...Keeps the doctor away

Here's a report from NBC the other night that tells about a study claiming that taking an aspirin a day has been found to be helpful in preventing certain cancers - esophageal, stomach and colon among them.  Years ago, we found out that taking an aspirin a day was good for preventing heart attack and stroke.

Now, I'm no doctor, regardless of what I told certain people when I was on dates with them at age 16.  But I know that an aspirin a day is fairly safe, although they say that one person in a thousand suffers stomach bleeding from regular aspirin use.  I'll take those odds.

Pop a Bayer

But, whenever I tell people that I "pop a Bayer" every morning, sometimes they look at me as if I had just said I shoot speed with my bagel.  (To be honest with you, I don't buy Bayer or any other name brand aspirin, since all aspirin ARE alike, except when you pay for them.  You can get five bottles full of many Dollar Tree aspirins for what you'd pay for one small bottle of the big brand.  But - go ahead if you wish!)  They're aghast!  "You take an aspirin every day?" they demand.

And think, what if I didn't take my daily 325-mg dose of acetylsalicylic acid  - aspirin - which is not only an analgesic to relieve aches and pains, but also an antipyretic to reduce fever, and also an anti-inflammatory?  I might have pain and fever and be all inflamed!  And one pill saves all that!