Posted by: KPWellness
on Jan 5, 2009
Digital mammograms are the best bet for most women, and those with a very high risk of breast cancer are also urges to get an MRI - and imaging test that highlights suspicious patterns of blookd flow. But a new test, called MBI (molecular breast imaging), may soon take MRI's place, perhaps within the next three to five years, says Kristi Funk, MD, chief of breast surgery at Pink Lotus Brest Center in Beverly Hills and former director of the breast center at Cedars-Sinai medical Center. During the MBI test, the patient is injected with a sugar solution that circulates in the blood; after an hour, abnormal cells collect sugar faster than healthy cells. Both MBIs and MRIs can detect very small tumors, but MBIs may be less likely to produce false positives. Once the technology becoms mainstream, MBIs should also be cheaper.
Posted by: KPWellness
on Dec 17, 2008
LIVESTRONG DAY UNITES THOUSANDS IN THE FIGHT AGAINST CANCER
LIVESTRONG Day 2007 was a tremendous success. Thousands of people across the country united together to show their support in making cancer a national priority.
Lance and 200 advocates spent the day on Capitol Hill urging elected officials to support the Cancer Screening, Treatment and Survivorship Act of 2007 (S. 1415 and H.R. 2353), new bipartisan legislation introduced by Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and Representatives Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) and Sue Myrick (R-NC).
This legislation offers a bold expansion of access to early detection and corresponding early treatment and survivorship services. More than 65,000 emails have been sent to members of the House and Senate in support of these bills since LIVESTRONG Day on May 16. You can keep the momentum going by asking your members of Congress to co-sponsor The Cancer Screening, Treatment and Survivorship Act of 2007.
Posted by: KPWellness
on Dec 17, 2008
Wellness Members,
My trip was a real honor and pleasure. I flew into Washington on Monday and arrived at the beautiful Renaissance Mayflower hotel near the White House. I spent a nice quiet night having an early dinner, meeting delegates from Wisconsin and Oregon in the wine bar and going to bed early to be ready for the next full day of training. On Tuesday I met 12 remarkable, dedicated, and compassionate delegates from SC. Everyone of us except one survivors who went on to develop websites, foundations, serve on boards or as directors of foundations working everyday to make survivorship easier than it was for us. The remaining delegate was the sweetest oncology nurse we nicknamed Bubbles for her sparkling personality. We trained for our meetings on Capitol Hill and how to get our message across. Lance Armstrong arrived in the afternoon for a pep talk and then we broke into strategy sessions for Wednesday. That night Lance hosted a reception for the delegates at the ESPN Zone. It was a lot of fun. We were each given a $20 card to play video games. After dinner six of us sat around talking over a glass of wine. We were getting ready to head out and since we had no intention of playing games we gave the Wisconsin delegate who's family with 2 kids was with her all our cards. They got $120 to play the next day while we hit the hill. That felt really nice.
The LAF wanted all 12 of us to visit our two senators while we broke up into districts for the Representatives. We made up a very intelligent strong-willed group and coming to a strategy consensus was not easy. Everyone wants to tell his or her story and we were trained to get our message out first and repeat at the end. That was the most important thing besides reminding them we are their constituents. There were also two very defiant strong-minded women who felt not enough attention was paid to their causes--brain cancer and ovarian cancer and actually trashed the pink ribbon people. They presented a negative self-serving presentation and that was a tight line to walk. I was incredibly glad all I wore that day was one pink wristband. We made one the chairperson so she felt she had control. Having advocated on Capitol Hill before I knew our time was very limited and I did not feel strongly about my story---just the message that prevention is actually cheaper for the insurance companies and education about risks is imperative. We finally came up with a script whereas Bubbles would introduce us as a group of constituents who are or care for survivors. She would present what we wanted: 6.7% increase in the NIH and NCI budget, a $137,000 increase in the CDC budget, and the co-sponsorship of a bill being presented that day called the Prevention, Diagnosis & Treatment Act which guarantees everyone regardless of insurance status cancer care from prevention to end of life treatment. Then we selected two people to tell their stories and then another to summarize, thank and request their support for these issues.