Statistics and Associations

Try to figure THAT out  above!

Or my favorite statistic..

Nearly half of Americans are torsos.


When I first was diagnosed with BC, I tried to read every study I could concerning its treatment. A headline would denote that a certain drug extended life 'significantly' and then I would read that survival was 6 months vs 4 months for the controls. Statistically significant but to me, not much help. Many studies I read contradict each other. First hormone replacement did not cause breast cancer, then it did for everyone, and then it did only for those over 60. Most of the studies on TNBC suffer from too small of a sample.

And then there is the problem with cause and effect.

There are studies showing that breast fed babies have higher IQs. But are they higher due to the breast feeding or the types of people most likely to breast feed?

The night of my first high school parent orientation, we were told to encourage our students to play sports as athletes had better GPAs.. But if they had poor grades, they would be kicked off the team.

I am not sure what to think about denying Avastin to metastastic BC patients. It works wonders in a small number of 'super responders'.. But it does not work for many other patients. Finally the company is getting around to figuring out exactly how to identify a super responder in advance. VEGF levels? Or something else..

Today was the morning of babies as Naomi was gone and I had Maya for the day.
At one point, we had a 3 year old, a 2 yr old, a 1 year old ,and a 4 month old. Then we have the 4 months to appearance growing in Shanna. The 4 month old was the son of a high school friend of Shanna's, an OB. It was interesting hearing how a doctor responds to being a patient. The little baby weighs just slightly less than Maya despite being a year younger. He has a perfectly round Buddha face.

I feel better finally but still can't eat much without feeling like throwing up. I've been sticking to bland.

Yesterday I still had to cook for everyone but no homemade dessert or salad. These were store bought. I did like having everyone in one place. Thanksgiving will be at Josh's. I give thanks for that!