Tag Archives: survival

South Africa burn survivor gets cloned skin grafts – WTOP.com

By KIM CHAKANETSA associated Press

JOHANNESBURG (AP) – a 3-year-old South African girl who suffered severe burns over 80 percent of her body after an accident at a family barbecue has successfully undergone a rare surgery in Africa that gave her a new layer of cloned skin, her surgeon said Tuesday.

"everything went quite smoothly," said Dr. Ridwan Mia, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon who performed the surgery Monday in a Johannesburg hospital. "She is sedated at the moment but she did well overnight."

Isabella Kruger was injured on new Year’s Eve when a container of fire lighting fluid exploded. Mia said he did not hold much hope for her survival when he met her in January. Burn victims with injuries as severe as Isabella’s rarely survive, he said.

"She had swelled to three times her size from her injuries," Mia said of the toddler.

Isabella was in the hospital for several months battling pneumonia and kidney failure, and suffered several cardiac arrests. Doctors eventually stabilized her so that Monday’s complex skin transplant surgery could be performed.

Mia and his team used enough cloned skin during the surgery to cover a placemat and stapled it in pieces onto Isabella’s wounds. on her face, doctors used absorbent stitch material instead of staples. The new skin had been created by cloning two samples of skin taken from one of the few parts of Isabella’s body to escape injury thanks to a diaper she was wearing at the time of the accident.

The samples were sent to Genzyme laboratory in Boston where the skin was cloned using mouse cells as a scaffold. The procedure has been used often in the U.S. and Europe but rarely in Africa, Mia said.

On Monday evening, a special courier arrived from Boston with a stainless steel container carrying about 30 to 40 grafts of Isabella’s new skin. Thin, delicate and almost transparent, the skin was taken to a Johannesburg hospital by ambulance from the airport. The skin needed to be grafted onto Isabella within 24 hours of leaving the laboratory.

"it was like clockwork the way the skin arrived on time," said Mia.

As Isabella was wheeled out of the surgery, her father Erwin Kruger expressed his relief to reporters.

"everything looks great, it’s fantastic," he said.

Isabella’s mother, Anice Kruger, who has been by her daughter’s bedside since the accident, looked equally relieved.

For the next seven days Isabella will be wrapped in foam and protective dressing. She faces two immediate challenges. The first is ensuring that she remains free of infection. The second challenge is to prevent the new skin from sliding off and not taking. Skin grafts are delicate and prone to tearing. Doctors will have to keep Isabella sedated to minimize the risk of tearing.

Bronwen Jones, founder of the Children of Fire, a local charity dedicated to providing medical treatments for young burn survivors considers Isabella to be one of the luckier burn victims. Jones says their survival in South Africa often depends on their proximity to a hospital and whether the hospitals are properly equipped.

While there are no reliable statistics, Jones estimates that around 15,000 children are seriously injured every year. in impoverished areas the use of candles, paraffin stoves and open fires are often the causes of fire, particularly during the winter months. Tembisa Hospital, in the Gauteng province of South Africa, currently has 12 children in their burns unit.

In the case of Isabella, access to medical care at an early stage as well as her parent’s ability to raise money through social networking sites have all helped ease the burden.

Mia will be able to tell whether the skin has successfully taken after two weeks but he is optimistic given Isabella’s determination.

"She is a fighter," says Mia.

Children of Fire: http://www.childrenoffire.org/

(Copyright 2012 The associated Press. all rights reserved. this material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

South Africa burn survivor gets cloned skin grafts – WTOP.com

Could a plastic eating fungi save world from biggest man-made environmental catastrophe?

PUBLISHED:

03:00 EST, 18 may 2012

|UPDATED:

10:42 EST, 18 may 2012

The world’s addiction to plastic packaging and products threatens to choke many of the eco-systems that life relies on for survival.

The usually synthetic material, which is most commonly made from petrochemicals, degrades very slowly because it’s complex chemical bonds make it resistant to natural processes of decomposition.

Since the 1950s, one billion tons of plastic are thought to have been discarded – and the waste may persist for hundreds or even thousands of years.

Rubbish: A team from Yale University has found a fungus that could be used to break down certain kinds of plastic, raising hopes more could be discovered in the future

However, U.S. researchers now believe that a fungus could be used to break down plastic, and so rescue the world from one of its biggest man-made environmental threats.

A group of students from Yale University, Connecticut, have found a fungus in the Amazon rainforest that can break down the common plastic polyurethane.

