Wood Working and your Health

[genek]

Be sure to read this to the end.

AS wood workers we get exposed to different chemicals from paint thinners to what ever. These chemicals get absorbed into the blood stream. These chemicals come out of our body in two places. Your colon and your bladder take heavy hits from these chemicals. Make sure you have your doctor do a cat Scan every few years. I may be losing my bladder due to chemicals that have ended up in My bladder from the chemicals I have been exposed to. The cat scan showed several tumors in my bladder, When they scoped me Wednesday The doctor found Five tumors. On the 15th of Feb. they plan on going in to remove them. If they have not gotten into the muscle wall they will just remove the tumors if they have gotten into the muscle, they will stop and schedule another surgery to remove the whole bladder and any other area that is needed. They do not normally due bladder scans so the only way these shows up is when you start urinating blood and by that time you have tumors. If they are able to remove the tumors and the bladder muscle is not damaged I will start chemo that same day. Have your self checked early detection is important.

[myxpykalix]

Take care of yourself and do whatever you need to, to keep healthy.....

[dlcw]

Gene, I here ya. Between sawdust, finish fumes and chemicals, woodworking can be a pretty harsh environment. I do wear all kinds of PPE in the shop. I never spray finish without my chemical respirator. And when working with MDF I wear a respirator. Add to all this the impact on your hearing - what did you say? :confused:

I served 23 years in the Coast Guard (retired in 2000) and was exposed to PCB's, asbestos (while in the shipyards it was really bad because we slept on the ship while work continued), trichlorethalene (cleaning electronics equipment), lead based solder fumes, ionized radiation (very high doses), plus many other chemicals during drug interdiction work and fisheries treaties enforcement operations. I was the trigger man for the 5" gun mount aboard ship (like being in a 50 gallon barrel and someone beating the **** out of it with a sledge hammer). Live fire drug interdiction training (9mm, 45, 357, 10 gauge shotgun, M16) was always done without hearing protection. You can't wear earplugs during a drug bust.

For the last 18 years of professional woodworking, I figured I was already fully poisoned from the military exposures so I figured adding exposures from woodworking would just be the highlight of my life. I'm doomed....

[genek]

Gene, I here ya. Between sawdust, finish fumes and chemicals, woodworking can be a pretty harsh environment. I do wear all kinds of PPE in the shop. I never spray finish without my chemical respirator. And when working with MDF I wear a respirator. Add to all this the impact on your hearing - what did you say? :confused:

I served 23 years in the Coast Guard (retired in 2000) and was exposed to PCB's, asbestos (while in the shipyards it was really bad because we slept on the ship while work continued), trichlorethalene (cleaning electronics equipment), lead based solder fumes, ionized radiation (very high doses), plus many other chemicals during drug interdiction work and fisheries treaties enforcement operations. I was the trigger man for the 5" gun mount aboard ship (like being in a 50 gallon barrel and someone beating the **** out of it with a sledge hammer). Live fire drug interdiction training (9mm, 45, 357, 10 gauge shotgun, M16) was always done without hearing protection. You can't wear earplugs during a drug bust.

For the last 18 years of professional woodworking, I figured I was already fully poisoned from the military exposures so I figured adding exposures from woodworking would just be the highlight of my life. I'm doomed....

Retired from the Navy 30 Years, Vietnam to Afghanistan.. I asked the Va Doctor if this was related to any of that answer maybe but could also be the thinner etc I use. Have a cat scan on your bladder you have to ask your doctor for one. Early detection is the key. I would not want anyone to go through What I am going through.
R

[dlcw]

Because of the ionized radiation exposure I had from LORAN duty, I don't do cat scans. I get MRI's every 3 months. They alternate between abdominal and chest. Already found kidney cancer and cysts on my pancreas. I get 10 tubes of blood drawn every 3 months (I feel like I'm donating blood, not getting labs). Specialist doctor visits every 6 months. All at the VA. But with all the proven exposures, documented by the Coast Guard and the VA, the only thing the VA is willing to link to be service connected is hearing loss and some skin rashes from trich exposure. Go figure....