Today is World Cancer Day, so I thought it would be a good day to post this annual PSA. This is now the fourth year I've posted this PSA. But it can't be repeated too often. Genealogy can save your life. It would have saved mine if I hadn't already known what I needed to know.
The American Cancer Society recommends the 'average' person to start getting checked for colon cancer at age 50. However, for those with a history of the disease in the immediate family, they recommend to start the tests ten years prior to the earliest it has been diagnosed. My maternal grandmother died at age 51. So I was prepared to start getting tested at age 40. Then a close kin, slightly older, had their test, and a polyp was discovered and removed. So, at age 39, I decided there wasn't any good reason to wait on ceremony, and my doctor agreed. I had my first colonoscopy, and I had two polyps removed. If I had waited until I was 50, there's a chance I wouldn't have made it. Since I knew to check early, the polyp was caught before it could become dangerous, and hopefully any future polyps will also be caught beforehand via regular colonoscopies.
[Note: As I understand it, the causal connection between polyps and cancer actually isn't conclusive. Scientists haven't proven that pre-malignant polyps always become malignant, or that polyps always lead to cancer. Nor that everyone who gets cancer had pre-malignant polyps at one time that could have been detected. But they know enough to remove the polyps when they see them.]
Other diseases have genetic predispositions. So it is important to know the medical histories of your parents, grandparents, and where possible, your great grandparents. The primary method of doing this, for those who are deceased, is to find their death certificates. It is rare to find any prior to 1900, but for those who lived into the 20th century, especially those who lived past 1920, finding death certificates, while not always easy, isn't usually difficult - if you know when and where they died.
1) Local Courthouses
Most counties in America house archives of their Vital Records (birth, marriage, death.) A few have strict restrictions on who can request copies, limiting them to 'immediate family' which may not include grandchildren.
2) State Archives
State archives often have copies of the county records, with fewer restrictions on access.
3) Online Databases
Some counties and states have begun putting their records online. Ancestry, FamilySearch, and Footnote also have some databases available to search.
4) Funeral Homes
Funeral homes often retain their own copy of the death certificate, and their copy may differ slightly from that held by the County or State. It may contain details about where in a cemetery plot the individual was buried, or details about the funeral itself. If you don't know the funeral home, search in archives of local newspapers and try to find an obituary, as obituary notices often include this information. The funeral home copy may also be at times the only copy you have access to if the county and state are too restrictive.
Once you have found the death certificate, if you don't recognize instantly the words written under 'cause of death' conduct an internet search on them at Google or Yahoo. My family history made identifying "Carc. of Col." as "Carcinoma of Colon" fairly easy, though I suspect some might have stumbled over the abbreviation. Several ancestors were diagnosed with "Interstitial Nephritis." I'd never heard of this before, but it is a kidney ailment often caused by a reaction to pain medication. Unfortunately, the death certificates didn't indicate the cause of the original pain.
Showing posts with label PSA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PSA. Show all posts
Friday, February 4, 2011
Thursday, April 29, 2010
PSA: Sleep Disorders
This post is unrelated to genealogy. However, below are two photographs.
The one on the left is a Polaroid of me taken by a college roommate in the late autumn - winter of 1987-1988. Cold enough for me to be wearing a sweater. It's not a particularly flattering picture for several reasons. Alcohol wasn't involved. I don't recall the exact time of day, but I suspect it was afternoon after classes. I like the ironic relevance of the poster, even though it was his, not mine.
The photo on the right was taken in 2002 at a friend's house. I need a new pair of Guatemalan pants; that pair is no longer wearable.
Anyway, if you find yourself with excessive daytime sleepiness, you should have yourself tested. Don't wait twenty years. Sleep disorders are fairly common, and treatable.
The one on the left is a Polaroid of me taken by a college roommate in the late autumn - winter of 1987-1988. Cold enough for me to be wearing a sweater. It's not a particularly flattering picture for several reasons. Alcohol wasn't involved. I don't recall the exact time of day, but I suspect it was afternoon after classes. I like the ironic relevance of the poster, even though it was his, not mine.
The photo on the right was taken in 2002 at a friend's house. I need a new pair of Guatemalan pants; that pair is no longer wearable.
Anyway, if you find yourself with excessive daytime sleepiness, you should have yourself tested. Don't wait twenty years. Sleep disorders are fairly common, and treatable.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
PSA: Genealogy Can Save Your Life: 2010
This is now the third year I've posted this PSA. But it can't be repeated too often. Genealogy can save your life. It would have saved mine if I hadn't already known what I needed to know.
