day 21, poem 17

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day 21, poem 17

xposted to 100poems
( Read more... )

day 21, poems 18 and 19

xposted to 100poems
( It's haiku day. )

day 21, poems 18 and 19

xposted to 100poems
( It's haiku day. )

Fun with name generators

Specifically http://www.blogthings.com/meganames/ :

Your punk rock band name is The Copacetic Drinking Bird

(The rest were less funny.)

Fun with name generators

Specifically http://www.blogthings.com/meganames/ :

Your punk rock band name is The Copacetic Drinking Bird

(The rest were less funny.)

cervical cancer detection and HPV vaccine notes from my gyn

I love my gyn. He's a very personable and respectful geek.

I went for a Pap smear today, and his office is using a new test in addition to the traditional slide preparation. It's called PapSure and it's a speculoscopic exam. Insurance doesn't cover it, so it cost me $40 to get it in addition to the Pap smear.

I asked him why he was using it, and he said that for many years scientists have been trying to figure out why Pap smears don't detect 20 percent of cervical cancers, no matter how often they are performed. Apparently it's been discovered is that some of the viruses that cause cervical cancer change cells under the skin rather than on the skin, and these abnormal cells don't get sampled during a Pap smear. The speculoscopy detects this kind of abnormal cell.

I also asked him about the cervical cancer / HPV vaccine that is being developed. He said that there are 9 kinds of HPV that can cause cervical cancer, and the vaccine addresses only the most aggressive kind. But once the vaccine for that kind is finished, it will be easier to develop vaccines for the rest of them. He predicted that vaccination would be able to prevent against all the kinds of HPV in around 20 years.

So maybe I can look forward to an old age free of @#$#$@ Pap smears.

cervical cancer detection and HPV vaccine notes from my gyn

I love my gyn. He's a very personable and respectful geek.

I went for a Pap smear today, and his office is using a new test in addition to the traditional slide preparation. It's called PapSure and it's a speculoscopic exam. Insurance doesn't cover it, so it cost me $40 to get it in addition to the Pap smear.

I asked him why he was using it, and he said that for many years scientists have been trying to figure out why Pap smears don't detect 20 percent of cervical cancers, no matter how often they are performed. Apparently it's been discovered is that some of the viruses that cause cervical cancer change cells under the skin rather than on the skin, and these abnormal cells don't get sampled during a Pap smear. The speculoscopy detects this kind of abnormal cell.

I also asked him about the cervical cancer / HPV vaccine that is being developed. He said that there are 9 kinds of HPV that can cause cervical cancer, and the vaccine addresses only the most aggressive kind. But once the vaccine for that kind is finished, it will be easier to develop vaccines for the rest of them. He predicted that vaccination would be able to prevent against all the kinds of HPV in around 20 years.

So maybe I can look forward to an old age free of @#$#$@ Pap smears.

Good movie

Recommendation for Beauty Shop featuring Queen Latifah. A feel-good comedy that also feels improvisational, the way some of Spike Lee's lighter films do. (In fact, I was under the impression that Spike Lee had been a producer of the film, but I think I was wrong.) ( teensy spoilers below )

Good movie

Recommendation for Beauty Shop featuring Queen Latifah. A feel-good comedy that also feels improvisational, the way some of Spike Lee's lighter films do. (In fact, I was under the impression that Spike Lee had been a producer of the film, but I think I was wrong.) ( teensy spoilers below )