January 25, 2012 - Posted by tamilb - 2 Comments
Bernie Siegel, MD, with one of his furry friends
Yesterday, I had an amazing phone interview with Bernie Siegel, MD, best-selling author and pioneer of body-mind-spirit philosophies. I’ll share the interview next week, but here’s a little tease.
I met Bernie years ago when he came to a conference my company was hosting, and I was the PR representative who had the great privilege of coordinating publicity with him. I was amazed that he wanted me to deal directly with him; not his agent. And when I finally got to meet him, he greeted me with a hug and was as kind and generous as he appeared to be in his books. Later, when I was writing From Incurable to Incredible, I asked if he would review it for a cover quote, which turned into a foreword for the book.
If you’re not familiar with Bernie, back in the ’70s when doctors thought he was a wacko for even suggesting it, he shared what he had learned from caring for ”Exceptional Cancer Patients. Bernie explains it beautifully in a post on his site: www.BernieSiegel.com:
“I can recall, as an intern, realizing that the seniors with hip fractures, who were noisy and demanding, didn’t develop pneumonia and die while the submissive, quiet seniors, who never raised their voice or caused a problem, had a much higher mortality rate.
By speaking up and becoming a character or problem patient, you become identified as a person and not by your room number or disease and, therefore, are far less likely to have a fatal or non-fatal medical error made while being cared for. The word ‘patient’ derives its meaning from submissive sufferer. That is not a good thing to be when hospitalized or receiving medical treatment of any kind. You need to be a respant, or responsible participant if you want to heal and survive.
We now know from studies how one’s emotions and personality affect survival rates. I was criticized years ago for speaking about many things; no one had researched because no one believed they made sense, which are now scientific. Simple things like laughter affecting the survival of cancer patients and loneliness affecting the genes which control immune function are now proven to be true by studies.”
I am finding that this ability to speak up and stand up for myself rings true in my personal life, as well. I am learning to say “no” to people who drain me and give nothing back … even if it’s a close relative. It may go against age-old convention, but I want to live, and I believe that being in a toxic, demanding relationship is dangerous to my health.
I realized that being involved in the drama, the demands and the narcissism of this individual was diverting me from my primary purpose: to heal and support others needing healing. I started sniping at my husband, not giving my full attention to my daughter, and most importantly, not fully attending to my own emotional and physical needs. I am not angry at this person; I’m just exhausted. One thing this cancer has taught me is to stand up for myself. And while it might make me seem uncaring; I think it’s part of being an ”Exceptional Cancer Patient,” as Bernie would say.
I was taking a walk the other day and had this vision of releasing black balloons into the atmosphere. I was doing this with love, praying that they reach their highest good. When guilt comes up, I remind myself that I need to take care of ”little Tami” who needs my love and support. And I’m grateful that I receive support from others, who do care and don’t place high demands on me.
As I was speaking to Bernie, I felt grateful that God brought his book, Love, Medicine and Miracles, into my life when I was first diagnosed. It changed my life, and his words continue to transform my life. He shrugs off the compliments, telling me it was already in me. Perhaps; but Bernie’s ideas lit a fire and inspired me to do this blog and From Incurable to Incredible.
Thank you Bernie! I hope you all join me next week when I share Part 1 of our interview!
January 20, 2012 - Posted by tamilb - 5 Comments
Let the light shine in ...
I was just mentioning to my daughter how the days are getting longer. I no longer drive her to school in the dark, and I’ve noticed it’s still light out when my husband comes home from work. Sometimes when we’re in the darkness, it’s hard to remember, that this too will pass and light will come. My experience is, with my ups and downs from cancer, is that the darkness does pass and I can enjoy my life and lightness as it comes. Today’s guest post from Lexi Soulios shows us how we can bring light into the darkest situations:
If you find it difficult or scary to entertain hope, here are a few ideas to help:
1. Consider the Possibilities. Just because you are afraid does not mean that you’re headed on a track towards the worst possible outcome. Rather than miring yourself in negative projections, try opening up to the many possibilities that lay before you.
2. Focus on relationships. While everyone needs some alone time, isolating is a sure path down a slippery slope. Spend time with people who accept and love you the way you are. Share meals with friends and family. The more you can feel connected with others, the more naturally hopeful and positive you will become.
3. Choose to Feel. If you try to repress or ignore your emotions, they get stuck and eventually shut you down or cause you to lash out unfairly at others. If you can instead feel whatever comes up (e.g., fear, sadness, confusion, anger, jealousy) when it arises, you’ll remain much clearer to see the goodness in your life.
