Soy and breast cancer, again

I hate tofu (as you may know) and have been avoiding soy and soy products since my breast cancer diagnosis. There has been a lot of controversy on the subject of soy and breast cancer because of estrogen issues. Now I think I have found some better information.

Some new research was done at the University of Illinois - Champaign/Urbana that was released earlier this week.

"Researchers at the University of Illinois found that the compounds in minimally processed soy flour stimulate genes that suppress cancer, while purified soy isoflavones stimulate oncogenes that promote tumor growth."

Hence the confusion. Soy is good if not processed and helps prevent cancer but if it is processed it can increase cancer risk.

So if you really want you can eat tofu (without me) and soy flour but skip anything with processed soy.

The Poor Patients

Yes we are poor. Not because we have ailments but because we have no money. Chances are if we have ailments which require the expensive new drugs we probably are not working full time and carry the burden of large medical bills. So why do we get hit with these expensive drugs?

The new biologics to treat rheumatoid arthritis cost a patient an average of $2700/year. That's just their co-pay. The new breast cancer drugs have high costs as well. Then there is that new Hepatitis C drug which costs $1,000 per pill. I don't give a rat's ass about the fact that pharma companies have plans to help patients pay for these. Why don't they just charge less for them?

I read an article yesterday, and just wasted 30 minutes looking for it, on how pharma and biotech companies feel they can justify the costs of these medications. It was on a big-wig at some pharma company (and if I could find it again, I would cite it here) saying how big the advances were. In that the new MS drugs allow patients to keep working and being active for decades when previously they would be miserable and not able to move.

So? It was a breakthrough and it helps people be happier and feel better. We get that point. So why do you want to bankrupt us and our insurance companies? Get over it.

If you really want to make us happier and feel better, you really want to rethink your pricing strategies. Thank you.

[Update: Here is the article I couldn't find.]

I'm not going to that hospital, ever

I truly cannot believe this actually happened on some levels in this day and age. At a hospital in England, three patient's notes were mixed up. One woman was told she had breast cancer and she did not. She even had surgery to remove a tumor and lymph nodes.

First of all, how did the patient's notes get mixed up? Did someone drop a pile of papers and they were sorted out incorrectly? Or did someone enter patient's information under the wrong electronic chart? Don't they double check who you are when they update your chart, whether paper or electronic? I know when I am at the doctor's office, they ask me for my name and date of birth several times.

Second, didn't they do a double check on the patient before rushing to surgery? I know before I had surgery, I had a mammogram and an ultrasound. Then they sent me for an MRI before surgery. And everything was triple checked at each step. I can't believe she had surgery based on the results of one test.

I am basically dumbfounded that this happened. I feel so badly for this woman who dealt with the emotional and physical effects of a cancer diagnosis and didn't even have it.

That annual physical

There is a new movement out there that is trying to get rid of the annual physical because they claim it is a costly waste of time.  Really? And your thought process for this is?

I agree an annual physical can seem like a waste of time. But how many people would actually go to the doctor if they didn't think they were sick? How many of you know a few people (who must be healthy because) they never go to the doctor? I know people who are petrified of doctors, who have white coat syndrome that sends their blood pressure sky high at each visit.

But I also do know people who have ailments, including cancer, that would never have been caught if they hadn't gone for their annual physical. A friend's husband never went to the doctor and ended up in an ER with stage IV colon cancer. Yes there is a lesson there.

I am not a big fan of the annual physical but it means I have a PCP who oversees my care and is my go to doctor for issues. If you don't have an annual physical what do you do for the ailments that crop up, or your flu shot, etc? The ER? The walk in clinic at the local pharmacy?

Do yourself a favor and go for your annual physical.

Stress is evil

I have been blogging a lot about my stress filled life. Stress is bad. But stress can be a motivator to make you try harder to do something better. But mostly its just bad.

