I am not inspired this morning to blog. I don't know but my brain keeps jumping around on different topics. I was going to write about the doctor who distorted the autism-vaccination link. Then I was going to write about how I am doing. Then maybe about life with out cancer. But I am not inspired.
My blog is about me and my life with breast cancer. Well that's how it started. It is now about me and my life in the medical world. It is picked up in different places like Opposing Views and Before Its News. I guess they thought I write about interesting things. Or maybe they like my opinions because I have decided I have opinions about lots of things which I get to share here.
So my blog is about life with cancer. Yesterday some actress (who's name I didn't recognize and can't remember) said that she is celebrating five years of being cancer free. But what that means is that they can't find any cancer - not that she is cancer free. You can't go back and take the cancer out of your body. It may still be there so in my opinion she should really say they can't find any cancer. I would love to be cancer free but is that possible?
This is the problem with cancer. There is no cure. Once diagnosed, they do everything possible to remove it from your body but there isn't a guarantee they did. They do their best and that's it but they don't know if it worked. As a cancer patient, you just get doctor appointments for the rest of your life. My average right now for the past four years is some where over 60 annually. I already have a solid dozen scheduled for this year.
I guess I sort of had a rambling topic buried inside me. But now it is time to go feed the cat as he has been waiting (im)patiently on the floor next to me. If I make a move to get out of bed, he will jump to his feet and look at me to follow him to his food dish. I guess this is one of the little mundane activities in life that keep us going on without getting mired down with the trivialities of cancer.
Friday, January 7, 2011
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Acupuncture anyone?
Last night I went to a support group meeting where there was a presenter on acupuncture. I have never been a fan of acupuncture. Its not that I doubt its efficacy. Its just the needles. I can't look at needles while being inserted or while they are in someone's skin. (They turn my stomach.) I hate it during flu season where they always show people on TV getting shots. I have to close my eyes. I am a wimp. That's it.
But at last night's meeting I learned a lot about acupuncture and spent time looking at the walls while people had needles in them. I found that my health insurance will cover it. The acupuncture practice is conveniently located. Perhaps it might help my tennis elbow, and possibly my back pain and some other issues.
Acupuncture has been around for thousands of years so it definitely works. It is only that here in the West we are a little slow about accepting it. I have nothing against it and enjoyed learning more about it.
My next step is to call my insurance company and clarify a few things. First of all the acupuncturist who was there said I would have to pay him and then get reimbursement from my insurance company. But online my insurance company says it must be billed by a registered acupuncturist - does this mean he must bill them or I can request a refund (and how do I request the refund).
I will also talk to my physical therapist this morning and get his opinion. He hasn't been too thrilled about the way my elbow is healing (or not healing - which doesn't surprise me because nothing ever seems to heal up and go away for me).
Then I will see about setting up an appointment either with the guy from last night or with a woman affiliated with the non profit I work for. She might be a little more convenient and I wouldn't mind giving her the business as she is an independent who is supporting herself.
Finally I will come up with a blindfold to wear at the sessions so I don't have to look at the needles at all. Maybe I can over come a personal fear to help my health.
But at last night's meeting I learned a lot about acupuncture and spent time looking at the walls while people had needles in them. I found that my health insurance will cover it. The acupuncture practice is conveniently located. Perhaps it might help my tennis elbow, and possibly my back pain and some other issues.
Acupuncture has been around for thousands of years so it definitely works. It is only that here in the West we are a little slow about accepting it. I have nothing against it and enjoyed learning more about it.
My next step is to call my insurance company and clarify a few things. First of all the acupuncturist who was there said I would have to pay him and then get reimbursement from my insurance company. But online my insurance company says it must be billed by a registered acupuncturist - does this mean he must bill them or I can request a refund (and how do I request the refund).
I will also talk to my physical therapist this morning and get his opinion. He hasn't been too thrilled about the way my elbow is healing (or not healing - which doesn't surprise me because nothing ever seems to heal up and go away for me).
Then I will see about setting up an appointment either with the guy from last night or with a woman affiliated with the non profit I work for. She might be a little more convenient and I wouldn't mind giving her the business as she is an independent who is supporting herself.
