5 more to go + some BC knowledge

Yipppieee I am almost half way done with my nauseating days. This single fact makes me happy even though, today is one of those days that I only sleep, go for my 10 minute walk and do absolutely nothing.

I will not describe the experience again - it's pretty much the same. A sting in my finger, doctor's visit, quick lunch and 3 red injections into my vain of the chemicals, one more bag followed by picking out my 3rd present and home, sweet home.

This time I picked out a pair of brown gaucho pants from Express. Being the clothes whore that I am I get most pleasure out of anything that is wearable. Some women have the "thing" for bags, others for jewelry - I love clothes (and shoes a little bit:).

Just recently, my friend Miriam M. brought me a very interesting article that I'd like to share here. I will not write about the general breast cancer knowledge, because it's in all books. I wasn't thinking to write about BC knowledge as a matter of fact at all, but I can not help myself and share the following fascinating facts.
The article was written by Ms. Sandra Steingraber, PhD, who is a Mammologist. I am not a scientist myself, but most of the following statements listed just make a lot of sense ....

Before the facts ... something INTERESTING:

Who named us "Mammals" and why?

A Swedish taxonomist called Carlos Linnaeus in 1758, who actually named all the animals of the world. Mammals are the "warm -blooded, hairy branch of the animal kingdom". At the time, the idea of naming the whole class of the animal kingdom after a female organ was considered appalling. But Linnaeus fought for it anyway, as it turns out he did not do it because he was an early-age feminist, but because of his own issues.

In the middle of the 18th century most babies were fed by professional lactators. Almost everyone, especially in France was giving their babies to be fed to wet nurses. Linnaeus was much less concerned with the high mortality rate of infants of the time, as it turns out he wanted to restrict the role of women outside of the house. He wanted to underscore that women had another role outside of the house. His own wife had eight children, all of which she nursed herself and never left a house.

(Just another untaimed man :)

Breast cancer facts:

1. Breast feeding is the largest modifiable factor that can cut down your risk of getting breast cancer by half! Having been breast fed significantly lowers the risk of obesity in children.

2. Lawn chemicals, especially one called atrazine, which is a weed killer has been banned in the European Union precisely because of troubling links to breast and ovarian cancer. The reason it's not banned here, and it's the number one and most popular pesticide in the US, is because there is some inconsistency in the data.

Canada has decided that cosmetic use of pesticides are now banned. As of May 2005 law has passed the Canadian Supreme Court. Canadians decided that if you are not growing food, and using pesticides for cosmetic reasons, the benefits are not outweighted by the risk.

3. Dry cleaning. According to a study, women exposed to perchloroethylene, which is a fluid we use to dry clean clothes have higher than expected rates of breast cancer. There is a new way of cleaning called wet-cleaning, which is supposed to clean your clothes just as well as dry-cleaning, but your clothes won't smell like the chemicals after dry-cleaning.

(This is a hard call! I searched New York City for wet-cleaners and even here I was only able to find a wet-cleaner on the other side of the city, so I am not holding my breath that I will be able to wet-clean my clothes soon, but it's good to know ... Maybe this is the future ?)

4. Nail Salons. Nail salons use lots of different chemicals, some of which are hormone-mimicking. Some of which are simply toxic in other ways. It's not that nail salons cause breast cancer! Chemicals used in nail salons are inherently toxic, a lot of them.

5. Smoking.

(I hate smokers as they are so, I am copying this part from the paper with a great pleasure .. and dedicating it to all those who claim
"You have to die of something, so I smoke" and those who say "It's my body, I do whatever I want to it" and to all those who know someone who lived till 120 and smoked their entire life! Here ya go! )

According to studies second hand smoke, especially if exposure occurs before the first pregnancy, appears to cause breast cancer.

When you are a smoker, you are exposed to lots of chemicals linked to breast cancer but we don't always see an increased rate of breast cancer. And now we think we understand why. It's because there are things in tobacco smoke that are so toxic that you actually kill off the eggs in your ovaries. This is why women who are smokers go into menopause, on average, two or three years earlier than women who don't smoke. Women shorten their fertile lifespan by being smokers. By doing so, they also lower their own circulating estrogen levels because they're killing off all their egg cells. And so, the lowering of estrogen levels ironically is a protection against breast cancer. Even though a smoking woman is also exposed to chemicals like vinyl chloride, which is a tobacco smoke, that are known to cause breast cancer. So that's why the data are a little contradictory. Obviously there is no contradiction about lung cancer and bladder cancer and smoking.

However, when you are a second hand smoker you are not getting enough smoke to kill off your eggs and your ovaries. So, you still have high circulating estrogens, but you are also getting all the breasts carcinogens in the second hand smoke. So, second hand smoke appears to be as bad as smoking for risk of breast cancer!

.. I learned a great deal from this article ...

I hope that if you got this far reading you learned a lot too, even if you live in this fast world and can not/could not/will not breast feed; love your beautifully trimmed bushes; get your nails done weekly or are like me and half of your clothes need to be dry-cleaned ...

Maybe this article makes you think about putting down your cigarettes or at least helps you
understand that I (many of us) hate smelling that stink and could you please step somewhere aside, where you can kill only your own eggs? :) THANKS!