The Great Fight

It is estimated that 11,958,000 men and women have been diagnosed with cancer.  More specifically, 32,000 have cancer to the liver- 22,000 of which are male and 10,000 female.  (Cancer...)  Two years ago my grandfather was diagnosed with cancer to the liver.  Since then the tumors on the liver grew but have been stabilized for the past six months to a year.  The upside is that the tumors on his liver have not grown, however he has been in an immense amount of pain because the cancer has spread.  It spread to his bones, a very rare incident but most certainly possible, and has formed a few more tumors intertwined in his spinal muscles and area. 

“The liver is the largest internal organ.  It lies under your right ribs just beneath your right lung.  It is shaped like a pyramid and divided into right and left lobes.  The lobes are further divided into segments.  The liver is made up of several different types of cells.  This is why several types of malignant (cancerous) and benign (non-cancerous) tumors can form in the liver.”(Liver Cancer) 

My grandfather has always been a man of pride.  He has never allowed anyone to know he is ever in pain and most certainly never misses work for any illness-maybe this is where I have adopted my stubbornness from.  I think these traits are hereditary and we have some strong blood coursing through us.  His mother, my great-grandmother, was diagnosed with cancer and wasn’t expected to make it past the night but lived for another twenty years.  Like many other decisions in his life, my granddad shows many of the same characteristics that my great-grandmother did during her fight for cancer.

The news is tear-jerking for me and leaves me wondering, what can I do to help?  The fact that where or how it originated is unknown, too is angering.  My grandfather was apart of the Air Force, and flew in the Vietnam War.  During that time, a chemical popularly known as "Agent Orange" was in high exposure.  Because the chemical is known to have caused a multitude of health issues, doctors theorize that he may have contracted the cancer way back then and it took time for it to mastecize in the liver.  In case you were wondering, the cancer did not originate in the liver and thus is not from drinking although he did do his share of drinking in his ripe years. 

I wish that it was me that had the disease instead of him, because I feel that being the ripe age of eighteen I’d be able to fight it better than he can at sixty-five.  However, the thing is that there really isn’t much that I can do and I feel as if I am rendered useless.  My entire family is very close-knit; I was raised by my mom and grandparents- her parents.  With that said, I have always been very close to my grandfather and it angers me to see him literally wither away.  I know the only thing I can do is to remain positive, and hope for the best.  Encouragement, positivity, and comfort have been shown to help cancer patients fight the disease.  I plan to do all of those things and anything and everything else to help my grandfather.

Click here for more information on liver cancer: what it is, how it develops, how to prevent it, and possible treatments of.  Also the site offers information on a multitude of other forms of cancer.



My granddad and I on my eighth birthday- 08/24/2001

Cancer Prevalence: How Many People Have Cancer? (2011, October 18). Retrieved February 20, 2012, from http://www.cancer.org
Liver Cancer. (2012, January 23). Retrieved February 20, 2012, from http://www.cancer.org

Attack of the "Dead Toe"- A Family and Work Dilemna

Last week I had to go to the podiatrist to get my horribly infected ingrown toenail, or as my sister’s friend calls it “The Dead Toe,” checked out.  I was embarrassed to go but as you can see from the image, it was clear that it needed medical attention; my toe was creating its own horror series.  In fact ingrown toenails are very common among young adults in comparison to other age groups, with males being most susceptible.

The podiatrist removed the toenail, and put me on antibiotics to get rid of the infection.  All was well, until I was informed that I was not to attend work the next day because of the interference with post-procedure healing.  Being stubborn, I planned on going to work but my plan was quickly halted when my parents entered the picture.

My parents, more so my mom, ordered me to listen to the podiatrist and stay home.  The only problem was that I would be missing a Friday night at work-which are always busy and thus my manager was in dire need of me. 

The predicament I was stuck in is evident, do I please my mom or my manager.  Troubles like these seem specific to young adults, due to the nature of needing to please.  I decided to stay home, because my mom’s wrath is too furious to deal with- you know the typical silent treatment deriving from disappointment that mothers sometimes put us kids through.  Sure you probably think that I should just defy her and do what I feel best becasue I am eighteen, but at the same time I live under her roof and she is only trying to look after me- besides I will admit that I rely on her for a lot and can't afford to risk our relationship.  I would have never thought that work and family- better yet work and my mom could or would ever put me in an awkward situation.  Work was fine with my absence and my mother was pleased that I listened to her.  Yes I am eighteen but I’m not afraid to say that mother knows best.  Go ahead and say it, “I’m a ‘momma’s boy,’” but I am fine with that. 