One of the most widely used plastics, the global consumption of polyurethane raw materials in 2007 was above 12million tons, with an average annual growth rate in its use of about 5 per cent.

As part of Yale’s Rainforest Expedition and Laboratory educational programme, the researchers scoured the Ecuadorian rainforest for plants and cultured the micro-organisms within their tissue.

Example of PUR-A plates initially used to screen for polyurethane-degrading activity after 2 weeks of fungal growth. (A) Negative control. (B) Pleosporales sp. strain E2705B

Writing in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology, they say: ‘Endophytes were isolated from plant stems collected in the Ecuadorian rainforest.

‘A subset of these organisms was screened for their ability to degrade polyurethane. several active organisms were identified, including two distinct isolates of Pestalotiopsis microspora with the ability to efficiently degrade and utilize PUR as the sole carbon source when grown anaerobically.’

Endophytes are micro-organisms that live within the inner tissues of plants, but do not cause any noticeable disease symptoms in their hosts.

They often play a key role in the decomposition of the plants after death, but never before have they been tested for their ability to degrade synthetic materials.

The Amazon: The Yale researchers said further exploration could reveal more miracle metabolisers that could potentially be used to degrade other kinds of plastics

The authors of the study hold out hope that further exploration of properties of endophytes could reveal more miracle metabolisers that could potentially be used to degrade other kinds of plastics.

‘Each of the more than 300,000 land plant species on Earth potentially hosts multiple endophyte species,’ they write.

‘Only a small sampling of plants have been examined for their endophytic associations, yet many of these organisms can be readily cultured.

‘Endophytes reach their greatest diversity in tropical forests. Individual trees can harbor hundreds of endophytic species, some of which are known but many of which are new to science.’

Here’s what other readers have said. why not add your thoughts,or debate this issue live on our message boards.

The comments below have not been moderated.

- Bob Steele, Clearwater, FL, USA, 20/5/2012 16:08

Ursula, co2 is not a problem. Plastic will always be a bigger issue than co2. The earth is self regulating for the most part. it copes with co2 very easily. CO2 does not stay in the atmosphere indefinitely.

- Ron, Moline, IL US, 20/5/2012 15:41

I recall reading several years ago about a Canadian teen who figured this out in a science project at school, using far less exotic bacteria. The Yale students are a bit late.also, the headline here is a clear example of journalistic malpractice (think about it).

- offonoff, Wisconsin, USA, 20/5/2012 14:02

- Rich, Wolves, 20/5/2012 09:27

And what else will this fungus eat once it is let lose elsewhere? What disaster will this bring about? if something sounds too good to be true it probably is.- ftk66, Las Cruces NM, USA, 19/5/2012 === if you are not made of plastic you’ll be ok. Don’t worry be happy.

- anon, anon, 20/5/2012 05:45

And what else will this fungus eat once it is let lose elsewhere? What disaster will this bring about? if something sounds too good to be true it probably is.- ftk66, Las Cruces NM, USA, 19/5/2012 === if you are not made of plastic you’ll be ok. Don’t worry be happy.

- anon, anon, 20/5/2012 05:45

Naturally the anti environmentalist dingbats are going to shut up now they know the true value of the rainforests to our species. if any of you are reading, best shush and just pray they haven’t tarmacked over the cure for cancer.

- DG, SB, 20/5/2012 04:13

- Free man in the mouth, exmouth England, 19/5/2012 09:25

- Free man in the mouth, exmouth England, 19/5/2012 09:25

Bits of plastic bobing around in the sea or here and there on the land don’t really do an aweful lot but sit there. I am sure some small creatures use this stuff as habitat. Better a billion tonnes of solid plastic than another billion tons of CO2 in the air dug up out of the ground and burnt by us :/ We use 20 million tons of coal and 100 million barels of oil every day and set fire to it with a match and watch it go up in smoke, plus chop down lots of rainforest every year to grow plants to make ‘environmentaly friendly’ packaging material. When you burn a ton of coal / oil it becomes 3 or 4 times that weight in CO2 because it combines with the oxygen in the air to make the gas.

- Ursula, London, 19/5/2012 07:36

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Could a plastic eating fungi save world from biggest man-made environmental catastrophe?

