FDL!

Jane! Christy! Marcy!

Christy!

Jane!!!

Done….signed…

…with much love.

Geez, I knew the hospitals had to be stopped from doing drive thru deliveries, I had no idea they did drive thru mastectomies too. Cheap bastards.

Signed,

Some interesting articles

http://www.informationclearing…..e17508.htm

http://www.weeklystandard.com/…..1fmfsu.asp

http://www.davidcorn.com/

Hagel is coming
amconmag

The Twilight Zone
http://www.amconmag.com/2007/2007_04_09/article
.html

Carter receives award from a Jewish group in L.A.
http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iow…..award.html

[Modnote: Comments with a large number of links may take a long time to get posted.]

Just signed. Even went for a mammogram after Molly Ivins urged us all to. Not nearly as big a deal as I thought it might be.

TheOtherWA @ 6

Geez, I knew the hospitals had to be stopped from doing drive thru deliveries, I had no idea they did drive thru mastectomies too. Cheap bastards.

I think it is the insurance companies that are cheap bastards.

Signed.

Why would 8 be moderated?

[Modnote: please refresh to see your 10:03 comment ]

TheOtherWA @ 6

Geez, I knew the hospitals had to be stopped from doing drive thru deliveries, I had no idea they did drive thru mastectomies too. Cheap bastards.

Please don’t blame the hospitals, these decisions are being made by the insurance companies. They decide just how much treatment they’re willing to pay for, and neither the patient nor their doctor have any say in the matter. My Mom is an RN, and she has stories about this sort of thing that would curl your hair…

Done.

signed sealed delivered
this is an issue which transcends all demographics

Please read Louise Hay’s “You Can Heal Your Life”, she cured herself of cancer and is one of the greatest forces in “new age wisdom”.
I recommend this book and all her books as well as her CD – “101 Power Thoughts” – to every girl and woman, to understand and utilize their latent powers. Your health and the fate of the world depends on it.

Love & Light

“………these decisions are being made by the insurance companies. They decide just how much treatment they’re willing to pay for………”

Death by spreadsheet, I read somewhere or other. How apropro.

Brisingamen @ 11

TheOtherWA @ 6
Geez, I knew the hospitals had to be stopped from doing drive thru deliveries, I had no idea they did drive thru mastectomies too. Cheap bastards.
———-

Please don’t blame the hospitals, these decisions are being made by the insurance companies. They decide just how much treatment they’re willing to pay for, and neither the patient nor their doctor have any say in the matter. My Mom is an RN, and she has stories about this sort of thing that would curl your hair…

You and TexasBetsy are both right. The hospitals shoved people out the door because the insurance companies refused to pay for any more days.

Sad that it would take federal legislation to give this common sense decision back to a doctor and her patient. Hope it works, and becomes the “start of something big”.

(((All the others and …)))
(((Elizabeth)))
(((Jane)))

Signed sealed and delivered, in honor of my mom who fought long and hard. Namaste.

eGreg, you got gmail.

Oh, I forgot. Here’s the song I wrote for my mammogramologist and surgeon (benign, thanks) to the tune of “Thanks for the Memories”

Thanks for the mammogram
The left one and the right,
You squished them really tight.
But now I know that I’m OK
And I can sleep at night.
So, thanks for the mammogram.

Mommybrain at 21 — LOL — good one. I always laugh with the lovely lady who does my mammograms that after labor pain, getting a mammogram is easy. *g*

Thanks for this – I find it heartbreaking and despicable that insurance companies can pull this crap – remember the way women were booted out of hospiatlas after giving birth? – and still have a say in medical decisions.

Gotta get them out of the medical loop. It’s the only way…

signed.

Several of my friends had to go for bargain basement cancer treatment. They did not have health insurance.

TO PREVENTION! RESEARCH! TREATMENT! AND TO NATIONAL HEALTH COVERAGE

camera.org link

Thanks everyone for signing this. It is much appreciated. Please try and take some time to call your Senators as well — they have been trying to get this passed for quite a while, and getting this through Congress and past the insurance lobby is not easy.

We have a very good shot this time around — here’s to allowing doctors to decide the care their patients need. Without having to fight someone else’s bottom line to do it.

Done. And wouldn’t it be nice if boobs weren’t in charge of boobs?

We just set up a small group health insurance plan at work (part of a new recruitment package), and boy was the insurance company trying to squirm out of it once they found out that one of the new employees is a cancer survivor.

Decisions should be made between the patient, the physician AND THE NURSE. Nurses provide 95% of all healthcare services. To continue to keep them invisible hurts patients and contributes to complications and deaths.

Christy Hardin Smith @ 21

Mommybrain at 21 — LOL — good one. I always laugh with the lovely lady who does my mammograms that after labor pain, getting a mammogram is easy. *g*

No worse than what an 8 month old will do to you when they’re hungry but you can’t nurse standing up on a bus. Ah, I remember those days!

Proud to sign, Christy.

Last week’s Newsweek had excellent articles on cancer survival, especially the article by Jonathan Alter. Cancer touches our household, so Alter’s mention of the importance of consortiums really resonated with us.

FDL is a special kind of consortium, and I hope everyone educates yourselves and advocates for treatment and cures for all the forms of cancer.

And support stem cell research unhindered by ideology. God gave us brains and She meant for us to use them!

Done.