Times as such, make me feel as if my parents are suppressing my growth.  Not to say that I could make it on my own, or that “I’m grown,” simply that I need space because my legs are cramping.  My parents went as far to say that I have a lot of growing up to do.  Why, because I want to go to work?  I feel as if I don’t know exactly what my parents want out me.  I also feel as if I am being belittled whenever my mom takes control of my decisions concerning work.  I guess the best thing to do for now is to continue my pleasing methods, and cruise by at least until I can somewhat support myself.

The Impasse of Others

For my final analysis paper for my ENG 112 class, I am going to most likely refer to two of my “go-to” community blogs. 

The first being renrexx.blogspot.com.  The moment I stumbled across this blog, I knew it was exactly where my blogs home belonged.  The blog talks about being a “survival guide to young adulthood” and offers personal accounts of the blogger on topics that affect the young adult community.  Problems from sex to relationships to simple pleasures such as phones are discussed.  The blog is very fun and engaging, and has plenty of posts to never appear dull or leave its readers with “Okay, and?”  Although the last post was posted about five months ago, I find pleasure in going back through the posts and finding real-time relations with what the author discusses.

The second blog is hipstercrite.com. As soon as I read the title, I knew it was for me.  With hipsters being closely related to funky, young, and lively; it was exactly where I wanted to be with my blog.  Based out of Austin, Texas, the author attracts its readers with problems that are experienced by all persons, and especially those in young adulthood.  The blog discusses health-stress/anxiety, fashion, pop culture, and many other problems/ topics of discussion concerning daily living. 

The set-up of either blog is quite intriguing and I think attributes to their growing members/followers. 

In my paper, I want to discuss how both blogs approach the topic of problems of being a young adult.  Where renrexx offers a survival guide and hipstercrite offers advice but in a way to let readers know there is nothing wrong with them.  In both cases the bloggers respond to their commenters and offer a sense of reality/ brings themselves to life.  I will discuss more in depth of the subject matters when the paper comes, but for now check out the blogs and get a better understanding of what and why I mean what I say.

Do I Smell an Attitude?

Before I get started, I just want to point out that I am not going to rant and rave about respect like an overly hormonal teenager who feels as if the world doesn’t understand him; simply I want to turn the focus on interacting jobs.  I am sure that everyone has worked in a customer service job, and if by the slight chance one of you readers have not then I’m 99 percent sure you know someone that did or still does.

As I mentioned in the opening post, I work in a pizzeria as counter help, or in layman's terms a “phone person.”  I work thirty hours a week, and what do you know? I’m answering phones almost the entire length of that time.  To be absolutely honest, towards the end of nine hour shift, I’m worn out and do not wish to speak with any of the customers.  Considering that I am getting paid to do that very thing, I must put aside my needs to focus on assuring “good customer service.”

With that said, would any rational person think that I would take being yelled at or berated kindly?  Well the answer is NO.  However because the “customer is always right” I either have to take it or in the rare circumstance that the customer is too difficult to handle then I hand them over to one of my managers. 

To give you a better visual of what I must deal with on occasion, let me tell you a story.  First we will change the names of those involved for personal assurance.  The customer’s name is Beth, and my manager will be Strange.

It was a Wednesday night, and business on week nights is good but not busy.  I’m going to step back.  To assure that everything is right I always repeat back every bit of information, and especially since the night wasn’t too busy I had time to spend on this customer in particular.  Anyways, the customer calls and I answer the phone as I always do “Thank you for calling…This is…How may I help you?”  Instantly the customer caught an attitude with me, for reasons nobody knows.  “Hi.  My name is Beth.”  Trying to be the best at my job, I ignored the moody tone of voice.  “Hi! Can I have your address please ma’am?”  You would have thought I asked her for a favor, with the tone she replied back with.  Normally I can easily ignore it, however because the street name was unfamiliar and the tone she had adopted was causing feedback into the receiver it was hard to understand her.  After repeating the address and order several times to make sure everything was 100 percent correct, I was released of my bondage to this unmannerly woman.

My shackles were quickly chained around my ankle once again, by another phone call from Beth.  Instantly, she began to scold me.  Apparently the driver had gotten lost, and called Beth; when in actuality the address was wrong.  Beth began using very derisive language with me.  Amongst the berating, she had informed me that the food arrived on time and was just fine, but the problem is that I am “incompetent” and the driver showed up soaking wet.  I thought to myself, as she was going on about my inadequateness, the reason the driver was wet was because it is pouring down rain.  At the moment that I realized she was not going to stop, I simply asked her “well what do you want me to do, would you like to speak to my manager?”  “Please,” she said in the snarkiest way.  Of course, my manager Strange would take her side and let her know that he was on her side.  She was given a ten dollar credit and I was reprimanded.  In essence, Beth was rewarded for her ability to whine.  Later, I was informed by the driver that she gave him the same [wrong] address she had given me.

