Prostate Cancer Awareness

Categories: Active Senior Living, Cancer, Medical, Prevention

Gentlemen, listen up!  We want to remind you that last week was Prostate Cancer Awareness Week.

The chance of developing prostate cancer increases as men get older. According to the National Cancer Institute (NCI), there are 217,730 estimated new cases and 32,050 deaths from prostate cancer in the United States so far in 2010. The NCI recommends avoiding cancer risk factors such as smoking, being overweight, and lack of exercise.

Not every patient experiences symptoms of prostate cancer. Many times, signs of prostate cancer are first detected by a doctor during a routine check-up.

Take charge of your health! Help spread cancer awareness by eating healthy, exercising and seeing your doctor regularly. Make sure to encourage your friends and loved ones to do the same. Improve yourself not only as because September is Self Improvement Month, but every day of every month. You keeping you healthy and happy makes for a much richer life.

Ask yourself, “Am I doing everything I can to stay healthy?” Spread what you are doing to keep yourself healthy and help others!

Asbestosis Hits Close to Home for Advocate on Aging

Categories: Asbestosis, Cancer, Medical, Mesothelioma

In March of this year, Merlin Olsen, a star football and sportscaster, died of mesothelioma.  Reading his story reminded me of a conversation I had with my dad about asbestosis and some sort of legal action against the Milwaukee Railroad where he worked for over 30 years.  After learning more about mesothelioma from visiting the Mesothelioma Foundation’s website, I decided I needed to know more about my dad’s condition.

What is asbestosis and mesothelioma?  Asbestosis is an inflammation of the lungs resulting from chronic inhalation of asbestos¹ particles. Mesothelioma is a tumor of the mesothelium, which is the tissue made up of a layer of cells called mesothelial cells that line the chest cavity, abdominal cavity, and the sac around the heart². The malignant form is often the result of exposure to asbestos and may take more than 30 years to develop.

In 2000, my dad was contacted by the Moody Law Firm, the designated Asbestos Counsel for NARVRE (National Association of Retired & Veteran Railway Employees, Inc.), concerning a class action lawsuit filed against the manufacturers of asbestos on behalf of retired railroad workers.  At first my dad was skeptical because he didn’t want to get involved in medical testing and court hearings for something he didn’t believe had affected him.  He knew he had been exposed to asbestos, and he had a chronic cough and minor bouts of bronchitis. He preferred to think of it as a genetic predisposition, since his own father had emphysema at the time of his death. Grandpa, too, had worked around steam engines that fired on steam boilers containing asbestos.  One major difference in their exposure was my grandfather often performed his job inside the roundhouse, making him a captive audience for the asbestos particles.

Following a phone call from the attorney’s office encouraging him to at least have a chest x-ray, Dad agreed.  He first received a chest x-ray at a nearby clinic followed by a physical examination by a pulmonologist, an expert in the field of asbestosis.  My father was very surprised to learn the tests confirmed the presence of asbestosis in his lungs.

My father was interviewed by the attorneys to determine the places he may have worked around asbestos.  He named several different locations:

• He worked near the steam lines on passenger train cars, which were insulated with asbestos.
• He laid steam pipes wrapped in asbestos.
• A major function of his job was to change brake shoes, which contained asbestos
• Train derailments exposed and broke up asbestos, contaminating the surrounding air.
• The wreckers he used at derailments to upright train cars were powered by steam, and he often stood next to those asbestos lined pipes.

As was previously mentioned, my grandfather had emphysema at the time of his death.  He struggled with wheezing, shortness of breath, and unbelievable coughing spasms during the last years of his life, which were symptoms of asbestosis.  Knowing what we know now about asbestosis and mesothelioma, my grandfather surely had at least one of these conditions.

Through the years while this class action lawsuit was developing, asbestos manufacturers went bankrupt and the Milwaukee Railroad (my father and grandfather’s employer) was sold to the Soo Line Railroad Company. Later the Soo Line was sold to the Canadian National Railway.  The awards continue to dribble in at a snail’s pace as the remaining assets of manufacturer by manufacturer are doled out at pennies on the dollar.

My father continues to fare well without sign of catastrophic health issues, and we are grateful.  However, thousands of others exposed to asbestos have suffered irreparable harm.

We are often upset by the time and cost of proving products safe for the environment and humans.  We even wonder if such efforts are necessary.  Just ask one person affected by mesothelioma if they wish they had known the inherent perils of asbestos.  My guess would be that there is a resounding roar of affirmation.

ATTENTION Seniors with Cancer or Undiagnosed Illnesses: Have You Heard of Mesothelioma?

Categories: Cancer, Mesothelioma, Resources

From the early years of the 20^th Century until the late 1970s, asbestos – now a known carcinogen – was considered one of the best insulators available. Because of its incredible heat-resistant properties and its inexpensive cost, asbestos and asbestos-containing materials found many uses in workplaces around the country in industries that included shipbuilding, oil refineries, chemical plants, railroads, power plants, auto factories, and many others.

During those decades, myriad Americans – mostly men – went to work in those industries, encountering asbestos on a near-daily basis, knowing nothing of the effect the naturally-mined materials might have on their health. Exposure to asbestos was commonplace – especially in the shipyards which built vessels during and after World War II – and despite the fact that there was already evidence that asbestos was toxic, those who worked in plants and factories during that era were never warned that they were in danger.

Today, the result of this cover-up about the dangers of asbestos is a senior population that has been touched by asbestos-caused diseases, most notably the cancer known as mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is an aggressive cancer that often takes seniors by surprise, not appearing until decades after exposure occurs. That’s because the disease has a very long latency period. The time between exposure to this cancer-causing agent and the appearance of symptoms can be as much as 50 years, sometimes even longer. Therefore, those who worked with asbestos in the 60s and 70s could still be harboring the disease.

Mesothelioma takes its biggest toll, of course, on the person diagnosed with the disease. A very difficult cancer to treat, mesothelioma causes severe symptoms like chest pain, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, cough, fatigue, loss of appetite, fluid in the chest, and weight loss. Conventional treatments like chemotherapy and radiation have historically proven to do little to stop the spread of the cancer, which is usually already advanced by the time it is diagnosed. In addition, diagnosis is often delayed because the disease carries symptoms that might be confused with heart disease or less serious ailments and, often, a connection with asbestos is not immediately made.

In addition to taking its toll on those who develop the disease, mesothelioma is also tough on caregivers and others close to the victim. Mesothelioma patients demand a lot of care due to the seriousness of the disease, its rapid progression, and the fact that symptoms of the disease can seriously impact the patient’s quality of life, keeping him/her from carrying on with everyday tasks. That puts a lot of responsibility on the caregiver and other family members.

In addition, the disease can cause severe financial burdens, especially if all medical expenses are not covered by insurance. Spouses or other family members must also deal with end-of-life issues, which can cause an insurmountable amount of stress. Because of the responsibility involved, it’s a good idea for caregivers to seek support outside their home, often with groups of others who are dealing with the care of an individual with the same disease or a geriatric care professional. For more information, please visit Mesothelioma.com, there are many online groups and forums to converse with other caregivers and people with mesothelioma.

Thank you to Jennifer from Mesothelioma.com for her writing of this guest blog!