Patrick Kanouse's Blog, page 15
November 10, 2015
NET Cancer Awareness Day
“If you don’t suspect it, you can’t detect it.” Today, November 10th, is Worldwide NET Cancer Awareness Day. NET (often called carcinoids for those in the gastrointestinal tract) “is the umbrella term for a group of unusual, often slow-growing cancers, which develop from cells in the diffuse endocrine system.”
So you may see a lot of zebras and stripes today. A zebras is medical lingo for a unusual diagnostic result. From the Free Dictionary:
“A popular ‘short form’ of the aphorism often quoted to medical students during clinical rotations—‘when you hear hoofbeats, don’t think of zebras.’ This variation of ‘Sutton’s law’ is designed to teach students a logical approach to a diagnosis, since common things occur commonly and when one hears hoofbeats, one should first think of horses and exclude them in the differential diagnosis before thinking of the unusual causes—the zebras—of a particular clinical finding.”
However, we know that NETs are routinely undiagnosed for years. Instead, they are diagnosed as other things, leaving those with NETs suffering until the correct diagnosis is made.
I witnessed my wife suffer for years before a visit to the emergency room and a sharp-eyed doctor discovered her carcinoids. This is an experience of so many NET patients.
Please help spread the message. NET patients need not suffer for an average of five years before diagnosis. Show your stripes by posting a zebra and linking to http://netcancerday.org. Use the hashtag #NETCancerDay. Tell your friends. Donate.
This year, I’m donating to the Carcinoid Cancer Foundation as they seek to “fund research to discover cures and more effective treatments for carcinoid, pancreatic, and related neuroendocrine cancers.”
I’m donating in honor of Riley, our Yorkie of 16 years who passed away earlier this year. He was always by my wife’s side, doing his part to comfort her when she was in terrible pain and long before she was correctly diagnosed. He laid beside her, kept her company, was just with her, and he’ll never know the true value of that, of how much comfort he brought to my wife. We miss him.
November 7, 2015
How Japan Fell In Love With Whisky - The Daily Beast
How Japan Fell In Love With Whisky http://flip.it/GJIlY
I really like the Hibiki.
One of the last leaves on the #maple tree. #autumn #foliage
One of the last leaves on the #maple tree. #autumn #foliage
November 6, 2015
Of course I’m getting it! What kind of fool do you think I...
Of course I’m getting it! What kind of fool do you think I am? #beer #icecream #newbelgium #benandjerrysicecream
October 31, 2015
#Devil #dog gets @brownieknits #yorkie
#Devil #dog gets @brownieknits #yorkie
#Devil #dog #yorkie
#Devil #dog #yorkie
October 30, 2015
October 29, 2015
October 26, 2015
theonion:
Creative Writing Professor Takes Time To Give Every...
Creative Writing Professor Takes Time To Give Every Student Personalized False HopeCHARLOTTESVILLE, VA—In an effort to help his students develop inaccurate perceptions of their talents, University of Virginia creative writing professor Alan Erickson told reporters Monday that he takes the time to provide each and every one of them with personalized false hope. “Every student is different, and even though there may be 30 of them per class, I feel it’s important that I make enough time to sit down with them individually to let them know they have a unique voice worth pursuing,” said Erickson, explaining that he frequently extends his office hours and often stays after class to meet with students one-on-one to ensure they hear individualized, unfounded optimism about their writing and their prospects within the publishing industry.
More.
