I'm Published

Like the title said, I'm published. Nothing scientific, no case studies, nothing monumental in the course of pharmacology, just a general informative article. I wrote it while on my internship at Pikeville Medical Center in the CCU. It was in the "Ask the Pharmacist" section of the September 19th edition of the Medical Leader News here in Kentucky.

I would really love it if you all could read it... not for my own good, but for yours and your girlfriends', your mom, sister, daughter, and all the other important women in your life. My mom is due the credit for sending me an email about this type of cancer before and it really peaked my interest. Also, if you have time, watch the video as well which shows helpful pictures and drives the point home (one girl on the video died from this breast cancer at 16 years old). Or come back and watch it later. But PLEASE, please, read the article. You'll see why:

Q: I heard there is a type of breast cancer that most mammograms and ultrasounds are not able to detect. Is this true? What should I look for to detect it?

A: You don’t have to have a lump to have breast cancer. Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) does not grow in the form of lumps and is usually not detected by diagnostic equipment or routine monthly breast exams. Even after seeing a doctor to learn the cause of their symptoms, women who have IBC may remain undiagnosed for long periods of time. The symptoms of IBC are similar to those of a breast infection (or, mastitis). Some doctors, not recognizing IBC, prescribe antibiotics. If a response to antibiotics is not apparent after a week, a biopsy should be performed or the patient should be referred to a breast specialist. In IBC, cancer cells block the lymph vessels in the skin of the breast. This type of breast cancer is called “inflammatory” because the breast often looks swollen and red, or “inflamed.” IBC accounts for 1 to 5 percent of all breast cancer cases in the United States. It tends to be diagnosed in younger women.

Inflammatory breast cancer is a rare but very aggressive type of breast cancer. IBC is more likely to have metastasized (spread to other areas of the body) at the time of diagnosis than non-IBC cases. As a result, the 5-year survival rate for patients with IBC is between 25 and 50 percent, which is significantly lower than the survival rate for patients with non-IBC breast cancer. When a doctor suspects IBC, a biopsy, mammogram, and breast ultrasound are used to confirm the diagnosis. IBC is classified as either stage IIIB or stage IV breast cancer. Stage IIIB breast cancers are locally advanced; stage IV breast cancer is cancer that has spread to other organs. The symptoms of IBC usually develop quickly— over a period of weeks or months.
The physical appearance of the breast of patients with IBC is different from that of patients with other stage III breast cancers. Knowing the symptoms of IBC is the first step in protecting yourself.

Symptoms include:
• Redness
• Swelling
• Warmth in the breast
• Heaviness
• Burning
• Aching
• Increase in breast size
• Tenderness
• The skin may appear pink, reddish-purple, or bruised
• The skin may have ridges or look pitted like the skin of an orange
• Swollen lymph nodes may be present under the arm and/or above the collarbone.

Treatment consisting of chemotherapy, targeted therapy, surgery, radiation therapy, and hormonal therapy is used to treat IBC. Chemotherapy (anticancer drugs) is generally the first treatment for patients with IBC. After chemotherapy, patients with IBC may undergo surgery and radiation therapy to the chest wall.

To learn more about IBC, other types of breast cancer, and breast health in general, please refer to the following resources:

• NCI 's Breast Cancer Home Page (http://www.cancer.gov/breast/)
• Breast Cancer ( PDQ®): Treatment (http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/treatment/breast/patient/)
•Understanding Breast Changes: A Health Guide for All Women (http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/understanding-breast-changes)
• What You Need To Know About™ Breast Cancer (http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/wyntk/breast)

I took the music off the page for now, hoping it wouldn't be a hindrance to those wanting to watch this video but didn't know how to stop the music. Please watch when you have the time!

Closer Still

Finished my third rotation at Highlands Regional Medical Center today - YOO-HOO!

