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To Your Health
Facts about lung cancer
Lung cancer develops when normally healthy cells in lung tissue multiply uncontrollably, causing an overgrowth of cells. As
with other types of cancer in the body, lung cancer can start from
within lung tissue itself (“primary cancer”) or spread from cancer
that started elsewhere in the body (“secondary cancer”).
In 2011, lung-related cancer was the number one estimated
cause of death in both men and women and the second-mostcommon cause of estimated new cases of all cancer in both sexes.
A closer look at the lungs
We all know that our lungs are
used for breathing, but many of
us don’t realize that they are a
complex set of organs that are at
very high risk for developing cancer.
A series of tubes carries oxygen
from the windpipe, or trachea,
into smaller tubes called bronchi,
and eventually into small sacs
called alveoli that are responsible
for exchanging oxygen, carbon dioxide and other compounds that
are produced in the process of breathing and living.
What are the risk factors for lung cancer?
Everyone is different, and so is each person’s risk for developing
lung cancer. It’s important to recognize that smoking is the number one cause of lung cancer, leading to more than 80 percent of
cases. Worse yet, the risk of lung cancer dramatically increases
with the number of years and number of packs a day a person has
smoked.
The most common
risk factors for lung cancer:
•
Smoking (past and
present)
•
Exposure to second-hand smoke
•
Exposure to radon
gas or asbestos
•
Environmental exposure to chemicals like arsenic and
beryllium and pollution
•
Being in the military and thus being exposed to exhaust
and burning fuels
•
Health history, including past radiation therapy and
lung illnesses
•
Family history of lung cancer
•
Older age
Highlight Health
What are the symptoms of lung cancer?
While the following list of symptoms may or may not be associated with lung cancer, together they are signs that could indicate
unhealthy and possibly fatal changes occurring in the lungs.
Signs of local disease (has not spread from the area where it
started):
•
Coughing (the most common sign)
•
Blood in coughed-up fluid
•
Chest pain
•
Shortness of breath
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Cops and anger: perception or reality?
In my police family, we joke that our expression
of anger is a normal part of being “passionate” in all
of our emotions, love, joy and, yes, anger amidst
that range of emotions.
At Cop 2 Cop for the past 15 years, we have monitored symptoms that officers report when they
discuss their stress and anger. To be more specific,
with more than 40,000 contacts at Cop 2 Cop, the
problems reported are:1) Depression; 2) PTSD; 3)
Anxiety; 4) “Other;” (usually anger or financial
issues); 5) Marital Issues; 6) Substance Abuse; 7)
Legal Issues; 8) Medical/Somatic problems: 9) Suicidal thoughts
10) Family/Parenting issues.
Why is anger such a prevalent theme among law enforcement
officers in our country today? As a civilian, and an officer’s wife, I
“googled” the question to ensure I was not too biased in my opinions and found some untrue and scathing horrific comments.
“Yahoo Answers” to the question regarding cops and anger was
filled with comments accusing cops of being mentally impaired,
government “robots” and other horrific reflections about their
intelligence and integrity. Obviously, this website is not an indication of the public perception, but it is part of the answer to my
question about anger and law enforcement. Why does the pub-
lic have such a distorted view of cops, the public servants in our
state and country who protect and serve them? Perhaps bein