Since we’re doing good works today..
http://stepitup2007.org/

i saw a great bumpber sticker the other day that fits perfectly:

a Pink Ribbon, overwritten with ‘SAVE THE TA-TAS”

Mommybrain @ 35

i saw a great bumpber sticker the other day that fits perfectly:

a Pink Ribbon, overwritten with ‘SAVE THE TA-TAS”

I want one! Or two!

I signed the petition.

My mother volunteered to be in the original tamoxifen study because her best friend was dying of breast cancer. There was a risk of her developing uterine cancer from being in the study, but she felt it was worth it to gain new knowledge.

A toast in memory of our dear friend Eileen Roney.

Thanks for this, Christy! I’ve signed and sent the link to most the people I know so they can sign as well.

Signed. When are the hearings?

egregious at 36 — My mom is currently participating in a further trial of tamoxifen and other meds after her breast cancer surgery a few years ago. We’ve lost two cousins and my granny to breast cancer (among other things with my granny who was in her 90s when she passed away), and I’ve already faced a precancerous lump of my own. This is a near and dear one in our household…and one that seems to be touching so many more women that I know these days.

If you have not signed this petition may I suggest
http://www.savetheinternet.com/

Another perspective
http://www.jinsa.org/articles/…..,1930,3748

UN urged to set up Hariri tribunal
http://english.aljazeera.net/N…..5CB7BF.htm

Christy Hardin Smith @ 40

egregious at 36 — My mom is currently participating in a further trial of tamoxifen and other meds after her breast cancer surgery a few years ago. We’ve lost two cousins and my granny to breast cancer (among other things with my granny who was in her 90s when she passed away), and I’ve already faced a precancerous lump of my own. This is a near and dear one in our household…and one that seems to be touching so many more women that I know these days.

I’m getting a lot of email about this petition from women in their 60’s and 70’s who have previously sent only social emails. Talk about your political empowerment.

My mom was on tamoxifen, too, and also had an implant – a little radiation tube, in her breast. Worked, almost. 6 3/4 years cancer free (after 20 years of fighting off stomach cancer) and then the boom fell. I miss her so much.

Kudos Christy and egregious and all the great firepups who give new meaning to the tried and true adage: Lead by Doing!

Only slightly OT:

There’s a web site called TheHungerSite.com, where you can go, click the button and the site sponsors donate a cup of food. There are five companion sites. One of the companion sites is TheBreastCancerSite, where the clicks help to fund mammograms. The other companion sites are TheChildHealthSite, TheLiteracySite, TheRainforestPreservationSite, and TheAnimalRescueSite. It only takes a couple of minutes to click through all the sites. One click per day and you can help do some good things.

For allwho said blame the insurance companies, not the hospitals,they are exactly correct. I spent 5 years as general counsel to a hospital, andthe hospital does not make decisions to discharge based on coverage – they and the doctors advocate for the patient for a longer stay in MANY cases, and the insurance carriers couldn’t care less that the person is being prematurely discharged. The patient is in almost every case given the option to become a private pay patient, and in almost every case, understandably, they refuse. It is despicable, and in many cases, tragically inhumane.

There was an article in the NY Times this week that talked about the importance of MRIs in breast cancer (and quoted my buddy/cancer survivor Adrienne who is campaigning hard for a more universal acceptance and use of the MRI to detect breast cancer)

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04…..ref=health

Brisingamen @ 13

TheOtherWA @ 6

Geez, I knew the hospitals had to be stopped from doing drive thru deliveries, I had no idea they did drive thru mastectomies too. Cheap bastards.

Please don’t blame the hospitals, these decisions are being made by the insurance companies. They decide just how much treatment they’re willing to pay for, and neither the patient nor their doctor have any say in the matter. My Mom is an RN, and she has stories about this sort of thing that would curl your hair…

…like when I had my fourth child (at 4 p.m.), and the doctor said, “You can spend the night, if you’d like.” “Doctor, I’d like to spend the WEEK!”
With rare exception, one cannot get the same level of rest and care at home.
I went immediately to the link and signed the petition. Thanks for the heads up.
And thanks from an earlier post on calming my they-won’t-stop-blaming-the-Democrats-pre-emptively whining.

Oh those pro-lifers…

http://www.iraqbodycount.org/

Burying the first Lancet report
http://zmagsite.zmag.org/Feb2006/davies0206.htm

Second Lancet report…buried
guardian

And, oh yeah, My sister is a three and half year survivor. Signing the petition was what cha call a basic no-brainer. Would be even if there weren’t a family history.

punaise jr. was born in France, where they provided (at that time – 18 years ago) a full week maternity stay in the clinic. that’s been shortened since, but still….

OT for California firepups – our Govenator Ahnold’s speech is about to be covered live on CSpan any minute.

punaise @ 51

punaise jr. was born in France, where they provided (at that time – 18 years ago) a full week maternity stay in the clinic. that’s been shortened since, but still….

My Afghani hairdresser says women there get FORTY DAYS of maternity time. Good opportunity to get to know the baby, establish feeding, catch up on sleep, then return to your other dozen children.

I was trying to understand the rationale behind the insurance companies’ decision.

The first thing I thought of was that there has been a push for several years now to get people in and out of hospitals as quickly as possible. There is certainly a financial reason for this, but there is also a medical one as well: nosocomial or hospital acquired infections that involve nastier bugs than their community acquired ones. Hospitals are not healthy places. But precisely because this idea has been around for a while, I don’t see it as the principal driver behind this decision.

The second and more likely culprit is breast enhancement operations. These are usually fairly straightforward outpatient procedures with maybe a 4 hour turnaround even though they involve general anesthesia. The patient population is generally young and healthy. I think this is the model that insurance companies are using. Lumpectomies may also fit into this scenario although I would suspect that these would require lymph node biopsies.

