Tag Archives: Quad Cities

Running for a cause

The charity 5k has exploded in the last decade with races popping up all over to support a designated charity. Cancer organizations have seen a big boost from those, and according to Running in the USA there are almost 500 5k races in the state of Iowa each year!

Are you a runner or a walker? Either one it doesn’t really matter as the goal is to get people signed up and moving towards the finish line.

There’s a few cancer related charities that have races coming up in the next few months and if you want to be a runner now is the perfect time to start training as the weather heats up.

Here are a few (and sorry if we missed your race) races that will be happening this summer in the Quad Cities area:

Relay for Life – Iowa Cancer Specialists happily sponsors the Quad Cities Relay for Life that is just two weeks away! The event from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. will feature cancer survivors and community members raising money. While not a 5k, this event goes towards raising money for the American Cancer Society.

Carol M. Guthrie Memorial 5K Run/Walk – The Carol M. Gurthrie Memorial 5k will be taking place in Anawan, Illinois this year and will proceeds will benefit the Samuels family. The Samuels have a 6-year-old daughter with Leukemia and the money will go towards helping that family.

Walk Out Cancer – The 5k and kids fun run will take place in Savanna, Illinois (just a hour drive from the Quad Cities) on September 16. The race costs $20 with funds going towards the American Cancer Society. This one is a bit away so it’ll give you time to get your conditioning up!

Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure – This one is just over a month away on June 10th and raises money for the Komen foundation. Their website states they have raised nearly $20,000 towards their $100,000 goal this year. You can participate as an individual or get some people together to raise money!

So now that you’ve registered for a race you need a plan to get yourself in gear and in shape before the race. If you’re an inexperienced runner the Couch to 5k program is an easy way to slip into running a 5k, search the App Store on your phone and there will be plenty of apps to choose from as you start.

If you already consider yourself fit, a fun way to keep that way is the Zombies, Run! App that can be downloaded on either Apple or Android phones. Here is a link to their website where it explains that with 200 missions to choose from you’ll always have something new to work with. The jist of the game is that it will guide you through periods of fast and slow as the storyline changes.

Good luck!

What is chemotherapy, and why does it seem like a disease?

To many people, “chemotherapy” is just that procedure that makes someone lose his or her hair. To cancer patients, “chemotherapy” means a collection of unwanted side effects. To doctors, chemotherapy is a potentially life-saving cancer treatment regimen using drugs (chemo, drugs, get it?)—and it results in more than just hair loss.

Chemotherapy is used to destroy cancer cells, keep them from spreading or shrink tumors. The effective drugs can be delivered right on the skin (topically), through a vein (intravenously), in pills or liquid (orally) or as a shot (injection), and chemo may be used alone or in conjunction with other treatments like radiation therapy or surgery.

Cell Divison

via sploid.gizmodo.com

Here’s the deal. Cancer cells grow very quickly, so chemotherapy drugs target fast-growing cells, but not with enough specificity to only get the cancerous ones. Do you know which kinds of healthy cells grow quickly? We’re talking hair cells, bone marrow cells, skin cells and the cells of the digestive system. When chemotherapy drugs are introduced to your system, they go after these kinds of cells as well, causing corresponding side effects. You know these—think hair loss, changes in bone marrow, dermatological changes, and nausea.

But, don’t worry! The normal cells of your body are like little medics. Your body has the ability to repair and replace those cells that get damaged during the dividing process. The damage and the side effects don’t usually last beyond treatment, and the same drugs that were hurting your healthy cells have also done a number on the cancer.

Be informed, and keep your doctor informed. There are a variety of different drugs used in chemotherapy. Ask your doctor why she is recommending a chemo treatment, and find out which side effects to expect. If you are having a hard time dealing with those side effects, talk to your doctor about it! The frequency of treatment could be reduced, or there may be other ways to minimize your discomfort.

Chemotherapy is a treatment, not a disease. Nobody is pretending it’s fun, but, in the end, it’s good for you—like eating your vegetables.

Say what? An abbreviated guide to translating a diagnosis

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“You. Quadruped. Sprechen sie English?”

Admit it: you secretly foster the suspicion that doctors don’t want to be understood. Between their unintelligible scribbles for signatures and their big, fancy words, it’s easy to see where you might think that. Doctors use the language they do in order to communicate accurately the results of your appointment, but accurate is not always easy to understand.

just-smile-and-wave gif

For those times you resign yourself to nodding and pretending to understand (oh, come on—we’ve all done it) or when a doctor forgets to expand their accurate statement into an understandable one, here’s a brief list of terms or phrases translated from their native Doctor tongue to English.

Alopecia: hair loss

Anemia: low level of red blood cells

Antiemetic: intended to control nausea or vomiting

Apoptosis: cell death

Biopsy: removal of a small piece of body tissue for examination

Brachytherapy: internal radiation treatment where radioactive material is placed on the tumor or close to it

Carcinogen: cancer-causing substance

Carcinomas: solid tumors that develop on almost any organ; most common

Leukemias: blood cancers; generally don’t form solid tumors

Leukocytes: white blood cells (WBC); responsible for repairing damaged cells and eating foreign ones

Lymphatic system: body system responsible for cleansing the body; includes lymph nodes and spleen

Lymphomas: blood cancers that develop in the lymphatic system

Metastasis: the spreading of cancer from the primary site to other organs or tissues

Myelomas: cancers that begin in bone marrow cells

Primary: where the cancer originally develops; in reference to a site or tumor

Progression: the growth of a tumor or spreading of cancer in the body

Prophylaxis: preventative measures

Regression: when cancer reappears

Remission: when cancer is no longer detected

Sarcomas: tumors beginning in connective tissue like muscles, fats, cartilage and bone

Systemic: relating to the whole body

Penguins high five

Even with some preliminary vocabulary under your belt, be sure to pay attention to the real experts: your doctors and their team. When something goes over your head, don’t be afraid to stop them and ask for clarification. It is your appointment, after all, and the information is for your benefit.