@hpolymenis.bsky.social
Professor, microbiologist, veterinarian, teacher, daughter, wife, mother, fighter for social justice, 6 1/2 year pancreatic cancer thriver, and patient advocate.
The day has arrived when I had to make the font on my phone bigger.
23.11.2025 02:23 — 👍 8 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0Can confirm. I am okay and more motivated than ever to speak up.
Nothing scares this administration more. Their power lies in our silence.
Doing better today somehow. Just overall! ❤️
12.11.2025 02:57 — 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0Every new ache starts a panic.
08.11.2025 03:07 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 4 📌 0Advil…
08.11.2025 03:07 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0Immunotherapy infusion 3 is complete. Awaiting side effects but feel pretty good at the moment. 👏
07.11.2025 02:40 — 👍 12 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Hey, astronomers. Can you imagine astronomy research without ADS?!?!? No? So, have you filled out the ADS survey yet?
Help archives help you!
(Help archives keep funding!)
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Go vote Peeps!
04.11.2025 17:10 — 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 2 📌 0Walmart, McDonalds and Amazon are the largest employers of people who require SNAP assistance.
The CEOs earned between 18-40 million last year, 1000x their median employee income.
They took billions in profits, while their workers relied on SNAP to survive.
Wanna fix fraud and abuse?
Fix that.
RFK Jr unloaded a paper into my hellsite replies to support his teen sperm count claims. I do love a vigorous evidence-driven academic debate, so LFG! Does this paper show teens only have 50% of the sperm counts of dudes his age?
SPOILER: No.🧵
rasmussenretorts.substack.com/p/secretary-...
The best dog!
12.10.2025 02:21 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Many thanks @mehdirhasan.bsky.social for hosting us on @zeteo.com re: our new book #ScienceUnderSiege @michaelemann.bsky.social @peterhotezmdphd.bsky.social @publicaffairs1796.bsky.social
zeteo.com/p/science-un...
Christ.
11.10.2025 16:11 — 👍 3 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0I don’t know who needs to hear this but the CDC is being eviscerated right now. America is not going to have any kind of outbreak response capacity after tonight. Americans’ health data is no longer secure. Say goodbye to federal public health in any capacity. It’s a disaster. We won’t recover.
11.10.2025 03:05 — 👍 13923 🔁 6172 💬 518 📌 394
Pope Leo XIV weighed in on U.S. politics, saying that Catholic politicians must be judged on the full range of their policy positions and suggesting that the country's immigration policy is "inhuman."
11.10.2025 12:11 — 👍 9186 🔁 2503 💬 233 📌 187For those following along at home, immunotherapy and a lot of radiation are kicking my ass this past week. NOT fun. I know it’s going to get easier if I can just wait out the side effects. Send pet pictures please!
11.10.2025 15:45 — 👍 7 🔁 0 💬 6 📌 0
I wrote a thing about how this split the MMR up into monovalents is bullshit that Andrew Wakefield cooked up. It will be used to strip access to the MMR.
The MAHA movement continues to destroy public health.
open.substack.com/pub/rasmusse...
#Priorauthorization #UtilizationManagement for costly 2nd-line 💊 is understandable but nearly one-half of plans have quantity limits for generic ondansetron, a cheap ($16 for 60 8mg tabs) & effective 1st-line drug
Make this make sense.
#fixPriorAuth
@michaelannica.bsky.social
@jamanetworkopen.com
Social worker Lauren Shaffer provides tips and insights into managing scanxiety, the worry that accompanies follow-up scans and tests for cancer patients. https://bit.ly/3FTbV0J
07.10.2025 13:52 — 👍 0 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0Vaccine disinformation/misinformation is as damaging as banning vaccines because it accomplishes the same thing i.e. fewer people get vaccinated as a result.
RFK. Jr's agenda doesn't need to explicitly take vaccines off shelves to meet its goals pseudoscience and misinformation are doing the job.
PubMed Update (no pun intended)
Publications with Pub Date
8/1//24 62209
9/1/24 64765
10/1/24 68211
8/1/25 61610
9/1/25 63719
10/1/25 35936 (as of 10/2/25)
10/1/25 38673 (as of 10/6/25, 8:00 AM)
It appears that ~40% of the expected number of publications are missing for 10/1/25
1/2
Fun fact: Peyton Rous discovered the first cancer-causing virus in 1911– but didn’t receive the Nobel Prize until 1966, when he was 87 years old. It can be to be tough to be ahead of your time.
05.10.2025 15:16 — 👍 4 🔁 1 💬 2 📌 0Great article by a polio survivor. Salk declined to patent the polio vaccine, saying “it belongs to the people.”
03.10.2025 02:15 — 👍 77 🔁 30 💬 2 📌 0
First evening since my first immunotherapy tx (7 days in) and I’m learning to manage the fever. Tylenol and Advil in my car, in my office and in my nightstand. 😂
03.10.2025 00:10 — 👍 7 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Shutdown fight—to save the average American family $13k in Obamacare health insurance subsidies. GOP want to dissolve this and then allow rates to rise to any amount.
02.10.2025 19:50 — 👍 437 🔁 229 💬 16 📌 9Very concerned about this...
"A shutdown will allow a 'backdoor impoundment'. OMB could gut the government’s capacity to administer programs it opposes. The administration could kill programs unilaterally without the inconvenience of Congress-- all perfectly legal."
www.govexec.com/management/2...
Radiation to eye day 10 today! Last treatment- then we have sbrt to my pelvis and continuing immunotherapy. So far worst side effect is fever and it’s not so bad. Btw our fundraiser for #letswinpc! Had raised $4600!!! You can still donate to help us reach 5k! letswinpc.kindful.com
30.09.2025 11:57 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0thank you to all the NIH staff who stand by their duty and put in heroic efforts to get it done. I'll never forget it and will be eternally grateful.
29.09.2025 18:31 — 👍 32 🔁 7 💬 0 📌 0
Today is the 97th anniversary of penicillin's discovery!
Many know the story of Fleming's serendipitous find. But fewer know that the antibiotic-producing mold drifted in from a nearby lab where it was being studied during an unusually cool period that allowed it to grow.
apnews.com/today-in-his...