4. Trust Yourself. Believe in your own resourcefulness and creativity to handle whatever comes your way. This will help lift anxieties about the future and give you confidence in your ability to turn things around.
5. Make a plan. Find out all the information you need and start setting up a plan. It’s much easier to relax and feel hopeful when the most pressing or nerve-wracking decisions have already been dealt with.
6. Accept What Is. And sometimes what is, is difficult. Hope isn’t about avoiding what’s real. It’s about knowing that good is still possible, no matter what things look like at the moment.
Lexi is the Outreach Coordinator at Jeans Cream http://www.jeanscream.com. Jeans Cream is a rich, smooth cream created by a two-time breast cancer survivor. It has helped more than 20,000 people cope with radiation side effects, eczema, psoriasis, sunburn and more. Lexi writes for the Jeans Cream blog, which offers hope, support and comfort to anyone dealing with a major illness.
January 17, 2012 - Posted by tamilb - 2 Comments
Lisa Quintana: her story is truly an inspiration!
Lately I’ve been visiting a wonderful online forum,
www.Inspire.com. It has an advanced breast cancer group, and once in while, I’ll share one of my blog posts and participate in discussions with other members. One discussion really caught my attention: asking people who’ve survived stage IV cancer more than 5 years to share . Lisa Quintana, who is 14 years out from her stage IV diagnosis, is one of those amazing survivors. I asked her to share her story with you, and she graciously agreed:
I was devastated. I was 37 years old and had been told that I had StageIV breast cancer. Three and a half years earlier, when my baby daughter was 15 months old, I had been diagnosed with breast cancer and been through treatment. Now they were telling me that I had a 10% survival chance over a 5 year period. I knew no one with Stage IV cancer … and people who knew of others with mets were saying “Oh! She’s doing so well, it’s been three years.” Well dang! I had only been married for 7 years, and my daughter was not yet five years old!
I was a mess. But I began to look at it differently. Ten people out of 100 survived. I was young, I was healthy, and I was going to beat this. Lots of people started praying for me, even people I had never met and people of other faiths. It did my heart good to think of a synagogue nearby who had been praying for this protestant chick who didn’t know them. It still makes me laugh.
Prayer, great work by my oncologist, Dr. Samuel Bobrow, and my own stubbornness has brought me here. . . 14 years after that first Stage IV bombshell.
In 2010, I was diagnosed with more metastasis, and am now in treatment for that. I’ve finished 9 months of Abraxane and am waiting to try new drugs as that didn’t have the lasting results I needed.
I started my blog,
Long Time Living, in order to give other Stage IV survivors hope and my earlier posts are worth taking a look at. Hope is important….who would have thought that I would be here 14 years after such a diagnosis? I still don’t know of anyone else who has been “out” that long…even if for the last year I have been in the trenches again.
I think there are two saying which come to mind and I didn’t know about them until this go-around… One is from A. A. Milne in Winnie the Pooh: “Promise me you’ll always remember: you’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.”
The other is attributed to John Wayne: “Courage is being scared to death – but saddling up anyway… .” For those of us who are facing the recurrence, I think this is apropos, and then for those of us who are not, it still works.
For all its twists and turns, this cancer roller coaster has been quite a ride … and yet, like a roller coaster, as scary as some parts are, there is also exhilaration and wonder, and a rush. None of us know what is in store for us. It is our job to do the best we can and enjoy it as much as possible, no matter how scared we may be.
January 12, 2012 - Posted by tamilb - 7 Comments
If you've seen the movie, March of the Penguins, you might remember how they huddle together for warmth when subzero temps hit. I feel your warmth.
I admit that I’m hesitant to share some of the low points of my cancer experience. After all, this site is called Miracle Survivors! I’m supposed to be this shining example of positivity and vitality! Yeah right … The truth of the matter is, I’m human, and this cancer s*&@! sometimes sucks. It’s unfair to you and me if I don’t share all aspects of this journey and let myself be vulnerable. The people who so bravely shared their stories in From Incurable to Incredible and this blog did this for us. Their stories wouldn’t be complete if they didn’t share their struggles.
What I didn’t expect was the unbelievable outpouring of support and sharing of wisdom I’ve received the past couple days. I consider it my mission to help other cancer survivors and their loved ones. It has come back to me tenfold, to say the least.