Now I was always told that breast reduction operations were actually more common than breast enhancement. My impression was that these were either treated as inpatient or successive outpatient surgeries because they were more invasive and destructive of tissue structures. These seem closer to mastectomies and require longer recovery times.

In any case, I agree that it should be left up to the woman and her surgeon, and 48 hours seems a reasonable timeframe within which to work.

as a two time breast cancer survivor, i encourage one and all to consider actually WRITING A LETTER to your Senator & Representative. they pay a lot more attention to a letter from a constituent who took the time to send something via snail mail than they do some easy to click thru internet petition. Aeons ago i used to be a lowly intern in a US senator’s office. The office essentially discarded/discounted any and all mass produced postcards etc. Their reasoning was that if the subject MATTERED the constituent in question would actually make some EFFORT to address this with their elected officials.

Secondly, i would encourage folks to extend the protection a tad further to include hospitalization IF NEEDED after reconstruction. The first time i had recon i spent the night in the hospital. The second time (10 years later), it was an outpatient procedure. Within minutes of my legs finally ceasing to twitch from the anesthesia, i was dressed, put into a wheelchair and left on the curb for my husband to pick up.

just a thought.

Oh, and those books that make survival of cancer a matter of personal willpower and raw veggie juicing are a crock.

Signed. OT:

I see Sen. Grassley R-IA is backing Subpoena’s in the USA firings. Here is what he had to say this morning:

Grassley told Iowa reporters in a conference call that he agrees with the move to subpoena by House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich. “I think Congress ought to be able to get information” from the executive branch except in cases of national security or lawyer-client confidentiality, Grassley said.

“Outside of that, there’s no reason to have anything kept from Congress, because the public’s business ought to be public,” he said. He predicted that if the department and the White House fight the subpoenas, “it’s going to be two years in court.”

Looks like Bush is becoming more and more isolated.

Signed it from previous post by another FDL’er and also passed it on to my lady friends.

I simply cannot imagine how women who have no partner or family member at home to care for them after such a procedure manage something like this alone. Of course, we all know they’re out there and I certainly hope this legislation passes on their behalf.

Even just a lumpectomy is difficult enough to get through in the first 48 hours. I was pretty much incapacitated the following day and thank God my 77-year old mom was there for me!

nadine @ 53

as a two time breast cancer survivor, i encourage one and all to consider actually WRITING A LETTER to your Senator & Representative. they pay a lot more attention to a letter from a constituent who took the time to send something via snail mail than they do some easy to click thru internet petition. Aeons ago i used to be a lowly intern in a US senator’s office. The office essentially discarded/discounted any and all mass produced postcards etc. Their reasoning was that if the subject MATTERED the constituent in question would actually make some EFFORT to address this with their elected officials.

Secondly, i would encourage folks to extend the protection a tad further to include hospitalization IF NEEDED after reconstruction. The first time i had recon i spent the night in the hospital. The second time (10 years later), it was an outpatient procedure. Within minutes of my legs finally ceasing to twitch from the anesthesia, i was dressed, put into a wheelchair and left on the curb for my husband to pick up.

just a thought.

Oh, and those books that make survival of cancer a matter of personal willpower and raw veggie juicing are a crock.

Using an actual pen on paper makes it even more likely that they will take you seriously.

TexasBetsy @ 9

Just signed. Even went for a mammogram after Molly Ivins urged us all to. Not nearly as big a deal as I thought it might be.

Good job! Keep it up, hon!

Snail mail to Congress can take several weeks to go thru the post-anthrax security system.

Consider a hand-written letter which you then fax.

Done. My wife is a survivor (5 yrs and counting…)

Just who are they after? Gonzales/ McNulty.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.c…..-gonzales/

The senate is expected to vote tonight on stem cell research:

http://thinkprogress.org/

egregious @ 58

Snail mail to Congress can take several weeks to go thru the post-anthrax security system.

Consider a hand-written letter which you then fax.

I send to their office in the district.

Whose in charge now?

43 solicitor General Paul Clement
tpm link

A little background on Paul Clemont.
law.com link

IrishJim @ 56

Signed. OT:

I see Sen. Grassley R-IA is backing Subpoena’s in the USA firings. Here is what he had to say this morning:

Grassley told Iowa reporters in a conference call that he agrees with the move to subpoena by House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich. “I think Congress ought to be able to get information” from the executive branch except in cases of national security or lawyer-client confidentiality, Grassley said.

“Outside of that, there’s no reason to have anything kept from Congress, because the public’s business ought to be public,” he said. He predicted that if the department and the White House fight the subpoenas, “it’s going to be two years in court.”

Looks like Bush is becoming more and more isolated.

yes
“the public’s business ought to be public”

Mommybrain @ 22

Oh, I forgot. Here’s the song I wrote for my mammogramologist and surgeon (benign, thanks) to the tune of “Thanks for the Memories”

Thanks for the mammogram
The left one and the right,
You squished them really tight.
But now I know that I’m OK
And I can sleep at night.
So, thanks for the mammogram.

CUTE!!!

My best friend’s mom in Canada is a breast cancer survivor. OHIP (Ontario Health Insurance Plan) paid in full for top flight care & is still paying continuous care, right down to the transport to therapy when she needs it.

