Health and Medication

The idea of a World War was something that couldn’t be imagined prior to the 20th century. Then we had two world wars in a matter of 35 years. The number of people killed in the wars was staggering. The fact that people continued to die for forty or fifty years after the end of World War II was all the more shocking until the cause was discovered.

Asbestos has long been considered a miracle material of sort. It is highly resistant to heat, which makes it a great insulator and fire wall wherever heat and electricity are found. This was a known fact for hundreds of years, but never really led to its use in a major way. Then World War II rolled around. Despite being the second of the two huge wars, it was the first that involved a really massive production of military materials. This led to the widespread use of asbestos and a resulting Mesothelioma nightmare.

Hawaii notwithstanding, the World War II battle arena was in other countries ranging from Europe to much of Asia. This necessitated the movement of resources across vast stretches of the ocean. This in turn called for the construction of a huge number of transport ships to move the resources as well as naval ships to protect them and dominate the seas. To achieve this, ships were put on the fast track in construction.

The war effort saw hundreds of thousands flow into factories and docks to help. In the case of ship building, this meant a hoard of people willing to do just about anything to speed up production. A Liberty cargo ship took only two weeks to build at Kaiser Shipyards at one point. The problem was many shortcuts were taken to make this happen, many that exposed the workers to massive health risks.

Asbestos is a cause of Mesothelioma. In the construction of the various types of ships being created, the workers used everything from rope to gloves to caulking to insulation and so on that incorporated asbestos as their key material component. The war is long over, but it is now believed as many as 100,000 died from Mesothelioma and lung cancer caused by this exposure to asbestos. As a mater of comparison, there were roughly 10,000 casualties of which 2,500 died for the Allies on D-Day.

Mesothelioma is a horrible disease and it is a bit shocking that our government would so hastily expose hundreds of thousands to its ravages. The story of asbestos use without notice is a ghastly one that has been repeated throughout history.

Hundreds of people walked to get the word out about the importance of breast cancer awareness in downtown Bakersfield and at the park at River Walk on Thursday. Dozens of people laced up their walking shoes to support Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

It’s also a fundraiser to raise money so that local women under the age of 40 can get mammograms and ultra sounds if they need it.

Event participants were treated to lunch for showing their support.

Meanwhile All Tennessee’s Chris Johnson needs to complete his outfit for Sunday’s game against Jacksonville in a pink mouthpiece.

The Titans running back has the pink gloves and his pink shoes should arrive Friday. Johnson, one of four or five players on each NFL team wearing pink during National Breast Cancer Awareness month, doesn’t have a personal connection to the disease. He says it doesn’t matter if pink isn’t a manly football color, “it’s about breast cancer. You’re supporting them.”

Johnson, the AFC’s leading rusher with 351 yards, also leads the NFL in total yards from scrimmage with 457. He says his new shoes are mostly pink with some white thrown in. He says he won’t wear them until game day, he doesn’t “want to get them dirty.”

Symptoms of mesothelioma might not be felt till 20-50 years after exposure to asbestos. Cough, shortness of breath, and chest pain due to an accumulation of fluid in the pleural space are often symptoms of pleural mesothelioma.

Weight loss and cachexia, abdominal swelling and pain due to ascites (a buildup of fluid in the abdominal cavity) are symptoms of peritoneal mesothelioma. Other symptoms of peritoneal mesothelioma are bowel obstruction, blood clotting abnormalities, anemia, and fever. If the cancer has spread beyond the mesothelium to other parts of the body, symptoms may include pain, trouble swallowing, or swelling of the neck or face.

These symptoms may be caused by mesothelioma or by other, less serious conditions.

Mesothelioma that affects the pleura can cause these signs and symptoms:

* Chest wall pain
* Pleural effusion, or fluid surrounding the lung
* Shortness of breath
* Fatigue or anemia
* Wheezing, hoarseness, or cough
* Blood in the sputum (fluid) coughed up (hemoptysis)

In severe cases, the person may have many tumor masses. The individual may develop a pneumothorax, or collapse of the lung. The disease may metastasize, or spread, to other parts of the body.

Tumors that affect the abdominal cavity often do not cause symptoms until they are at a late stage. Symptoms include:

* Abdominal pain
* Ascites, or an abnormal buildup of fluid in the abdomen
* A mass in the abdomen
* Problems with bowel function
* Weight loss

In severe cases of the disease, the following signs and symptoms may be present:

* Blood clots in the veins, which may cause thrombophlebitis
* Disseminated intravascular coagulation, a disorder causing severe bleeding in many body organs
* Jaundice, or yellowing of the eyes and skin
* Low blood sugar level
* Pleural effusion
* Pulmonary emboli, or blood clots in the arteries of the lungs
* Severe ascites

A mesothelioma does not usually spread to the bone, brain, or adrenal glands. Pleural tumors are usually found only on one side of the lungs.

Mesothelioma is a type of cancer that is mostly generated by exposure to asbestos. When people have this cancer, their malignant cells develop in the mesothelium, a protective lining that covers most of the human body’s internal organs. Its most common site is the pleura (outer lining of the lungs and internal chest wall), but it can occur in the peritoneum (the lining of the abdominal cavity), the heart, the pericardium (a sac that surrounds the heart) or tunica vaginalis as well.

People with mesothelioma have usually worked on jobs and sites where they inhaled asbestos particles, or they have been exposed to asbestos dust and fiber in other ways. Washing the clothes of a person who worked with asbestos can put a person at risk for developing mesothelioma. There is no association between mesothelioma and smoking, but smoking greatly increases risk of other asbestos-induced cancer. Compensation via asbestos funds or lawsuits is an important issue in mesothelioma.

The mesothelioma symptoms include shortness of breath due to pleural effusion (fluid between the lung and the chest wall) or chest wall pain, and general symptoms such as weight loss. The diagnosis mesothelioma may be suspected with chest X-ray and CT scan, and is confirmed with a biopsy (tissue sample) and microscopic examination. A thoracoscopy (inserting a tube with a camera into the chest) can be applied to take biopsies. It allows the introduction of substances such as talc to obliterate the pleural space (called pleurodesis), which prevents more fluid from accumulating and pressing on the lung. Despite treatment with chemotherapy, radiation therapy or sometimes surgery, the disease carries a poor prognosis. Research about screening tests for the early detection of mesothelioma is ongoing.