Breast cancer rant

I sat on the 4th floor in the oncology ward wondering why so many of the women like my aunt were not diagnosed sooner. My cousin died at 50 of breast cancer leaving 2 boys one in high school and one in his first year of college. With all of the technology we have in this country, why can’t we develop a technique to effectively see through the tissues of women’s breasts. We have lasers that can see through concrete in war but we can’t develop a technique to see through breast tissue?  Yes more women are surviving breast cancer but if we could detect it sooner many more would. Is it that women get the short end of the stick when it comes to prevention and treatment of their diseases. I mean after all when viagra came out most insurance companies covered it. Yet, many insurance companies did not cover birth control pills. OK let’s think about this. We will give pills to men so they can have sex, but not cover women so they won’t have an unwanted pregnancy with all those men having sex because of viagra. For a long while, we did not research symptoms that women exhibit before a heart attack.  Now we know they have different symptoms than men. But not until we finally did research on women. At least in the case of my aunt, the effects of the treatment were many times worse than the cancer. We can build technology that does almost anything but:: not one that can effectively see through tissue. I am angry. I believe that if more men got breast cancer, we would see the technology developed to catch breast cancer sooner. Maybe I wrong but I don’t think so. The most compassionate doctor I met during my hours and hours of being in the hospital as my aunt’s caregiver was a female urologist. She was not only compassionate, but she was willing to have an honest discussion about making hard quality of life decisions. My aunt’s doctor never, until the last month, broached the subject of stopping treatment because it was harder on her body that the cancer. He never discussed the prognosis for the 8 months I was with her until 4 days before she died  when he told her it was time to check about hospice. Too many women are not being diagnosed with breast cancer soon enough. I know that after watching what my aunt went through to live mainly for us, I will never complain again about hard times. But I also know that as a women and a person who has lost 2 family members to breast cancer in 3 years, I want to know why we can’t use some form of the laser technology used to see through war bunkers to identify aspects of breast tissue more effectively. Is there anyone else out there that feels the same way?

Caregiver sitting can lead to low back pain

I am back. Yea. For the first time since my aunt died and drove my last 14 hour trip from WA, I believe I am beating my depression and fatigue. Over the last 3 days, I have worked in my garden for 5-6 hour stints. I have gotten up by 8:00am every morning. I haven’t felt this alive for 10 months. But after crawling on my hands and knees putting 15 lbs of organic fertilizer on my hedges, roses, and other plants, I can barely straighten up. Prior to my primary caregiving where I spent most of my time sitting with my aunt or driving 14 hours one way, if I had done the same type of work I would have had some back pain the next morning but it would subside by the afternoon. This is not going away. As a physical education professor, I know that the sitting too much, the lifting, twisting, and turning associated with caregiving could impact muscle tightness, posture leading to low back pain. But stress can also lead to low pack pain as illustrated in an article in Family of Love Ones Magazine.com. The Revolution Health Website provides suggestions for ways to minimize the impact of the sitting, lifting, and twisting one does while caregiving. Another good site that gives specific ways to lift, move, and transport your care receiver is that of Changi Hospital. I highly recommend that during your caregiving hours you practice the following guidelines of Spine Universe. After reading all of the suggestions, you might say, “I don’t have time. I don’t think about it.” But if you are in pain, you will not be able to be as effective in helping your care receiver move about, nor will you will be able to maintain a positive upbeat attitude when trying to shore up the emotions of your care receiver. And as I have found out, after you are done caregiving, you may be unable to handle your everyday chores and enjoy those things you love to do like garden, hike, pickup your children, grandchildren, or just sit and watch the sunset without chronic pain. Besides the chiropractor and massage therapist, I am going to consult with a pilates instructor who is trained as a physical therapist. Wish me luck. I still want to climb Mt Rainier in August and right now I can barely get off the couch. Help others and let us know how you have managed your back pain. But hey, I am making my way back emotionally. That is a great start. Just in time to start moving into the role of caring for my aging parents. I will be much more prepared this time.