Yes, I’m talking about you, MMG, I know you read FDL. Much love :)

OT – Think Progress is reporting that the Senate may be one vote shy of overturning junya’s promised veto on stem cells… Sununu of NH is the vote they are trying to get…

oh! I hope shrubya vetos it and it gets overturned….

Any link to projected voting–maybe there’s somebody else to call pronto as backup to Sununu?

Never hurts to have a Plan B.

OldCoastie @ 69

OT – Think Progress is reporting that the Senate may be one vote shy of overturning junya’s promised veto on stem cells… Sununu of NH is the vote they are trying to get…

oh! I hope shrubya vetos it and it gets overturned….

Oh Happy Day~!
I hope Sununu does the right thing.
Imagine the progress in breast cancer research, just to name one area — and there is so much promise, so much hope !

PS – check the Think Progress link… all the phone numbers are listed.

I am a two-time breast cancer survivor, and I have seen this petition for at least four years now. I had a mastectomy last week and the surgeon left it up to me if I wanted to leave the on the day after or stay one more day. The truth is, I would have been content to leave on the same days as my surgery, but I realize I was lucky and suffered no post-surgery complications.

I have been a member of a large online “support group” at breastcancer.org for 2 years and have yet to actually hear of a real breast cancer survivor getting kicked out of the hospital before they are ready,

I don’t think this bill is for real.

Prairie Sunshine @ 70

Any link to projected voting–maybe there’s somebody else to call pronto as backup to Sununu?

Never hurts to have a Plan B.

Who could be fool enough not to have a Plan B?

OldCoastie @ 69

OT – Think Progress is reporting that the Senate may be one vote shy of overturning junya’s promised veto on stem cells… Sununu of NH is the vote they are trying to get…

oh! I hope shrubya vetos it and it gets overturned….

Not OT, OC!

One more thing on this topic…

Part of my breast cancer “saga” was a MRSA staph infection, acquired in the hospital, that caused me to spend 11 days on an IV.

Hospitals aren’t exactly the best place to be when all you are feeling is discomfort from surgery.

OT – for pet-owners – pet food recall expanded
(added another cat food, found the contaminated wheat gluten in Menu’s Canadian plant, where they and the FDA swore it wasn’t)
http://www.clickondetroit.com/…..etail.html

Hey Christy –

Yesterday I attended a Conference on World Affairs session on this very subject:

2405A PLENARY Breast Cancer

1:00-1:50 on Tuesday April 10, 2007
UMC Center Ballroom
Panelists:

* Susan Love

* Moderator: Bud Peterson

Audio CDs or MP3s are $5 per session, and I’m definitely going to buy at least two of this session.

Susan Love is one of the leading researchers on Breast Cancer, and she offered lots of great information. (Susan Love website)

Some Highlights –

* They’ve identified 5 types of BC — 2 hormone sensitive, and 3 that are not. Of these, one is very aggressive, one almost normal, and 3 that are manageable.

* mammograms are not that useful for pre-menopausal women.

* Molly Ivins had inflammatory BC, which is the very aggressive type.

* There is a 15 year persistent benefit from drug therapy after the treatment is stopped. (tamoxifen, etc) Drug treatment for more than 5 years can be counter productive.

* Cancer cells (BC and others) will become benign when placed in a good cell environment, and revert to bad cancer cells when returned to a cancer cell environment.

* All BC starts in the milk ducts.

* Promising new PREVENTATIVE THERAPY research (several years away): flushing the milk ducts with a small amount of concentrated chemo kills the precancerous cells before they develop. This may become the routine therapy that eliminates most BC.

Like I said, it was a GREAT presentation, and I will definitely be getting the CDs. Anyone can order copies of any session; just contact the CWA, and give them the Session Number — in this case, 2405A (Susan Love, Breast Cancer).

cosmo @ 76

One more thing on this topic…

Part of my breast cancer “saga” was a MRSA staph infection, acquired in the hospital, that caused me to spend 11 days on an IV.

Hospitals aren’t exactly the best place to be when all you are feeling is discomfort from surgery.

that’s a point. And infections like these cost patients so much, in so many ways; and infections like these cost hospitals huge amounts of money — which costs insurance companies, which costs the insured.

cosmo @ 73

I am a two-time breast cancer survivor, and I have seen this petition for at least four years now. I had a mastectomy last week and the surgeon left it up to me if I wanted to leave the on the day after or stay one more day. The truth is, I would have been content to leave on the same days as my surgery, but I realize I was lucky and suffered no post-surgery complications.

I have been a member of a large online “support group” at breastcancer.org for 2 years and have yet to actually hear of a real breast cancer survivor getting kicked out of the hospital before they are ready,

I don’t think this bill is for real.

You need to follow the link at the end of Christy’s post – it shows that it is for real.
Here’s another version of that same link -
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c110:S.459:

The best of luck to you, Cosmo.

As a geneticist, I feel obligated to jump up and down and wave my arms every time this topic comes up, so here’s my spiel again: Your doctor should know about ANY history of cancer in your family. If you have a first degree relative (a parent, a sibling, or a child) with ANY kind of cancer before 50 years of age, you should ask your doctor if you should be screened for inherited cancer syndromes. If he/she doesn’t know, you should ask for a referral to someone who specializes in cancer genetics. The screening guidlines (mammograms, colonoscopies, etc.) are very different for people who have cancer susceptibility syndromes, and most people don’t even find out that they have one of these syndromes until they’re diagnosed with cancer.

OT, but health related.