Explore Plastic Surgery – Dr. Barry Eppley » Blog Archive » The Theory and Science of Fat Grafting Survival

Fat grafting by injection is an ever expanding technique in plastic surgery. But it remains far from a perfect method because so little of the science of fat transplantation is well understood. what happens to the fat cells that are injected, do stem cells really survive and convert to fat cells after injection and what is the best method for ensuring survival of both fat and stem cells? these are the major clinical issues of interest. in lieu of not yet understanding the science, the most practiced technique is to overfill…knowing that some percentage of the transplanted fat will not survive and be resorbed.

While fat grafting has few complications, other than an occasional infection, the variability of take remains a vexing one. For some problems, injecting fat is done because it is simpler than other volumetric methods and because it is natural and not an implant. It is generally agreed, whether it is on the face or the body, that small volumes of injected fat survive better than larger volumes. this is believed to be so because the fat is closer to a blood supply to re-establish nourishment sooner but also because it is being asked to do less. Larger injected volumes presumably resorb more because many of the cells are more distant from a blood supply and have a longer period of oxygen deprivation.

A simple technique to one element of the hypoxia problem is to have the shortest time between harvest and injection with the shorter the better. get the fat and stem cells back into normal body temperature near a blood supply as soon as possible. If fat can be harvested and injected in less than 30 minutes, it would be logical that there is a greater potential for more volume survival.

There are considerable biologic differences between the face and body recipient sites for fat grafting. the face is considerably more vascular and the injected volumes are comparatively smaller. But much of the face has considerable movement and this does not appear to have a favorable effect.

The buttocks, therefore, poses a conundrum. there is no known method of pre-expansion of the buttock tissues and patients usually have to immediately sit on them afterwards compressing the injectate. the saving grace may be that some of what is injected is placed intramuscular which has the best chance of rapid revascularization. But buttock augmentation by fat remains the one area where overfilling is not just advised but routinuely done.

Over the past ten years, a considerable amount of laboratory and clinical research has been done by plastic surgeons in many aspects of fat grafting. from techniques in harvesting, purification and injection to the assessment of potential recipient sites, some basic biologic behaviors have been revealed. Fat is not like food as leftovers is not appealing. Freshly harvested fat has been shown to survive much better than frozen fat. While it is tempting to save and refrigerate for later use with large volume extractions, it simply doesn’t do well. Fat grafting also appears to work better in younger than older patients. at what age fat survival is adversely affected is not clear but suffice it to say there would be an expected difference between a teenager and a 70 year-old. An overfilling technique should be more reserved for older patients.

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Explore Plastic Surgery – Dr. Barry Eppley » Blog Archive » The Theory and Science of Fat Grafting Survival

Breast Reconstruction Through Plastic Surgery

A Breast reconstruction or reformation is a procedure, where a woman undergoes plastic surgery to get a breast transplanted, which is lost during breast cancer or some other stipulation.

After you go through a mastectomy, it’s very vital that you are ready to accept a breast reconstruction. it is an emotional decision but you should have a positive attitude to get your breast restored to regain your body figure.

The breast which is deformed or lost, is reconstructed using plastic surgery, which is helpful to reinstate the lost breast to a characteristic shape, size and form. after the lost breast is restored, there is a necessity to improve the symmetry of the other breast. So, a breast augmentation of the other breast is also done.

During your consultation the surgeon looks through your medical reports about the mastectomy and medication status. the risk factor and outcome during a breast reformation will also be discussed.

The following possible risk of Flap surgery will have to be considered thoroughly.

1. the survival of the flap in its new place may be negligible. If there is a failure, additional surgery will be needed.
2. There may be excessive bleeding, scarring and change in skin sensation. the lungs, abdominal organs, pulmonary and cardiac complications may also arise. Thus extra surgery may be necessary.
3. A chest pain, excessive bleeding, unusual breathing can also occur after post surgery.

After an evaluation of your existing health conditions, the surgeon will examine your breast. He will take measurements of your breast, the skin quality and also take pictures of them for records. the surgery will be carried out at a hospital or a surgical center.

Before surgery a lab test will be carried out and an adjustment to your present medications will be recommended. If you have the habit of smoking than the doctor will suggest to avoid it for two weeks before surgery. If you are taking an aspirin then you will have to stop taking it or excessive bleeding will be caused during the surgery.

During the surgical procedure a general anesthesia will be given. the surgeon uses a flap technique, where a woman’s personal fat, muscle and skin is implanted to create the breast mound. an alternative to a flap technique is to use saline and silicon implants that are available, for reformation. Thus Breast reconstruction is completed via grafting and a number of techniques, that helps to reform the nipple and areola.