The American Cancer Society recommends the 'average' person to start getting checked for colon cancer at age 50. However, for those with a history of the disease in the immediate family, they recommend to start the tests ten years prior to the earliest it has been diagnosed. My maternal grandmother died at age 51. So I was prepared to start getting tested at age 40. Then a close kin, slightly older, had their test, and polyps were discovered and removed. So two years ago, at age 39, I decided there wasn't any good reason to wait on ceremony, and my doctor agreed. I had my first colonoscopy, and I had a 'pre-malignant' polyp removed. If I had waited until I was 50, there's a chance I wouldn't have made it. Since I knew to check early, the polyp was caught before it could become dangerous, and hopefully any future polyps will also be caught beforehand.
[Note: As I understand it, the causal connection between polyps and cancer actually isn't conclusive. Scientists haven't proven that pre-malignant polyps always become malignant, or that polyps always lead to cancer. Nor that everyone who gets cancer had pre-malignant polyps at one time that could have been detected. But they know enough to remove the polyps when they see them.]
Other diseases have genetic predispositions. So it is important to know the medical histories of your parents, grandparents, and where possible, your great grandparents. The primary method of doing this, for those who are deceased, is to find their death certificates. It is rare to find any prior to 1900, but for those who lived into the 20th century, especially those who lived past 1920, finding death certificates, while not always easy, isn't usually difficult - if you know when and where they died.
1) Local Courthouses
Most counties in America house archives of their Vital Records (birth, marriage, death.) A few have strict restrictions on who can request copies, limiting them to 'immediate family' which may not include grandchildren.
2) State Archives
State archives often have copies of the county records, with fewer restrictions on access.
3) Online Databases
Some counties and states have begun putting their records online. Ancestry, FamilySearch, and Footnote also have some databases available to search.
4) Funeral Homes
Funeral homes often retain their own copy of the death certificate, and their copy may differ slightly from that held by the County or State. It may contain details about where in a cemetery plot the individual was buried, or details about the funeral itself. If you don't know the funeral home, search in archives of local newspapers and try to find an obituary, as obituary notices often include this information. The funeral home copy may also be at times the only copy you have access to if the county and state are too restrictive.
Once you have found the death certificate, if you don't recognize instantly the words written under 'cause of death' conduct an internet search on them at Google or Yahoo. My family history made identifying "Carc. of Col." as "Carcinoma of Colon" fairly easy, though I suspect some might have stumbled over the abbreviation. Several ancestors were diagnosed with "Interstitial Nephritis." I'd never heard of this before, but it is a kidney ailment often caused by a reaction to pain medication. Unfortunately, the death certificates didn't indicate the cause of the original pain.
The American Cancer Society recommends the 'average' person to start getting checked for colon cancer at age 50. However, for those with a history of the disease in the immediate family, they recommend to start the tests ten years prior to the earliest it has been diagnosed. My maternal grandmother died at age 51. So I was prepared to start getting tested at age 40. Then a close kin, slightly older, had their test, and polyps were discovered and removed. So two years ago, at age 39, I decided there wasn't any good reason to wait on ceremony, and my doctor agreed. I had my first colonoscopy, and I had a 'pre-malignant' polyp removed. If I had waited until I was 50, there's a chance I wouldn't have made it. Since I knew to check early, the polyp was caught before it could become dangerous, and hopefully any future polyps will also be caught beforehand.
[Note: As I understand it, the causal connection between polyps and cancer actually isn't conclusive. Scientists haven't proven that pre-malignant polyps always become malignant, or that polyps always lead to cancer. Nor that everyone who gets cancer had pre-malignant polyps at one time that could have been detected. But they know enough to remove the polyps when they see them.]
Other diseases have genetic predispositions. So it is important to know the medical histories of your parents, grandparents, and where possible, your great grandparents. The primary method of doing this, for those who are deceased, is to find their death certificates. It is rare to find any prior to 1900, but for those who lived into the 20th century, especially those who lived past 1920, finding death certificates, while not always easy, isn't usually difficult - if you know when and where they died.
1) Local Courthouses
Most counties in America house archives of their Vital Records (birth, marriage, death.) A few have strict restrictions on who can request copies, limiting them to 'immediate family' which may not include grandchildren.
2) State Archives
State archives often have copies of the county records, with fewer restrictions on access.
3) Online Databases
Some counties and states have begun putting their records online. Ancestry, FamilySearch, and Footnote also have some databases available to search.
