Breast Life

This story had it all. It's not as recent as the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) Advisory Group refusing two new cancer drugs for seniors but this story has breast cancer, minority women and survival rates. How could we not focus on the mailed survey results of the over thirty-one hundred (3133) "Latina and African American women"? Their conclusion: "Greater patient involvement in decision making was associated with receipt of mastectomy for all racial and ethnic groups. Patient attitudes about surgery and the opinions of family and friends contribute to surgical choices made by women with breast cancer." In the WebMD story young women afraid of dying from breast cancer opt for a radical mastectomy and the older women with family involvement choose "breast-conserving surgery."

Unfortunately for our Aunt Pearlie and many women seniors a lump means cancer, means never leaving the hospital and means death. The big "C" (cancer) fear is the earliest of our AIDS, terrorism, swine flu for the generations.

As the health care debate rolls on in the media at the very same "Journal of the National Cancer Institute" you can listen to the nine minute fifty-six second (9:56) interview with Dr. Peter Bach of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center discussing the issue of treatment and health concerns being waged out of patient earshot and awareness - "How much is life worth?" It's being called the $430 Billion Dollar Question. The podcast is in the very same issue as the study from the August issue of the journal. For many seniors with a healthy, active lifestyle and strong family ties the answer is priceless. Unfortunately when pain and inoperable medical conditions apply many individuals like Pearlie Mae Leach decide the answer is a financial concern.