dixiegrrrrl
dixiegrrrrl's JournalBreast cancer patients could be spared chemotherapy with new test
Many women with early stage breast cancer get no benefit from chemotherapy after having surgery and radiotherapy but some still receive treatment to be on the safe side.
Now a new test which screens for 70 genetic variants which increase the risk of cancer returning, has found to be effective at predicting which patients can be spared treatment.
Results showed that around 46 per cent of women with newly diagnosed early-stage breast cancer were classified as low risk by the test, called MammaPrint, and did not need medication.
NOTE: Here in USA there are several genetic tests which can predict the same thing with about 80% certainty.
Here is a link to the ones used in US:
http://www.breastcancer.org/symptoms/testing/types/oncotype_dx
(I have printed out the info and will be talking to the oncologist tomorrow.)
Today I had surgery to have a port put into my chest.
This is where all the chemo goes in, and blood can be drawn for tests. Apparently lots of tests happen during chemo.
So no more needle sticks, no more chances of blown veins.
I must admit I had no idea it was such a complicated procedure.
To reduce stress, I don't peer too far into future appointments, so waited till last nght to read about ports.
"Twilight anesthesia" they said.
As usual no food or "clear liquid" 12 hours before the procedure. Other sources say 6-8 hours.
Then they said it was ok to take my morning BP pill "with a small sip of water"
Damn pill is not small...I gulped water.
As far as I was concerned, it was a pretty dark twilight, cause I went out for the count, woke an hour later, they gave me enough morphine so I could be plopped into the car and driven home.
Then the morphine wore off. Yikes! Luckily, my doc is real good at pain management, none of the skimping on opioids, and I had a script, so pain pills went home with me, and I napped for a few hours, waking only when a loud and heavy thunderstorm hit.
So now, I have a rather sore and stiff left arm/side from the mastectomy last month, and a very painful upper right chest and shoulder from today's port surgery, and not allowed to really do much wtth right hand/arm for the next 3 days, just in tme for the CAT scan Thursday when BOTH arms will be raised above my head, supposedly.
Yeah...good luck with that....I feel like a T. Rex.....those arms have very limited range of motion right now.
Just when I thought life was getting placid and predictable.........
I have just one question:
Of all the poop in the world...
who decided that batshit was the craziest????
I have just one question:
If corporations are people, why don't the Republicans want to cut their welfare????
You might find this funny
I generally let the answering machine pick up the calls, since so many are sales/robo calls.
But, now that doctors and etc are in my life, I pick up.
So, few days post op for the breast surgery, I get a cold call from a real live person trying to sell me a funeral plan.
and I was in the mood to vent.
At the first mention of why she was calling, I went off on her.
" why are you calling me? who told you I had cancer???? Do they suspect I am going to die and they are not telling me? Who gave you my number?
I was just starting to feel good this morning about my chances and now YOU remind me all over again!!!
etc etc" in a very indignent old lady voice.
I hung up on what sounded like spluttered apologies.
they are correct...laughter IS good medicine.
Medicare is providing a 5 year cancer treatment program as of this July. UPDATE:Map of centers
This is really huge deal, since talking about it started in 1999. I have read the info. about how the grants, and programs work, and that our local rural hospital has one!
The reason this is so cool is I knew I had cancer when I felt the lump June 9, had mastectomy July 14th, and was instantly referred to the new cancer program in our hospital. Otherwise I would have had a 2 hour 90 mile trip down to Mobile for everything, which is incredibly exhausting......180 miles a day round trip, 4 hours just driving does not leave much room for those 8 am appointments.
The program is targeting some rural hospitals, so urban cancer treatment clinics who got the grants moved a team from Mobile to my rural county hospital.
And it is billed as outpatient.....even the mastectomy was "outpatient" thus saving me the high deductible for "inpatient".
Medicare Part B covers cancer drugs used in outpatient (and inpatient) cancer treatment if the drug is administered by the hospital or clinic or dr.
as opposed to a patient buying the drug by prescription.
( 20% co-pay applies to the drugs used and some lab. services)
This new program has sites across the country. I am trying to remember where I filed the location maps.
Here is map of treatment centers for this program.
On left hand side of map is a drop down where you can enter your state.
https://innovation.cms.gov/initiatives/map/index.html#model=oncology-care-model
Please notice: your county/area might be listed under a larger medical center.
For instance, my county is listed on map as being part of a Mobile Ala Cancer hospital. So there is no "dot" on my state map of our county.
Louisiana flooding forces Katrina survivors out of their homes;
pics at link
The southern half of the state experienced the worst of the flooding with some areas receiving over 30 inches of rain in a two-day period. This accounts for nearly half of the rain that typically falls in an entire year in this part of the country.
This flooding has been so extensive that the Red Cross has called this event the "worst natural disaster to strike the United States since Superstorm Sandy."
"It's all gone again," Jeannique Branche, 34, of Baton Rouge told NOLA.com.
She survived Hurricane Katrina and relocated to Baton Rouge, where she lived in a second-story apartment.
"Now I've lost everything again," she said.
POLITICS HISTORIC: Obama Announces He’s Ending Private For-Profit Federal Prisons
The 13 privately run facilities will not close overnight. Yates said the Justice Department would not terminate existing contracts but instead review those that come up for renewal. She said all of the contracts would come up for renewal over the next five years…. by May 1, 2017, the total private prison population would stand at less than 14,200 inmates.
Profile Information
Gender: FemaleHometown: Washington state, for half my life
Home country: USA
Current location: SW Alabama. for the rest of my life
Member since: Wed Feb 27, 2008, 02:09 PM
Number of posts: 60,010