4) Funeral Homes
Funeral homes often retain their own copy of the death certificate, and their copy may differ slightly from that held by the County or State. It may contain details about where in a cemetery plot the individual was buried, or details about the funeral itself. If you don't know the funeral home, search in archives of local newspapers and try to find an obituary, as obituary notices often include this information. The funeral home copy may also be at times the only copy you have access to if the county and state are too restrictive.
Once you have found the death certificate, if you don't recognize instantly the words written under 'cause of death' conduct an internet search on them at Google or Yahoo. My family history made identifying "Carc. of Col." as "Carcinoma of Colon" fairly easy, though I suspect some might have stumbled over the abbreviation. Several ancestors were diagnosed with "Interstitial Nephritis." I'd never heard of this before, but it is a kidney ailment often caused by a reaction to pain medication. Unfortunately, the death certificates didn't indicate the cause of the original pain.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Genealogy Can Save Your Life - 2009
I've blogged about this before, but I've decided to make an annual habit of it. It can't be repeated too often. Genealogy can save your life. It would have saved mine if I hadn't already known what I needed to know.
The American Cancer Society recommends the 'average' person to start getting checked for Colon cancer at age 50. However, for those with a history of the disease in the immediate family, they recommend to start the tests ten years prior to the earliest it has been diagnosed. My maternal grandmother died at age 51. So I was prepared to start getting tested at age 40. Then a close kin, slightly older, had their test, and polyps were discovered and removed. So last year, at age 39, I decided there wasn't any good reason to wait on ceremony, and my doctor agreed. I had my first colonoscopy, and 2 polyps were removed, one of which was pre-malignant. If I had waited until I was 50, there's a chance I wouldn't have made it. Since I knew to check early, the polyps were caught before they could become dangerous, and hopefully any future polyps will also be caught beforehand.
[Note: As I understand it, the causal connection between polyps and cancer actually isn't conclusive. Scientists haven't proven that pre-malignant polyps always become malignant, or that polyps always lead to cancer. Nor that everyone who gets cancer had pre-malignant polyps at one time that could have been detected. But they know enough to remove the polyps when they see them.]
Other diseases have genetic predispositions. So it is important to know the medical histories of your parents, grandparents, and where possible, your great grandparents. The primary method of doing this, for those who are deceased, is to find their death certificates. It is rare to find any prior to 1900, but for those who lived into the 20th century, especially those who lived past 1920, finding death certificates, while not always easy, isn't usually difficult - if you know when and where they died.
1) Local Courthouses
Most counties in America house archives of their Vital Records (birth, marriage, death.) A few have strict restrictions on who can request copies, limiting them to 'immediate family' which may not include grandchildren.
2) State Archives
State archives often have copies of the county records, with fewer restrictions on access.
3) Online Databases
Some counties and states have begun putting their records online. Ancestry, FamilySearch, and Footnote also have some databases available to search.
4) Funeral Homes
Funeral homes often retain their own copy of the death certificate, and their copy may differ slightly from that held by the County or State. It may contain details about where in a cemetery plot the individual was buried, or details about the funeral itself. If you don't know the funeral home, search in archives of local newspapers and try to find an obituary, as obituary notices often include this information. The funeral home copy may also be at times the only copy you have access to if the county and state are too restrictive.
Once you have found the death certificate, if you don't recognize instantly the words written under 'cause of death' conduct an internet search on them at Google or Yahoo. My family history made identifying "Carc. of Col." as "Carcinoma of Colon" fairly easy, though I suspect some might have stumbled over the abbreviation. Several ancestors were diagnosed with "Interstitial Nephritis." I'd never heard of this before, but it is a kidney ailment often caused by a reaction to pain medication. Unfortunately, the death certificates didn't indicate the cause of the original pain.
The American Cancer Society recommends the 'average' person to start getting checked for Colon cancer at age 50. However, for those with a history of the disease in the immediate family, they recommend to start the tests ten years prior to the earliest it has been diagnosed. My maternal grandmother died at age 51. So I was prepared to start getting tested at age 40. Then a close kin, slightly older, had their test, and polyps were discovered and removed. So last year, at age 39, I decided there wasn't any good reason to wait on ceremony, and my doctor agreed. I had my first colonoscopy, and 2 polyps were removed, one of which was pre-malignant. If I had waited until I was 50, there's a chance I wouldn't have made it. Since I knew to check early, the polyps were caught before they could become dangerous, and hopefully any future polyps will also be caught beforehand.
