Michael, you've never told me this crucial fact.
You've "held" diseased tissue in your hands (literally)?
Please elaborate on how it felt and how it differed from regular healthy tissue.
Don't spare the details, man.
Get dirty!
DIV
Speaking on tired lungs . . .
I just got back from the largest ashtray in the world, Las Vegas.
My chest IS tight and polluted from 2nd hand smoke.
Will take a week to recover . . .
I spent a lot of (probably too much) time in the lab. Saw and held bodyparts
(with gloves of course) handled many human tissues. I then made slides
and viewed this *extracted tissue* under lens of microscope,
compared it to healty tissues.
V E R Y dynamic and layered learning.
Thanks DAD!
The most profound was holding a diseased human heart. I took a
toothpick and scraped atherosclerotic plaques (cholesterol) out
of (some veins in) it. It felt like softened wax . . .
I got the point of *that exercise*.
The prospect of COPD - (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)
due to tobacco use IS something that I know first hand . . .
I sadly (perhaps like many) grew up exposed to second hand smoke
and subsequently had Asthma, bronchial problems and recurrent
bronchitis until the age age of 28 when smoking was not readily
permitted indoors and I no longer had roomates or co-workers
than INFECTED my lungs with their 2nd hand smoke.
The pulmonary system IS an area that I spent a lot of time studying.
due to my unfortunate lifetime predisposition to respiratory ailments.
I cannot stand exposure to tobacco - I suffer profoundly
with lasting effects . . .
Lung cancer that I saw (and held) resembled a fibrous disc of cartilage
surrounded by the dirty yellow mucosal/snotty mess (very gross)
with consistency of yogurt - which I (now) struggle to eat . . .
This cancerous disc was so tough, I could not cut with fresh scalpel
and it grew or invaded various surrounding (dissimilar) tissues,
very odd looking. Disrupting the lung architecture/stucture profoundly . . .
I understand it better.
The other (smoking related) malady - emphysema F!!CKING S C A R Y
this diseased tissue was really fibrotic - stiff, lacking a n y elasticity
critical to lung. The tissue was blackend and grey, rather than the
healthy pink that it should me. My father in law had COPD and my
skin would crawl (nearly got panic attacks) just sitting next to him,
hearing him struggle (with *tightend chest*) to take in a breath of air
It reminded me of athsma attacks as a child . . . BIG c h i l l s . . .
I cannot believe that ANY serious (informed) athlete
would c h o o s e t o smoke cigarettes . . .