Pelosi's Bill Good For Domestic Violence Victims, Less So For Cancer Patients

I've been trying to follow the healthcare reform issue, especially now. While I'm happy about the DV issue, I am perturbed about the breast cancer drugs. I'm supposed to start taking Herceptin. What will my insurance company do in response? We've already had to fight about needed tests. Will we be fighting over needed drugs next? Here's information on the bill:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's 1990-page health care reform bill has plenty of nuggets for supporters and detractors to debate. One topic the bill addresses in full is the insurance company practice of classifying victims of domestic violence as patients with a pre-existing condition and then denying them coverage. Pelosi's bill specifically and unequivocally bans the unconscionable practice.

SEC. 2754. PROHIBITION ON DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AS PRE-EXISTING CONDITION.

A health insurance issuer offering health insurance coverage in the individual market may not, on the basis of domestic violence, impose any preexisting condition exclusion (as defined in section 2701(b)(1)(A)) with respect to such coverage. But the bill doesn't prohibit the equally abhorrent practice of classifying rape as a pre-existing condition.

One of the issues the bill doesn't address, however, is the problems patented medications cause for women suffering from breast cancer. Cancer survivor Jane Hamsher writes that Pelosi's acquiescence to provisions that provide extra-long patent monopolies to drug companies that discovered biologics, one of the newest waves of medical research, will hurt women. The extra patent terms mean that for one drug utilized with great success among breast cancer patients--Herceptin--Roche can continue to charge upwards of $70,000 for a course of treatment, causing patients to run up against their lifetime payment caps or fail to get the best treatment.

Sounds like some lobbying is needed to "fix" this problem!

Get your casket from Wal-Mart!

Yesterday was such a long day that I've been pooped all day today! I did manage to get in a few hours of work though. In yesterday's paper there was an article about Wal-Mart selling caskets and urns on their website. This generated a discussion about burial vs. cremation. We also discussed organ donation. The general consensus was to take the useable organs and burn the rest. Then scatter my ashes over what used to be Big Daddy's Bar in Pontiac as well as the softball field I used to play on! Those were places where I spent many happy hours. Even better, have a kegger-build a funeral pyre in the yard and as I go up in flames "toast" me. Just save my ashes to be scattered later! Or use my ashes to make jewelry. Mike didn't think it was funny. He got upset with me.

I wasn't trying to be morbid, just realistic. We never know exactly how much time we have on this earth. I watched today's Oprah Winfrey Show with Patrick Swayze's widow Lisa Niemi, who spoke candidly about losing her husband just six weeks ago to pancreatic cancer. Niemi told Winfrey she has learned a lot from losing her husband. "You end up living a lot more in the moment...," she said. "You realize that we don't have anybody for long, and we don't even have our own lives for long." How true. Even though during his final months she told him several times daily, "I love you,"she said her one regret was that she didn't tell Swayze she loved him enough (during their marriage). I don't want to live my life with any regrets.

Freaktini

Tonight's post is much later than usual as I was "working" tonight. It was AWF's Freaktini fundraiser! I do believe a good time was had by all. But it's been one hell of a long day! I started the day by ripping open my incision. It wasn't all the way, just a small portion (about 1-2 stitches). So, I put a butterfly bandage on it and headed off to the doctor (I had an appointment anyway). He fixed me right up and reviewed my lab work with me. As a diabetic, I see my doctor regularly. My A1C is now 6.0 (needs to be less than 6.5), my "bad" cholesterol is now 97 (needs to be less than 100) and my liver function is now normal (used to be abnormal). I know, I know who ever thought I was normal anyway, right? I needed to see Dr. Walker because next week I start chemo and I'll be taking steroids which will raise my blood sugar. He thinks I'll be just fine.

Then, as I'm driving by McDonald's, where I no longer eat, I see the marquee which tells me "McRib is back". Bastards! The one item they sell that I find hard to resist. So, I decided to have one last McRib meal for supper. When I finished, I was sorry as it sat so heavy in my stomach. I think I'm "cured" as I probably won't have another one. Then it was off to Freaktini. Tonight Tara got to be the boss as she conceived the Freaktini idea and was the one who pulled it all together (absolutely fabulous work by the way) and I was her assistant. Unfortunately, I shirked most of my responsibilities by schmoozing with others instead of following her directions, so she fired me from that position. I would have to lodge one complaint and that is that Tara wouldn't let me enter the costume contest. After all, I had the best costume. I was the one-boobed woman! How much freakier can you get?

