RIVKIN CENTER WEBINAR ON BREAST AND OVARIAN CANCER

 Linda in the Yukon

at midnight

 

This might be useful.  It is a Rivkin Center Webinar,  Free

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_P2d5-mRnTXCa8vrm5vyalQ?utm_source=Zoom 

SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS, REDUX

 Guess where

For reasons not obvious to me, this article suddenly is all over the Internet.  Not much here you don’t already know, but neatly packaged and convenient - every woman should at least skim it, I guess.  Go to it.

https://theconversation.com/ovarian-cancer-is-not-a-silent-killer-recognizing-its-symptoms-could-help-reduce-misdiagnosis-and-late-detection-181415 

THE NITTY GRITTY

Linda and friend, Nova Scotia

Here is another little ditty to tax your perseverance and  skill at using Google.  The various mutations that contribute to OVCA are discussed, plus ways to go about partially disarming them.  The simple bottom line is: ovulate less, and be lucky with your ancestors.  Still a lot of chance involved, unfortunately.  Study this thing if you have time, but at least remember it’s there if you need it.

https://www.contemporaryobgyn.net/view/clues-to-the-origins-of-ovarian-cancer  

BENEVOLENT LITTLE SPHERES OF DEATH

 Sisters

This sounds like the real deal, folks.  I blogged about it once before, but here are the details, straight from the horse’s mouth – as they used to say.  I hope the NCI simply smothers this project in money and manpower (actually, womanpower might be a better term) and, if it is a winner, get it out there as quickly as possible.  At least 13,000 American women per year then might be spared Linda’s misery.

Come on, God – if you really are there, this should be right down your supposedly benevolent alley!

https://www.cancer.gov/news-events/cancer-currents-blog/2022/implanted-drug-factories-il2-ovarian-cancer?cid=eb_govdel 

MEA NON CULPA, DAMMit

 Linda in Covent Gardens, London

I suspect that all of you faithful readers of my blog (all four of you) are mildly miffed that I have posted so many Frivolities and so few serious OVCA blogs – lately.  Well, dang it, Mea non Culpa!  I search the literature every day, looking for items worth passing on.   Problem is, there ain’t  been none!  Lots of stuff touting new drugs/drug combinations/repeats of stuff I told you about weeks ago.  But – nothing important, and new.  I promise to keep looking.  In the meantime, enjoy this picture of Linda, at her most beautiful.

SEROUS OVARIAN CANCER

 TWO SPECIAL CREATURES

I almost feel like I should apologize for foisting so many review articles on all you devoted readers – but the unfortunate fact is that few really new bits of news have surfaced in recent weeks,  So, here is an in-depth essay on serous ovarian cancer, which is worth reading.  “Serous” is the most common form of OVCA, and the most deadly.  It may help you to know the facts summarized un this article.  At least, it won’t hurt.

https://www.healthline.com/health/ovarian-cancer/serous-ovarian-cancer 

THE RIVKIN CENTER

 Exiting a fabric store somewhere in Nova Scotia

Last night I received a phone call from Dr. Saul Rivkin, the founder and animating spirit of the Marsha Rivkin Center for Ovarian Cancer Research.  It turns out that Saul is temporarily inactive, due to some sort of leg injury - he can no longer walk.  I guess he treasures having me as a friend because I am the only person yet alive who is older than him!  As you probably know already, at one time I did quite a bit of work with the Rivkin Center.  While I was there (Swedish Hospital in Seattle), Saul and I would get to shooting the breeze – possibly somewhat loudly at times.   The office staff had to run us off on a few occasions, we were distracting them with our senior citizen chortles!

Over the years, Saul – through his institute – has raised $15.6 million for ovarian cancer research.  He ranks high on my list of heroes.

So, here is the annual report of the Rivkin Center.  Glance through it.

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#search/rivkin/FMfcgzGmvfgKPvvvVbSplZlLdlGkBbrQ 

A CRIB SHEET

No baby handy?  Cuddle a puppy

Feel free to think of this as a crib sheet, meant to be studied before taking the final exam in OVCA 101.  Read it carefully, try to understand it – and keep track of how many times you had to resort to Google!  

This is a fair approximation of what a lay person might hope to understand about our least-favorite diseased, couched in language that shows little mercy on those of us who never went to med school.  Covered are such topics as: what is OVCA and what are its various kinds, factors (including genetics) that influence the probability of getting the disease, life/death etc. statistics, signs and symptoms, therapies, and more.  

Give it a go.  I plan to study it again right after my afternoon nap.

https://www.contemporaryobgyn.net/view/clues-to-the-origins-of-ovarian-cancer  

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SOME INTERESTING STUFF

Always happy to find a baby to hold

I have written previously of OCRA, the Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance.  OCRA operates much like the Marsha Rivkin Foundation, about which I have blogged numerous times; it raises and distributes funds for OVCA research, as well as disseminating useful information about the disease.  Thus, contributions to OVCA are well spent.  I prefer to, in a sense, cut out the middle man; I contribute directly to Fred Hutch’s ovarian cancer program, using Linda’s web site, which is:

https://secure.fredhutch.org/site/TR/PersonalFundraisingPages/General?px=1148821&pg=personal&fr_id=1573  in case you had forgotten!

OCRA also publishes some off-beat interesting stuff.  One of their recent news letters features interviews with some of the young research scientists they are supporting.  For insight into what motivates these bright young people, and a short course on what each is trying to do, click below.  I did, and I found it interesting, as well as more than a little encouraging.

https://ocrahope.org/tag/meet-a-scientist/?utm_source=OCRAEmail&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Newsletter&utm_content=March2022

 

 

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EAT THIS, NOT THAT

               At dinner, in the old city of Rhodes

I realize that many of you are of the persuasion that diet, in company with good habits, good genes – and luck – plays an important role in weighty matters, such as whether you get OVCA, for instance.  Some of you know that I am a bit skeptical about that proposition.  However, killing time on a typically crappy Sunday, Bellingham, weatherwise , I just ran on a web site that will be of interest to many of you.  Its name tells all: Eat This, Not That.  When I got it up it seemed to be mostly adds, but with nutritional advice interspersed.  The link below deals with cancer, at least in part.  Indulge yourselves.

https://www.eatthis.com/news-potential-risk-ovarian-cancer/