Thursday, June 15, 2023

HPV

I was talking to an Oncology Nurse the other day and she told me that 80% of adults now test positive for HPV antibodies.

The reason that is alarming is that HPV is linked to a much higher rate of oral/head/throat cancers and color/rectal cancers. That is in addition to the cervical and uterine cancers most people associate with HPV.

The good news is that most of the types of cancer triggered by HPV are relatively responsive to common chemo-therapies.

The bad news is that the standard of care for some of the head/throat cancers is concurrent chemo and radiation. A typical course is for six weeks and most patients hit the wall at four weeks. They can barely swallow water at that point and they lose a lot of weight that last two weeks.

Additionally, the Oncology Nurse's senses have evolved to the point where she almost does not need to test the patients. She can tell when they walk through the door.

I asked her "What are the cues?"

"Most of the patients who do not test positive are wearing sandals with socks and wristwatches."

If I had been on top of my game I would have asked if they were Casios or Timex.

5 comments:

  1. Dang, I quit wearing watches 22 years ago when I got my first cell phone.

    Good job I'm Super Straight.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. One of the nurse's points was that it is not just enough for you to be faithful but that your spouse/partner also be.

      Equally impacts hetero people. It is one of those Woke virus.

      Delete
  2. I wear socks with my sandals but I am not sure if it is because I am square or because my daughter told me my toes were so ugly no one should ever have to see them.

    Should I get tested? Maybe I will just try ivermectin.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I remember when W. Bush (can't remember if Gov. or Prez) wanted to make the HPV shot mandatory and the Left lost it.
    Said he was a perv wanting --something about girls bedrooms....
    yada-yada-yada....

    ReplyDelete
  4. This isn't (mostly) a gay/ straight issue; it's from certain behaviors.

    I wonder if they correlate to circumcision? A century ago, circumcision became common in the US because Jewish women had low rates of cervical cancer...
    In the 1960s most men were circumcised; now it's less than half.

    ReplyDelete

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