***Asking Another Favor.....Sign Mastectomy Petition
Below is a link to a petition to help stop drive-through mastectomies.
By signing this petition you'll ensure that women who are diagnosed with
breast cancer won't have to worry about being forced out of the hospital
after undergoing a mastectomy! The Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act of 2005
will guarantee that women and their physicians, NOT INSURANCE COMPANIES, will
decide when they are ready to do home. So voice your support now - with your
signature. Lifetime will deliver your signature, along with millions of others, to
Congress. Please add your name to the list to help get this legislation passed.
The only requirement is your name and zip code.
PLEASE click here:
Lifetime TV's Mastectomy Petition
Isn't it a crime that we have to pass a law to make it possible for a cancer patient to have a moment
to recover from this type of surgery, rather than letting the insurance companies dictate how
long a cancer patient needs hospital care. It is a disgrace and we need to voice our support
for this bill. The bill ensures that a health care provider cannot limit hospital stays for a
mastectomy or breast-conserving surgery to less that 48 hours, and also assures a 24-hour
stay for lymph node dissection. Please consider supporting this bill and signing the petition.
Asking A Favor
The Breast Cancer site is having trouble getting enough people
to click on their site daily to meet their quota of donating at least
one free mammogram a day to an underprivileged woman. It takes
less than a minute to go to their site and click on "donating a mammogram"
for free (pink window in the middle).
This doesn't cost you a thing. Their corporate sponsors/advertisers use the
number of daily visits to donate mammograms in exchange for advertising.
I did check it out an this is true. So here is the website address and please
take a minute to 'click to help'. And pass the word on to people you know.
Click here:
THANKS!!!
This is an excerpt from the Susan G. Koman Breast Cancer Foundation site:
The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation was established in 1982 by Nancy
Brinker to honor the memory of her sister, Susan G. Komen, who died from
breast cancer at the age of 36. Today, the Foundation is an international
organization with a network of volunteers working through local Affiliates
and Komen Race for the Cure® events to eradicate breast cancer as a
life-threatening disease by advancing research, education, screening and
treatment. The Foundation is recognized as one of the global leaders in the
fight against breast cancer raising over $750 million for innovative
research and community-based outreach programs.
The Chicagoland Affiliate, established in 1997, is an active affiliate of
the Komen Foundation. Proceeds from the signature event, the Chicago Race
for the Cure®, fund both national research efforts and local breast cancer
initiatives. Up to seventy-five percent of Chicago Race for the Cure®
dollars supports awareness, education, screening and treatment services in
the Chicagoland area. Over the past eight years, $3.3 million has been
awarded to local organizations. The remaining twenty-five percent of the
proceeds go to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation Research Program.
On behalf of everyone at the Chicagoland Affiliate, we would like to thank
everyone who supported the 2005 Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation
Chicago Race for the Cure, particularly our National and local sponsors.
What is Inflammatory Breast Cancer?
INFLAMMATORY BREAST CANCER (IBC) is an advanced and accelerated
form of breast cancer usually not detected by mammograms or ultrasounds.
Inflammatory breast cancer requires immediate aggressive treatment
with chemotherapy prior to surgery and is treated differently than more common types of breast cancer.
"African Americans have a higher incidence of IBC than do Caucasians and other ethnic groups
(10.1%, 6.2%, and 5.1%, respectively)."
There is more than one kind of breast cancer.
We have been taught and are reminded frequently by public service announcements and by
the medical community that when a woman discovers a lump on her breast she should go to
the doctor immediately. Inflammatory breast cancer usually grows in nests or sheets,
rather than as a confined, solid tumor and therefore can be diffuse throughout the breast
with no palpable mass. The cancer cells clog the lymphatic system just below the skin.
Lymph node involvement is assumed. Increased breast density compared to prior
mammograms should be considered suspicious.
You Don't Have to Have a Lump to Have Breast Cancer.
Some women who have inflammatory breast cancer may remain undiagnosed for long periods,
even while seeing their doctor to learn the cause of her symptoms. The symptoms are similar
to mastitis, a breast infection and some doctors, not recognizing IBC, will prescribe antibiotics.
If a response to antibiotics is not apparent after a week, a biopsy should be performed or a
referral to a breast specialist is warranted.
Age 52: Median age at time of diagnosis of IBC ... versus,
Age 62: Median age at time of diagnosis of Breast Cancer.
A surprising portion of young women with IBC had their first symptoms during pregnancy
or lactation. The misconception that these young women are at lower risk for breast cancer
and the fact that IBC is the most aggressive form of breast cancer may result in metastases
when the diagnosis is made.
One or more of the following are Typical Symptoms of IBC:
1. Swelling, usually sudden, sometimes a cup size in a few days
2. Itching
3. Pink, red, or dark colored area (called erythema) sometimes
with texture similar to the skin of an orange (called peau d'orange)
4. Ridges and thickened areas of the skin
5. What appears to be a bruise that does not go away
6. Nipple retraction
7. Nipple discharge, may or may not be bloody
8. Breast is warm to the touch
9. Breast pain (from a constant ache to stabbing pains)
10. Change in color and texture of the areola
These Symptoms May Be Present in Benign Breast Disorders.
See your doctor if you have any of these symptoms.
Inflammatory Breast Cancer is typically abbreviated as IBC.
Non-inflammatory breast cancer may include in its diagnosis the
terms "in situ breast cancer," "infiltrating breast cancer," or
"invasive breast cancer" all of which may be abbreviated with "ibc,"
but those terms alone do not specify inflammatory breast cancer.
