Essential Question

My Essential Question is "How does my body produce breast cancer and how can I prevent breast cancer in my later years?

Q: Why did you select this as your essential question?

A: I selected this as my essential question for many reasons. Through my internship at an oncologists office, I have seen a lot of breast cancer patients since breast cancer is one of the top two most common cancers. It has made me start to question how the cancer itself is produced and if there is anything that can help to prevent it. The nurses at the office have given me numerous reading materials and by reading them, I have realized numerous things about this prevalent cancer. The readings have taught me the process of the body forming breast cancer cells as well as how to prevent it. However, my mom is at a high risk for breast cancer and I would really like to find out more things she can do to prevent this cancer from occurring in her body. Since cancer can be hereditary, it is necessary for me to know this information as well.


Q: What excites you most about finding the answer to this essential question?

A: There are many things that excite me about finding the answers to these questions. For instance, I am excited that by doing this research, I can help my family, myself, and others. Even though breast cancer has not started in my family yet, cancer is unpredictable and it could start with any generation. I hope it doesn't start any time soon, but it is always nice to have a prevention method. I am really interested in the medical field so I also like to know what is going on in my body. By researching these questions, I am able to better understand what would take place in my body if I did develop breast cancer. Overall, I am excited about researching my essential question in general and expanding my knowledge on cancer.


Q: Do you feel that this question accurately reflects a desire/need that you have to find out more about this topic?

I feel that this question greatly reflects a desire that I have as well as I need. I am greatly intrigued by the human body and everything that occurs within it. Thus, my question greatly reflects a desire. However, it also reflects a need. I have a need to know more about cancer because as I mentioned before, my mom is at a high risk for breast cancer. Since it can become hereditary, if she was to get it, I would be at a higher risk for breast cancer. Overall, this question reflects a desire of mine as well as a need for me and my family.

Cancer with Breast Implants

Many people wonder if the silicon breast implants hinder women from detecting cancerous lumps in the breasts. A large concern is whether doctors can find the lumps because if they can't then the chance for women to detect them are even slimmer. According to the article "Physicians' Abilities to Detect Lumps in Silicone Breast Models.", the detection rate is somewhat startling. On average, the mean number of lumps detected were eight (44%) by the physician. However, in the study, doctors findings ranged from three (17%) to 15 (83%). The amount found varied greatly depending on the size: 87% of 1.0-cm and 14% of 0.3-cm lumps were detected. The detection of the lump also greatly varied amongst the hardness: 56% of hard and 40% of soft lumps were detected. The depth of the lump within the breast did not seem to affect the finding of lumps. Doctors such as Gynecologists and Obstetricians who specialize in women care had a slightly higher detection rate than general internists and practitioners; however, the length of their experience did not seem to affect the amount of lumps these medical professionals detected. On multiple occasions, only search duration was consistently connected to an increase in detection. The findings in this experiment demonstrate that there are in fact ways to increase a doctor and even a patients chance to detect breast lumps. With a longer search duration and better techniques, there is hope that an increase will occur in the amount of cancerous lumps that are found in a woman with breast implants.

Works Cited:
Fletcher, S. W., M. S. O'Malley, and L. A. Bunce. "Physicians' Abilities to Detect Lumps in Silicone Breast Models." Diss. Abstract. Pubmed.gov. National Center of Biotechnology. Web. 02 Dec. 2010. .

My Mentorship

My mentorship is going very well. At first, I thought that the oncology department would be depressing and sad. In all actuality, it is not at all. It is such a great department because the nurses truly get to know their patients. Of course there are a few grouchy patients, but can't everyone have a bad day? It is fascinating to hear all the great stories that the patients have and since most of them are older, they have a lot of them. In the month I have been here, I have developed a bond with some of the patients. There is never a new patient for long. After their first few visits, the nurses have spent the time to talk to them and they know them by name. I used to sit there and wonder how they knew all the patients names, but one day it finally clicked: they see them several times a week; how could they not know their names? It is so great to see how many of the patients have turned their diagnoses into something beneficial. For the most part, the patients are living their lives to the fullest and making the most of the time they have left on this Earth because they know it may be short. In my time here, I have seen numerous patients, but another exciting thing that I got to see was a bone marrow biopsy. It was very interesting and I learned a lot about the bone marrow because it is always easier to learn when you can see it first hand. Even though this department is for the most part exciting, there are also some sad times. These sad times come when a patient passes, when the patients are in a lot of pain, or when a patient first gets the diagnosis. It is very interesting to hear all the different cases because the cancer varies from patient to patient. I have learned so much about cancer and the different types in the weeks I have been here. I love working in the chemo ward and I can not wait to get to shadow the doctors sometime soon.