Arsenic in chicken feed may pose health risks to humans, C&EN reports

Pets may not be the only organisms endangered by some food additives. An arsenic-based additive used in chicken feed may pose health risks to humans who eat meat from chickens that are raised on the feed, according to an article in the April 9 issue of Chemical & Engineering News, the weekly news magazine of the American Chemical Society.

Roxarsone, the most common arsenic-based additive used in chicken feed, is used to promote growth, kill parasites and improve pigmentation of chicken meat. In its original form, roxarsone is relatively benign. But under certain anaerobic conditions, within live chickens and on farm land, the compound is converted into more toxic forms of inorganic arsenic. Arsenic has been linked to bladder, lung, skin, kidney and colon cancer, while low-level exposures can lead to partial paralysis and diabetes, the article notes.

Use of roxarsone has become a topic of increasing controversy. A growing number of food suppliers have stopped using the compound, including the nation’s largest poultry producer, Tyson Foods, according to the article. Still, about 70 percent of the 9 billion broiler chickens produced annually in the U.S. are fed a diet containing roxarsone, the article points out.

Complicating the issue is the fact that no one knows the exact amount of arsenic found in chicken meat or ingested by consumers who frequently eat chicken. “Neither the Food and Drug Administration nor the Department of Agriculture has actually measured the level of arsenic in the poultry meat that most people consume,” according to the article.

The National Chicken Council, a trade association that represents the U.S. chicken industry, claims there is “no reason to believe there are any human health hazards” associated with the use of roxarsone.

cosmo at 73 — The reason that you keep seeing information about the bill is that Congress has yet to pass it. If you click through here (as linked in the above post as well), you will see the text of S. 459 as introduced this past January. It has been stalled since then, which is why I’m asking you to push through with calls.

Jeebus, I put the links in the post and asked folks to click thru them for a reason.

Dee @ 80

You need to follow the link at the end of Christy’s post – it shows that it is for real.
Here’s another version of that same link -
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c110:S.459:

The best of luck to you, Cosmo.

Dee – What I don’t understand is why this bill has been around for so damn long? And there is always a “Lifetime Television” drive associated with it.

I signed the petition four years ago – yet it keeps resurfacing in my email every year with the same spiel.

If I had actually ever heard of a real person being kicked out of the hospital prematurely, I might be convinced that this was a truly needed thing.

I understand that some people would rather stay in the hospital for a longer period of time – I’m just not one of them and have never been discharged before I felt ready. And I have been in the hospital many times – for 7 surgeries – over the last few years.

jmo

Christy Hardin Smith @ 83

cosmo at 73 — The reason that you keep seeing information about the bill is that Congress has yet to pass it. If you click through here (as linked in the above post as well), you will see the text of S. 459 as introduced this past January. It has been stalled since then, which is why I’m asking you to push through with calls.

Jeebus, I put the links in the post and asked folks to click thru them for a reason.

Sorry, Christy…I’m not trying to be a pain in the ass – I just suspect this is over-hyped.

No offense intended!

Ever read this one from the Guardian.

Oil pipeline from Iraq to Israel.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq…..50,00.html

Wow! Did you see what Richardson said in answer to Iraq war question? No residual force whatsoever via the MyDD folks we love:

http://www.mydd.com/story/2007/4/11/14755/6603

Marie Roget @ 68

My best friend’s mom in Canada is a breast cancer survivor. OHIP (Ontario Health Insurance Plan) paid in full for top flight care & is still paying continuous care, right down to the transport to therapy when she needs it.

Yes, I’m talking about you, MMG, I know you read FDL. Much love :)

I’m on my state’s health insurance plan since it’s the only coverage I can now get b/c of my diagnosis.

I’m a college graduate with 15 years of experience in my field as a legal assistant; I work full-time as a temp and have been looking for permanent employment for over a year now, so I have no group coverage. The premium is $600 per month with a $1500 deductible. I am having 7 weeks of radiation treatment which will amount to over $20,000.

If it weren’t for my parents’ help, I’d probably be destitute. It’s ironic when I consider that I’m sure they thought their kids would end up having a better life than they had.

I’m not complaining as I’m one of the lucky ones. But what about those who are in the same situation and have no one to fall back on? And you can only get Medicaid if you lose everything you own. That “ownership society” thang’s workin’ real well, there.

OT

Menu Foods CFO sold shares right before pet food recall
Reuters
Published: Tuesday, April 10, 2007

TORONTO — The chief financial officer of Menu Foods Income Fund (TSX:MEW.UN) sold nearly half his units in the pet food maker less than three weeks before it announced a massive product recall, according to insider trading reports.

The reports show that Mark Wiens sold 14,000 units for $102,900 (US$89,700) on February 26 and February 27. As of Monday’s close of $4.46, the units would be worth $62,440.

After the sale, Wiens owned 17,193 units and had options to buy 101,812, the trading reports show.

On March 16, the Mississauga, Ontario, pet food maker recalled 60 million containers of “cuts and gravy” style pet food amid reports of pet deaths due to contamination.

Did you all catch this on last night’s NewsHour? It’s the NEXT W scandal.

GWEN IFILL: Well, is it outside the law or is it merely unethical?

ANYA KAMENETZ: Well, I guess that’s going to be up to the courts to decide. There were hints today from Andrew Cuomo’s office that there’s going to be some criminal investigation, some fraud investigations, as well. But whether it’s going to be in terms of a fraud investigation or just new regulations, I think that, you know, some change is in the offing for sure.

GWEN IFILL: You’re referencing Andrew Cuomo, the New York attorney general. Is this widespread? Is this extending beyond, say, just New York?