After the surgery an elastic support bra will be helpful to decrease the swelling and will also give a support to the reformed breast. A thin tube will be placed temporarily under the skin, which will help to drain out any excessive blood or puss.

You will be prescribed medicines and also creams or gel to apply orally. you will have to immediately consult your surgeon, if there is any complication of chest pain or unusual breathing. Healing will take a few weeks but you will have to visit your doctor regularly for a check up.

After some time, the scars lines will get better but not fade completely and some breast sensation will also return. This surgery will be a success due to your trained and experienced surgeon, who are certified by American Board of Plastic Surgery.

Your breast reformation surgery after a breast cancer is covered by insurance policies, therefore you will have to pay minimum fee only. So, this breast reconstruction will improve your self-confidence and body form.

Breast Reconstruction Through Plastic Surgery

Plastic Surgery Procedure Information

the Subsequent blog post is brought to most people by denver plastic surgery

Plastic surgery began as a way to repair or reconstruct injuries, or congenital issues—that may impede a person’s quality of life. Plastic, in this case, did not refer to the everyday ubiquitous material, but the greek word plastikos which meant to mold or to shape. But as our ideas of beauty began to homogenize, plastic surgery took on a different face.

Beauty has always been a debatable topic—whether or it be in the eye of the beholder or merely an analog for truth. Except when seen in a biological and physiological sense, it takes on a more basic sense. Beauty in the animal and plant kingdom is a means to an end—the propagation and the survival of the species. Therefore what is considered beautiful or better yet, attractive was what would lead to more and better offspring. Women’s full lips, abundant breasts, even the blush of youth and men’s muscular physique are all related to good health, unconsciously signifying the likelihood of the survival of children. So it definitely it is ironic how many improvements of cosmetic surgery may actually be a burden on child rearing. So though we think that the movie stars are famous because of their beauty, we’re also saying that we believe that they represent the better physical features of the human race.

Now, cosmetic surgery and show business seem to feed each other. the newest and more popular actors and actresses are new and old ideals to be copied. in the same way, a young unknown would do well for herself by getting some work done to make her an easier commodity to market.

What becomes problematic about this obsession with beauty and perfection is that the standard is set by the more powerful group, and one may that may not necessarily prize diversity over perfection. and as the West colonized the East, fair skin and Caucasian features became de riguer for beauty. Consequently, there are high incidences of cosmetic surgery in Korea and China to give women larger eyes and taller noses. But this is not a phenomenon limited to the outside of the country. Michael Jackson’s music videos show a changing face (but not by age,) Joan Rivers has made a career poking fun at her own vanity and her propensity for plastic surgery, and even young hopefuls like Heidi Montag have gone under the knife for multiple cosmetic procedures (which she first saw as a perfection of her perception of herself, and now regrets.)

It seems though that the tide has turned and cosmetic surgery has become less a solution and more a symptom of a people’s obsession with a certain kind of perfection. Kim Kardashian has recently asked a fan not to undergo cosmetic survery even if it is to look like her. Perhaps this kind of imitation is not necessarily flattery.

But attitudes surrounding beauty shift just as unpredictably as the economic, political and cultural climate do. and as science and techonology develops as quickly as it has, cosmetic surgery is sure to change with it, molding itself to people’s fickle requirements.

More data here: denver plastic surgery

Plastic Surgery Procedure Information

How Sam Stynes took control

Samantha Stynes says friends and family are the key to coping. Picture: Alex Coppel Source: Herald Sun

Sam Stynes shut down the day her husband Jim was diagnosed with cancer in June 2009.

But as reality took hold, the 36-year-old mother of two realised her family’s best chance at survival rested largely with her. she would have to take charge of the children — Matisse, 9, and Tiernan, 5 — of Jim’s care and of the Stynes’ suddenly overwhelming schedule.

As AFL legend Jim has fought a very public battle, Sam has stood resolutely in the background — in her own words: "Finding strength when there is none, fighting, loving, embracing, crying, surviving . . ."

At times the task has been heart-wrenching, at others surprisingly funny and Sam has eventually found family and friends are key.

Here, in extracts from the diary she has been keeping throughout, she lets us in on her own private struggle. —–

I FELT my heart rip. How could I watch Jim go through yet another round of surgery to resect brain tumours? I hardly survived the first; I don’t know how Jim did.

"How long do you expect Jim to be in the post-surgery neurology ward? that ward is seriously the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party." the neurosurgeons laughed. They got it — anyone who has been there gets it, the absurd line between reality and drugged dreams has never been fuzzier than midnight in that ward. Here we go again.