Finally I will come up with a blindfold to wear at the sessions so I don't have to look at the needles at all. Maybe I can over come a personal fear to help my health.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
If you have got your health, you have everything
What a lovely old saw. How quaint. How ironic - I don't have my health and RealAge agrees! Annually I make an effort to go into my Real Age account and update my health to see how old they think I am. I am old. Currently I am 16.4 years older than my actual age.
According to RealAge this is why I am old:
- Having a history of breast cancer - hello, I did not request this one.
- Living with cancer - see above
- Worrying too much - see above
- Dealing with heartburn - see above and see one about too many meds that hurt my stomach
- Having depression - ahem, see above. If you had cancer twice, you would be depressed too.
- Taking too many meds - that pesky cancer thing again.
- Not knowing your cholesterol levels - I try to remember this but that pesky cancer thing gets in the way at the doctor's office.
- Having oral hygiene concerns - did I ask for bad gums? No. But I do floss
- Being an ex-smoker for under 5 years - time will fix this one but then I'll be older too
- Driving a small vehicle - big cars use more gas and I'm cheap.
- Facing a lot of stress - see that cancer thing again0
- Not eating enough whole grains - I do I thought. Maybe I'll go cheat and change my answers.
- Needing to review your eating habits - Do they know I sneak in candy at work sometimes?
- Eating too much red meat - we are working on this one.
- Not building flexibility - with back pain, its hard to bend.
- Neglecting your muscles - see note about back pain.
- Having a high BMI - if you can't move without pain you get fat. And there is that stress thing from cancer again.
- Not knowing your resting heart rate - well, sorry! I'll ask but see my reply for cholesterol
- Doing only the bare minimum - see my replies about back pain.
So basically its says I am old, fat and lazy as well as stressed and depressed from cancer. And it didn't even get into a second cancer diagnosis, back issues, sprained ankle, multiple surgeries, and all my other medical crap.Maybe I should go back and take out all the cancer related stuff and see what it tells me then. I'll just pretend I have my health.
Overall I think RealAge is a great tool (and they have CatAge and DogAge too). It is a good way to show you what you need to work on to get in better shape. I recommend it to everyone.
I guess my point is that we need to take care of ourselves to feel better and live longer. I'm trying but I'm not always sure I am going in the right direction.
According to RealAge this is why I am old:
- Having a history of breast cancer - hello, I did not request this one.
- Living with cancer - see above
- Worrying too much - see above
- Dealing with heartburn - see above and see one about too many meds that hurt my stomach
- Having depression - ahem, see above. If you had cancer twice, you would be depressed too.
- Taking too many meds - that pesky cancer thing again.
- Not knowing your cholesterol levels - I try to remember this but that pesky cancer thing gets in the way at the doctor's office.
- Having oral hygiene concerns - did I ask for bad gums? No. But I do floss
- Being an ex-smoker for under 5 years - time will fix this one but then I'll be older too
- Driving a small vehicle - big cars use more gas and I'm cheap.
- Facing a lot of stress - see that cancer thing again0
- Not eating enough whole grains - I do I thought. Maybe I'll go cheat and change my answers.
- Needing to review your eating habits - Do they know I sneak in candy at work sometimes?
- Eating too much red meat - we are working on this one.
- Not building flexibility - with back pain, its hard to bend.
- Neglecting your muscles - see note about back pain.
- Having a high BMI - if you can't move without pain you get fat. And there is that stress thing from cancer again.
- Not knowing your resting heart rate - well, sorry! I'll ask but see my reply for cholesterol
- Doing only the bare minimum - see my replies about back pain.
So basically its says I am old, fat and lazy as well as stressed and depressed from cancer. And it didn't even get into a second cancer diagnosis, back issues, sprained ankle, multiple surgeries, and all my other medical crap.Maybe I should go back and take out all the cancer related stuff and see what it tells me then. I'll just pretend I have my health.
Overall I think RealAge is a great tool (and they have CatAge and DogAge too). It is a good way to show you what you need to work on to get in better shape. I recommend it to everyone.
I guess my point is that we need to take care of ourselves to feel better and live longer. I'm trying but I'm not always sure I am going in the right direction.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
How much are your co-pays?
