As many of you know- my dad died a year ago last summer. He died from heart disease caused from a life long habit of smoking - the start of his illness was cancer - tongue cancer. The cancer became so bad that his entire tongue was removed.... Directly after his surgery he developed congestive heart failure - had a heart attack or two - and had a stroke or some doctors thought - basically he became a medical mess.....
I was talking to my Uncle Kenny the other day (my dad's older brother) and he told me that he had prostate cancer - Uncle Kenny did not seem too concerned - it was more of a nuisance to him then anything else -but the comment he made was disturbing.... He said that everyone in our family has either died from cancer or had cancer and beat it - in our family it's not a matter of "if" you get cancer.... it's a matter of "when" you get cancer..... That comment is very true... Both his parents died from cancer, brothers, and sisters with cancer..... I have had first and second cousins who have died from cancer and I have had precancerous colon polyps and vaginal precancerous growths... I am thankful that we have been proactive in our medical care.. My family and I take our health seriously.... we have too...
As many of you are aware if you read any of my blogs you would know that I do not agree with Obama's health care reform - I have read several of the guidelines.... and it truly does not sound good to me... I think Australia has a good public health care program and they are the exception to the the rule.... again this is my opinion - I don't like the HMO system either - thankfully I have not had to use it - but I have watched my sister deal with her MS for over twenty years - being shuffled through the HMO maze - doctor after doctor - authorization after authorization - one doctor does not know what the other doctor is doing.... Twenty years for the HMO doctors to get a clue.. and still no results.... Thankfully, an ER doctor found my sister's brain tumor - he wasn't a HMO doctor.... today, she is tumor free and is healing well...
One of the clues to me that Obama's health care reform will probably pass is the new guidelines for mammograms - stating that women should start at 50 years old and not 40.... and pap smears only need to be done every few years.... I'm thinking the government is preparing the way for cheaper medical costs....
In November The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force came out with new guidelines for breast cancer detection in women over 50. The guidelines from this government task force states that women should start getting mammograms at age 50, not 40 as recommended before. And that women should NOT conduct self exams until age 50. What the task force neglected to release is that Utah already follows these guidelines and Utah has the highest percentage of undetected and confirmed diagnosed breast cancer in the country....
What is strange to me is how the Task force could give these recommendations.... seriously... I know many many women who have had breast cancer and most of them were under 50.....I will go out a tree limb and say this..... I bet you that the Task force members and our politicians would not wait till their 50........ What do you think?
I don't know how true this video is - but it seems pretty accurate to me.. and a little funny..
I think you are right. With all of the strides we've made toward preventing breast cancer, why are we going backwards all of a sudden? Seems odd. makes me think "conspiracy" more than I should, if you know what I mean.
ReplyDeleteMy fear is that you are correct, my new friend!
ReplyDeleteBlessings, andrea
I agree with you. I lost a sister-in-law to breast cancer last year. She was 47. This week another sister-in-law was diagnosed. She's 51. It's not something to fool around with.
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness, it's such a tricky issue. I live in Canada, where we have a publicly-funded health care system. I wouldn't trade that for anything because I believe all people deserve an equal standard of care regardless of their economic standing, but it definitely isn't a perfect system. And when the government cuts corners to save a little cash, no one wins. So I wish you ALL well on this one.
ReplyDeleteI agree. I don't want to be told that I can't see a doctor if I have cancer. I have been at the cancer center here in Houston for the past year. My father was there for his lung cancer. I would not have been able to get the care and treatment that I needed if it Obama's Health care reform were in place.
ReplyDeleteThe only way around it is to get pro-active with your health. Don't get me started on the health care or the taxes to pay for the health care. The two go together like hand in glove. If you think you're paying taxes now, you ain't seen nothing yet my friend.
ReplyDeleteIf I thought this new piece of legislation was going to truly help the citizens of America, I would be behind it. But as this process goes on and on, it appears that it's just more pork, favors and big government, on all sides.
ReplyDeleteSadly, I have a feeling one day our generation will be telling stories of how great this country once was.
I talked a lot to my OB/GYN about this and she said their practice was not at all surprised by the findings and the results of waiting til 50. She said she thought it was totally ok to go every other year until 50, but she would not be ok with waiting until 50. She was really irate about the pap smear recommendations, though, and said there are many doctors out there "fighting" the recommendation, including their practice.
ReplyDeleteThankfully, at this time it's only a recommendation and doctors still have the right to order a mammogram and pap smears. Let's hope that does not change!
Glad I stopped by today. I completely agree with you. I am afraid of what may happen if this plan passes. The first part of your post also spoke to me...it sounds just like my family...3 or my 4 aunts have had cancer as has my dad.
ReplyDeleteKelly,
ReplyDeleteI am still hopeful that our leaders will wise up and see this as simply a political promise that Obama is trying to get pushed through so he can say he did what he promised and what no one else has done.
It isn't the right way to do anything but at least he can't be challenged that he isn't doing anything.
Love and Hugs ~ Kat
The video is right on the wait times, not sure on the costs. However, another thing about the health care bill is that those who have insurance provided by their employers will now be taxed. This will amount to roughly $1500 extra a year in taxes. With the economy today and most not having had a raise in the past several years $1500/year extra taxes is going to hurt and hurt hard.
ReplyDeleteI really worry about the when too. If I didn't live in one of the counties ranked highest in the entire country for breast cancer...
ReplyDeleteI am thankful to have found a wonderful internist and his wife staying right here in my campground. When we bought this we were 50 and my husband had had a heart attack. Little did we know how much health insurance would cost ...... over $3000 a month! Just major medical, no RX. So, he found a job for $7 an hour and works just enough to receive benefits. We are too old to start a new career and too young to qualify for any programs through social security. This was going to be semi-retirement and I can honestly say that I have never worked this hard! We have manageed to lose all our investments and stocks througfh the good advice of our broker. But...... we have a good physician who will see us within 48 hours and knowing our financial situation will only charge us for any lab fees, etc not totally covered by insurance. I don't think our government can take on health care!
ReplyDelete