I’ve become familiar with the feeling of everything closing in on me. Sitting in the hospital foyer on the sticky vinyl seat, slumped against a concrete pole, I am feeling battle weary. I need a moment to come to terms with what’s ahead. soon I will have to stop ignoring the constant buzzing of my phone. I need to let our loved ones know the latest. but for now I just want to fade away into the crowd. just a moment longer. Please.

Bled dry, I watch the lady in a pink terry-towelling dressing gown, heavily swollen, strapped-up ankles. Manoeuvring his wheelchair, a man with one leg. a patient in slippers, IV-drip pole in tow. Smokers out front sheltering from the rain. a burn victim with a disfigured face. a young mum being discharged from hospital with her children — they all have huge grins on their faces.

I feel as though I’m sitting on a film set, yet it is all very real. Hospitals are now a permanent fixture in both our lives.

Jim and I have come out from a meeting with neurosurgeon Dr Peter Hwang. He has explained the brain surgery procedure Jim will be having in five days. Our trusted and much-loved neurosurgeon Prof Jeffrey Rosenfeld (director of neurosurgery at the Alfred) is on leave. I’m nervous. It takes 12 years to become a neurosurgeon. Dr Hwang has assured us that in his hands nothing will go wrong. I feel relieved.

Goddamn it, there goes our respite; there goes our much-anticipated three-week beach holiday free from cancer treatments.

In preparation for surgery, Jim is upstairs having blood tests. I’m waiting in the Alfred Hospital foyer hoping that today they can find a vein. Jim’s veins have taken a beating; he feels like a pin cushion. Invasive surgeries and treatment after treatment, he struggles with nurses drawing blood and putting in intravenous lines. To ease the process, the nurses usually use paediatric needles.

Strangely enough I find some comfort sitting here among the melting pot of patients, their families, surgeons, doctors, nurses, staff and students. Everyone here shares an overriding common purpose, which at the end of the day is what

really matters. It’s the very essence of living life itself: people, their health and their wellbeing.

Eighteen months in, as Jim’s primary carer, people constantly comment: "It must be hard on you, Sam. I don’t know how you do it." Who knows? the same way any carer does I guess, finding strength when there is none, fighting, loving, embracing, crying, surviving.

What I find toughest about battling Jim’s cancer is the longevity of the journey. It never lets up. Metastasised melanoma cancer is like the weed in your lawn that keeps recurring, when you least expect it, regardless of how often you try to get rid of it.

Like a weed in theory, sure, but I need to visualise the enemy. What does it look like exactly? I assumed cancer in the body was a hard, round ball like a pea, golf ball or grapefruit, probably because these are sometimes the terms used to describe the cancer’s size; but when I asked a surgeon what cancer actually looks like, he responded: "a grey jelly substance." I hadn’t thought of it like jelly before.

The jelly visual aided my new-found understanding of how difficult it can be to remove cancer surgically. with Jim’s recent brain surgery the associated risks of doing more serious damage to his vision were very real. It’s difficult to remove tumours in the brain when they are growing within the actual brain matter. and while Jim has this uncanny ability to bounce back from surgery and/or treatment, and may physically appear to be doing well, the facts are that there are some long-term side effects that may not be able to be corrected.

Jim grabs any opportunity to get out and live life, to feel connected with the world. One day he seems to be staring death in the face and the next day he is Lazarus! a friend assumed all was well late last year when she saw a picture of Jim at the Myer Christmas parade. she sent a fun reminder message, "bad friend!", teasing me because we hadn’t caught up and I hadn’t returned her messages in some time. that same afternoon Jim ended up in the emergency ward at Cabrini with crippling head pain.

This is not my first long-term association with a loved one battling cancer. My dad, Don Ludbey, was diagnosed with prostate cancer and given a 12-month life expectancy. He battled on for six years before passing. We celebrated his last Christmas six times, which became an ongoing joke that Dad wasn’t really terminally ill, and that he was just stringing us all along for the attention! I discovered then that the somewhat inappropriate or insensitive joking can often soften some of the bumpy ride. It’s clear to me that if you put up a good mental fight against cancer, you’ll increase your chances of winning and long-term survival.

TOWARDS the end of 2010 the longevity of Jim’s fight saw cracks starting to appear in little Matisse and Tiernan’s lives. since the diagnosis we have all been completely focused on fighting the cancer in a desperate pursuit of healing. In hindsight, it put far too much pressure on us as a family when we decided to head to Jakarta in October for Jim to undertake further alternative treatment.

