Going Pink for Good Health
Tuesday, October 19, 2010 - Posted by SunnyHealth - 0 comments

HAPPY BREAST CANCER AWARENESS MONTH EVERYONE!

*pops champagne bottles and runs off in celebration*

Back to the topic at hand October is a month where most countries in the world observe Breast Cancer Awareness Month (BCAM). Even in good old Singapore, from shopping malls to parks to beaches to grocery stores, it’s not an uncommon sight to see women with some form of pink in their dress-up repertoire. With BCAM currently in full swing, let’s take a look at some of the breast cancer-related events that are running concurrently.

1. Pink Ribbon Party

One for the ladies. Round up your girlfriends for one of the most fabulous parties in town – THE PINK RIBBON PARTY!

Party for a good cause as you contribute to the prevention and control of breast cancer. Sit back and relax to music arranged by DJ Ginette Chittick and be enthralled by the fashion show brought to you by Envy.

Did I mention the travel voucher worth $800 from Jetstar? Good food, good music AND a grand prize? Sign me up already.

Date: 23 Oct, Sat
Time: 7.30pm to 10.00pm
Venue: Velvet Underground @ Zouk

2. Special Rate for mammogram screening

To encourage more women to go for their mammograms, the good folks at the National Healthcare Group Diagnostics (NHGD) and Diagnostic Radiology at SingHealth Polyclinics will be offering $10 discount off the usual price of a mammogram. If the discount isn’t enough for you, they’re giving away coupons and Guardian Pharmacy vouchers. This offer is valid throughout the whole month of October.

Date: 1st – 31st Oct 2010
Time: As per operating hours
Venue: Any SingHealth Polyclinic

3. Nutrition After Breast Cancer and Cooking Demonstration
Date: 23rd October 2010
Time: 10am-12pm (Session 1); 2-4 pm (Session 2)
Venue: National Cancer Centre Singapore, Function Room, Level 4

Celebrity Chef Philip Chia will share tips on eating right after breast cancer diagnosis. He will show the audience how to prepare simple and healthy dishes. Might I add that admission is FREE.

So many events, so little time. Excuse me while I make my way down now. Now where did I put my pink ribbon pin-up…..


Much ado about poo
Monday, October 11, 2010 - Posted by SunnyHealth - 0 comments
The nation recently mourned the loss of Dr. Balaji Sadasivan who passed away a week ago. While our thoughts and prayers are with his family through these trying times, let us take a closer look at his cause of death – colon cancer.

Definition

Colorectal cancer, better known as colon cancer, is cancer that occurs in the colon or rectum. The colon is the large intestine or large bowel. The rectum is the passageway that connects the colon to the anus.

Colon cancer, when discovered early, is highly treatable. Even if it spreads into nearby lymph nodes, surgical treatment followed by chemotherapy is highly successful. In the most difficult cases — when the cancer has metastasized to the liver, lungs or other sites — treatment can prolong and add to the quality of life.

Colorectal cancer affects both men and women of all racial and ethnic groups, and is most often found in people aged 50 years or older. For men, colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer after prostate and lung cancers. For women, colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer after breast and lung cancers.

Colorectal cancer screening saves lives. Screening can find precancerous polyps—abnormal growths in the colon or rectum—so that they can be removed before turning into cancer. Screening also helps find colorectal cancer at an early stage, when treatment often leads to a cure.

Perhaps one of the more alarming facts regarding colon cancer is that it is not easily detected during its earlier stages.

Signs & Symptoms

These include:
• bleeding in the stool that is often painless
• change in bowel habits
• persistent diarrhoea
• mucus in the stool
• reduction of stool calibre
• a recurrent need to defaecate (tenesmus)
• anaemia
• an incidental abdominal mass
• unexplained weight loss
• fatigue
• the feeling that your bowel isn’t completely emptying

It is important to know what to watch out for, especially if your lifestyle puts you at high risk of being afflicted with the condition. Some of the signs and symptoms of colon cancer are a change in bowel habits (e.g. experiencing diarrhea, constipation or a change in the consistency of your stool for more than two weeks), rectal bleeding, and persistent abdominal discomfort (including pain, cramps, and gas).

Risk Factors

Reviewing your family history and current lifestyle may help you determine if you are at risk of developing the condition. Other risk factors include older age (most people stricken with color cancer are older than 50), a sedentary lifestyle, obesity, smoking, and alcohol. If you can relate to any of these risk factors, you should know that these increase your chances of developing the disease.

Raising Awareness

Everybody knows about lung cancer, breast cancer and the other more prominent types of cancers. Having said that, are you aware of huge disparity in terms of awareness between colon cancer and other types of cancers? It has become the most common cancer in Singapore with almost a thousand new cases diagnosed annually over the last few years. It is only second to breast cancer in the female and lung cancer in the male.

Conclusion

The seriousness of colon cancer cannot be overstated. It is one of the most common types of cancer in Singapore but one gets the feeling that people are still not aware of it. This certainly is a cause for alarm not because it is more dangerous than the others, but because of the lack of community awareness among Singaporeans regarding colon cancer.