Would you like some McStatins with that?

     The floor repair people were here for 12 hours yesterday, with the extremely loud sander going for at least half that time, dust everywhere, and me confined to the family room, office, or basement.  It was frustrating.  But camping out overnight went okay.  Dean took the couch, I took the floor and we slept fine.  Luckily, today will be warm as they put down the first coat of polyurethane.  I can open a window later to release some of the fumes.  The rest of the week, though, will be cold and snowy so no windows can be opened.  I may be relegated to the basement.
     Our daughter's cat, who we are caring for while Kate is in Great Britain, was upset by all the commotion and has been even pukier than usual.
     If I wasn't so lacking in trust I would just leave the house unlocked, let them do their thing, and  be gone for the day everyday.  I don't like strangers in the house alone, though, as we have been burned by that in the past.  Things were stolen.

     A couple of weeks ago I read the new book, "The End of Illness" by Dr. David B. Agus, an oncologist and researcher.  I didn't review it at the time as I didn't find it very helpful, although he did theorize about what form medical care in the future would take, which was mildly interesting.  Also, he proposed the controversial idea that possibly everyone over the age of forty should take statins to reduce chances of inflammation and cancer. I thought that was a terrible idea.
     Then,  there was an article in "The American Journal of Cardiology" with a Dr. proposing that fast food restaurants dispense free cholesterol-lowering meds along with cheeseburgers and fries to offset their harmful health effects.  http://www.advancednaturalmedicine.com/heart-health/do-you-want-mcstatins-with-that.html
     Today there was new information out about the adverse effects of statins.  They may cause cognitive changes or brain fuzziness.  http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/05/help-for-the-heart-comes-with-a-price-for-the-brain/
     The FDA changed their safety warnings for statins.  Periodic liver function testings are no longer necessary.  They do add warnings about possible increased blood sugars and memory loss in some people. http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/fda-changes-safety-information-on-statin-drugs-201202294429
     Doesn't all this seem terribly unnecessary?  If everyone just ate right, no statins would be required, at least for most people.

     The brain fuzziness is also a known side effect of chemotherapy.  A lot of the time Dean mentions that he just feels fuzzy, and that he can't express the feeling any better than that.  It is sometimes called "chemo-brain."  For most people, the effects last for only a short period of time, fortunately.