I was supportive yet sceptical. Associate Prof Grant McArthur, our oncologist, remained open-minded about Jim giving it a go as long as it didn’t interfere with the treatment Jim was undergoing. Jim was so determined: no one could have stopped him anyhow.

I was so tired around that time, with huge black circles under my eyes. there was no way I could have up and left with only a few days’ notice. So our family and friends got behind us, disrupted their own busy lives and supported the process. Jim’s business partner, Hugh Ellis, accompanied Jim for the first week, and then I arrived with the kids and my mum, Mary Williamson, in tow.

Looking back on that time I have to laugh. We were like the travelling circus. Jakarta is a bustling, over-populated, traffic-congested, park-less and polluted city. It’s not great to be in a foreign country when you’re seriously ill, let alone Jakarta.

The doctor in Jakarta decided that she would prefer to treat Jim at a so-called beach resort. thus, we travelled five hours out of the CBD over pothole-filled roads.

Dr McArthur had strongly advised us to stay close to an international hospital and the airport in case of an emergency; we were beyond pushing the limits with this one. I felt isolated and scared for Jim’s wellbeing.

For over a week I had to stand by and watch Jim’s weight dropping rapidly and his overall health deteriorate, yet he wanted to believe that the deterioration was only the necessary side effects from the treatment, which was in fact curing him.

I had the almost impossible task of getting him out of there and home while not breaking his headstrong spirit or getting into useless heated arguments, which would only make the situation worse. Couldn’t he see the danger he was subjecting himself to? Couldn’t he see that as much as we would have all loved for the wacky treatment to be a success, that sadly it wasn’t?

Jim was admitted immediately and ended up spending three weeks in hospital and had two tumours removed. Turns out, not to my surprise, that the treatment wasn’t doing any good. his bowel had started to turn in on itself due to one of the tumours and the white-coat doctors were needed.

BOTH the kids had been missing way too much school and any foundation they depended upon that brought them some normality was disappearing.

I was becoming so emotionally and physically exhausted by it all. I struggled with getting the kids organised and off to school. I needed to find more strength. My mum and step-dad picked up the kids for school every morning for the last six weeks of term 4.

My nine-year-old daughter was caught wagging orchestra. she felt she’d fallen sofar behind that she just couldn’t catch up. the school principal was calling, worried and wondering what on earth was going on at home?

Did I have any heart left to rip? Yes. No one turned up for Tiernan’s kinder portfolio presentation. Apparently he was hysterical. He was the only child with no parent present. the reminder for his special event had gone home when I was away overseas on a short work trip and was hidden in the back pocket of Jim’s jeans. the guilt Jim and I felt at this time was horrendous.

It took these events to finally let my girlfriends in fully to help, both practically and emotionally. Initially when someone offered help and assistance, instinctively I would say, "thanks, but no thanks." I have always found it difficult to ask for help. I correlated letting people in too much to losing control of my own life. I knew I had no control over the cancer; little did I know I’d lost control of my life. not letting my girlfriends in no doubt frustrated them, especially when I began to really struggle. It turns out that my mates were patiently waiting on the sidelines, knowing my personality traits and that I’d eventually come running on my terms.

My girlfriends are now a pillar of strength. I honestly don’t know how I would be getting by without them. They drive over to my place at all hours to check I’m OK when Jim is in hospital. They keep themselves in the loop if I’m off the air by calling Mum. They accompany me to the emergency ward, they deliver food parcels and home-cooked meals to our door, they take the kids for fun outings, they offer a kind ear of support for the kids, they are flexible, understanding and patient and they are basically just always there. While the practical help makes the mechanics of life tick over more easily, their emotional support helps me stay centred and sane.

J IM and I, and all those close to us, exist in the ever-familiar cycle of waiting for and worrying about the next MRI and the next PET scan. there is little respite from surgery, stereotactic radiation, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, or of course, with Jim, the next round of alternative treatment. We wait anxiously for the results of MRIs and PET scans to evaluate if the last treatment undertaken has done any good. Along with our oncologist and his team, we then plot our next tactic.

I plot my meal times. I know the menus and opening hours of the various hospital cafeterias. Peter Mac, Cabrini, the Alfred and the Epworth have become in many ways like second homes. I see the familiar faces of other carers who live there with me. sometimes we nod as we pass.