ANYA KAMENETZ: Oh, absolutely. And it’s interesting, actually. It’s not just a state investigation. Cuomo has been in contact with a hundred colleges all over the country that he believes are promulgating these relationships with students that have agreed to sign a code of conduct.

And so what’s interesting to me is, why isn’t this a national investigation? And I believe that’s because the corruption goes higher. It goes into the Department of Education. There are many former lenders who are in the Department of Education, and that’s why we’re not seeing the oversight on the federal level that we’d like to.

OT-
If Feingold is interested in finding anything out about what’s been going on at the FBI re: National Security letters, Why doesn’t he have anybody from the FBI on the witness list?

cosmo @ 76

One more thing on this topic…

Part of my breast cancer “saga” was a MRSA staph infection, acquired in the hospital, that caused me to spend 11 days on an IV.

Hospitals aren’t exactly the best place to be when all you are feeling is discomfort from surgery.

I understand what you mean but I think the point is that some people don’t have anyone to help them with recovery at home. So they may need to stay in the hospital to be monitored and cared for. There’s no one at home to help them dress, make sure they are fed, help them with whatever pain meds or other meds they need, help them if they fall or injure themselves, call the doctor if something goes wrong, etc.

I think when you have a mastectomy there’s more than discomfort involved. I understand it is extremely invasive and painful. One of my mom’s oldest friends had to have a double mastectomy.

Oil from Iraq to Israel.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/p…..p;sw=Haifa Mosul

Larissa@rawstory…Next stop Iran
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2….._0125.html

conniptionfit @ 92

OT-
If Feingold is interested in finding anything out about what’s been going on at the FBI re: National Security letters, Why doesn’t he have anybody from the FBI on the witness list?

Sorry – coming in late. Are the Feingold hearings today to be televised?

jayt @
94

conniptionfit @ 92

OT-
If Feingold is interested in finding anything out about what’s been going on at the FBI re: National Security letters, Why doesn’t he have anybody from the FBI on the witness list?

Sorry – coming in late. Are the Feingold hearings today to be televised?

Here, now.

thanks newton

conniptionfit at 92 — Because this is the first of what will likely be several hearings on the matter, Sen. Leahy already had a preliminary hearing of the whole Judiciary committee with FBI witnesses, and the Administration is being less than cooperative with oversight at the moment, not necessarily in that order.

Feingold up: “The inspector General report proves that ‘trust us’ does not work. Congress has the resp to put limits on the FBI and did not do that.”

Helen @ 98

Feingold up: “The inspector General report proves that ‘trust us’ does not work. Congress has the resp to put limits on the FBI and did not do that.”

BTW, no one from the minority present.

Petrocelli @
16

Please read Louise Hay’s “You Can Heal Your Life”, she cured herself of cancer and is one of the greatest forces in “new age wisdom”.
I recommend this book and all her books as well as her CD – “101 Power Thoughts” – to every girl and woman, to understand and utilize their latent powers. Your health and the fate of the world depends on it.

Love & Light

HEY, I LOVED THAT SHOW! (PETROCELLI)

conniptionfit @ 89

OT-
If Feingold is interested in finding anything out about what’s been going on at the FBI re: National Security letters, Why doesn’t he have anybody from the FBI on the witness list?

this hearing is about what congress should do to prevent the fbi from misusing the NSLs. previous hearings already covered the IG report on the abuses.

done — phone call logged. . .

jayt @
94

conniptionfit @ 92

OT-
If Feingold is interested in finding anything out about what’s been going on at the FBI re: National Security letters, Why doesn’t he have anybody from the FBI on the witness list?

Sorry – coming in late. Are the Feingold hearings today to be televised?

They’re running right now on the webcast link that Christy posted at the top. Bob Barr up now.

Barr has been out front on this stuff for a good while, but it’s still pretty weird to hear him compliment Russ as chairman…

newtonusr @ 99

Helen @ 98

Feingold up: “The inspector General report proves that ‘trust us’ does not work. Congress has the resp to put limits on the FBI and did not do that.”

BTW, no one from the minority present.

Please keep us posted! Thank you.

Bob Barr – 4 terms in House; USA in Georgia, official in CIA. “The IG report is nothing short of a constitutional wake-up call.” “The abuses that are chronicled come as no surprise” “The remedy for the problems in the IG rpt cannot be remedied by ‘tweeking’ The problems reflect from powers granted in the Patriot Act.”

When do progressives and feminists alike suddenly become deaf, dumb and blind? When do they unfailingly take for granted almost three million educated professional women? When do they ignore vital contributions that relate to themselves, their families and their communities?

When those women are nurses.

Nurses and nursing care are without fail unrepresented in health policy and healthcare reporting. They make a significant difference in whether patients recover, rehabilitate or whether they suffer complications or die.

The absence of nursing care and nurses is at the core of the Walter Reed and the larger military healthcare and VA healthcare systems failures.

Yet, I can’t get anyone to pay attention. I’m waving every color wristband, ribbon and I’m making as much blog noise as I can about this.

Christy – can I post or provide an expert nurse blogger – to begin to bring your readerhsip up to speed with the critical importance of this?

Sorry to hijack a thread on a somewhat OT rant.

Well, not really.

Incidentally, I was the weekend nursing administrator at a CHRI facility during the first patient dose of IV tamoxifen. Don’t think that clinical trials and state of the art cancer research and care is solely based on medical research. Check out the National Institute of Nursing Research and the Oncology Nursing Society for the latest oncologic nursing advances – which are all 100% patient care focused.