Next up, back to Pikeville Medical Center on Monday. Only 5 more internships to go, the last one ends in April and graduation in May! It really seems to be passing kind of quickly. There's a light at the end of the tunnel and it's getting a little brighter with each passing day. I may actually become a pharmacist after all ;)

Though I doubt I'll look much like this "pharmacist" halloween costume:

This looks a little more like it:

Picture Story

Our first hiking experience together at the Breaks in southwest Virginia, 2006.

The End.

It's a Southern Thang

Pictures from a sweet little day trip to West Liberty, KY today. Since my mom (and dad, sister, and brother-in-law) will be on a two week trip out west, (specifically to the Grand Canyon), during the Apple Day festival and Jenny Wiley Days, (our fave fall happenings in our area), mi madre found this little jewel of a craft fair to help sustain her country bumpkin festival withdrawal. (That was a lot of parenthesis...)

In case you didn't know: Sorghum Cane - it looks much like corn without the ears. Instead of tassels on top like corn, it has clusters of many seeds. The seeds are small and round about 1/16" in diameter. It grows 6 to 12 feet tall and 1 to 2 inches in diameter at the base of the stalk.

The loveliest and most comfortable day of fall thus far. Lucky us!

This oldster was so proud of his little dog, fully clad in pink, complete with doggy sunglasses. He explained to us, somewhat like he was justifying this spectacle, that his little princess wears sunglasses for the same reason we do, practical shielding from the sun... yeah right. The blanket is covering up her dazzling pink regalia, but believe me, it was there.

Loved these birdhouses. Unfortunately, they weren't for sale, only adding to the cute factor of this town's adorable little park/pond/amphitheater area.

So colorful. If I had a yard, I'd fill it with these and have my little old lady looking yard very early in life. Maybe next year.The genesis of the sorghum process: a mule laboring to move the rollers in the contraption in the middle to crush the stalks which squeezes the juice out of the cane. Of course, this is done in a mill now, this is just a cute little representation of the "old times".
"Sweet sorghum is any of the many varieties of sorghum which have a high sugar content. Sweet sorghum will thrive under drier and warmer conditions than many other crops and is grown primarily for forage, silage, and sugar production." -Wikipedia
After enough juice is collected to fill the first section of the evaporator pan it is strained to remove pieces of stalk that might have been left in the juice. It is poured into the first compartment of the evaporating pan. A fire is built under the pan using wood or sometimes more modernly gas. The pan is divided into compartments so that several "batches" can be cooked at one time facilitating a continuous cooking process. The juice must boil.
The boiled juice is let out through the spout into the little jug which is in a bucket of water to help it cool. You may now eat and enjoy!

The many products of sorghum: molasses, apple butter, cookies, ginger bread, and others. Southern Appalachia is know for pouring it over their biscuits. I've never tried it but served it to those who special requested it when I worked at Cracker Barrel. Bug your waiter/waitress for it the next time you're there =)

The street we walked from the car to the craft tents. I wasn't taking pics of just every little sign, for your information, Prestonsburg is my hometown. One special street here.
I. loved. this. pottery.
A little script from "Grandpa's Pottery" business fliers: "Grandpa's Pottery is a family collaboration of talents. Ray and Betty Storer have been in the pottery industry for many years. Their son Brooke, is a great potter in his own right, and daughter-in-law Amy, who is from Thailand, gives an Asian flair to her pottery. Brooke and Amy have joined Ray throwing at the wheel and Betty adds her special glazing techniques for the finishing touch..."
I loved the splash of color and color combinations they used. I don't believe any of the pottery was a solid color. Which would fit-in perfectly with my smorgasbord of color decor.
My mom on the right, our friend, Jackie, on the left.
The two bowls on their side with the metal piece in the middle - beautiful sinks! I'm keeping the business card till we're ready for our unique sink.

First time to West Liberty and first time to the Sorghum Festival. Good call, Mom!