My Sentence

My past week

My past week has been full of events. I am supposed to be mentoring in the Oncology department of Longstreet Clinic. I have been unable to start there at this point because of personal occurrences and communication issues. However, I am still really excited to start my mentorship there. I have already bought my scrubs. I made sure to get cute and bright scrubs in order to brighten the day of the patients I see. I love bright colors and pretty things which also correlated into the events of my past week. Last week, our school had spirit week for homecoming. The first day was tacky day. I went through my closet and pulled out the most in-cohesive clothing I could find (stripes, polka dots, etc.) and piled on jewelry. The next day was twin day. For this, I dressed up with my best friend. We wore bright yellow shirts with neon pink, blue, green, and orange hand prints on them and neon rainbow socks with orange bandannas. We then had nerd day and I went all out with a high waisted skirt, a long sleeve button up shirt, pens in my pocket and high socks. For 70's day I wore bell bottoms, pumps, and with peace signs. For blue day, I went all out and wore all blue with big blue eye make-up. I had a blast the entire week and on Saturday night at our homecoming dance.
I also had the great privilege of attending a speech at Gainesville College by Mrs. Godin who was a survivor of the Holocaust. She went through three labor camps and a concentration camp. Her story was vivid and empowering. Her speech filled me with sorrow for the awful time that the persecuted went through during World War II. The main reason that kept her going to schools and speaking to young people is because she firmly believes that in order to prevent something as awful as the Holocaust from happening again, the upcoming generations must be informed of the past. She was very informative and she greatly opened my eyes to the tragic occurrences of that time.
Through out this past week, I have been applying to colleges as well. I am beginning to realize that the impatience I had about going to college is beginning to wither. My nerves are beginning to set in and I am getting very worried about next year. I am still excited for what college will bring but I am nervous about being out on my own in this large world.
Below are some pictures that pertain to my mentorship. The first one is of Longstreet Clinic at the Cancer Center which is where I will be mentoring at. The second one is the area that the treatments are given. The third one is a patient getting treatment. The fourth one is the doctors of the Longstreet Oncology department.

My Mission Statement

My mission is to make a difference in the world through my honesty, respect, diligence, passion, savior, knowledge, and to never stop learning, but most of all to stay true to myself, my beliefs and my religion.

My Internship

Hey. I'm Kayla. This is my second year in Honors Mentorship and I am extremely excited to be able to work with a mentor again this year. In order for me to make a good first impression, I need to step out of my comfort zone and talk to my mentor. I am going to have to be friendly, introduce myself, and listen to my mentor. I also need to dress professionally and show up on time. My attendance is important. Having a good attitude is also a key asset because it provides everyone with a good outlook of me as a new mentee. I am very excited for this year and I can't wait to get started!

Drive

Today I took a drive test to see what type of drive I have. The results of the test said that I have type X behavior. This means that I have a behavior that is fueled more by extrinsic desires than intrinsic ones and that concerns itself less with the inherent satisfaction of an activity and more with the external rewards to which that activity leads. However, I personally believe that I have type I behavior which means I am motivated by intrinsic things. I personally believe this because I am not motivated by grades or rewards, I am motivated by my self satisfaction after I complete what I am striving for.

At my mentorship, there is a split in the types of behaviors that the doctors have. Some are more driven by the money they make which makes them have a type X behavior. However, some of the doctors have type I behavior because they feel rewarded by the sense of satisfaction they get after helping many people all day and making their lives better.

In my life, I have constantly been challenged. The most challenging thing that I have encountered in school would be AP Literature essays. When I first began writing these, I had a lot of trouble thinking analytically. I tried my best on every essay that I wrote. It was a continual obstacle for me. The constant failure simply pushed me to do better and try harder. On one of my essays, I finally had a break through and I began to do better. I have been improving on my essays ever sense. The moment I found out that I had finally made a break through, I felt a true sense of accomplishment because I had truly been trying to improve on those essays just so that I could feel the excitement of finally doing well on them. This challenge greatly helped me in my school life as well as my personal life.

