That’s an enormous decline in a fairly short time frame.
One of the original studies studied over 10,000 people and found it to be quite effective against HPV:
As further noted:
In other words, there’s no reason to believe that the protection offered by this vaccine, like so many other vaccines, does not last a very long time.
HPV is a very widespread infection that does not just cause cervical cancer but other cancers as well including throat and vaginal cancer.
In the United States alone, nearly eighty million people are infected with it and thousands of people get cancer each year as a result:
My friend Michael Simpson gets into what the vaccine did for girls in Australia:
Genital wart rates dropped over 90%. HPV causes genital warts and such warts are often a precursor to cervical cancer. So in less than a decade this means the vaccine has worked.
So here we have a weapon against a shitty infection. It has minimal side effects and helps reduce your risk of several kinds of cancers. There is literally no reason not to get it for yourself if you are young enough and for your children if you have them.
Funny, that exactly the example I used on the girl when she was dithering about “but my dad wants me to stay with him, my best friend is having a tough pregnancy and a lousy marriage, if I leave my fiance he might hurt himself…” Time for her to take care of herself, make decisions based on what’s best for her, and breathe her own air for a little while.
Aside: Now that we’ve taken the difficult but necessary step of having poor old Mojo put to sleep, the sheriff’s office has issued a small bio/obituary. And several morons are getting all up in the air, castigating Tony because they didn’t bother to read the paragraph posted on Facebook. They seem to believe that Mojo died after being left in a hot car… an unfortunate event that claimed the life of a Woodstock, GA K9 - same day, different department, different dog, hell, Tony doesn’t even have a cruiser right now thanks to that wreck! Sigh. (I know, you can’t fix stupid, but duct tape could shut it up for a little while, I bet!)
Thanks, Lavender and Kolga. That’s horrific - that they could write (and publish) a story like that that was just a completely made-up pack of lies. I wish we lived in a world where journalists could be relied on to do a proper job of informing the public of things they need to know, rather than making things up and cherry-picking facts to sensationalize stories for public consumption.
Aside: Now that we’ve taken the difficult but necessary step of having poor old Mojo put to sleep, the sheriff’s office has issued a small bio/obituary. And several morons are getting all up in the air, castigating Tony because they didn’t bother to read the paragraph posted on Facebook. They seem to believe that Mojo died after being left in a hot car… an unfortunate event that claimed the life of a Woodstock, GA K9 - same day, different department, different dog, hell, Tony doesn’t even have a cruiser right now thanks to that wreck! Sigh. (**I know, you can’t fix stupid, but duct tape could shut it up for a little while, I bet!)[/**QUOTE]
Holy Cow!!! Seriously HOLY COW!!! One of the many reasons I don’t do facebook is because we have to kill so many critters. Every single time a no kill shelter puts a totally unadoptable critter down, we are all hate-filled animal haters. (we being the rescue group, I mean.)
Speaking of cancer
Mom called me yesterday, asked “good news or bad news first”. Always the bad news first, Mom…
My dad’s sister is in ICU; she found out several months back that she had cancer (already in several locations when found), has undergone surgery twice but in true Nava’sDad’sFamily fashion hasn’t wanted to spread the news, there was some sort of screw up with this last surgery but since I got the details from Mom who got them from my brother who got them from my uncle, I wouldn’t put money on anything more specific than “she’s lost use of a lung and is in very bad shape”.
Once she’d finished delivering the news, Mom started going over The Things Aunt Should Have Done To Avoid Having Cancer. And it was a good thing we were on the phone, as I couldn’t reach through and strangle her. What could Aunt have done? Gee, I don’t know, not be born? This is the same aunt who had breast cancer at 29 which was only found out because she happened to be pregnant and the ObGyn nurse wanted to show off this megacool new machine which “works like a radar and lets us see the baby inside, or check out a patient’s breasts and… doctor?! :eek:”
Her mother is dying, her reaction is to worry about the inheritance. Her sister in law is dying, her reaction is to look for ways to blame her. Gosh Mom, you’re such a bleeding heart, I’m amazed you don’t dye the asphalt red as you walk! :mad:
Side note: I got the Gardasil vaccine at 18 before I went to college. I recommend every eligible person get it. Just don’t get it at the same time as a tetanus shot. My arms were so sore!
I have been to the doctor a lot. All my appointments for legitimate reasons. But I cancelled my last appointment and won’t reschedule it because medical billing and insurance makes zero sense. I’m sure part of it is due to me sort of ignoring some of the bills after I saw approved insurance claims for them but they seem to be intentionally confusing.
Example 1: I went to the outpatient services to have my insides looked at with an ultrasound machine and to swallow gross chalky stuff while they took X-rays. I checked to make sure that these tests were covered before I went like a responsible adult. When I got a bill, I checked my EOB for that service, saw that it would be paid out of my HRA and happily went on my way. Yesterday, I found out that my account has gone to collections. Slightly terrified, I asked the company for detail on what they were billing. Then i checked my paperwork and saw that they were billing me for what was supposed to come out of my HRA. I even called my insurance. My insurance says they paid them last April.
