Stomach Cancer Story

Stomach Cancer Story

Hi, I am a cell living inside the stomach of Jim, and today I am going to tell you his story. The exact way I formed is unknown, one day I just ended up here. I’ve always been a lot different from the other cells in Jim’s stomach. One day I just started lining the inside of Jim’s stomach, not knowing that I would later multiply by the thousands and form a tumour. July 21st the day I found myself in this dark hole. A while later things got bad and the tumour formed. Jim had his chance for early detection but it was now too late. Many things could have led me to end up here, diet (eating too many pickled or salted foods), smoking, genes and not eating enough fruits and veggies. The tumour didn’t get any smaller if anything it spread to others parts of his body. Jim is in pain, he’s experiencing persistent vomiting, loss of weight, nausea and heartburn. And he isn’t eating as much. Even though I ended up here for unknown reasons I do know my purpose, to kill. I have no control of it, its just my job.

Jim has started his treatment for the tumours spread throughout his body. He started Chemotherapy, which is drug taken which is meant to kill off all of the cancerous cells in the body. Radiation has also been attempted, which treats the cancer by using high-energy waves to kill tumor cells. The goal is to destroy or damage the cancer without hurting too many healthy cells. These treatments have resulted in him loosing tons of weight and strength. His hair also started to go. He has also under went multiple surgeries, nothing has seemed to work. He has stopped attending work, good thing because I was sick of the microwave meals for lunch. For all I know Jim just sits in a hospital bed all day other than the rare trip to the bathroom. From what I know he doesn’t have much longer to live, which means my work here is almost done.

As expected Jim was given just weeks to live but passed in days. Off to my next victim…

Stomach-Cancer-treatment1

The Process

1.  What questions did you need to research in order to create your cancer story?

  • what is cancer
  • what do I know about cancer
  • what don’t I know about cancer
  • what is stomach cancer
  • causes and symptoms of stomach cancer
  • effects of stomach cancer
  • treatments for stomach cancer
  • what is radiation/ chemotherapy
  • effects of radiation/ chemotherapy

2.  What new or familiar digital tools did you try to use as you worked through this project?

The 3 online websites I used were google and edublog and easy bib. Easy bib was new for me, it is a super easy site to help create a bibliography in one click. I will definitely use this site again if i ever need to cite my work.

3.  What was the process you used to investigate the topic?

First I wanted to get a grasp on what cancer actually is and its causes and effects. Then I went deeper into investigating a specific kind of cancer, stomach cancer. I researched its causes, symptoms and effects of this certain type of cancer. Then based on the information I found I wrote my story.

4.  How did you verify and cite the information you found?

I verified the information by looking on multiple sites for the same topic to ensure throughout all sites the information was similar. Also by looking at the site name you can kind of tell like the site I found was called cancer.ca which sounds pretty believable. I cited my sources by copying and pasting the website names into a word document and then later putting them into an online bibliography generator.

5.  How did the process of completing this challenge go? What could you have done better?

The process of the assignment went very well. From the beginning I wanted to ensure I understood my topic thoroughly. This made sure I knew what I was talking about. After that writing the story became easy. I think I could have researched a bit more on how the cancer forms and more on the causes. I should have went into more detail about how stomach cancer grows and how the tours spread throughout the body. Overall I am proud with how this project turned out I just could have went into a bit more detail and took more time to research.

Sites used:

http://www.webmd.com/cancer/stomach-gastric-cancer#1

http://www.cancer.ca/en/cancer-information/cancer-type/stomach/treatment/?region=on

http://www.cancer.ca/en/cancer-information/cancer type/stomach/treatment/chemotherapy/?region=on

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/stomach-cancer/symptoms-causes/dxc-20202328

http://www.cancer.ca/en/cancer-information/cancer-type/stomach/stomach-cancer/?region=on

http://www.webmd.com/cancer/what-to-expect-from-radiation-therapy#1

Works Cited: 

“Stomach Cancer.” WebMD. WebMD, n.d. Web. 01 May 2017.

“What Is Stomach Cancer? – Canadian Cancer Society.” Www.cancer.ca. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 May 2017.

“Treatments for Stomach Cancer – Canadian Cancer Society.” Www.cancer.ca. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 May 2017.

“Chemotherapy for Stomach Cancer – Canadian Cancer Society.”

“Stomach Cancer.” Mayo Clinic. Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 18 May 2016. Web. 01 May 2017.

“What to Expect From Radiation Therapy.” WebMD. WebMD, n.d. Web. 01 May 2017.

*photo from flickr* / (all rights reserved)