Even after an NSL is issued and data accumulated it just sits in some database that 10’s of thousands of people (including foreign gov’ts) have access to.

Barr: Maj of NSL’s used to look @ US persons; info locked into system.

please keep up the comments (or perhaps a new thread?) on the Feingold hearing. some of us still have our day jobs and can only catch up at night. thanks!

Barr: NSL’s necessary, but need confines of LAW.

Barr: “The sky isn’t gonna fall if protections are put in place.” “They have to meet constitutional muster and done by statute”

LOL – Tired – I have a day job too!!!

Yes! I am on half speed dial up..can’t stream even audio..so updates are like the sounds of angel wings… Go Russ!

CT librarian Mr. Christian up now – Russ explains his receipt of NSL under gag order, now can talk about it.

I’m just happy to finally land in a Christy thread when she’s still around to be feisty at folks.

((((((((waves at Christy and The Peanut)))))))

N=1. I’m listening. Good for you fighting for this. More info please. I love nurses and librarians!

TiredFed @ 108

please keep up the comments (or perhaps a new thread?) on the Feingold hearing. some of us still have our day jobs and can only catch up at night. thanks!

i’m ripping an mp3 audio of the webcast and will post a link later – for the real geeks who want to listen later….

some day i hope we’ll have complete transcripts available to us all within a day of the congressional hearing…

Christian describes IP address request from library.

LooHoo:

Visit my blog – rants of all sorts about nursing and patient advocacy are there (along with extensive resource blogroll)and thanks!

Christian: gag order shockingly part of Patriot Act.

OMG–govt didnt redact names of librarians who were under gag order, so they got calls & couldn’t answer them.

Christian: after opposotion to release of info, later told the info no longer needed by “law enforcement.
Terrorists win when freedoms abridged.

Gov’t made sure that these librarian couldn’t speak out until after the patriot act was renewed

Prof Peter Swire up now – brief opening statement.

Peter Swire – Law Prof. georgetown Yale law up. Congress never agreed to the program that the IG report revealed.

“congress never agreed to anything like the program that the FBI has been running

Over 39,000 letters in 2003 alone

Nice N=1.

NSL=Never Seen the Like

Patriot Act created unpresedented powers. Never Seem the Like (new acronym for NSL)

NSL Never seen the Light!

great big mess, no one looking over shoulders predictbly leads to mess

Swire: Clouded by secrecy. No precedent, never argued, now time to write statutes over NSL’s.

Gotta bail.

Swire – suggest the NSL be issued with the receiver getting a list of wht the rules are. Librarians don’t know the law.

Spaulding up

Suzanne Spaulding – Former Sr counsel to Spector. Worked at the CIA

Mandrake @ 92

I understand what you mean but I think the point is that some people don’t have anyone to help them with recovery at home. So they may need to stay in the hospital to be monitored and cared for. There’s no one at home to help them dress, make sure they are fed, help them with whatever pain meds or other meds they need, help them if they fall or injure themselves, call the doctor if something goes wrong, etc.

I think when you have a mastectomy there’s more than discomfort involved. I understand it is extremely invasive and painful. One of my mom’s oldest friends had to have a double mastectomy.

I’m not gonna argue with you. I had a mastectomy (without reconstruction, which is no longer an option due to damage from past radiation) one week ago yesterday.

Yes, it is invasive surgery. And I am blessed to have my 72 year old feisty mother living with me, so I don’t know what it would be like to be alone and recovering.

I felt so good, I was literally ready to jump out of my own skin the first night in the hospital. That’s just my experience.

My point is, I haven’t heard of a REAL case of someone being kicked out of the hospital before they are ready.

Healthcare in this country is a disgrace – but this bill was originally introduced ten years ago and, while it tugs emotionally at the heart-strings, I just don’t buy the notion that drive-by mastectomies are a real crisis.

jeebus…I’m starting to feel like a troll…lol

Congress need to examine the other agencies wrt NSL authority(cia, nsa, etc)

cosmo @ 138

Mandrake @ 92

I understand what you mean but I think the point is that some people don’t have anyone to help them with recovery at home. So they may need to stay in the hospital to be monitored and cared for. There’s no one at home to help them dress, make sure they are fed, help them with whatever pain meds or other meds they need, help them if they fall or injure themselves, call the doctor if something goes wrong, etc.

I think when you have a mastectomy there’s more than discomfort involved. I understand it is extremely invasive and painful. One of my mom’s oldest friends had to have a double mastectomy.

I’m not gonna argue with you. I had a mastectomy (without reconstruction, which is no longer an option due to damage from past radiation) one week ago yesterday.

Yes, it is invasive surgery. And I am blessed to have my 72 year old feisty mother living with me, so I don’t know what it would be like to be alone and recovering.

I felt so good, I was literally ready to jump out of my own skin the first night in the hospital. That’s just my experience.

My point is, I haven’t heard of a REAL case of someone being kicked out of the hospital before they are ready.

Healthcare in this country is a disgrace – but this bill was originally introduced ten years ago and, while it tugs emotionally at the heart-strings, I just don’t buy the notion that drive-by mastectomies are a real crisis.

jeebus…I’m starting to feel like a troll…lol

That’s okay, you’re not a troll. I personally received excellent care after my surgery, however, fortunately, I did not have to have a mastectomy.

However, I feel very protective of disadvantaged people who may be taken advantage of by “the system” (see my post about my insurance situation), which is where I am coming from (and, mind you, I do NOT consider myself disadvantaged, only imagining what my situation might be like if I had no one to help me).

