Beating the odds:"They probably underestimated me."
Poker is like life-death –cancer
Moneymaker wins poker title. Really. By DAVE TULEY LAS VEGAS - Don't bother calling Hollywood. Not even Ripley would believe this story. Chris Moneymaker (that's his real name!) started playing poker three years ago after seeing the movie "Rounders." Working two jobs to make ends meet, the 27-year-old accountant entered a $40 satellite tournament online and earned a spot in the most prestigious tournament on the planet, the $10,000 buy-in Championship Event of the World Series of Poker at Binion's Horseshoe in Las Vegas. Playing in his first "live" tournament (all his previous experience was online), he worked his way through a record field of 839 entrants, knocking off former champions along the way. At the final table, he made every right move and walked away with the $2.5 million first prize early Saturday morning.
"I bluffed a lot in this tournament and somehow I got away with it," Moneymaker said. "If I can win it, anybody can win it."
Moneymaker played like a pro. His lack of experience rarely showed.
"It worked to my advantage," he said. "They probably underestimated me."
Sunday, May 25, 2003
Sunday, April 27, 2003
Getting the inside story on health of your colon
DAVE BARRY Humor
So there I was, on hands and knees, crawling through a 40-foot long, four-foot-high, human colon.
It wasn't a real colon, of course. No human has a colon that size, except maybe Marlon Brando, and I'm sure he has security people to prevent media access.
No, this was a replica. It's called the Colossal Colon, and I'm not making it up. It was conceived of by a 26-year-old cancer survivor named Molly McMaster as a way to get people to talk about their colons. This is a topic that most people don't even like to THINK about. I sure don't, and I bet you don't. But if you never talk to your doctor about your colon, you might never get screened for colon cancer -- the second leading cause of cancer death, though it's preventable -- and you could die, and THEN think how you'd feel.
That's the idea behind the Colossal Colon, which is currently traveling around the nation on a 20-city tour (to see if it's coming to your area, check ColossalColon.com). I caught up with the colon in South Beach, a part of Miami Beach known for sophistication and glamour. You can barely swing your arms there without striking an international supermodel, or a Rolling Stone, or, at the bare minimum, a Baldwin brother. I felt that the Colossal Colon fit right in.
The colon was set up inside an air-conditioned tent, along with displays of helpful information, including a list of ''DOs'' and ''DON'Ts'' for visitors. Among the DON'Ts were: ''DON'T stop for long periods of time inside of the Colossal Colon'' and ''DON'T horseplay inside of the Colossal Colon.'' I thought the wisest advice was: ``DON'T leave your children unattended.''
If you're a parent, there are few experiences more embarrassing than when you report a missing child to the police, and the officer asks you where you last saw little Tiffany, and you have to answer: ``She was entering a giant colon.''
The Colossal Colon, shaped like huge ''C,'' is made from plywood and polyurethane foam. It has been sculpted and painted to look very realistic, so much so that I was frankly reluctant to crawl inside. I was worried about how far they carried the realism. I mean, what if you got deep inside there, and you suddenly were confronted, fun-house-style, by some guy wearing a costume depicting an educational colon-dwelling character, such as Tommy Tapeworm, or, God forbid, Fred Food?
Fortunately, this did not happen. But the journey through the Colossal Colon is no walk in the park. You start out at the end labeled ''Healthy Colon,'' and for a short while it's a pleasant enough crawl. But pretty soon you start running into bad things: first Crohn's disease, then diverticulosis, then polyps, then precancerous polyps, then colon cancer, then advanced colon cancer, and finally -- just when you see the light at the end of the tunnel, and start to think you're safe -- you find yourself face to face (so to speak) with one of mankind's worst nightmares: Hemorrhoids the size of regulation NFL footballs.
Shaken? You bet I was shaken. It was with weak knees that I emerged from the end of the colon (medical name: ``The Geraldo''). There I was asked by a member of the Colossal Colon's entourage (yes, it has an entourage) to sign a pledge promising to consult with my doctor about my colon. I signed the pledge, although to be honest, I did not consult with my doctor. I consulted instead with my friend and longtime medical advisor Gene Weingarten, who is widely acknowledged to be the foremost hypochondriac practicing in America today.
