Thursday Thirteen

January is National Firefighter Cancer Awareness Month. Given what California just experienced, with miles of Los Angeles burned to the ground, and the fact that I'm married to a retired firefighter, this is an important issue. Here are some facts about this:

1. Occupational cancer is the leading cause of line-of-duty deaths among firefighters.

2. Firefighters are twice as likely to develop certain types of cancer compared to the general population. Firefighters face a 9% higher risk of being diagnosed with cancer and a 14% higher risk of dying from cancer compared to the general U.S. population.

3. Seventy-five percent of line-of-duty deaths among International Association of Firefighter (IAFF) members in 2024 were attributed to occupational cancer.

4. Firefighters are exposed to multiple cancer-causing agents on the job. Asbestos, a hazardous material found in older buildings, is a significant risk factor for firefighters.

5. Firefighters are two times more likely to develop mesothelioma than the general U.S. population.

6. Aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF), used by firefighters, contains dangerous chemicals known as PFAS. PFAS can build up in the body over time and cause various types of cancer.

7. Sixty-eight percent of firefighters develop cancer compared to just 22% in the general population.

8. Skin melanoma, prostate cancer, and non-Hodgkin lymphoma are among the cancers firefighters are at higher risk of developing.

9. The Firefighter Cancer Support Network (FCSN) provides vital education and resources to combat occupational cancer.

10. Presumptive laws in Canada attribute close to 94% of line-of-duty deaths among professional firefighters to occupational cancers.

11. The IAFF designates January as Firefighter Cancer Awareness Month to provide tools and guidance for cancer prevention. Behavioral health is a key focus during Firefighter Cancer Awareness Month. Weekly themes during the month include topics like reproductive health, cancer prevention, and survivorship. Training briefs and resources are provided to educate firefighters on reducing cancer risks.

12. One of the goals of Firefighter Cancer Awareness Month is to bring increased public awareness to occupational cancer in the fire service.

13. Firefighters' protective gear can sometimes trap harmful chemicals close to their skin, increasing their risk of cancer. Regular decontamination and proper maintenance of gear are crucial to minimize this risk.

______________

Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here if you want to read other Thursday Thirteens and/or play along. I've been playing for a while, and this is my 889th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.

The Morning

About 52 years ago, on a Saturday sometime in May, I woke early.

My parents were still asleep, as was my brother. No one was up but me. 

We lived in an old farmhouse at the time. It had a row of boxwoods across the front next to the road.

For whatever reason, when I rose, I decided I was going to trim the boxwoods. We did chores back in those days - maybe I had been told I was going to be doing that over the weekend. In any event, I was nine years old, and I was going to do a job. I dressed myself, ate a Pop Tart, found the hedge clippers, and went out front.

Snip. Snip. I vaguely remember the pile of greenery growing up around me as I trimmed. I recall it wasn't hot but a mild day, and the work was, if not fun, pleasurable. I was doing what needed to be done. I imagined that inside the boxwoods lived all manner of creatures - fairies, gnomes, talking rabbits. I carried on quite a conversation with my imaginary friends hidden in the greenery as I moved the clippers across the boxwoods, cutting away the excess growth.

I was so engrossed in my work that I never heard my parents calling for me inside the house. Nor did I hear my mother's calls out the back door.

It wasn't until she came around front calling my name that I stopped and looked up from my trimming of the hedge to see her worried face.

Her face changed from worry to shock as she stood there taking in the sight of me. I wasn't missing - I was working. And nearly finished, at that. I had been at it for well over an hour.

My mother has been gone for almost 25 years. Today is no special day; I have no reason for this memory. Sometimes, though, I forget what my mother's voice sounded like. It has been many years, after all, since I last heard her say something.

But when I call up this memory, when I hear her calling out my name as she rounds the corner of the house, concern echoing in the timbre of her shout, I remember every time.

My Baby

My husband is a kind, loving man. He treats me well and is a gentleman.

He's also stubborn and apparently, I have to hit him upside the head with something to make him understand things sometimes.

Case in point:

Our microwave sits in a built-in cabinet space about the oven (a Jenn-Air with a downdraft). It is high for me to reach even on a good day, but I can get stuff in it. I can't reach the top of it or hit the top buttons on the microwave without a stepstool.

As I went to put a bowl of soup in the microwave at lunch, I asked my husband to come to me. "Do you just not see that when you use the microwave?" I asked him, pointing to a mess at the top of the microwave where something had exploded about 4 days ago and I'd been too sick to try to clean it up.

"Oh, there is a mess there, isn't there," he said.

"I was taught to always clean up a mess when I saw it," I remarked.

And that for him, apparently, was the end of it. He didn't take the hint that I wanted the microwave wiped out. He ate his lunch and left.

I hauled out my stepstool, heated up a cup of hot water in the microwave to loosen things up, climbed up on the stool - with a little vertigo going on from this cold, mind you - and cleaned the microwave.

What part of my showing him the mess did not indicate a desire to have it cleaned up? Do I really have to spell it out? Do I have to say, "Would you please clean the microwave?" Pointing out the mess wasn't enough of a message?

Then we have an issue with the shower drain. He has attempted to clean it, and we've bleached and used vinegar and baking soda and snaked the drain and used Drano and all sorts of stuff to get this odor to disappear. 

It has not disappeared.

However, he cannot smell it. He has never been able to smell it. It's not a priority for him because he can't smell it. It about gags me to take a shower, and I'm starting to think that this may be why I'm so sick.

So today I did what he should have done. I called the shower drain manufacturer and asked if this was a known issue. Guess what? It is, especially in areas with hard water.

Guess what we have? Hard water.