My sister is a social worker and says that Medicaid will not even pay for the kind of surgery I had, which is removal of a carcinoma. They make the patients get check-ups every 6 months – basically waiting until the thing grows or becomes invasive, I guess.

Hey Bobby G – Did you see Hughs list of Bush Scandals?.. Thought you might like it. Good to see you, btw.

FYI, New thread

Can I just say one thing and hopefully have Christy weigh in on this cuz I don’t have a clue. Many posters are saying that this “drive-through mastectomy” thing is not a valid concern. However, could it be an issue that may differ from state to state? Again, I’m clueless so I’d like to hear someone with expertise on the subject weigh in on this.

Mandrake at 143 — It varies by insurer, not by state — although some states already have legislation addressing this. If you happen to live in a state that does, there may be regs about this that protect people in your area, so it’s conceivable that you might not hear about something like this happening. If however you live in a state with no protective regs or have an insurer that sucks, and you don’t have the personal finances or family support you might need…then you are SOL. What this bill tries to do is make the decision on care a medical decision and not solely the province of financial bean counters at any particular insurance agency — some of whom are crappier than others.

Again, YMMV as to whether you have seen a problem because we all live in different parts of the country with different insurers. But the reason this keeps coming up is because there are people who have had problems — including having had to deal with after0acquired infections that might have been caght earlier had they not been rushed out of the hospital.

Personally, even with my lumpectomy which was an outpatient surgery, I had to deal with an infection issue afterward, even having been very careful and having had Mr. ReddHedd to help me. I was nursing The Peanut at the time and there were complications — and we had to deal with a lot of calls to the insurance company to get them to cover some needed after-care appointments, and we have seemingly decent insurance, we are both well-educated lawyers and we knew how to handle the paperwork.

I can only imagine what people who do not have that background have had to deal with, to be perfectly honest.

newtonusr @
95

jayt @
94

conniptionfit @ 92

OT-
If Feingold is interested in finding anything out about what’s been going on at the FBI re: National Security letters, Why doesn’t he have anybody from the FBI on the witness list?

Sorry – coming in late. Are the Feingold hearings today to be televised?

Here, now.

Help! When I try that link, I get the judic website, but when I click on the button for the webcast, Realplayer can’t find the DNS entry, and Windows Media Player says some “codecs” are missing. What do I need to do?!?!???

Bob in HI

Mandrake @
143

Can I just say one thing and hopefully have Christy weigh in on this cuz I don’t have a clue. Many posters are saying that this “drive-through mastectomy” thing is not a valid concern. However, could it be an issue that may differ from state to state? Again, I’m clueless so I’d like to hear someone with expertise on the subject weigh in on this.

If they weren’t a concern, then the bill would be a no-brainer. I think there’s some confusion over two different issues:

Issue #1. Should insurance companies have to pay for a post-op hospital stay after a mastectomy? I think everyone would say yes.

Issue #2. Should a woman who undergoes an uncomplicated mastectomy be REQUIRED to stay in the hospital, even if she feels well and wants to go home? This is an entirely different issue. I think the answer should be no, but it’s something that should be worked out between the patient and the surgeon on an individual basis prior to the surgery.

Christy Hardin Smith @ 144

Mandrake at 143 — It varies by insurer, not by state — although some states already have legislation addressing this. If you happen to live in a state that does, there may be regs about this that protect people in your area, so it’s conceivable that you might not hear about something like this happening. If however you live in a state with no protective regs or have an insurer that sucks, and you don’t have the personal finances or family support you might need…then you are SOL. What this bill tries to do is make the decision on care a medical decision and not solely the province of financial bean counters at any particular insurance agency — some of whom are crappier than others.

Again, YMMV as to whether you have seen a problem because we all live in different parts of the country with different insurers. But the reason this keeps coming up is because there are people who have had problems — including having had to deal with after0acquired infections that might have been caght earlier had they not been rushed out of the hospital.

Personally, even with my lumpectomy which was an outpatient surgery, I had to deal with an infection issue afterward, even having been very careful and having had Mr. ReddHedd to help me. I was nursing The Peanut at the time and there were complications — and we had to deal with a lot of calls to the insurance company to get them to cover some needed after-care appointments, and we have seemingly decent insurance, we are both well-educated lawyers and we knew how to handle the paperwork.

I can only imagine what people who do not have that background have had to deal with, to be perfectly honest.

Thank you. I had the impression that creating legislation could force insurance companies to pay for such hospitalization and that this was the whole point of the bill, but so many people were weighing saying “no, this did not happen to me in my situation” that I had to ask.

Please help me understand. I thought that HR1849 was a bill before the house related to credit and small business. This bill is from 2005. How does this work?

Christy, I was doing some research for a friend and WHAM, I found this–and you–here. Small world! Really cool that you’re doing this!

I strongly support this legislation. I am a victim of this kind of “drive by” attack on my body and psyche. Twenty-five hours after surgery I found myself at home where my husband and I were left to deal with problems that we had no idea could be expected and left with no emotional support.

I had only been diagnosed two weeks before, yet here I was post-surgery totally stunned and feeling mutilated.

Then to add insult to injury, I learned I didn’t have to lose my breast as there is a new procedure thatzaps the cancer and kills it. When I asked the surgeon why I wasn’t told, he responded, “We don’t do that procedure here.” I said it would be nice if you let a person know before you remove their breast!

I guess it’s all still too new to get over my resentment yet. As the saying goes.. “time heals all wounds”, or maybe not.