And this is helpful?

More sound bites from the October crazed media.There were two new articles on the news this morning: 'Blood test may detect breast cancer' and 'Aspirin and ibuprofen may lower risk of breast cancer'. I am not sure how helpful these two articles are.

The first one - the key word in the title is 'may'. Also, the second subtitle is - Does not replace mammograms. So what's the point? Its not a sure thing. You still need mammograms. And patients need to ask their doctors for it. Since when are patients educated enough to tell their doctors which tests they need? Do I need this test (or is it too late)? Maybe my insurance will cover it but that's not the point. Okay perhaps for high risk women - BRCA positive or family history - it would be a good idea but I really don't think we should all run out and get this new test that may be helpful.

The second article says a daily aspirin or ibuprofen may reduce breast cancer risk - but they aren't sure why. Also, this article was released on line in April of this, or probably even earlier. But its breast cancer month and they found a new sound bite to push in their daily hunt to find ways to undermine the confidence of people in treatment.

Okay, call me crabby and oversensitive but I am trying to find some logic besides the need for October appropriate sound bites for publishing both articles at this time. Is crabbiness a long term side effect of chemo? Did they take out my 'nice' with my gall bladder? Only time will tell. In the meantime, I will save up all my crabbiness and vent here.

Yesterday was sort of a long day for me. I worked from home and went for a walk. Then I went to work for five whole hours and then out to dinner. At 8pm I was sitting in the restaurant completely exhausted. When I got home, my husband insinuated that possibly I overdid it yesterday, hence the fatigue. Maybe I am pushing myself but I am sick of being sick and tired all the time. This has been going on since my first surgery on June 19, 2007 - that's 1 year, 2 months, and 20 days (but who's counting) of being tired and recovering from something. Its really getting old. (Or maybe its the cause of my crabbiness??? There's a point to ponder.)

Today, I have a much lighter schedule. I have to work from home and go for a walk, which will happen later on when it gets above 70 degrees and I can wear shorts. I have lots of other things I could do - gardening, planting bulbs, moving around potted plants (but wait I can't lift heavy things yet), cleaning the house (but I did mop the kitchen floor yesterday but don't tell Walter), vacuuming, and organizing my clothes. Or I could just sit around and watch DVD's again... Hmmm... big decision.