Perhaps by now you’ve seen the larest “governmental health recommendations” for women concerning mammograms and breast health?
Most women don’t need a mammogram in their 40s and should get one every two years starting at 50, a government task force said Monday. It’s a major reversal that conflicts with the American Cancer Society’s long-standing position.
Also, the task force said breast self-exams do no good and women shouldn’t be taught to do them.
What kind of science irresponsible bullcrap is that?!
My wife found the lump in her breast early last spring by doing a self-exam. Her doctor didn’t expect it to amount to much, but referred her to the imaging clinic. They did the mammogram, and then an ultrasound. The doctor there suggested she “just watch it and come back in six months”. No. Bloody. Way. She asked for a biopsy. The results came back cancer. She had surgery a few weeks later and it turned out she had two tumors, but her surgery was a success. For now. And we know three other women, from age 20 to age 50-something, with the same basic story. The youngest ended up with a radical double mastectomy. She could be dead instead…
For the government to tell women that breast self-exams are “of no value” is one of the most shocking things I’ve heard in a long time. America has one of the best breast cancer survival rates in the world, if not the best. Part of that is due to the years of training women to do self-exams. Not every woman does. Everyone needs to make that decision for herself. But the government is way out of line telling women to quit doing it. The cynic in me tells me this is simply political BS connected to the insurance/healthcare takeover, although at this point I confess that I don’t know how the government benefits from this. But I’m sure American women come out the losers.
Radical Women of America, UNITE! Tell the government “Hands OFF, I’ll do it MYSELF!” The same government that has botched two wars, the H1N1 thing, and what used to be a world economic powerhouse is now trying to tell you how to take care of yourself? No. Just No.
(about my wife… she has physically healed well from surgery and radiation. The first anti-cancer drug she tried to take did NOT sit well with her, so part of the summer was awful for her. She and her doctors finally switched to a different drug which so far she is doing much better with, although the cost per month is five times what a 90 day supply of the other one was. No matter, the first one was a disaster and I know she wouldn’t continue taking it even if they paid her! Her first mammogram after surgery came out fine, and her next isn’t for a few more months. Thank you all for your prayers and good wishes, we both appreciate it. Oh yeah, she’s still doing self-exams.)
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