The manufacturer will open up a case claim and send out a field rep. I want this taken care of. I learned a long time ago, that many times, I just have to do stuff myself.

I love my man, but sometimes I don't understand him.

A Day of Whine and Noses

Ah, so much going in the world. Fires in California. Bombings in Gaza, Ukraine, Russia, who knows where else. People hurting all over. Cold, snow, bad weather everywhere. Flood victims still living in tents just a few hours drive from me. Greedy people being even more greedy.

And in a week, the apocalypse. Crikey. How much worse can it get?

Me? I sit here stewing because my cold/virus/whatever will not let up. I felt better Friday, worse yesterday, and even worse today.

I have personally used up two boxes of 48 Puffs Plus Lotion tissues since Friday, plus a box of Kleenex. I filled a trash bag with them.

My nose is glowing red despite the tissues and the lotion I'm putting on my nose to keep it from turning into a big honking blinker that could be seen from the International Space Station.

Mostly I've started to worry about a little bit of chest pain I'm having, because it came from nowhere, and I am on an antibiotic. I shouldn't be having chest pain. I think it's because I ate some dark chocolate, so it's really reflux and not my lungs, but I did have an asthma attack last night. Maybe I'm just sore from that. I wouldn't be going into bronchitis or anything since I'm on an antibiotic, right? (Don't tell my husband, he doesn't know about this. Yes, yes, if it gets worse, I'll tell him.) (Update: this has eased, it was likely reflux.)

Nor should I complain, because I've had this cold just a week. My husband's still sniffling, and he's had his cold since December 27, which is what? Sixteen days? Over two weeks. But he is out and about, and I'm still stuck at home.

The car can't get back up the driveway anyway because of the ice that fell a few days ago. I'm stuck at home, blowing my nose, and craving a chocolate chip cookie.

A chocolate chip cookie would make it all alright, wouldn't it? An ooey gooey warm chocolate chip cookie? Wouldn't that fix all the problems? Probably not. It's almost time for dinner, anyway.

I have not walked on the treadmill for two days, though I did walk on Friday when I was feeling better. Maybe that was my mistake. I am not very good at the "lay around and rest" part of having an illness. I wanted to walk yesterday but my husband said I shouldn't, and today I know I shouldn't.

Being sick sucks. I've had to cancel loads of plans and appointments. I need to be working on some things and I can't do anything but blow my nose.

Yes, I am whining. I don't do it very often. Thanks for putting up with it.

Saturday 9: Calendar Girl

Saturday 9: Calendar Girl (1960)
    
Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.
 
1) How will you keep track of your days/weeks in 2025? Do you have a desk planner? A wall calendar? A pocket planner? Do you use the app on your phone?

A. I use the calendar in Outlook 2007, then print out a month to see what I have going on. I also have a wall calendar by my computer, but that's mostly so I can look at it and know what day it is, and because I like the pictures.

2) Consider your typical week. Which day tends to be your busiest?

A. Saturdays tend to be busy because that's the day I change the bed linens and do other major household tasks.
 
3) This week's artist, Neil Sedaka, is one of pop music's most prolific singer-songwriters, but his first love was classical music. He was so good that he trained at Julliard and won the accolade, "Best New York High School Pianist." Recall one of your passions from your high school years.

A. My passions in high school were about the same as my passions now: writing, reading, and music.

4) Elton John has always enjoyed Sedaka's music and in the 1970s, when Elton was one of the world's top stars, he requested a meeting. If you had the power to contact and then meet anyone in the world, who would you choose?

A. I would choose Margaret Atwood. She certainly seems to have her hands on what's going on and may or may not happen as far as dystopian futures. I like her writing and it would be interesting to learn about her work habits and see how her mind comes up with the stories.

5) Sedaka appeared as the musical guest during the second season of Saturday Night Live. What's the most recent show you watched on TV? Was it live, from your dvr, or did you stream it?

A. The most recent show I watched was from a DVD, and it was Season 5, episodes 1-3 of The West Wing. The West Wing was on Max, but at midnight on January 1, it disappeared, and we were in Season 4. So we bought the DVD set, it arrived, and we started watching it. On Wednesday, I learned that Max brought West Wing back (must've had a LOT of complaints), but by then we had the DVD set and had opened it. I suppose I could have tried to return it but I am not that way. Besides, we still don't have fiber internet and we had a lot of buffering. No buffering on a DVD.

6) His daughter Dara sings on TV and radio commercials. What advertising jingle sticks in your head?

A. The drummers go boom boom! The trombones go zoom zoom! And everybody shouts hooray for Valley Dale! Hooray for Valley Dale all hail it's Valley Dale! Valley Dale sausage! Valley Dale bacon! Valley Dale weiners! Zing zing zing Valley Dale! Hooray for Valley Dale all hail it's Valley Dale.

Valley Dale was a local meat packager in my youth. I don't know if they are still in business. I also don't have the words right.

 
7) In 1960, when "Calendar Girl" was popular, To Kill a Mockingbird was first published. Have you read it?

A. I have read To Kill a Mockingbird a couple of times, but it has been a while since I last read it.

8) Also in 1960, John F. Kennedy, Jr. was baptized in the Georgetown University Chapel. His godparents were Charles and Martha Bartlett, the couple who introduced his famous parents. Do you have any godchildren?

A. I do not have godchildren.

9) Random question -- Which did you enjoy more: the last week of 2024 or the first week of 2025?

A. I would say I enjoyed the last week of 2024 more, because we both hadn't quite come down with the crud that January brought us.

_______________

I encourage you to visit the posts of other participants in Saturday 9 and leave a comment. Because there are no rules, it is your choice. Saturday 9 players hate rules. We love memes, however.