Kathy Griffin has lung cancer, having surgery today

[la_petite_singe]

pic.twitter.com/XoqoudcIK1
- Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) August 2, 2021

- having half her lung removed in surgery
- she never smoked
- hopefully no chemo/radiation, as it's confined to one lung
- yes, also vaxxed

Ugh, that's so unfair. She lost her mom in March 2020 (not to COVID) and of course the whole insanely disproportionate Tr*mp mask

Comments

[irajaxon]

that is awful. hopefully the surgery is successful and she's able to fully overcome this.

cancer is terrifying. and it could be reporting bias, but i feel like i'm seeing more diagnosis in "young and healthy" people (like chadwick, mark hoppus, a tattoo artist whose work i loved and recently passed away - with all of these being diagnosed at advanced stages) and i'm starting to worry. i'm 34, and short of the yearly pap smear, there are no screening tests that are regularly recommended for my age bracket (and therefore covered by insurance). i don't know, though, maybe it's paranoia on my part.

[la_petite_singe]

I don't wanna scare you or anyone else unnecessarily, but I just lost my cousin earlier this year to colon cancer, like Chadwick -- he had just turned 40 and it went SUPER fast. The screening for that kind of cancer is gross and embarrassing, but it's important! I think you can send away for it and it's not too $$$ (I hear you about insurance, tho).

[marywebgirl]

I think they recently dropped the beginning age for colon cancer screening to 45, which is great, but yeah it’s still going to miss people. Which sucks because the treatment for colon cancer when you catch it early is really effective.

[vintage_boom]

I'm sorry about your cousin. i just had a colonoscopy at 32 (both mom and grandma had colon cancer). yea it was a bit embarrassing but overall fine! I've had worse ultrasounds tbh. just to put anyones mind at ease reading.

[xorogueox]

You can send away for things like cologuard if you’re not at increased risk for colon cancer but if you are, it’s believed to be better to do the colonoscopy, which the commenter below is right about, age for starting screening has been dropped by 5yrs due to it becoming a more common occurrence in a younger population. If caught early and treated prognosis is fairly good.

At least that’s how it works at my hospital

[tigirah]

Sorry to hear about your cousin. I've had a screening colonoscopy and actually didnt find it gross or embarrassing, it was more awkward uncomfortable (the pre-procedure cleansing and the fasting/drinking the solution (ok drinking that stuff was sort of gross).

I was given fentanyl for it which took care of any embarrassment!

[xtinkerbellax]

Yea I feel that way too (seeing more young people getting diagnosed) and it is worrying. I feel like with younger people they kind of write off symptoms that could be cancer because they're "young and healthy" when early diagnosis really matters. I've known several people who spent months with doctors telling them it was something else only to find out it was cancer.

[steph313]

I hear you. I've had a really shitty month---lost my dad unexpectedly (not to covid), one of my
kids somehow got covid, I'm 99% sure I have it now through them (testing in half hour to be certain)

And yeah, I'm vaxxed and symptoms are mild (thankfully) but it's got me thinking about how quickly things can be so normal one minute and then BOOM. This is just the boat rocking. I'm terrified if a storm comes through.

Im 38 and on the precipice of needing to start really thinking about extra health measures and preventative testing. It can be overwhelming...

[delleve]

Yeah, I worry about that too (though I'm also cognizant I could just be hyperaware after losing my mom and aunt to cancer within 3 years of each other).

But then I read the research coming out about microplastics and shit and I think our generation is going to be hit hard... 😞

[jarellano89]

What does the research say?? I know they've found microplastics in breast milk and basically embedded in all of us but I haven't heard anything new

[delleve]

There's still a lot of research needed on the topic, but I just have a bad feeling about it based on what I've read so far. This is the last thing I read - https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jul/09/toxic-forever-chemicals-plastic-food-containers

[irajaxon]

i went on an interview at a govt environmental agency 3-4 years ago (as an analytical chemist) and i remember asking them the type of work i'd be doing, and they used studying PFAS as a substance of emerging concern as an example. it was the first time i'd heard of it, and the way it was explained to me was that it was everywhere already and likely had been for years. years earlier, when i was just starting grad school, one of the labs i wanted to work in was studying the environmental breakdown and partitioning of polybrominated compounds (commonly used to make things fire-resistant) because not of that was/is known despite the broad usage.

pretty much every industrial compound is used on "ask questions later" basis. they only have to prove it doesn't directly cause acute toxicity (maaaaayyybe chronic) before it gets put on everything. the amount we don't know about how these things behave in the environment is astounding.

[soul_amazinn]

Yeah it’s scary. I just turned 35 and I’m so scared because I feel like so many people my age bracket are having health issues

[ahkna]

I feel like I've seen more young people. The girl from Anne With an E is currently undergoing chemo for breast cancer. She's 19

[irajaxon]

jfc, 19?! no words. mortifying.

[goofusgallant]

Jfc how terrifying.