Waiting, then getting the results of the many scans can be particularly scary. In Jim’s case, they usually bring both good and bad news. all at once a couple of tumours may have regressed, another may have been successfully resected, a pre-existing tumour may have recurred and new tumours may have reared their ugly heads. but worst, is the absolute fear of the tumour’s position in the body. Jim and I always hope the tumours are in an area the doctors can actually work with.

That is where we are at. Living like this is completely dominating. sometimes, as you’re hitting your head against the brick wall, momentarily you ponder giving up — then back to fighting.

T HE cancer obviously has a huge effect on our lives, but it impacts greatly on others too. I’ve come to truly grasp that cancer is like the pebble you toss into a pond. It causes ripples that reach people far and wide. the way some people close to us have personally reacted to Jim’s situation has differed in many ways. For instance, there is Jim’s business partner who questioned his own mortality and went about quickly making his dream a reality.

Obviously the emotion and grief associated with losing someone you love is hard enough. Then there’s the added worry about how Jim’s possible death would practically affect and change my life. this is also relevant for those close to Jim who love him too, whose lives are integrated with his and in some ways are dependant upon this integration.

The trials and tribulations throughout the journey — and there have been many — haven’t been easy. Tensions within the family, extended family and close friends have been felt as each individual discovers their own way of coping.

Any crazy human behaviour fuelled by raw emotion and fear has only deepened, strengthened and improved relationships overall — well, mostly. We’ve come out the other side each time but are vastly different people as a consequence. I believe we are all better people for the experience, regardless of the journey being an uncomfortable one.

There isn’t much romanticism associated with Jim’s commitment to his wellbeing with regards to his raw, organic, angiogenesis diet, though. the everyday hiccups and annoying nuances associated with married life still exist. every single time I walk into our kitchen I could just scream. Jim always leaves the entire history over the bench from each of his chopping up of organic fruits and vegetables for his juices. the juicer that needs to be washed four times a day and is lucky to have not been thrown through a window yet. as is the Thermomix, the blender and the humidifier.

Jim has an innate ability to create chaos all over the house with his appliances, resources, manuals, books and supplements, which are for his healing and my unhingeing.

I kicked Jim out of our house once, banished to his parents in the middle of radiation treatment. I know! but his survival is intrinsically dependent on mine, and I needed a time-out. He was taking high doses of steroids to reduce the swelling in his brain. a nasty side effect of the drugs was making him irritable, short-tempered and basically not nice to be around at all. I told him he could come home once he’d curbed his unacceptable behaviour. I felt like Britain’s Supernanny, Jo Frost — I think I even said "assepibul" with her accent.

Over an early-morning breakfast (an intervention breakfast organised by my mates as they thought I had lost too much weight from stress), I distinctly remember the shocked reaction of one girlfriend as she said, "You can’t do that while he’s having treatment for cancer!"

I wouldn’t have had to if he wasn’t having treatment for cancer, I thought.

Regardless of our many personal challenges, along the way there have been lots of laughs.

When Jim was given the all-clear to be taken from recovery to the ward after his recent brain surgery, relief flushed over us. as they began wheeling him out he suddenly began to moan and groan loudly as if he was in excruciating pain. the beautiful recovery nurse, and my friend and I, got such a fright that time froze. Jim’s moans turned into giggling — he was playing the jokester. It took us a couple of seconds to recover and find it amusing, but we are still laughing about it.

T HE love and support we receive from others can at times feel overwhelming. Jim and I are so fortunate to be surrounded by great people committed to continued personal growth and development, but then again that’s a reflection of the type of person Jim is. I could share a million anecdotes of the support we receive from others.

Like when staff at Pacific Early Learning childcare centres held a Gaelic football sports afternoon to raise money for melanoma research to show their love, appreciation and support of Jim. Our dear friends whom we share interests with — whether it be at the Reach Foundation, Melbourne Football Club, Pacific and the kids’ school community — work tirelessly around the clock in good spirits to keep everything ticking along so Jim and I can focus on his healing. Our meditation teacher calls us before and after major surgery to do a cleansing over the phone. Our mates work off a roster to sit with and support Jim throughout his hospital stays. a mate makes playlists and burns the latest-release films to help distract Jim when he’s feeling bored. My girlfriend’s husband is constantly sent over on a moment’s notice with dinners in an elaborate wicker basket — mr "little Red Riding Hood".