Gene told me that he'd been screened for colon cancer, and that the procedure was not nearly as bad as I imagined. This is good, because I imagined that it involved a large, cruel medical technician named ''Horst'' and 70,000 feet of chairlift cable. But Gene assured me that it's nothing like that, and that they make you very comfortable (by which I mean ''give you drugs''). Gene says they make you so comfortable that you'll be laughing and exchanging ``high fives'' with Horst (make sure he washes his hands first).
So I'm going to get the screening, darn it. I hope you do, too, assuming you actually get to see this column. I suspect some editors will decide not to print it, because it contains explicit words that some readers may find distasteful, such as ''Geraldo.'' If you're one of those readers, I apologize if I offended you. But remember: I'm writing this because maybe -- just maybe -- it will save your life.
Ha ha! Not really. I'm writing this because I'm a humor columnist, and there was a giant colon in town.
But get yourself screened anyway.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/living/columnists/dave_barry/5721513.htm
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DAVE BARRY Humor
So there I was, on hands and knees, crawling through a 40-foot long, four-foot-high, human colon.
It wasn't a real colon, of course. No human has a colon that size, except maybe Marlon Brando, and I'm sure he has security people to prevent media access.
No, this was a replica. It's called the Colossal Colon, and I'm not making it up. It was conceived of by a 26-year-old cancer survivor named Molly McMaster as a way to get people to talk about their colons. This is a topic that most people don't even like to THINK about. I sure don't, and I bet you don't. But if you never talk to your doctor about your colon, you might never get screened for colon cancer -- the second leading cause of cancer death, though it's preventable -- and you could die, and THEN think how you'd feel.
That's the idea behind the Colossal Colon, which is currently traveling around the nation on a 20-city tour (to see if it's coming to your area, check ColossalColon.com). I caught up with the colon in South Beach, a part of Miami Beach known for sophistication and glamour. You can barely swing your arms there without striking an international supermodel, or a Rolling Stone, or, at the bare minimum, a Baldwin brother. I felt that the Colossal Colon fit right in.
The colon was set up inside an air-conditioned tent, along with displays of helpful information, including a list of ''DOs'' and ''DON'Ts'' for visitors. Among the DON'Ts were: ''DON'T stop for long periods of time inside of the Colossal Colon'' and ''DON'T horseplay inside of the Colossal Colon.'' I thought the wisest advice was: ``DON'T leave your children unattended.''
If you're a parent, there are few experiences more embarrassing than when you report a missing child to the police, and the officer asks you where you last saw little Tiffany, and you have to answer: ``She was entering a giant colon.''
The Colossal Colon, shaped like huge ''C,'' is made from plywood and polyurethane foam. It has been sculpted and painted to look very realistic, so much so that I was frankly reluctant to crawl inside. I was worried about how far they carried the realism. I mean, what if you got deep inside there, and you suddenly were confronted, fun-house-style, by some guy wearing a costume depicting an educational colon-dwelling character, such as Tommy Tapeworm, or, God forbid, Fred Food?
Fortunately, this did not happen. But the journey through the Colossal Colon is no walk in the park. You start out at the end labeled ''Healthy Colon,'' and for a short while it's a pleasant enough crawl. But pretty soon you start running into bad things: first Crohn's disease, then diverticulosis, then polyps, then precancerous polyps, then colon cancer, then advanced colon cancer, and finally -- just when you see the light at the end of the tunnel, and start to think you're safe -- you find yourself face to face (so to speak) with one of mankind's worst nightmares: Hemorrhoids the size of regulation NFL footballs.
Shaken? You bet I was shaken. It was with weak knees that I emerged from the end of the colon (medical name: ``The Geraldo''). There I was asked by a member of the Colossal Colon's entourage (yes, it has an entourage) to sign a pledge promising to consult with my doctor about my colon. I signed the pledge, although to be honest, I did not consult with my doctor. I consulted instead with my friend and longtime medical advisor Gene Weingarten, who is widely acknowledged to be the foremost hypochondriac practicing in America today.