My personal sentence would be "she dedicates herself to benefit mankind." This is my sentence because I strive to do well in school and take the most out of my experiences now so that I can do well in college and medical school thus allowing me to save many lives and change the lives of many more.

What will the future bring?

I am constantly wondering what will happen in my future.

This past week, we took a test to see what our personal colors were. I found out that my top two colors are green and blue. Green people have trouble with many things. We constantly worry, and ponder, and think about everything that is going on. I find myself always thinking of what is to come and what I need to do. This is one of my flaws.

Even though I have high grades, and I almost without a doubt know what I want to do with my life, I still wonder.

Through this mentorship, I have realized something very valuable about myself. I love to help people but I can not stand to just be in a doctors office. I have had the great experience of being able to go in to open heart surgery. This turned a major light bulb on in my head. I know that for a fact I want to go into surgery. I would go crazy if I was never able to see the magnificent inside of the human body. It completely fascinates me. I find myself thinking about the human heart beating inside the chest very often. The memory of the blood rushing back into the body and seeing the heart beat after so many minutes of being stagnant continually replays in my mind.

I know without a doubt that this is my ultimate desire to fulfill in my life. However, after talking to so many surgeons and doctors, I am finding out that it will be harder for me to develop other aspect of my life that I want to happen. I want to have a family. I want to get married and have children. I want to be able to support my family (which I will most definitely be able to do) but most importantly I want to be able to spend quality time with my husband and children. This longing begins to seem further and further out of my reach since I want this prestigious career as well.

I am always wondering about my future but only time can tell.

Cardiology

Hello everyone. I wanted to let all of you know about my mentorship. I am interning with a group of cardiologists. It is an amazing place. They have so many interesting patients and I love learning about the heart. We have recently had something occur that the doctors had never seen. A patient came in for an echo cardiogram which is an ultrasound of the heart. During the echo, there was a mass on a "stem" discovered right below the aortic valve which is at the top of the heart. This valve allows for the heart to pump blood in and out. With each pump of the heart, this mass would move up and down depending on the flow of the blood from within the heart. The cause nor the reason the mass was there is known. Another interesting thing which I had personally never heard was a mechanical valve. When a valve begins to leak at a certain rate, there is a need to replace or fix the valve in order to prevent the heart from not working properly and causing it to stop. There are several choice as to what to replace the valve with but the most common ones are animal valves or mechanical valves. In certain patients, a mechanical valve is necessary. A patient came in that had to have a mechanical valve. Since I am younger and my hearing is still at its peaks, I could hear the ticking of the valve a soon as we walked in to the room. It ticks just like a clock because the blood flow causes the flaps of the valve to open and shut thus causing the ticking noise. I was also able to listen to the heart beat through the stethoscope. It was amazing the difference from a "normal" heart to the heart with the mechanical valve. The second beat was drastically different from the two hearts. In the "normal" heart, there was a muffled second beat but in the mechanical valve heart, there was a very loud second beat. I was completely fascinated, of course I am fascinated by everything new that I learn. I have really grown to love the everything about the office I am at as well as the patients that we see. The heart is amazing and there are so many things to learn about it that is the thing that I love the most about cardiology; there is always something new. This internship makes me excited for my future. I can't wait for medical school but most of all, I can't wait to be in a practice seeing patients lovely faces every day.

A Mystery

Hello everyone. It's time for a research blog.
My blog is on something very personal to me; multiple sclerosis.

As an overview, multiple sclerosis also known as MS is an autoimmune disease which is where the immune system mistakenly attacks and destroys healthy tissue. MS specifically affects the brain and the spinal cord ("Autoimmune Disorders"). Therefore, It interferes with the communication between the brain and the rest of the body. Ultimately, this may result in deterioration of the nerves themselves, a process that's not reversible (Multiple Sclerosis).

As I mentioned before, this illness is very personal to me. The reason this is, is because my Grandma has it. She was diagnosed with it 19 years ago. In an interview with her, she stated that the symptoms to this disease are very hard to detect since it masks a lot of other diseases as well as it affects different people in different ways. When she had her first attack, it seemed as if she had actually had a stroke. This is often the case due to the fact that MS is like "plaque" on the brain that affects many muscles which may seem like a stroke (Thompson, Linda). Other results of multiple sclerosis are muscular symptoms, bowel and bladder symptoms, eye symptoms, speech symptoms, sexual symptoms, numbness, tingling, pain, as well as many other symptoms ("Autoimmune Disorders").