[Note: As I understand it, the causal connection between polyps and cancer actually isn't conclusive. Scientists haven't proven that pre-malignant polyps always become malignant, or that polyps always lead to cancer. Nor that everyone who gets cancer had pre-malignant polyps at one time that could have been detected. But they know enough to remove the polyps when they see them.]
Other diseases have genetic predispositions. So it is important to know the medical histories of your parents, grandparents, and where possible, your great grandparents. The primary method of doing this, for those who are deceased, is to find their death certificates. It is rare to find any prior to 1900, but for those who lived into the 20th century, especially those who lived past 1920, finding death certificates, while not always easy, isn't usually difficult - if you know when and where they died.
1) Local Courthouses
Most counties in America house archives of their Vital Records (birth, marriage, death.) A few have strict restrictions on who can request copies, limiting them to 'immediate family' which may not include grandchildren.
2) State Archives
State archives often have copies of the county records, with fewer restrictions on access.
3) Online Databases
Some counties and states have begun putting their records online. Ancestry, FamilySearch, and Footnote also have some databases available to search.
4) Funeral Homes
Funeral homes often retain their own copy of the death certificate, and their copy may differ slightly from that held by the County or State. It may contain details about where in a cemetery plot the individual was buried, or details about the funeral itself. If you don't know the funeral home, search in archives of local newspapers and try to find an obituary, as obituary notices often include this information. The funeral home copy may also be at times the only copy you have access to if the county and state are too restrictive.
Once you have found the death certificate, if you don't recognize instantly the words written under 'cause of death' conduct an internet search on them at Google or Yahoo. My family history made identifying "Carc. of Col." as "Carcinoma of Colon" fairly easy, though I suspect some might have stumbled over the abbreviation. Several ancestors were diagnosed with "Interstitial Nephritis." I'd never heard of this before, but it is a kidney ailment often caused by a reaction to pain medication. Unfortunately, the death certificates didn't indicate the cause of the original pain.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Genealogy Can Save Your Life (Update)
Two months ago I posted about how important it is to know when and how your recent ancestors died. At its most basic, if certain diseases run in your family, you can be tested early for those diseases.
The American Cancer Society recommends those without risk factors to have a colonoscopy at age 50. For those with members of the immediate family with colon cancer, it is advised to begin checking 10 years prior to the age of the relative was diagnosed. My maternal grandmother died at age 51.
This morning I had my first colonoscopy, and two polyps were removed. I'm 39. If I hadn't known about my grandmother, and waited until I was 50, there's a good chance I wouldn't have made it.
The American Cancer Society recommends those without risk factors to have a colonoscopy at age 50. For those with members of the immediate family with colon cancer, it is advised to begin checking 10 years prior to the age of the relative was diagnosed. My maternal grandmother died at age 51.
This morning I had my first colonoscopy, and two polyps were removed. I'm 39. If I hadn't known about my grandmother, and waited until I was 50, there's a good chance I wouldn't have made it.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Genealogy can save your life
- GGG-grandfather William Denyer – 1794-1848 (age 54 – cause unknown)
- GGG-grandmother Elizabeth (Sliver) Denyer – 1798-1840 (age 42 - unknown)
- GG-grandfather Ebenezer Denyer –1828-1872 (age 44 - unknown)
- G-Grandmother Margaret (Denyer) Van Every– 1868 – 1923 (age 55 – Chronic Interstitial Nephritis - a kidney ailment)
- Grandmother Myrtle (Van Every) Deutsch – 1900 – 1951 (age 51 – intestinal cancer)
A close look at these names and dates reveals a frightening pattern for anyone. It's true that in the 19th century early deaths weren't exactly uncommon, so it isn't conclusive. But it's enough to be concerned. I will note that my mother is in fine health, and was surpassing her ancestors' ages back when Reagan and Bush Sr were in office.
That's my mother's side. On my father's side, I have two more grandparents who had colon cancer, though they lived into their 80s. A close relative, in their early 40s, had their first colonoscopy done last year – benign polyps were discovered and removed. So I just turned 39 a week ago, and while the magic year for those with my risk factors is 40, I'm not waiting a year on ceremony. My doctor agrees, and we're in the process of scheduling a date.
Do you know if you have any genetic risk factors? Someday maybe a DNA test will tell us, but for now, we need to know when our ancestors died, and what they died from. Genealogy can, literally, save lives.
(I knew about my grandparents prior to beginning my research, which was more than enough to get tested. And I haven't been tested yet, so I don't know what the results will be. So while I can't say my particular research saved my life, it did uncover an even scarier picture in my mother's line. But if you don't know what killed your ancestors, finding out could save yours.)
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