Both need to be of 100 words or more? Reply one? ?Kerstin Rodriguez Co

Both need to be of 100 words or more 

Reply one 

 Kerstin Rodriguez Colon Cancer

Just last week, I got a call from my mother that I don’t think I’ll ever forget. She told me not to worry, but that my dad’s doctor told him at his appointment that day that the symptoms he was having could be indicative of colon cancer, and that he needed to go and get examined at a hospital. A colonoscopy is a procedure performed that allows doctors to get an up-close and personal look at the colon, which is part of the large intestine. Doctors are able to clip off polyps, or small, abnormal growths, that they may find during the procedure. They found a polyp in my dad’s colon today, and while the doctor said it did not appear to cancerous, it was sent off for a biopsy to make sure. There are many different kinds of polyps, but only a few are cancerous. Even if a polyp is cancerous, they’re generally caught early enough to be removed and to prevent the cancer from spreading. Colon cancer is thankfully a slower spreading cancer, so as long as you’re going into the doctor at least every 10 years after you turn 50 (or every 5 years if you’re at higher risk for Colon cancer) then it’s generally caught early enough. I know my brief brush with cancer this week might seem trivial to some, especially those who have lived through or have had a loved one go through cancer treatments, but I was sincerely terrified these past few days while my dad was getting tests ran at the hospital. 

These days, we definitely have higher numbers of people being diagnosed with cancer than in the past. It doesn’t take a lot to figure out why. Take a look at what most people (myself included, sadly) are eating these days. A lot of us are so busy that we look for convenient foods to eat like fast food, or even prepackaged things from the grocery store loaded with unnatural chemicals and compounds. If you guys are interested, watch the documentary “What the Health.” It shows how awful the things are that we eat these days and it really makes you think hard about the choices you make for sustenance. I’ll admit that I went vegan for a brief period after watching the documentary, but I came back to meat because it’s quite hard to be vegan when you have a picky husband and child that only want to eat certain things (I know if I made the additional effort, we can do it, but I already feel stretched thin with everything else on my plate, I'm sure many of you can relate.)

Reply 2

 Catherine Hoffman Stomach Cancer

       I have chosen stomach cancer for this discussion. Also known as gastric cancer and should not be confused with the other types of cancers located in the stomach such as colon, liver, pancreas, or small intestines. Depending on where the cancer is found within the five sections of the stomach depends on how it is treated and what treatment is used. The most common treatments for stomach cancer include surgery, immunotherapy, targeted therapy, chemotherapy, and radiation. Most stomach cancers first go through a common change such as changes in the inner lining of the stomach. Some other signs include poor appetite, weight loss (without trying) abdominal pain usually above the navel, sense of fullness after a small meal, heartburn/indigestion, vomiting with or without blood, fluid build up in the stomach, blood in the stool, and low red blood count. 

        Early detection in the United States has not been found yet, but in Japan, mass testing is done due to they are more apt to getting stomach cancer due to their diet. If caught in the early stages there is a higher chance to be curred. There are many types of stomach cancer such as Adenocarcinoma, lymphoma, gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST), and carcinoid tumors. There are many factors for stomach cancer the main one being hereditary, and then others to follow such as gender, age, geography, Helicobacter Pylori infection, obesity, diet, and previous surgeries.

         My thoughts of cancer, in general, are frustrating and to be considered a death sentence that was handed to us from the door. As we know that cancer is not selective and with constant studying of cancer more and more are being diagnosed with one form or the other. I do not believe that there is a specific cause for the past, recent, or future diagnosis and that yes some of the pesticides that are used to grow certain vegetables and the extra hormones added to the animals could cause some forms of cancer, but not all cancers are caused by these.

           My father was diagnosed with this form of cancer, I watched him go from a normal healthy adult to being diagnosed with cancer at stage four because of no signs or detection screenings. Watching a person suffering from cancer is horrible and knowing that my health is at a higher risk for stomach cancer and now that I have a disease called gastroparesis makes it even higher, I have to be on high alert, I am tested for cancer with an EGD procedure every three to four months.