After meeting and interview Jonny Imerman for my book, I became inspired to volunteer for his organization, Imerman Angels, as an Angel Mentor. Since then, I’ve been matched with several stage IV breast cancer survivors and have developed wonderful relationships with them. One of my newest Angel mentees, Beth, sent me this incredible message the other day that brought tears to my eyes. She is echoing back a message I’ve told so many people. I needed the reminder, and wanted to share it with you (She’s a beautiful writer, don’t you think?):
I’ve just read your blog and am aghast at what you went through yesterday. It’s a situation we all dread, and yet we know that sooner or later each and every one of us is going to be faced with something large or small that will utterly slaughter our confidence and reduce us to a quivering wreck.
Your experience yesterday and your courage in telling the world how you reacted, gives each and every one of us, strength to face whatever life throws at us. If you can do it and still be proactive, then we all can.
We are slaves to numbers, numbers, numbers. Over a lifetime we have been programmed to live by that sword, respecting and believing them to hold some kind of magic key to our existence. They do not. They are merely a unit of measurement designated by man to herd us all into a controllable world.
Without knowing the exact time on our clock, the sun will still rise and set. Without knowing the days of the week or the months of the year, spring will still follow winter and without counting months and trimesters. New babies will still be born.
Your world yesterday was shattered by a number. A number we have learned to put our faith in and by which we have been conditioned to judge our lifespan. It is something against which, because of this conditioning, we have no defense. Yet against the odds we survive. Against the ‘odds?’ There’s those numbers again. All we can do is hope, when faced with what you went through yesterday. We can think things through, take small steps, and tell the world that in the end numbers are merely a unit of measurement. They can never, in a trillion years, measure the human spirit.
Yes, Beth, numbers are just numbers. Isn’t that what I always say? Thanks to all of you who have lifted me up and reminded me of the truth. Today is a much better day, and I look forward to many more.
January 10, 2012 - Posted by tamilb - 25 Comments
Picking up the phone can be hazardous to your mental health!
Not to scare all of you with the title, but for me, this was indeed a scary day.
I was heading out the door, all dressed up and ready to go to a networking function, when I received a call from my doctor at the Block Center for Integrative Cancer Treatment. He told me, with alarm in his voice, that my tumor markers were off the charts. Usually counts should be no more than 38; mine was almost 1,800! They took a lot of blood when I went Friday and unbeknown-st to me, they did a tumor marker test. They didn’t do it the previous time I visited their Chicago center, and my oncologists here never do tumor markers.
Needless to say, I was a wreck! I did some Internet searches on tumor markers and that helped. But then I just sat down and had a good cry and had a begging fit with God. I released the problem to God and admitted my powerlessness. Then I picked up a spiritual book that helped me in the past. As if an angel came to my rescue, I received an email from my fabulous cancer/life coach Flo Singer about a payment matter. I responded with the news. I immediately received a call from her.
Flo gets it. She’s a 10 year survivor of stage IV rectal cancer, and has shown no evidence of disease since she completed treatment back then. You might remember the post I did about Flo. On our call, Flo talked me down so I was calm and helped me strategize how I was going to handle the situation and take better care of myself than I have been. She even made me laugh with her bawdy humor. I decided one way to take care of myself: get the facts. I called the PET scan place, which is located only about a mile from my house, and asked if I could get my scan results a day earlier than they promised. (I’ve been picking up my scans myself rather than wait for the doctor) They complied.
I had visions of my body being eaten up by tumors. Thank God that wasn’t the case. There might be a slight progression on one of my spots, but nothing new to worry about. Of course I need Dr. Sledge to explain it to me when we go to Indy on Friday. I mean, how can the average person understand all the medical mumbo jumbo they put in these reports?
So this just may mean I need to change treatments. We already discussed what we’d do if the Xeloda stopped working. I’m going to see if they can do a biopsy to see if the cancer has changed (which sometimes happens once breast cancer metastasizes). That way, we’ll have more info to go on. If it hasn’t changed and I’m still ER/PR positive, I might see if I can get on a clinical trial that is testing a drug that reverses hormone medication resistance.
Knowing that death is not imminent, I was able to take my beloved daughter to Michael’s to buy beads (her new hobby), take a walk with my husband, and finally eat a decent meal. This stress totally and remarkably killed my appetite!
I thank all of you for your prayers and positive vibes. You know who you are. And I’ll let you know more after my visit with the doctor on Friday.
I’d be curious if any of you have had experience with tumor markers blowing off the roof like mine did. I still don’t understand the discrepancy. Please comment and share your experience!