If you ask someone about their health insurance, they will probably tell you about their co-pays as one of the first topics. 'My co-pays went up for seeing a specialist.' 'My prescriptions cost me so much.' 'I hope the new health care co-pays are much lower.'
Face it co-pays are only one component of your insurance. A high co-pay for a doctor visit may cause people to see doctors less frequently - I saw some study on that recently. But if you don't want to pay a high co-pay, insurance companies would be happy to raise your premium instead. You will pay the same overall either way.
Co-pays are higher for seeing specialists in an effort to get people to see their primary care physician first. Co-pays for an emergency room visit are very high - maybe $500 - if you aren't hospitalized. This is because they want you to see your primary care physician during the day time. Also, they want you to stay in network with doctors with whom they have negotiated prices.
Co-pays are high for brand name drugs because insurance companies want people to at least try the generic version of a drug instead of the brand name one.
Insurance companies are working on controlling their costs by making the path of least (and cheapest) resistance to the lower cost medical alternative. They are also trying to motivate the general public into getting into shape and into getting physicals and screening tests in an effort to keep us all healthier.
Now drug companies are trying to beat the co-pay system so people take their more expensive brand name drugs instead of the generics by offering coupons to the public. With a coupon, the patient's co-pay on a brand name prescription is the same as for a generic. And the insurance companies shoulder the additional cost. The patient doesn't see any difference. The drug company gets to sell the brand name drug and its additional profits. And the insurance companies are stuck with the huge cost.
I currently take five daily prescriptions, plus a few others for 'when needed'. Of the five, two are brand name only, no generic available. One of them, if I get it at the local pharmacy, the co-pay is $105 for a month's supply. If I fill the prescription through the mail order pharmacy, it is a more affordable $65 for a three month supply. For the other, the monthly cost is approximately $2000 (really). I don't know what my co-pay will be because I started taking it after I maxed out my insurance for the year. I will be switching to the mail order pharmacy this year.
I am happy to work with the co-pay system. I make sure I stay in network as well. I am trying to keep my costs down too.
Face it co-pays are only one component of your insurance. A high co-pay for a doctor visit may cause people to see doctors less frequently - I saw some study on that recently. But if you don't want to pay a high co-pay, insurance companies would be happy to raise your premium instead. You will pay the same overall either way.
Co-pays are higher for seeing specialists in an effort to get people to see their primary care physician first. Co-pays for an emergency room visit are very high - maybe $500 - if you aren't hospitalized. This is because they want you to see your primary care physician during the day time. Also, they want you to stay in network with doctors with whom they have negotiated prices.
Co-pays are high for brand name drugs because insurance companies want people to at least try the generic version of a drug instead of the brand name one.
Insurance companies are working on controlling their costs by making the path of least (and cheapest) resistance to the lower cost medical alternative. They are also trying to motivate the general public into getting into shape and into getting physicals and screening tests in an effort to keep us all healthier.
Now drug companies are trying to beat the co-pay system so people take their more expensive brand name drugs instead of the generics by offering coupons to the public. With a coupon, the patient's co-pay on a brand name prescription is the same as for a generic. And the insurance companies shoulder the additional cost. The patient doesn't see any difference. The drug company gets to sell the brand name drug and its additional profits. And the insurance companies are stuck with the huge cost.
I currently take five daily prescriptions, plus a few others for 'when needed'. Of the five, two are brand name only, no generic available. One of them, if I get it at the local pharmacy, the co-pay is $105 for a month's supply. If I fill the prescription through the mail order pharmacy, it is a more affordable $65 for a three month supply. For the other, the monthly cost is approximately $2000 (really). I don't know what my co-pay will be because I started taking it after I maxed out my insurance for the year. I will be switching to the mail order pharmacy this year.
I am happy to work with the co-pay system. I make sure I stay in network as well. I am trying to keep my costs down too.
Monday, January 3, 2011
Egad, another partnership?
Can it be? Another partnership in the search for a cure, or in this case a significant cancer detection test? It cant be! It will be announced later today but we already know all sorts of things about it because they announced their announcement before it was announced to get more coverage.
