I had surgery last night, so the failures of Medicine are on my mind. Specifically, I’m having vocal cord repair because Anesthesia nicked them and caused scarring. My ENT last week told me to tell Anesthesia to use a smaller airway tube and to be careful. Shouldn’t that be obvious? Does anyone want to spend their lives sounding like a hoarse duck? So I wondered whether this is a male/female thing. And of course it is. From the journal Anaesthesia:
Postoperative "minor" complications: Comparison between men and women
Overall, women were almost twice as likely to report any postoperative complication (RR = 1.92,p < 0.0005). Specifically, they were 2.6 times more likely to report nausea and vomiting (p < 0.0005), 1.5 times more likely to report sore throat (p = 0.0001), 2.3 times more likely to report headache (p < 0.0005) and 2.4 times more likely to report backache (p = 0.0036).
I have had nearly all of these symptoms pretty much every time! No vomiting, and the other symptoms wear off in a few days. But why would they be so much more common in women?
From Pharmacy Practice:
Women's involvement in clinical trials: Historical perspective and future implications
Pharmacodynamic differences between the sexes have been observed for particular drugs. For example, women are at increased risk of experiencing torsades de points, a potentially fatal arrhythmia, after taking drugs which prolong the QT interval.6,7 In addition, acute liver failure as a result of certain drug exposures has also been reported in women more often than in men.6
So probably a woman’s body doesn’t respond the same and they haven’t adequately studied aftereffects of anesthesia in women. I hope they’re not destroying my liver!
Interestingly, they gave me morphine for pain last time I was in the hospital after long and complicated surgery, the morphine didn’t affect me at all, and it took more than 24 hours before I could convince them to give me something different, during which the nurses accused me of being a “drug seeker” (that’s right, I expected pain control immediately after surgery, my bad!). Now I find this (and I include it because I know I’m far from the only inadequately treated pain patient):
Women experience more pain and require more morphine than men to achieve a similar degree of analgesia
Maybe I’ll mail a copy to the hospital.
In good news for women, just published in Medical News Today, is The Power of Electromagnetic Energy on Breast Cancer Cells : Researchers used a Helmholtz coil to apply energy to a variety of breast cancer cells:
Certain cell types that would typically spread by forming "long, thin extensions at the edge" were unable to do so when hit by a low intensity electromagnetic field.
-snip-
More significantly, the team found that metastatic triple-negative breast cancer cells, which are the most challenging cells to treat, were the most responsive to electromagnetic fields.
The results are still very preliminary, only being shown so far to work on cells in the lab, needing successful repetition in animal and then human studies. But it is a very promising line of attack: It stops the spread of currently poorly treatable metastatic cancer, and it would be noninvasive, possibly with no side effects for patients.
And now for the rest of the war news, of which there is plenty!
Sexual Harassment
Here we go again: Placido Domingo is accused of sexual harassment by multiple women. https://www.bloomberg.com/…
Guys, why can't you be happy with money and talent and fame?
"She fights every 'troll, psycho and perv' she can find – and uses the law to do it
After grappling with a ‘psycho ex’ of her own, lawyer Carrie Goldberg takes a stand for victims of online harassment, deepfakes and revenge porn"
https://www.theguardian.com/...
abuse
A New Yorker article on the history of a battered women's DIY shelter begun in 1975 by 2 escapees and still running today - the history reflects boots-on-the-ground philosophical & practical evolution of feminism in the US from then to now: The Radical Transformations of a Battered Women’s Shelter “Transition House had to be true to its principles and then it had to leave them behind."
Opinion: Jeffrey Epstein:
Epstein’s death is a victory for misogyny: it denies accusers the justice they deserve by Moira Donegan
These women have to live with the trauma and humiliation of abuse while he will not have to live through a public reckoning of his crimes.
Why are people silent about the abuses and exploitation in porn?https://www.theguardian.com/...
abortion
Most Americans Don’t Want A Total Ban On Abortion: Survey
A PRRI survey suggests there is no state in which more than 25% of residents support a total ban on abortion. https://www.huffpost.com/…
And yet, abortion access is getting more difficult:
In this poor, rural corner of the American south, the process of getting an abortion is logistically difficult, emotionally fraught and often a battle against poverty.
…. A wave of anti-abortion bills have spread across the US, especially parts of the conservative south. The aim is to make abortion more difficult, with more paperwork, bureaucracy and early deadlines and, perhaps, one day outlaw it. That would force already poor women to travel even longer distances to get abortions and spend even more money – or have them take risks for illegal procedures.
Abortion in the Deep South -- https://www.theguardian.com/…
Women realize that reproductive justice is economic justice for women, https://nwlc.org/...
#StopTheBans
legal failures
A federal appeals court reinstated a manslaughter charge against a woman whose baby died after being born alive, due to prenatal drug use. It's federal because she's an Indian woman and this happened in Indian country. Of course this opens the door to any lifestyle being considered a criminal act, and women avoiding doctors for fear of being turned in to the police.
https://www.courthousenews.com/…
More on the subject of pregnancy & drug treatment (or lack thereof): "State Laws Punish Pregnant People Just For Seeking Drug Treatment" (https://talkpoverty.org/...)
idiot republicans (but i repeat myself)
Steve King's rape comments reveal the misogyny at the heart of white supremacist ideology:
On Wednesday, Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, catapulted into the news again after musing that humanity might not exist if not for rape and incest. These cruel and highly offensive remarks were in service of the argument that even sexually assaulted women should be denied abortions. But King’s comments were just the latest reminder of the way sexism and white supremacy so often go hand in hand.
Whether in Europe or in the United States, white supremacists and white nationalists are obsessed with falling birth rates, and by extension they are obsessed with the recruitment — and total control — of women’s wombs.
https://www.nbcnews.com/…
concern trolling versus reality
intersectionality
Brazil's indigenous women protest against Bolsonaro policies
In Brazil, where a conservative government has abandoned indigenous peoples and land in favor of corporate profit, 300 indigenous women spent 10 hours yesterday protesting & demanding health care.
https://www.bbc.com/…
Defending diversity on campus: http://reappropriate.co/…
good news
We have made progress: Nine things a woman couldn't do in 1971. https://www.facebook.com/…
If you would like to donate to the National Women's Law Center, they have many ways:
https://nwlc.org/…
This diary wouldn’t be possible without the help of the WOW team! Thank you and wow!