January 9, 2012 - Posted by tamilb - 1 Comment
- Tammie and I at the Pink Power Mom brunch.
When I attended the Bright Starts Pink Power Mom fifth anniversary in November, I was overwhelmed by the magnitude of caring and accomplished women in one place. It was a challenge to get to speak with the almost 40 Pink Power Moms over the weekend, but I’m certainly glad I sat next to Tammie Denyse at our closing brunch.
I knew I liked her right away because of her fabulous first name! 
But I became more impressed as she spoke passionately about the mission of her organization, Carrie’s TOUCH (Teaching, Outreach, Understanding, Caring and Healing). Tammie founded her organization (named after her deceased mother) after she was diagnosed with stage 2B breast cancer in 2005.
Tammie says she started Carrie’s TOUCH because she could not find African American support groups that addressed this population’s unique issues. To access the needs of the community, she conducted a needs assessment and found a study by the American Cancer Society that showed that African Americans had a higher mortality rate from breast cancer even though there was a lower incidence in their population.
An associate pastor at an African Methodist Episcopal Church in Sacramento, she shared with several congregations that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer . She was overwhelmed by the number of women who approached her after the service telling her, in whispering tones, how they, too, were survivors.
“I found out there were 12 women in our congregation who had breast cancer, but never talked about it,” Tammie says. “In the African American culture, health issues are not discussed. I discovered after I was diagnosed that I had four aunts who had breast cancer.”
In addition to support, Carrie’s TOUCH’S focus in on promoting education and awareness in the African American community and beyond. The organization also supports research on the reasons African Americans are diagnosed at later stages and developing it at earlier ages. They are currently in a partnership with UCLA Ph.D candidate Claudia Davis to research, “The Psychological Functioning Among African American Breast Cancer Survivors.”
Tammie says there is a mistrust of the medical community because of past injustices, such as the infamous Tuskegee syphilis study. The long-term study’s researchers studied poor African Americans with syphilis but neither told them of their illness nor treated them. To overcome this barrier, Carrie’s TOUCH reaches out to churches, schools, community events, parties … anywhere where people congregate.
Tammie recently mailed me Carrie’s TOUCH 18-month calendar, which features photos and stories of African American survivors, including one male. The beautiful calendar also serves as an educational tool, with information about cancer staging, chemotherapy, surgery options and more. Proceeds benefit Carrie’s TOUCH programs and services. To learn more and purchase a calendar, visit their site at www.carriestouch.org.
January 4, 2012 - Posted by tamilb - 9 Comments
Financial pain can be another cancer side effect.
I read a heartbreaking post from a fellow blogger, whose health and finances have been drained by cancer treatments. At a time when her focus needs to be on healing, she is struggling to make ends meet. Unable to help her boyfriend keep up mortgage payments, she had to move from her beautiful home to subsidized housing in an unsavory part of town. And she only moved up on the waiting list by stating she would die within a year!
According to the article,”Breaking the Bank,” in the winter issue of CURE Magazine, the number of medical bankruptcies has risen from 46 percent of bankruptcies in 2001 to 69 percent by 2007. At issue, according the article, is not just people who are uninsured, but also insured individuals who are expected to pick up more of the bill. It cites the oral chemo, Xeloda, which I’ve been taking and, thankfully, it’s working. I’m one of the lucky ones because my insurance covers it, but our copay is a whopping $250 per month. Some insurers won’t even cover it, but will pay for 5-FU, its infusion equivalent, which is more costly and inconvenient.
For some, including my blogger friend, trying to pay for cancer treatments can lead to financial ruin. This is totally unacceptable! We do not live in third-world country; this is the USA. How can this happen? Well, I’m finding it happens more than you realize. It’s especially difficult in today’s tough economy. There are even employers who let go of workers going through chemo treatments. I’ve had it happen to a couple of friends.
Luckily, there are some organizations that are here to help. I blog for an organization called The Pink Fund, which provides financial assistance to breast cancer survivors in Michigan. It was founded by my friend Molly MacDonald, who found herself in dire straits when she was going through treatment. She wanted to ensure no one else had to face the possibility of homelessness just because they receive a cancer diagnosis. They help pay mortgage and rent, heating bills and other necessities that aren’t offered by some hospitals and pharmaceutical companies who provide medical financial aid. They currently are just assisting Michigan residents, but are asking donors to contribute $20.11 (in honor of last year) so they can spread their services to other states. To learn more, go to www.thepinkfund.org.