Toilet Paper Shenanigans

I was just telling my mom, today, about the last time he did this. I didn't witness the first offense, as Nick was the first to the scene of the crime and had it all cleaned up before I got home. BUT, lucky me, I was around for this one and had to grab the camera and capture it. (I was also lucky enough to get to be the one who cleaned it up this time.)

In case you haven't caught on, this was the work of one mischievous little dog. Undoubtedly, he was keeping himself busy while we were off to Wednesday night bible-study and a quick work-out afterwards. If he has to stay home without us, we keep him in this little half bath which also doubles as the laundry room. It works because we don't really use the room, thus we thought there wasn't much in there he could get into and cause trouble. WRONG. The toilet paper will no longer be kept on the holder, so we apologize if you stop over at the apartment and need to use our powder room. We'll keep the roll on the sink for you.
Onto more "nothings" that are "somethings" in my life...

If what I was about to write about was placed in a separate post, it would have to be titled "Shallow Excitement".

A disclaimer before judgment is passed on me: I KNOW more EXTREMELY important things are going on in the world right now - life, death, war, peace, fervent attempts to cure cancer, contemplating the cosmos, many prayers going up for needed miracles. I HOPE YOU KNOW, deeper things are going on in my little minuscule life that I choose not to blog about AND that this blog is only scraping the surface of our lives and we (hopefully) are not shallow, "the world revolves around us", kind of people.



BUT


I just can't help getting completely enthused about the upcoming fall season of television! WHOOOO-HOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't believe I watch a whole lot of TV - most of the time it's on in the background while I'm taking care of business and is little more than white noise breaking the quiet and keeping things from becoming too monotonous.

Tomorrow (Thursday) is a big day for me and my good friend, the boob tube. It marks the beginning of a very thrilling primetime with my two all-time favorite shows coming back. Throughout the next month, more shows will be returning with new episodes. Just another reason fall is by far my favorite season.

The "CHOSEN FEW" in order of my level of enthusiasm for them:

#1 - Grey's Anatomy

#2 - The Office

#3 - Desperate Housewives

#4 - Private Practice

#5 - Ugly Betty

#6 - House

#7 - Jon and Kate Plus Eight

(One of the shows that has gotten me through this year of television drought - there's no writers, hence no writers' strike and their life is always happening, so they're always filming, always new episodes to entertain me. God bless them.)

OKAY, so maybe I do watch quite a bit of TV, but I don't care. No justification, just shallow contentment for me and my fellow TV junkies. I couldn't leave out a classic though... it's possible that I could trade all the above shows if this one could continue on forever. It will always be my favorite, the one that could make me laugh when I was down, the one the I can connect any life circumstance to something that happened in one of the episodes, the one I watched the DVDs to over and over and reached the most annoying level of quoting every line that anyone has ever reached.

#1 of all time:

FRIENDS!

May you rest in peace.

This concludes my entirely one dimensional post on all things superficial. =)

3 months and growing!

Remember this cutie with the one floppy ear?

Meet the new and improved Hendrix: 2 perfectly pointed ears!
He's growing up, 3 months old on Wednesday to be exact. He's a huge sweetie, no one can resist him. My mom and dad kept him this past weekend while we were out of town and I do believe they fell in love with our little guy. They had all these stories about the cute things he would do and how he reacted to everything that happened. Mom was feeling bad Sunday morning, so Hendrix napped with her on the couch after church, such a good grand-puppy. We picked him up on Sunday evening and Dad was up and ready for him again at 8 a.m. on Monday morning when the puppy was back again to be babysat while I was at work.

Even more to add to the growing-up/learning list: he now goes down the stairs. He could already climb almost any stairs and goes down most, but the stairs in our apartment scared him for some reason. Maybe because there were so many? He would stand at the top of the steps and cry for us to bring him down them, but not anymore. Tired of depending on us, he got brave enough to come down last Friday. So independent! He's never looked back since and goes downstairs without hesitation. A pic of him being a big boy:

We're so proud ;)