I decided to take my own advice and "blow off some steam"! I thoroughly enjoyed myself as I hung out with AWF's finest volunteer, Carol B. and her son, Tim and daughter-in-law, Kerri. Tim & Kerri came down from the Chicagoland area for a visit. We had a few drinks, told stories and laughed till I almost wet my pants! Downtown Champaign is a happening place and we just added to it tonight. Too bad we can't have that much fun every night! Or can we?

The Cancer Game

Remember when I talked about my idea for the video game I named "Cancer Wars"? I actually found a video game on the Internet called The Cancer Game. It can be found at www.cancergame.org. It's simple but entertaining. Go try it! I had fun playing it. The Cancer Game was an idea originally conceived by Dave Kristula, now a graduate of Albright College, during his near month-long stay in 1998 at Hershey Medical Center for a stem cell rescue (bone marrow transplant), treating his recurrent Hodgkin's Disease.

In the fall of 2002, Kristula took a class with a new professor, Yuko Oda, who was teaching advanced uses of Macromedia Director software. Kristula developed a small, silly game in under four weeks, all while completing three additional classes. In the spring of 2003, Albright College began requesting proposals for ten-week summer grant projects. Kristula approached Oda, suggesting the possibility of the game, and Oda signed on as faculty collaborator. After some debate, the college approved the project, which commenced on June 2, 2003 -- with a $500 budget.

Over the course of the next ten weeks, Kristula and Oda researched current essays and books on the healing through visualization therapies, focusing on stress relief and the power of the Shaman of old (Shamanism refers to a variety of traditional beliefs and practices, that involve the ability to diagnose, cure, and sometimes cause illness because of a special relationship with, or control over, spirits). After four weeks of research, programming and art development began. Public beta 1 is the product of this ten week project, and while it needs a little bit of work here and there, overall the designers are satisfied with the project.

Creative visualization is the technique of using one's imagination to

visualize specific behaviors or events occurring in one's life. Creative visualization is distinguished from normal daydreaming in that Creative visualization is done in the first person and the present tense – as if the visualized scene were unfolding all around you. This is yet another way for me to "visualize" killing the cancer cells. Now go forth and kill my cancer cells!

Mirror of Death

Is there a connection between cancer and the mind, the way we view ourselves and our emotional states? Can we harness the power of the mind to improve the likelihood of recovering from cancer? Twenty years ago, Dr. Ryke Geerd Hamer, a German doctor and his wife were diagnosed with cancer shortly after their son was murdered. Dr. Hamer subsequently developed his theory about cancer. In his view, cancer is a natural process which gets triggered by an overwhelming emotional shock for which the body is totally unprepared. This shock registers itself physically in the brain. Healing, in his view, cannot occur until there is first an emotional healing. Dr. Hamer was actually imprisoned in France for 18 months due to his cancer views.

Previously I talked about the Cancer personality. Dr. Lawrence LeShan, an experimental psychologist and therapist developed this theory. Through his studies he determined that there is a general personality configuration among the majority of cancer patients. What he discovered was that for a significant majority of cancer patients, there had been, prior to the onset of cancer, the loss of a crucial relationship. This loss may have been a physical, or more frequently, an emotional loss. It makes me think that Mike's accident, which was so traumatizing that took me a long time to deal with appropriately, may just be the root cause of this cancer.

He also discovered that cancer developed in people who had denied their own creative potential. He refers to the "Mirror of Death" which while staring death in the face, allows patients to confront their true selves, to become aware of their true desires and to make them feel important to themselves. He noted that when people make certain kinds of psychological and life-style changes, they often stimulate their natural self-healing abilities. In LeShan’s approach, the focus is not on problems and past causes, but on what interests, excites, fulfills and vitalizes the person. This therapy emphasizes the unique individuality of each person. It encourages you to find your own best ways of being, relating and creating. Its basic questions are “What is right with you?” “What is your own best ways of living?” and “How, given the reality of your situation, can you move more and more in that direction?” So, is opportunity knocking here? What would the "new" Tami do differently?

Lymphatic Massage

Since surgery, I've been experiencing lymphedema, which is a tightness in the skin, a feeling of "fullness" in the affected area (armpit), and persistent swelling. It's a very weird feeling. One of my good friends has suggested looking into lymphatic massage. This is what I discovered about such a massage:

As a vital component of the body's immune function, the lymphatic system is comprised of several organs (thymus, tonsils, spleen, adenoids), hundreds of lymph nodes, and a multitude of vessels that run throughout the body similar to our circulatory system of veins and arteries. These lymphatic vessels carry a clear fluid, known as lymph, that circulates around the body's tissues, absorbing fluid, waste products, dead cells, bacteria, viruses, fats, and proteins from the tissue as it goes, while also giving passage to immune cells as they're needed.