Example 2: I was sad to find that two of my doctors appointments were mysteriously not covered by my insurance and that I was responsible for the combined total of $288. At the same time, I started gettin bills from the doctors office. Except these bills were for wildly different amounts. Just this morning, I spent the better part of two hours trying to link line item to line item to find what was bein billed for and when that service was. Ironically, the doctors office is actually only billing me $192 but the the vast majority of the cost ($189) is for services that were paid out of my HRA. They didn’t even bill me for the two visits that the insurance said would not be covered.
Why? Why is this so confusing? Why does it take 4 claims to cover one doctors visit? I pit the insurance company for being slow to pay people, the hospital for being unable to receive payments and the doctor for demanding so many visits.
On top of all this, my doctor really wants me to lose weight. I also really want to lose weight but I can’t take her help because it is not covered by my insurance and I can’t afford the expense out of pocket. I suspect that the two visits that weren’t covered were billed in such a way to imply that I was entering a doctor supervised weight loss program. AND she does bloodwork in a really inefficient manner.
The Amish are a genetically distinct population for one thing. They simply may not have a genetic predisposition to the disease. Most people don’t get maple syrup urine disease either. Many vaccinate just like the rest of us. When they don’t, they get horrible vaccine preventable diseases like polio.
A lot of the myth was based on stupid report by Dan Olmsted in 2005. Olmsted is a reporter for the Age of Autism. He managed to ignore one of the doctors who serves the community who disagrees with him completely.
Hey asshole taxi driver, a red light means stop. I’m aware that your phone call was more important than paying attention to traffic, and I want to thank you for causing the wreck that I got to witness. If I had left the house one minute earlier this morning that could’ve been me that you T-boned.
Thankfully the lady you hit seemed to be ok, even though her car is probably totaled. You however, in yet another installment of “Karma’s a Bitch”, got the worst of it. Not only was your cab totaled, which means you’re most likely out of a job, but you were being loaded into an ambulance on a backboard as I was leaving.
I don’t want to sound like I’m wishing injury on anyone, but hang up and drive already!
ARGGHHH!!! Yes, hang up the fucking phone and drive!!!
Someone I know recently lost her old sick cat. Sadness for her loss, but she did the right thing. So, as we were talking, she mentioned that she had just refilled kitties’ meds and wondered if I knew what she could do with them. As it happens, I do know of a place to donate unneeded meds for cats who’s owners can’t afford them.
Today, I dropped the meds off and the nice, young person who greeted me first chirped “Hello, can I help you?” When I handed her the bottles and said they weren’t needed anymore, she used the same happy, chirpy voice to say “I’m so sorry for your loss, but thank you for helping other pets.” DON’T BE HAPPY CHIRPY WHEN SOMEONE HAS JUST LOST A PET!!!
Its a good thing it wasn’t one of my pets, because I probably would have broken up in tears. As it was, I just said thank you and left.
Oh, and may I be the first to say that I hate being on the BC pill. I don’t think I would have even noticed that 6 months ago. I’m only taking the pill to regulate my cycle for a few months. Those of you who have to take them all the time have my extreme sympathy.
flatlined, I feel your pain. In my misspent youth, I never had to take any pills. Breakfast now is 20 pills, and late night snack is 15.
Getting old sucks, but I am admireing the grass from the correct side.
My cousin went on the pill as soon as she got her periods; she recently moved to a IUD. Turns out that after all those years of saying she didn’t understand why any woman wouldn’t want to be on it (let’s set aside for a moment the reactions our mothers have had to any kind of hormonal treatment :smack:)… it turns out that a lot of “minor health problems” she’d had for the last 30 years went away as soon as she got off the pill. Yep, they’re all listed as “possible side effects” in the prospectus.
Ahh, the dulcet sounds of a freakin’ bazillion chainsaws in my neighborhood. We lucked out in the storms last night - our trash bin and wheelbarrows went for a trip, but no trees down. Neighbors have not been so lucky. On the way to work saw two crushed cars and one smushed house.
Storms are supposed to move through again tonight. Cats are getting their kitty valium, cuz I need more than 90 minutes of continued sleep. Having a 16# cat jump on you every time thunder crashes does not allow for good sleep.
I don’t DO heat. Adding dewpoints in the upper 60’s/lower 70’s to the heat? Fuck this shit. We don’t have AC, either. We had SNOW less than a month ago. Ain’t right.
The chiropractor has loosened things up enough so that my arm is better but my fingers are still driving me nuts and waking me up. If it weren’t for my anti anxiety med, I might have cut the thing off by now.
Next step is acupuncture. Or a neurologist and MRI or CT scan and more fucking co-pays that I do not need.
Good news from a fellow Olde Farte here. I’ve really cut down on my pills. Just told the doctor “Hey, I think I’d rather live with pain and some cholesterol and higher-than-it-should-be blood pressure, and/or try to control it through diet and exercise.” And she said “Okay, let’s cut down.”
Sure, I have constant aches and pains, but I just look at it as the price I’m paying for not being dead yet.
(does not apply to anyone here with Actual Fo’ Real Serious Medical Problems. You go take your meds. Now)