Freshly baked sourdough bread from Jim’s favourite bakery is dropped on our doorstep. Matisse’s teacher took her shopping for her Brownlow dress. My step dad does all the jobs around the house usually reserved for Jim. Chippy, Farla and Flynn, Jim’s closest mad Irish mates, flew out from Ireland to come and visit the big guy. We constantly receive well wishes, letters and books. the heartfelt warmth is so greatly appreciated.

Our super-busy oncologist visited Jim for an hour in Epworth Rehabilitation last week, simply to help lift back up his fighting spirit after his eyesight was damaged further.

Freedom has been stripped away from Jim and me, yet in its place are top-quality human relationships that have further enriched our happiness and added so much to our enjoyment of life. most importantly it is these relationships that are an essential part of Jim’s inner peace and healing.

The most poignant thing that has been said to me on this journey was by Dr Graeme Southwick. Dr Southwick and Jim have known each other since Jim’s football playing days. Dr Southwick, a talented plastic surgeon, had stitched up Jim’s playing wounds on several occasions. Jim decided to ask Dr Southwick for a second opinion about the protruding lump on his back. After Dr Southwick had removed the lump, sent it to pathology and had the results of the PET scan, he then had the onerous task of delivering the initial horrible diagnosis after sitting on the news for the entire weekend feeling sick about what he’d discovered.

Dr Southwick said: "In this life we all have one thing in common. We are all going to die. if you are lucky enough to get the heads-up that your time may be looming, you fight tooth-and-nail to hang around for as long as you can."

Jim’s tooth-and-nail fight to live is continuing to enrich the quality of his life. While I’ve told him he’s turned out to be a bit of a dud as a husband, I too am so genuinely appreciative of the personal growth, wisdom and happy times the journey brings with it. and just maybe that’s what life is really about.

<a href="http://www.heraldsun.com.au/ipad/how-sam-stynes-took-back-control/story-fn6bn9st-1226000473006tag:news.google.com,2005:cluster=http://www.heraldsun.com.au/ipad/how-sam-stynes-took-back-control/story-fn6bn9st-1226000473006Fri, 04 Feb 2011 13:18:32 GMT 00:00″>How Sam Stynes took control

Principal Reasons Why People Get Plastic Surgery

The reasons for wanting to be beautiful run deep, and the reasons for wanting plastic surgery can be equally deep. On some basic level, there is a drive inside humans that makes them want to be beautiful. This is strongly related to the basic mechanisms for ensuring the survival of the species — sex and all its glory, so to speak. Sex is not about intercourse, though that is part of it. Sex is part of how we interact with each other, what proves attractive or repulsive in fellow humans, and how we choose our potential mates. Plastic surgery first and foremost feeds this drive.

Plastic surgery affects people on the physical and psychological level. We make ourselves more physically beautiful with clothes, hairstyles, and cosmetics; plastic surgery, or changing features of the body to make it more appealing is taking it to the next level. People want attention; they want to be looked at and to leave favorable impressions. These favorable impressions work in many ways, whether we like to admit it or not. the human brain is attracted to beauty, and automatically makes adjustments and subconscious selections based on physical beauty. This means that how you look can mean the difference between getting what you want and failing to do so.

The most memorable features are those that are either beautiful or ugly, and not the ones in between. Given this dichotomy of memory, people would rather be remembered as beautiful rather than ugly. Plastic surgery is one option for those who feel that they are somehow unattractive, and is a way to correct that.

Those who are beautiful attract the attention of people. the most beautiful people have the most admirers and listeners, thus beauty is power. with beauty, you are given more opportunities to express yourself to more people, who can in turn provide feedback and collective wisdom. In some way, beauty is a tool to refining knowledge.

The beautiful attract people who in turn want to become closely acquainted; this means the prettiest have the most friends, and are able to experience more interpersonal relationships. for some people, the need to be around other people and communicate with them is greater than others; these “interpersonal” people are the ones that turn to plastic surgery. by getting plastic surgery, they open up new doors and windows to let in the wonders of the world that surrounds us. they experience more from the people around them, and enjoy the roller coaster of emotions stronger than others.

For some, plastic surgery is a way of rectifying mistakes and failures. those who have been injured or somehow deformed turn to plastic surgery to gain back what they lost. These people just want to be able to interact with others without being labeled abnormal or ugly on some level. for these men and women, plastic surgery is the key to reentering a normal life without being judged based on their appearance as a result of something that happened.

The reasons why people get plastic surgery are sometimes deep and sometimes shallow, but in the end people are people regardless of the choices they make.

Principal Reasons Why People Get Plastic Surgery