Lymph nodes are found throughout the body -- including most notably the neck, armpits, and groin -- and have the job of filtering the lymph fluid and removing damaging elements they've picked up along the way, such as bacteria and cancer cells. When the lymph nodes detect these foreign elements in the fluid, they begin producing additional infection-fighting white blood cells, and become enlarged in the process, hence a swollen gland. If the system gets overtaxed because of ill health, surgery, stress, or poor diet, it can get sluggish and not do its job as efficiently. As a major player in the body's immune process, it makes sense that by waking up the lymphatic system you dramatically improve your chances for staying healthy.

With lymph massage, the system gets a wake-up call through delicate means. Lymph massage is extremely gentle and slow, not just as an aspect of its healing nature, but by necessity. Most of the lymphatic vessels are just below the skin and are stimulated by .5 to 8 ounces of pressure per square inch. That light, slow pressure mimics the pulse and rhythm of the lymphatic system itself and gets the vessels to respond as they should. Each stroke slightly moves the skin in the direction of the lymphatic flow to encourage the drainage of fluid and waste.

The delicate nature of each stroke as it carefully glides across the skin can sometimes make it feel as if nothing is happening, especially for those who are used to deep bodywork. But it's exactly that noninvasive quality of lymph massage that makes it work. They say the results can be profound. When the lymphatic system is especially compromised, as in the presence of cancer or after it's been disrupted by surgery, it can slow to a near negligible pace. This is when a swelling of the lymph passages occurs, known as lymphedema, creating a painful, potentially debilitating condition. One of the most common causes for lymphedema is undergoing a mastectomy, where breast tissue and/or lymph nodes under the arm are removed. Of the women having this operation, up to 15 percent are likely to get lymphedema. Of course I just have to be in that 15%! I'll have to check with Rick to see if he does lymphatic massage as it sounds like just what I need!

Stressing Out

A breast cancer diagnosis and stress—you can pretty much count on the two going hand in hand. Now, a new study is raising hopes about the effects of therapy and relaxation techniques on the well-being and survival rates of women with breast cancer. Learning how to handle the stress of a diagnosis and treatment in the first year may help such women live better and longer, researchers say. Psychological therapy, such as talking with a counselor, improving diet and exercise habits, and learning new coping skills and relaxation techniques, can provide big benefits—from increased immunity to better survival rates—in cancer patients.

Yet I sit here stressing about work. The State has only sent us 1 payment in 4 months and that only covered about 6 weeks of service. Bills are going unpaid and making payroll is in question. I'm trying to be optimistic, hoping against hope that money arrives soon, very soon. Tara's right when she's talking about it helps but I wish I had the solution. I'm trying hard not to worry but I fear more layoffs if something doesn't give soon. I keep picturing myself having to move into AWP to answer the hotline! Believe me, that doesn't help the stress level!

So, I researched stress management (surprise, surprise) and this is such good advice I decided to post it!

Give Stress a Rest-Five Ways to Decompress

*Just say "no" - There are only so many hours in a day, and if you're already overloaded with items 1-5 on your to-do list, it's OK to say no when someone asks a favor. It may give you a sense of control, and being in control can have a positive effect on your stress level.

*Yoga? You know it!

It may seem like stress is all in the head, but it has physical effects, too.

After all, if you're stressed, you can end up feeling too busy to exercise.

But don't forget, exercise is a great stress-buster. So why not try yoga?

Yoga's focus on breathing along with stretching can help you feel calmer

and more relaxed.

*C'mon, get happy - What makes you laugh? Really, really laugh. Comedies? Spending time with friends and family? Your dog or cat? Well, whatever it is, if it makes you laugh, it's a good way to relieve stress and relax. So laugh it up all you want.

*Take a break - Simply giving yourself time to relax may help reduce stress. So give yourself a break! Whether you spend it in another country or in the backyard, if you've got a vacation coming, take it.

*Tick, tick, tick, time management

• Think ahead: When you've got a lot on your plate, preparing yourself in advance goes a long way

• Make a list: Writing down the things you need to get done – and the fun of scratching them off as you go – helps keep you organized

• First things first: Prioritize the most important things you need to get done every day. And worry about the rest later.

So, I'm going to try to stop stressing out about work by trying some of these suggestions. Wish me luck!