The CURE article provides a list of resources for financial aid (most are for self-fundraising and prescription costs). Here are some other organizations I’ve found that help survivors facing hard times cover other costs:
National:
American Cancer Society: http://www.cancer.org
American Childhood Cancer Organization: Call 301-962-3520 (Responds to calls in English only) or staff@acco.org
Patient Advocate Association: Provides a comprehensive resource guide for patients and families. http://www.patientadvocate.org/report.php
Social Security Disability: (My note: In most cases, stage IV cancer survivors who are in treatment are eligible) http://www.ssa.gov/pgm/disability.htm
Regional/Local:
Colorado (Larimer County and Windsor, CO): Hope Lives http://hopelives.org/services.html (includes complimentary services, too)
Massachusetts: The Ellie Fund http://elliefund.org/about/
Michigan: The Pink Fund http://www.thepinkfund.org
New York and Arizona: Friends for Life Foundation http://www.friendsforlifefoundation.org/about_the_foundation.html
Oklahoma: Oklahoma Brain Tumor Foundation: http://www.okbtf.org
Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware: Dolan Fund (For families whose children are living with cancer)http://www.kadmf.org/programs.cfm
Philadelphia/Poconos: Linda Creed Foundation http://www.lindacreed.org/emergency_fund.php
Portland, OR area: Komak Cares http://www.komakcares.org/
Southern California: Breast Cancer Angels http://breastcancerangels.org/
Southwest Ohio: Pink Ribbon Girls (meals, transportation, childcare, etc.): http://www.pinkribbongirls.org
Know of any other organizations? Contact me or comment on this post! Thanks to everyone and here’s to a healthy and prosperous new year!
December 28, 2011 - Posted by tamilb - 3 Comments
One of the highlights of my year: Meeting Kris Carr, author of the Crazy, Sexy Cancer books, at The Pink Fund luncheon.
This time of year is always one of reflection to me. My husband Mike and I took a nice long walk this weekend and discussed what an amazing year 2011 was for us. Molly MacDonald, founder of the Pink Fund that provides financial aid to Michigan residents undergoing treatment, asked me to blog about it for her site. So I’m sharing this with you, too.
Medical Health: The year started off with a bang when I learned that my latest hormonal treatment, Aromasin, was no longer working. We had tried almost all the other hormonal options; all failed. On the flip side, the tumor in my liver took a major hit after doing Selective Internal Radiation Therapy the previous September. The PET scan showed major reduction, and later scans showed no cancer activity at all. I dreaded going back on chemotherapy, but started on Xeloda, an oral chemo. With minimum side effects, it has held the “two pesky spots” in my armpit at bay this entire year. I am blessed.
Holistic Health: I’m convinced it’s not just the traditional treatment keeping the “C” word in check. Since my recurrence in 2008, I have changed my entire lifestyle, eating whole organic foods, exercising more, doing yoga, and taking various supplements. But I never felt like it was coordinated very well. This past summer, I went to the Chicago area to visit The Block Center for Integrative Cancer Care. I was given a full blood work up and sent home with a new diet, supplements and a game plan to keep my mind and spirit in healthy condition. I go back for my six-month check-up in January.
I was booked! It was a great year for spreading hope via my book, From Incurable to Incredible, MiracleSurvivors.com and speaking engagements near and far. From Incurable to Incredible won first place in the medical category of the 2011 Readers Favorite Awards, and was a finalist in the International Book Awards competition. And I was extremely shocked and humbled to be selected as a top 10 breast cancer blogger on Twitter by Cision Navigator. I traveled to Salt Lake City, Houston, West Palm Beach, the Poconos, New York, Cleveland, and more for speaking engagements … and fun, too! It was so wonderful meeting cancer professionals, survivors and their families!
Personal space: My greatest accomplishment and joy, however, was time spent with my husband and 12-year-old daughter, as well as extended family and friends. I’ve lived to help my daughter’s transition into adolescence, junior high, hormone high and lows, braces and all. And I was there to celebrate my husband’s new job and its new possibilities for him and our family. Also, I reconnected with friends I haven’t seen since high school and college and enjoyed many new friendships both on- and offline. I am so grateful to have a year of health; each day is like a huge bonus to me.
Sad news: But the year also brought tragedy, as I said goodbye to several friends who lost their lives to cancer. Most recently, my friend Cyndi passed away. Medical bills contributed to her family’s financial crisis, resulting in the need to live in various friends’ homes over the last couple of years. Just as her family was getting back up on their feet, Cyndi died at age 61. If only there was an organization in Ohio like The Pink Fund to help her. I believe financial stress was a contributor to her deteriorating health.
