Posted on 11/22/2009 6:38:43 PM PST by Dr. Scarpetta
I am among the thousands of women every year who discover between the ages of 40 and 49 that we have breast cancer.
We find out after we undergo mammograms.
We find out after we examine ourselves for lumps that may signal the presence of a malignancy.
And we are the women who would go without both of these routine screenings under the task force's proposed guidelines.
And every day that passed without treatment would have brought me that much closer to death. As it is, I have survived only through aggressive chemotherapy and radiation, along with a double mastectomy.
Since the task force initially recommended testing and self-examination beginning at age 40, death rates have dropped by 30%, the Journal of the American Medical Association reports.
That's why the new guidelines make no sense to me. I am so thankful that I had my annual screenings and did my self-exams. They have given me more precious time to spend with my family. I think I deserve that. So does every other woman.
(Excerpt) Read more at nydailynews.com ...
Death panels at work.
Yes, but the panel is concerned about the risks of yearly mammograms and monthly self-exams - the anxiety of having to go through biopsies and other tests and then having to wait for the results. LOL
I’ve lived through that anxiety, and ended up having to have surgery (and I’m also in my 40’s). It was a terrible couple of weeks, but I’m grateful for the treatment I got.
That is how things work in the real world.
Not like it will make a difference, but someone get this to that asshat Alan Grayson.
Looks like it is Odumbo that wants YOU to die and die quickly by not having routine exams.
How are you doing?
Death is the ultimate “cost containment”.
Obama’s Death Panels and Healthcare Rationing.
I totally agree. And the rates won’t go down because of them getting rid of yearly mammograms. And, they average only about $150 (not so expensive in the scheme of things). Unfortunately, unless you research it, you think they are really expensive, and that you can’t afford them without insurance. ( This is how disconnected we have become from the cost of care.) One does wonder that if you pay for your own “unauthorized” mammogram and problems are detected, will insurance pay for the more expensive biopsy and MRI, or are you on your own?
I’m doing great!
That is the logical next step.
I should add, it’s always on my mind (I have very young children), but physically I’m great!
Glad to hear it!
Stupid women make the mistake of thinking liberal men and the government are really going to care for them.
Newsflash , not going to happen.
Women will be the most affected by cuts they will make to health care and this is just the beginning of those cuts.
Caught it super early, and only had to have surgery, nothing else. It was a blessing.
If my parents had listened to the libs, I would have been aborted.
The government does NOT care about any of us.
Hon, Obama would prefer you were dead - especially after these comments.
“As it is, I have survived only through aggressive chemotherapy and radiation, along with a double mastectomy.”
What is actually quite uncertain is stated as fact. For an alternative opinion read breast-cancer survivor Suzanne Somers latest book “Knockout”.
I had a cousin who followed that homeopathic regimen. She died last month, leaving three children behind.
“I had a cousin who followed that homeopathic regimen.”
I have no idea what “that homeopathic regimen” is. I’m sorry about your loss of your cousin.
My best friend succumbed in 5 months with standard cancer therapy. No matter what treatment you look at, it works for some and not for others.
This is nothing more than a setup for the coming rationing of Obama,Reid, Pelosi Health Care.
My 39 year old niece just found out she has breast cancer - she was going to have her first mammogram right after her 40th birthday but she found this on her own. Thank God!
She’ll probably end up losing both breasts but hopefully not her life.
No screening until 50, howver is 50 going to be the magic age where any lifesaving care will be denied under Dr Mengele - I meant Emmanuel’s concept of “full life”?
So sorry to hear this. My best regards.
The only conclusion that one can come to is that’s the plan as designed by Pelosi, Reid, Zero and the US Congress. The more Americans they can legally deny care to and do away with the better.
I just can’t imagine how any panel could’ve decided that this was a good recommendation? I had my first mamo at 28 after I’d found a small lump. It turned out to be nothing but I can’t imagine what I’d have done if I’d been told I couldn’t have the test and subsequent needle biopsy.I had another benign lump removed in my mid 30’s because of where it was located it bothered me and wasn’t able to be done by needle the second time. Again if I’d been told I couldn’t have the tests or removal I don’t know what I would’ve done. You’d go crazy wondering if you were dying!
Exactly...
“I just can’t imagine how any panel could’ve decided that this was a good recommendation?”
http://bcaction.org/index.php?page=does-mammography-screening-save-lives-let-s-talk-about-it
“One thing to keep in mind is that mammograms are a medical intervention, and, like all medical interventions, they have benefits and risks. The benefits have to do with finding some cancers early enough to effectively treat them so that fewer women die of breast cancer. The risks are these:
False negative results (mammogram reads as clear, but there is breast cancer present)
False positive results (mammogram shows a problem, but biopsy reveals that the problem is not cancer). False positive results result in unnecessary biopsies, increased anxiety and stress, and physical scarring
Cumulative exposure to radiation. (Radiation is one of the few known causes of breast cancer. All radiation exposures accumulate in the body. Our bodies do not eliminate these exposures.
Diagnosis and treatment of cancers that are not life threatening at the time of diagnosis and will never become life threatening if untreated.”
“These risks can and should be balanced against the benefit of finding breast cancer early enough to effectively treat the disease and reduce the number of women who die of breast cancer.”
“What is not well understood is that “early detection” doesn’t really mean what we’ve been lead to believe, which is that finding breast cancer early is the key to survival. It’s not that simple.”
I hope that helps.
the statement from 0bamacare would be:
“so what? if you aren’t going to pay any more taxes... then die already... so we can at least get 1/2 your estate”
Thanks. She’s being tested for that bad gene since this runs on her dad’s side of the family. Also her HER2 test is neither positive or negative. They don’t see signs that it got to her lymph nodes. I pray not. She’s a marathon runner and an excellent stay at home mom to 2 lovely little girls.
Waiting until one is 50 for a mammogram is insane.
If crapcare goes through, and family members are denied vital diagnostics and treatment, the outcome will not be pleasant.
That is one of the problems I have seen all along. Once all insurance is "standardized" by regulation and everyone is required to have insurance health care providers will not be allowed to provide services outside of the insurance "infrastructure."
That would dilute the availability of their services to the insured and make insured service more expensive and less available. They won't allow that especially when the gov has regulated and "out competed" all private insurance and becomes the single provider.
A doctor might be willing to go rogue and have a pay-as-you-go practice but he will have no place to refer his patients for tests or hospitalization. If they don't disallow doctors from pay-as-you-go practices (and I'm very sure they would disallow it) they still couldn't do it because they would be excluded from the system of insurance-only specialties they need as support.
Democrats aren't worried about these possibilities. I talked to a Democrat woman the other night who agrees with national health care, and she thinks only "good things" will come out of the new laws.
Complete nitwit.
The liberal woman I know also says we're paying for it already. I've tried talking to this woman many times, and we asked her and her husband to go see Glenn Beck when he comes here in Jan. She said she despises Beck, but she's never seen his show. She watches Olbermann who attacks Beck every night.
She is in for a horrifying surprise.
Also, the white women had been doing well by curative treatment>
Plus, she has a great job with excellent medical benefits.
Not for long. Hate to say that but if any of these bills go through into law I’d give her current insurance program five years at best before it is either amended into a shell of what it is now or simply scrapped.
The dirty little secret is that x-ray technology is less effective, more harmful, and more expensive than sonogram technology. X-rays won't detect a tumor until it is large and dense. A sonogram will detect any change in tissue density. Sonograms can be done right in a doctor's office.
Hospitals make much more profit from x-ray technology. Bottom line rules.
Good point.
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