To add to the possible confusion, the diagnosis may include more that
one kind of breast cancer; for example "inflammatory breast cancer,
invasive ductal carcinoma, and mucinous carcinoma" all in the same breast.
So if a person you know has been described as having IBC or ibc, it may be
well to ask what that is abbreviating, since it may not be "inflammatory
breast cancer" and therefore the symptoms and other information
presented here may not apply.
Click here to see photos of common presentation of these symptoms.
Diabetes
Diabetes Facts
What should you know about diabetes?
There are two types of diabetes: type 1, which results from the body's failure to produce insulin, and type 2, which results from insulin resistance or the body's inability to produce enough insulin.
Diabetes is the fifth leading cause of death by disease in the U.S. Diabetes is a chronic disease that has no cure.
Diabetes is becoming the new American health epidemic of the century. Consider these facts:
The incidence of diabetes has increased by 61 percent since 1990 and continues to rise at an alarming rate.
More than 20 million Americans have diabetes — including more than five million who don't even know it.
An additional 41 million people have pre-diabetes, putting them at great risk for developing type 2 diabetes.
One out of every three Americans born in the year 2000 will develop diabetes.
More than $132 billion direct and indirect healthcare costs are attributed to diabetes (2002 statistics).
Please visit diabetes.org for comprehensive information about diabetes.
About the American Diabetes Association
The American Diabetes Association (ADA) is the nation's leading nonprofit health organization providing diabetes research, information and advocacy. Powered by a network of more than one million volunteers — and a membership representing diabetes patients and their families, physicians, scientists, nurses, dietitians, pharmacists and educators — ADA's mission is to prevent and cure diabetes and to improve the lives of all people affected by diabetes.
ADA holds the Better Business Bureau's (BBB) Wise Giving Alliance Seal for National Charities. The BBB Wise Giving Alliance evaluates each charity's governance, fund-raising practices, solicitations and informational materials, as well as how it spends its money. The Alliance's standards of measurement hold charitable organizations to higher principles than those required by law, thereby making the seal convey a strong and comprehensive confirmation of each organization's accountability.
Self CPR
What are you to do if you have a heart attack while you are alone.
If you've already received this, it means people care about you ..
The Johnson City Medical Center staff actually discovered this
and did an in-depth study on it in our ICU The two individuals that
discovered this then did an article on it .. had it published and have
even had it incorporated into ACLS and CPR classes.
It is very true and has and does work. It is called cough CPR.
A cardiologist says it's the truth ... For your info ...If everyone who gets
this sends it to 10 people, you can bet that we'll save at least one life.
Read This...It could save your life! Let's say it's 6:15 p.m. and you're
driving home (alone of course), after an usually hard day on the job.
You're really tired, upset and frustrated. Suddenly you start experiencing
severe pain in your chest that starts to radiate out into your arm and up
into your jaw. You are only about five miles from the hospital nearest
your home. Unfortunately you don't know if you'll be able to make it that far.
What can you do? You've been trained in CPR but the guy that taught the
course, didn't tell you what to do if it happened to yourself.
Since many people are alone when they suffer a heart attack,
this article seemed to be in order. Without help, the person
whose heart is beating improperly and who begins to feel faint,
has only about 10 seconds left before losing consciousness.
However, these victims can help themselves by coughing repeatedly
and very vigorously. A deep breath should be taken before each cough,
and the cough must be deep and prolonged, as when producing sputum
from deep inside the chest. A breath and a cough must be repeated about
very two seconds without let up until help arrives, or until the heart is felt
to be beating normally again.
Deep breaths get oxygen into the lungs and coughing movements squeeze
the heart and keep the blood circulating. The squeezing pressure on the heart
also helps it regain normal rhythm. In this way, heart attack victims can get to
a hospital. Tell as many other people as possible about this, it could save their lives!
Stroke
A little bit about Stroke Identification:
During a BBQ a friend stumbled and took a little fall - she assured everyone that she
was fine (they offered to call paramedics) and just tripped over a brick because of
her new shoes. They got her cleaned up and got her a new plate of food - while she
appeared a bit shaken up, Ingrid went about enjoying herself the rest of the evening.
Ingrid's husband called later telling everyone that his wife had been taken to the hospital.
(at 6 pm, Ingrid passed away.) She had suffered a stroke at the BBQ - had they known
how to identify the signs of a stroke perhaps Ingrid would be alive today.
Recognizing a Stroke:
A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can totally
reverse the effects of a stroke...totally. He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized,
diagnosed and getting to the patient within 3 hours, which is tough. Sometimes symptoms
of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster.
The stroke victim may suffer brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the
symptoms of a stroke. Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking
three simple questions:
1. *Ask the individual to SMILE.
2. *Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.
3. *Ask the person to SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently) i.e. - It is sunny out today.
If he or she has trouble with any of these tasks, call 9-1-1 immediately and describe the
symptoms to the dispatch!
After discovering that a group of non-medical volunteers could identify facial weakness,
arm weakness and speach problems, researchers urged the general public to learn the
three questions. They presented their conclusions to the National Stroke Association's
annual meeting last February. Widespread use of this test could result in prompt diagnosis
and treatment of the stroke and prevent brain damage.
Please pass this information on....
STROKE SYMPTOMS include:
Sudden numbness or weakenss of face, arm or leg - especially on one side of the body
Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding
Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes
Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination
Sudden severe headache with no known cause