Anyway, I think its very interesting on several levels. Researchers at Mass General Hospital developed a prototype for a microchip which can detect single cancer cells in billions of blood cells. Now, Veridex, part of Johnson & Johnson, and Ortho Biotech Oncology R&D will work to make it commercially available. They are used to the regulatory stuff so can help speed it along. MGH and four other Boston research organizations received a $15 million grant from Stand Up 2 Cancer to test it.
So lots of people are working together. Cooperation is key. I am glad to see the results of donations to Stand Up 2 Cancer. They have raised a lot of awareness but I never really knew what they did with all the money they raised so this is good to see. I am glad also to see that companies are working together to get a new product through the FDA regulatory process.
But they estimate 5 years to market. And is only one project focused on blood borne cancers. These are things like leukemia, lymphoma, and multiple myeloma. There are lots of other cancers out there that are not benefited by this. We will continue to be patients waiting (im)patiently for more news on our cancers.
Anyway, I think its very interesting on several levels. Researchers at Mass General Hospital developed a prototype for a microchip which can detect single cancer cells in billions of blood cells. Now, Veridex, part of Johnson & Johnson, and Ortho Biotech Oncology R&D will work to make it commercially available. They are used to the regulatory stuff so can help speed it along. MGH and four other Boston research organizations received a $15 million grant from Stand Up 2 Cancer to test it.
So lots of people are working together. Cooperation is key. I am glad to see the results of donations to Stand Up 2 Cancer. They have raised a lot of awareness but I never really knew what they did with all the money they raised so this is good to see. I am glad also to see that companies are working together to get a new product through the FDA regulatory process.
But they estimate 5 years to market. And is only one project focused on blood borne cancers. These are things like leukemia, lymphoma, and multiple myeloma. There are lots of other cancers out there that are not benefited by this. We will continue to be patients waiting (im)patiently for more news on our cancers.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Is the Broad Institute the new face of medical research?
Once again in Cambridge MA is a new research outpost - the Broad Institute. I live less than 10 miles from it, probably less than 5 miles (if I was energetic enough to measure it on Google maps). I have barely heard of them. Well, actually I had heard their name and didn't know what they did really. I just thought they were another one of those 'think-tank' places that seem to pop up all over the place around here.
But now that I have read this article about them. Could this be the new face of medical research? Collaboration and cooperation under one roof with no egos involved? And looking at the the human genome and many other areas at the same time? In a place set up for scientists and not for the visiting public? They have floor to ceiling walls that can be written on and added to.
I think this is really cool. People working together to unravel diseases, including cancer. Why can't people work together in other ways to solve problems as well?
If this is the new face of medical research, I am happy.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
In 2011, I want
1. A healthy year. For the past four years I have had more than 60 doctor appointments each year. This year I would like to be healthier so I don't have to go as often. I would also like to see a year of good health for all. H1N1 flu under control, cholera in Haiti under control, good health for all.
2. A political year without mudslinging and bashing. Why must politics be negative? There is no reason to say 'they were stupid' when you could say 'I can make it better'. There is no reason for negativity. No on ever did anything wrong, but someone else can improve on it. Its not like anything can be undone.
3. A year of international stability. Bombings, wars, riots, and more. Why waste money on them? Why not spend the money on taking care of the people in your country instead of letting others blow them up?
4. A year of tolerance. Why hatred and fear mongering? Why places like the Westborough Baptist 'Church' which protests at military funerals? Why spewing hatred and polarization? Does it really matter what one's skin color, beliefs, sex, age, creed, origins, or anything else?
I do wish happiness for all. And a cure for cancer too.
2. A political year without mudslinging and bashing. Why must politics be negative? There is no reason to say 'they were stupid' when you could say 'I can make it better'. There is no reason for negativity. No on ever did anything wrong, but someone else can improve on it. Its not like anything can be undone.
3. A year of international stability. Bombings, wars, riots, and more. Why waste money on them? Why not spend the money on taking care of the people in your country instead of letting others blow them up?
4. A year of tolerance. Why hatred and fear mongering? Why places like the Westborough Baptist 'Church' which protests at military funerals? Why spewing hatred and polarization? Does it really matter what one's skin color, beliefs, sex, age, creed, origins, or anything else?
I do wish happiness for all. And a cure for cancer too.
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