Gene told me that he'd been screened for colon cancer, and that the procedure was not nearly as bad as I imagined. This is good, because I imagined that it involved a large, cruel medical technician named ''Horst'' and 70,000 feet of chairlift cable. But Gene assured me that it's nothing like that, and that they make you very comfortable (by which I mean ''give you drugs''). Gene says they make you so comfortable that you'll be laughing and exchanging ``high fives'' with Horst (make sure he washes his hands first).
So I'm going to get the screening, darn it. I hope you do, too, assuming you actually get to see this column. I suspect some editors will decide not to print it, because it contains explicit words that some readers may find distasteful, such as ''Geraldo.'' If you're one of those readers, I apologize if I offended you. But remember: I'm writing this because maybe -- just maybe -- it will save your life.
Ha ha! Not really. I'm writing this because I'm a humor columnist, and there was a giant colon in town.
But get yourself screened anyway.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/living/columnists/dave_barry/5721513.htm
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday, April 12, 2003
lesson is: don't rely on governments,GET TESTED,
and if you have surgery: aggressively follow up your treatment!
"Colorectal tumours kill more Canadians than either breast or prostate cancer. And screening has been sought — for years — by Cancer Care Ontario, the provincial agency that co-ordinates cancer services.
But Queen's Park hasn't acted.
..........
Despite billions spent on cancer research, despite the work of thousands of scientists, hundreds of new drugs, better radiation techniques and improved surgery — despite all that, the odds of dying of cancer haven't much changed since the 1960s. Prevention saves many more lives Death rates still alarmingly high
.................
There has been progress. Better treatments allow most cancer patients to live longer and more comfortably. Chemotherapy's ravages are better controlled. Surgery is less disfiguring.
..................
cigarette smoking is still the single largest preventable cause of cancer."
Obesity is another big factor; the American Cancer Society links one-third of cancer deaths to unhealthy diet and inactivity.
and if you have surgery: aggressively follow up your treatment!
"Colorectal tumours kill more Canadians than either breast or prostate cancer. And screening has been sought — for years — by Cancer Care Ontario, the provincial agency that co-ordinates cancer services.
But Queen's Park hasn't acted.
..........
Despite billions spent on cancer research, despite the work of thousands of scientists, hundreds of new drugs, better radiation techniques and improved surgery — despite all that, the odds of dying of cancer haven't much changed since the 1960s. Prevention saves many more lives Death rates still alarmingly high
.................
There has been progress. Better treatments allow most cancer patients to live longer and more comfortably. Chemotherapy's ravages are better controlled. Surgery is less disfiguring.
..................
cigarette smoking is still the single largest preventable cause of cancer."
Obesity is another big factor; the American Cancer Society links one-third of cancer deaths to unhealthy diet and inactivity.
Sunday, February 16, 2003
Higher Cancer Risk in Women Eating Western Diet
The typical Western diet means more colon cancer for women, a powerful new study shows.
The huge study of 76,402 women didn't try to keep them on any specific diet plan. Researcher Teresa Fung, ScD, and her Simmons College/Harvard University team just kept track of what they ate. They checked on the women, originally aged 38 to 63 years, in 1984, 1986, 1990, and 1994.
The women's eating habits fell into two patterns. One -- dubbed the "Western pattern" -- included:
Refined grains. These include white pasta, white breads, and white rice -- all made from grains that have had their bran shells removed. Red meats Processed meats Desserts High-fat dairy products French fries
The "prudent" pattern included:
Lots of fruits Vegetables Whole grains Legumes (beans and peas) Poultry Fish
By the end of the study period, 445 of the women developed colon cancer. Women who ate the most Western foods had 50% more colon cancers than the women who ate the least Western foods. Women who ate the most "prudent" foods tended to have less colon cancer than those who ate the least, but this trend was not statistically significant.
"Our study provides further evidence that switching from a typical Western diet to a more prudent diet may reduce the risk of colon cancer," Fung and colleagues write.
The study appears in the Feb. 10 issue of The Archives of Internal Medicine.
http://aolsvc.health.webmd.aol.com/content/Article/60/67185.htm
The typical Western diet means more colon cancer for women, a powerful new study shows.
The huge study of 76,402 women didn't try to keep them on any specific diet plan. Researcher Teresa Fung, ScD, and her Simmons College/Harvard University team just kept track of what they ate. They checked on the women, originally aged 38 to 63 years, in 1984, 1986, 1990, and 1994.
