily detected or diagnosed until one has a tumor growing in the stomach, which has been occurring for a while.  The previous symptoms mentioned do not normally alarm doctors’ one may have stomach cancer, as they initially will treat the patients’ for ulcers or indigestion (Whitehouse, Slevin, 1996).  A patient will go untreated for quite some time before the cancer is detected, meaning the cancer may be advanced by the time it is diagnosed, and treatment may not be successful (Whitehouse, Slevin, 1996). 

            The changes in our cells in the stomach lining have been changed as far as DNA in the cells is concerned.  When the DNA in the cell is changed, the instruction for how the cells are to function also changes (2010).  Normal DNA tells our cells when to grow and divide, and there are certain genes that promote cell division, called “oncogenes” (2010).   Other genes in our bodies that tell cells when to die or slow down cell division are called, “tumor suppressor genes” (2010).  There are also genes that make up enzymes in our bodies to heal the damaged DNA that develops abnormal changes in our bodies (2010).  If these damaged cells continue to float throughout our bodies and cause genes to be lost or damaged, this also can lead to some cancers (2010). 

            There are diets, supplements, and herbs that can be used and have been researched as to whether they really work for reducing the tumor sizes in those who have stomach cancer, and if it can possibly cure it all together.  Doctor Michio Kushi, who is the founder of Kushi Institute in Becket, MA, developed the KM program.  The KM program is Kushi macrobiotics (KM), which has been named the “Miracle” recovery (Altshul, 2003).  It is a program that enhances a longevity lifestyle by promoting a largely organic vegetarian diet to those who have end-stage cancers and have documented dramatic recoveries because of this diet (Altshul, 2003).  A highly vegetarian diet has been proven to be highly effective in blocking the substances that damage the cell’s DNA because of the antioxidant properties vegetables and fruits contain (2010).  There is also another doctor, George W. Yu, MD, a clinical professor of urology at George Washington University Medical Center, who had placed 6 people with terminal cancer on the macrobiotic diet, and within 3 to 6 months, every patient’s tumors shrunk to an invisible size that could not be detected on X-rays (Altshul, 2003).  These people’s lives were extended another 15.8 years beyond the diagnoses of having terminal cancer (Altshul, 2003)!

            Other remedies that have been mentioned in possibly helping the reduction of stomach cancer in people are Vitamin C, beta-carotene, and an anti-bacterial treatment (2000).  This clinical trial involved more than 600 people who had a high risk of developing the disease, and this trial appeared in the December 6, 2000 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (2005).  Pelayo Correa, M.D., and colleagues at Louisiana State University, at New Orleans, together with researchers from Colombia, had participants who were randomly given:

 a standard treatment for H pylori infection; one gram of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) twice a day; 30 milligrams of beta-carotene one a day; various combinations of these treatments or a placebo (2005).  What they found was, the people who were treated with the vitamin C and beta-carotene less likely to develop precancerous abnormalities than those who received the standard treatments or placebos for H pylori infections (2005). 

            With all the research that has been done on stomach cancer, it has been found that those who consumed a macrobiotic diet with lots of fruits and vegetables, containing lots of vitamin C, beta-carotene, and having anti-bacterial properties, it does reduce the changes in the cell’s DNA in the stomach and does have an effect on the precancerous cell’s, prolonging one’s life.

REFERENCES

Altshul, S. (2003). Tomorrow’s Cancer cures. Prevention, 55(3), 60. Retrieved from Health

                     Source – Consumer Edition database.  

(2010). Stomach Cancer, Do we know what causes stomach cancer? Retrieved November 6,

2010 from http://cancer.org/cancer/stomachcancer/detailedguide/stomach-cancer-what-causes

(2000). Vitamins, Anti-Bacterials may prevent Stomach Cancer. Retrieved November 2, 2010

 from http://cancer.gov/clinicaltrials/results/vitamins-and-antibacterials.html

Whitehouse, M., Slevin, M. (1996). Stomach Cancer, 120. Retrieved from the Health Source –

            Consumer Edition database.

           

The meaning of Christmas

We are into our 8th unit now and am glad we are almost done.  Woohoo!  I have to say that I do not think it has been bad as long as I keep up on the homework and spend time writing and modifying as much as I can. 
It definitely makes for an easier week and more relaxed, so when I sit down and look at my paper I can spend time re-writing anything I need to do and think about what I am doing.

It has been very busy for the whole family.  It seems I am coming and going so much lately between working, basketball games twice a week, and trying to fit in grocery shopping, and Christmas shopping.
My husband and I picked up a local family, who we do not know, who will be having a hard time for Christmas this year.  It is a single father of three young girls, ages 12, 7, and 6.  He has asked for help with household items, cleaning supplies, and some Christmas items for his girls.  Today, I went out shopping for this family.  I can remember a time when my husband and I did not know what we were going to do for our 4 kids for Christmas.  We were so broke we didn't even have food in the refrigerator.  It was very scary and hope we never have to go through that again.  I have to say, if it wasn't for us experiencing this and the our church family helping us with gifts and food and gas cards we would have never experienced the real meaning of Christmas.  There are people in the world who do care for the health and well-being of others.  There still is compassion and love in this world.   I hope those that need help are really helped this year.  Merry Christmas!