My non-medical brain says that if you are stressed, you are tense, making bad choices, not getting enough rest. And that all leads to the bad things like high blood pressure, hypertension, and all sorts of other things. Google 'does stress cause cancer' and see how many hits you get. Then Google something a long the lines of the bad effects of stress, there will be lots. And if you search on the good effects of stress, there will be very few.

I spent some time this morning reading about the benefits of yoga. I have no idea why but for some reason I ended up there. I do not do yoga because my doctor says I should not do any exercise that requires me to twist and hold poses - this includes yoga and Pilates.

I have decided I really need to do something about the stressors in my life. Life always does have its ups and downs but learning to cope with them better will help a lot. I am not going to take up meditation - because I don't have time - but I do things that help me that are meditation-like. Knitting for example (google that one and you will understand) and gardening are the two that come to mind. I do one thing and focus on its mindlessness will allow me to relax and decompress. I also need to sleep better so I am rested. And eat better, because you can always eat better. And relax more.

If I prepare myself better for the stress in life, I will not get as stressed. I had too much stress and wasn't getting enough rest and I couldn't handle everything. The last thing I need is any more ailments, stress induced or not. That would be more stress. And I really do not need any more ailments.

Dealing with stress, or not

So I have had a tiny bit of stress in my life recently. And I have been trying to do too much and ended up exhausted. There is a difference between fatigue and exhaustion and being tired. When I hit the wall, I have all three.

Everyone goes through stressful periods in my life. When I am stressed, I become an emotional eater and eat everything in sight. Then when faced with a boat load of stress, I stop eating because I am too stressed. That would be nice, I am too fat, but I really don't need any more stress at this point.

I am going to spend the next seven days avoiding stress. I will get some rest and not stress. I am at the point where I am running out of the oomph I need to keep going. My phone is on quiet time, where I won't get beeps at every CNN headline or FB  notifications or Twitter.

I think if I went to a doctor appointment at this point I might get a reprimand of some kind for being too stressed and doing bad things to my blood pressure and all that. I have a doctor appointment a week from Monday so I have one week to whip myself into shape.

Crap. I'm doomed.

One hell of a day

I finally got some sleep last night and felt better. Until I decided to be normal.

I got up and puttered around. Then I realized I could sit on my a$$ for a couple of hours before meeting a friend at 11. So I raced through the gym and had a fairly good workout for once. I left the gym and met my friend - actually my old boss form the late 1980s. We had lunch and left the diner. Then my day went downhill.

I realized halfway to my car that I didn't have my phone. My wonderful smart phone that has my whole life on it was missing.  I know I had my phone at lunch because I had to charge it in the restaurant, because the battery was at 4%, at the outlet under our table.

But I didn't have it. I went back to the restaurant and it wasn't there. We looked. The waitress, who I know from all the years we have been going there, helped me look. She even got the cook to get down on his hands and knees and look under the radiator. We gave up.

I left and thought maybe my friend picked up my phone by mistake, but I really didn't think she did. I returned my books at the library and drove home, when a little thought occurred to me. I can find my phone online. I logged in and it said the phone was still at the diner.

I called them and said I would come back with a flashlight so we could look under the radiators. We still couldn't find it. An older woman asked if we could find her bottle of pills that she had dropped at home.  We still couldn't find it.

I went back home and looked online again and it showed that it was still at the diner. I knew it wasn't in the diner. But I thought maybe I dropped it outside instead and there was this big van parked nearby - maybe it was underneath.

So I went back again (its only 1/4 mile from home) and parked across the street. I looked in the gutter, I tried to look under cars. Then I got the idea that maybe someone turned it into to a nearby store. Presto, it was in the third store I went to. It was very stressful.

Then I finally ran some errands and came home to relax. I do not need any more stress at all. I will relax. I will relax. I will relax. I will relax. I will relax. I will relax. I will relax. I will relax. I will relax. I will relax. I will relax. I will relax. I will relax. I will relax. I will relax. Some day.