The women's eating habits fell into two patterns. One -- dubbed the "Western pattern" -- included:
Refined grains. These include white pasta, white breads, and white rice -- all made from grains that have had their bran shells removed. Red meats Processed meats Desserts High-fat dairy products French fries
The "prudent" pattern included:
Lots of fruits Vegetables Whole grains Legumes (beans and peas) Poultry Fish
By the end of the study period, 445 of the women developed colon cancer. Women who ate the most Western foods had 50% more colon cancers than the women who ate the least Western foods. Women who ate the most "prudent" foods tended to have less colon cancer than those who ate the least, but this trend was not statistically significant.
"Our study provides further evidence that switching from a typical Western diet to a more prudent diet may reduce the risk of colon cancer," Fung and colleagues write.
The study appears in the Feb. 10 issue of The Archives of Internal Medicine.
http://aolsvc.health.webmd.aol.com/content/Article/60/67185.htm
Wednesday, February 05, 2003
My latest CEA test is now 3.8, the lowest it’s ever been.
But before we celebrate,,we must be aware that CEA is not useful for all colon cancer patients.
Some never have an elevated CEA.
Usually, doctors watch for changes in CEA rather than a single reading.
A good friend of mine said her CEA didnt rise,yet she had reocurrence,her surgeon says it's not good guide
CEA test - http://www.mdadvice.com/library/test/medtest118.html
Tumour markers -
http://training.seer.cancer.gov/module_diagnostic/unit03_tumor_markers.html
Tumour markers - http://www.tc-cancer.com/tumormarkers.html
But before we celebrate,,we must be aware that CEA is not useful for all colon cancer patients.
Some never have an elevated CEA.
Usually, doctors watch for changes in CEA rather than a single reading.
A good friend of mine said her CEA didnt rise,yet she had reocurrence,her surgeon says it's not good guide
CEA test - http://www.mdadvice.com/library/test/medtest118.html
Tumour markers -
http://training.seer.cancer.gov/module_diagnostic/unit03_tumor_markers.html
Tumour markers - http://www.tc-cancer.com/tumormarkers.html
Monday, December 30, 2002
meat-eaters have much higher colon cancer rates—about 300 percent higher compared to vegetarians.
There's No Room for Chicken in a Healthy Diet
http://www.pcrm.org/magazine/GM00SpringSummer/GM00SpSum2.html
Q: Is chicken…poisonous?!
A: With live salmonella bacteria growing inside one in every three packages of chicken, it is making a lot of people sick. Although deaths from salmonella poisonings sometimes make the evening news, millions more cases that cause flu-like symptoms go unaccounted. Salmonella poisoning can cause vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, and low-grade fever lasting for several days. When it spreads to the blood and other organs, it can be fatal—and is, for as many as 9,000 people every year.
There's No Room for Chicken in a Healthy Diet
http://www.pcrm.org/magazine/GM00SpringSummer/GM00SpSum2.html
Q: Is chicken…poisonous?!
A: With live salmonella bacteria growing inside one in every three packages of chicken, it is making a lot of people sick. Although deaths from salmonella poisonings sometimes make the evening news, millions more cases that cause flu-like symptoms go unaccounted. Salmonella poisoning can cause vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, and low-grade fever lasting for several days. When it spreads to the blood and other organs, it can be fatal—and is, for as many as 9,000 people every year.
Saturday, December 21, 2002
Ontario has among the highest rates of colorectal cancer in the world.
The occurrence of colorectal cancer varies greatly worldwide. Variation among countries is not due to genetic differences. This means that most colorectal cancers in Ontario may be preventable. The best ways to reduce the risk of colorectal cancer are to eat plenty of vegetables and to keep physically active
http://www.cancercare.on.ca/cancerfacts/home.html
The occurrence of colorectal cancer varies greatly worldwide. Variation among countries is not due to genetic differences. This means that most colorectal cancers in Ontario may be preventable. The best ways to reduce the risk of colorectal cancer are to eat plenty of vegetables and to keep physically active
http://www.cancercare.on.ca/cancerfacts/home.html