I invite you to rise to the Pink Fund’s challenge to give at least $20.11 by year’s end, so they can help more breast cancer survivors like Cyndi. I know that Molly MacDonald, its founder, would like to expand to other states (I’m hoping for Ohio!). Your donation would help. To learn more go to www.thepinkfund.org.
December 20, 2011 - Posted by tamilb - 2 Comments
My Pink Ribbon Girls gang at the Conference for Young Women with Breast Cancer. Ashley is second from right.
I’ve talked about my friend Ashley Oehler before on these pages. My lovely friend passed away from inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) a few months ago, and I’m always wondering how her family, including her adorable son and daughter, are doing now. Well, I received my answer yesterday thanks to a local newscast, which featured her family and how they are coping without her during the holidays.
I am amazed by children’s resiliency and how cancer makes them wise beyond their years. Little Audrey, her daughter, talked about how her mom always wanted another child but couldn’t because of the cancer. It reminded me of my own daughter and our situation. (Our plans for a second child were thwarted when I was first diagnosed back in 2002.) I was relieved the family bond seems strengthened and that they are there to help each other. Ashley would have been proud.
She also would have been heartened to learn of new research that provides hope for people with this rare and very aggressive type of cancer. Researchers at George Mason University pinpointed a key driver in IBC that is leading to new ways to treat it. This summer, doctors at Philadelphia’s Fox chase Cancer Center began treating IBC patients with a drug originally developed for non-small cell lung cancer because Mason research revealed a commonality between the two cancers.
They discovered how the cancer works using proteomics, an approach that looks at proteins on the genes. If researchers had stuck with traditional genome analysis, they would have missed the protein that can be targeted to treat IBC.
“DNA is the information archive, but it is the proteins that do the work,” explains Emanuel “Chip” Petricoin, co-director of Mason’s Center for Applied Proteomics and Molecular Medicine. “Proteins are the software of the cell. They basically direct the cell to die, grow, divide and metastasize. While many think of cancer as a genomic disease, it’s actually a proteomic disease. What is actually deranged in the cancer cells are protein pathways. These protein pathways form a linked network of interaction, talking to each other.”
And not everyone has the same network of activated proteins. If a patient’s cancer doesn’t have a particular protein turned on that the drug targets, then the drug fails.
When the Mason team began to study the cells from IBC patients, they were surprised to find a protein called anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK), which was previously unconnected to breast cancer. The best news is there’s already a drug on the market for treating patients with activated ALK and can be used for IBC, too, Petricoin says. If the results of their work are validated in further patients, more people stand to benefit because ALK activation appears much more often in IBC patients than in lung cancer patients.
Researchers are working to find better drugs or a new combination of drugs to treat the cancer as patients build resistance to existing treatments. They’re also searching for new ways to use current drugs that are already in the pipeline or have been cleared by the FDA. They are also applying its know-how to all other types of breast cancer and to colorectal cancer, multiple myeloma and cancers of the prostate, brain, lung and ovaries.
The study was funded by an American Airlines/Komen Race for the Cure Promise Grant. Ashley would have been happy that all the effort she and her friends and family did to raise money for Komen is going to a good cause. I just wish it came sooner so she could still be with us.
For more information about the research, contact Michele McDonald at mmcdon15@gmu.edu.
December 16, 2011 - Posted by tamilb - 0 Comments
Could the ugliest about this sweater lie beneath?
From time to time, people approach me with topics that I feel will interest you. While I had a lumpectomy and did not need implants, I have so many friends who have undergone breast reconstruction and have had resulting complications. The following is a guest post on this topic from Charlie Shavargo, LCSW, a social worker and a freelance writer who specializes in body dysmorphia and cosmetic surgery cases.
The cosmetic surgery industry makes $10 billion every year, with more than 10 percent coming from breast augmentation. So it’s not much of a surprise that, when faced with the threat of billions of dollars lost in class action lawsuits, implant manufacturers found a way to buy their own version of the truth.
In 1992, a moratorium was placed on silicone implants when lawsuits related to silicone poisoning started becoming more prominent. In reaction to this, the FDA had a third party conduct a clinical study to determine their safety. This wouldn’t be all that bad if the third party was a reputable unbiased company; but the study was conducted by Allergan and Mentor (a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson), both major manufacturers of breast implants.