Although multiple sclerosis can occur at any age, it most often begins in people between the ages of 20 and 40. Women are more likely to develop multiple sclerosis than are men (Multiple Sclerosis). Doctors and researchers don't understand exactly why multiple sclerosis occurs in some people and not others. A combination of factors, ranging from genetics to childhood infections, may play a role (Multiple Sclerosis).

The treatments for this illness range greatly. Since there is no known cures for multiple sclerosis at this time, there are things that can help with the different symptoms and slow down the progression of the disease. There are many medications that are taken on a long term basis to help with the symptoms, progression, and severity of the disease. Other things such as different types of therapy help with the disease as well ("Autoimmune Disorders"). There are other treatments that are specialized to different symptoms. Some ways to treat muscle soreness is through vitamins, water intake, and exercise (Castleman, Michael). Ways to treat the muscle spasms themselves are through things such as ice, vitamins, and stretching (Gottlieb, Bill). There are numerous other things such as the afore mentioned that can also treat other symptoms of MS.

In order to get a diagnosis, a Neurologist reviews cat-scans and MRI scans that reveal MS ("Autoimmune Disorders"). The prognosis for Multiple Sclerosis is different for every patient due to the fact that the disease differs from person to person. Some people deteriorate faster than others and some never get sever symptoms (Thompson, Linda).

As a summing up, multiple sclerosis affects everyone in different ways, there is no known cure for this life changing disease, and there are treatments for the symptoms just not for the disease itself.

I also just want to add that all of my sources are very valuable and creditable. I used different medical websites, medical books, and I interviewed a sufferer of Multiple Sclerosis as well. I personally believe that these are some of the best sources on this topic.

Bibliography:

"Autoimmune Disorders." Google Health. Web. 08 Mar. 2010. .

Castleman, Michael. Bottom Line's Complete Book of Integrated Health Solutions. Stamford: Boardroom Inc, 2000. Print.

Gottlieb, Bill. Alternative Cures: the Most Effective Natural Home Remedies for 160 Health Problems. Emmaus, Pa.: Rodale, 2000. Print.

"Multiple Sclerosis - MayoClinic.com." Mayo Clinic Medical Information and Tools for Healthy Living - MayoClinic.com. Web. 07 Mar. 2010.

Thompson, Linda. Personal interview. 5 Mar. 2010.

Lifes many experiences

Hello everyone! I am Kayla. I am in a class known as the Honors Mentorship Program. I am about to begin a mentorship in an area of the medical field. I do not know which area at this current time. Last semester I mentored in cardiology and I absolutely loved it, but I want to mentor in other areas so that I can branch out and advance my knowledge.

A quote that describes me and my life is "She is a person who understand, values and develops her body, finding it beautiful and useful; a person who is real and is willing to take risks, to be creative, to manifest competence, to change when the situation calls for it, and to find ways to accommodate to what is new and different, keeping that part of the old that is still useful and discarding what is not." - Virginia Satir

Last Tuesday, some of the Honors Mentorship students went on a Lapdog retreat. We did team building exercises. I personally benefited from this in three ways.
1) I learned how to tolerate others. I did not necessarily agree with what everyone thought but I had to listen to them as well as learn from them.
2) I learned how to not always be a leader. Through this experience, some of the exercises called for some people to lead and for others to follow. I have a hard time being a follower but through this challenge, I realized that I do not have to always be in the lead.
3) I also learned how branch out from my comfort zone. Lapdog required for every student to talk to one another. I am usually a shy person and this allowed for me to try something that I would not have been comfortable with in another situation.

Synergy is when a group of people come together to complete a common task and are able to fulfill the assignment better with many heads rather than just their own. At the Lapdog retreat, I saw synergy occur during the puzzle activity. Because all eighteen of us were working together, we completed the three puzzles faster and more effectively than had we worked on them separately.

During my mentorship experience, I hope to gain many attributes. I wish to expand my knowledge as well as my tolerance and capability to achieve success. I hope to also become a better person in this next step on the journey for my life goals.