The point of that story was to prove my point, that had I at least sounded older rather than younger than I really am, I probably would not have had any problems out of Beth.  I sometimes feel that because of my youthful appearance, and possibly my actual age, I do not receive the respect that I must give others.  But maybe that is my answer.  Because I MUST give the customers respect, some of them feel that they do not have to return the gesture in any shape or form.  How could they give me respect?  On what level do I deserve?  I’m not an adult, but I am not a child either.  Although, I can truthfully say that I have a newfound respect for waiters and waitresses; because of my personal experience with customers in the restaurant business.  The respect level is not there, and sometimes it seems to be enough to push me to quit.  Why are so many people rude, or feel as if they are entitled?  I am technically an adult too, and a very respectable one at that.  With the amount of young adults in the customer service industry, especially the restaurant business, I would think respect would just be present.  Maybe it isn’t an age thing in whole, but it definitely has a major influence.

Slimming Down the Addict

To continue with this week’s theme of reflecting back on posts thus far, I want to discuss the weight issue again.  At the moment of getting past caring about what other’s think of us, we can then focus more on what we think about ourselves-individually.  As I mentioned before, appearances are steadily amounting to contain importance in today’s society and targets young-adults more-so directly. 

Food addictions have arisen with the manufacture of fast-foods and other such conveniences.  With all of the hormones and preservatives being pumped into our food to make it more appealing, we are in-turn “pumping up” ourselves.  Because of this, we experience happiness from the foods but our bodies burn the “drug” too fast and make us crave the food once again and very soon.  Here is a link to a video on Dr. Oz's website, discussing the subject matter.  As Dr. Mike Dow mentions, there are foods that can do produce the same happiness in our bodies and last much longer in comparison to the junk foods.  Here is a list of foods he terms "booster foods." 


Battling the food addiction, and conquering can be life-changing.  Benefiting from weight-loss includes, but is not limited to: better self-esteem, emotionally and physically healthier, etc.  "The benefits are MANY and the good news is that significant benefits can be achieved with only a 10 percent weight loss."(The Health...)  I want to be able to make down to a more healthy size, and still continue to battle the drugging foods.  I have lost 9 pounds so far, and still have a lot more ways to go.  Maybe, in a long run, I will post before and after pictures WHEN I meet my goal.   


Here is another link to a blog that I found interesting and specifically focuses on food addictions.

"The Health Benefits of Losing Just 10% of Your Body Weight." (2012, January 11). Retrieved February 6,2012, from www.dailyspark.com

Being at their Mercy

As a continuation from my latest post:

All my life I have reared my parents as the most superior beings, and I the most inferior to them.  I was raised to always give respect to adults and other superior beings, teachers and such.  Growing up, my single-parent mother used the common phrases “I have to be the mom and the dad” and “I am not your friend, I am your parent.”  Although she stuck by her word, she still wanted and achieved the relationship we have always had- I can tell her anything, talk to her about whatever and still keep the level of mother and son in check.  As I got older, however, our relationship has changed to that of an older sister and younger brother in ways that we can relate and discuss more adult-oriented topics.  The relationship is strong and healthy, as any child-parent relation should; but I still find myself not being completely comfortable.

Being at the mercy of my parents makes me feel as if I am not progressing in my life, but rather doing the opposite.  I do not want to dominate or over-step my boundaries as the “adult-child,” but the power-struggle between my parents and I is evident.  In my point of view I see myself as being a responsible young-adult.  I am a full-time student, part-time worker sustaining 30 hours a week, and saving up for a car.  However, it seems that it is not good enough for my parents.  Am I the one that is blinded by my own “perfections?”  Or are my parents too afraid to let me grow up? 

“In our Western culture, economic independence leads people to feel self-empowered and capable. It feels good to be able to rely on yourself, to take care of yourself, and to feel capable of pursuing your own goals.”(Dependent...)  The struggle of mine is well reflected by the quote above.  I want to branch out and “sow my own oats,” however I have to depend on my parents.  Dependence can be a blessing and a curse.  I am not too bothered by the common struggles of the “adult world,” and yet I wish to be apart of the new-world only independent. 

“By making most of the decisions for our children, we weaken them. By allowing them to make decisions and requiring them to take responsibility for their actions, we strengthen them.”(Dependent...)  Possibly this is a topic I need to discuss with my parents, but how do I go about doing so without offending.  Arguments on such topics that end with threats like: “Find your own ride to work/school,” only push me further into an internal confusion.  I don’t ever like coming across as ungrateful, or suppressed.  However, I am only getting older and I need my freedoms as anyone else does. 

Dependent Young Adults: "We've given you every advantage! Don't you want to do something with your life?" (2012, February 6). Retrieved February 6,2012, from http://www.sowhatireallymeanttosay.com/