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Re: Komen pulls screening grants from Planned Parenthood
Planned Parenthood provides vital primary health care (cancer screenings, sexually transmitted infection screening and treatment, well-woman care, and contraception) to millions of people who have nowhere else to go. County health departments do NOT prioritize women's health. Ninety-seven percent of what Planned Parenthood does is that work. Three percent of what they do is provide privately funded abortion services. People who want to kill off Planned Parenthood don't care about the post-natal people who will be harmed if they succeed. That's irrational and logically (and ethically) inconsistent.
When I was young and uninsured I used Planned Parenthood for my health care, including contraception. I could not have afforded it otherwise. If you are opposed to abortion then you should be actively promoting contraception. Yet every Republican presidential candidate has started saying he has a problem with that as well. For crying out loud, this is the 21st century and there are seven billion people on the planet. Contraception is good for all of us.
As the article I posted yesterday indicated, "pro-life" states have the highest death rates from cervical cancer--precisely because they won't use their federal tax money to fund women's health clinics like Planned Parenthood. Seriously? Cervical cancer??? Unlike breast cancer, the screening test actually does catch it in its precancerous state, and a cheap, easy little procedure will get rid of it. Even if cancer develops, it's so slow-growing that it's an outrage and a scandal that any woman anywhere in our country ever dies from it. Here are a couple of CDC maps that show the occurrence rate and death rate: http://www.cdc.gov/cancer/cervical/statistics/state.htm
I didn't say SKG is bad. I said it's worthwhile to take a closer look at them. Nancy Brinker was quoted last fall as saying she didn't think the cure for breast cancer would come from a laboratory. That was probably to defend the fact that only 19% of the money they bring in goes to research. Can she name any other disease since the nineteenth century that was cured anywhere BUT a laboratory? The only thing she has done to become an "expert" in this is raise a lot of money and gain a lot of notoriety. That, unfortunately, is what happens when you use a "free market" model for solving a massive public health problem.
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Amy
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4/19/11 Diagnosed invasive ductal carcinoma in left breast; 2.3 cm tumor, 1 axillary lymph node, weakly ER+, HER2+++
4/29/11 CT scan shows suspicious lesions on liver and lungs
5/17/11 liver biopsy
5/24/11 liver met confirmed--Stage IV at diagnosis
5/27/11 Begin weekly Taxol & Herceptin for 3 months (standard of care at the time of my DX)
7/18/11 Switch to weekly Abraxane & Herceptin due to Taxol allergy
8/29/11 CT scan shows no new lesions & old lesions shrinking
9/27/11 Finish Abraxane. Start Herceptin every 3 weeks. Begin taking Arimidex
10/17/11--Brain MRI--No Brain mets
12/5/11 PET scan--Almost NED
5/15/12 PET scan shows progression-breast/chest/spine (one vertebra)
5/22/12 Stop taking Arimidex; stay on Herceptin
6/11/12 Started Tykerb and Herceptin on clinical trial (w/no chemo)
9/24/12 CT scan--No new mets. Everything stable.
3/11/13 CT Scan--two small new possible mets and odd looking area in left lung getting larger.
4/2/13--Biopsy of suspicious area in lower left lung. Mets to lung confirmed.
4/30/13 Begin Kadcyla/TDM-1
8/16/13 PET scan "mixed," with some areas of increased uptake, but also some definite improvement, so I'll stay on TDM-1/Kadcyla.
11/11/13 Finally get hormone receptor results from lung biopsy of 4/2/13. My cancer is no longer ER positive.
11/13/13 PET scan mixed results again. We're calling it "stable." Problems breathing on exertion.
2/18/14 PET scan shows a new lesion and newly active lymph node in chest, other progression. Bye bye TDM-1.
2/28/14 Begin Herceptin/Perjeta every 3 weeks.
6/8/14 PET "mixed," with no new lesions, and everything but lower lungs improving. My breathing is better.
8/18/14 PET "mixed" again. Upper lungs & one spine met stable, lower lungs less FDG avid, original tumor more avid, one lymph node in mediastinum more avid.
9/1/14 Begin taking Xeloda one week on, one week off. Will also stay on Herceptin and Perjeta every three weeks.
12/11/14 PET Scan--no new lesions, and everything looks better than it did.
3/20/15 PET Scan--no new lesions, but lower lung lesions larger and a bit more avid.
4/13/15 Increasing Xeloda dose to 10 days on, one week off.
7/1/15 Scan "mixed" again, but suggests continuing progression. Stop Xeloda. Substitute Abraxane every 3 weeks starting 7/13.
10/28/15 PET scan shows dramatic improvement everywhere. All lesions except lower lungs have resolved; lower lungs noticeably improved.
12/18/15 Last Abraxane. Continue on Herceptin and Perjeta alone beginning 1/8/16.
1/27/16 PET scan shows cancer is stable.
5/11/16 PET scan shows uptake in some areas that were resolved on the last two scans.
6/3/16 Begin Kadcyla and Tykerb combination
6/5 - 6/23 Horrible diarrhea from K&T together. Got pneumonia.
7/15/16 Begin Kadcyla only every 3 weeks.
9/6/16 Begin radiation therapy on right lung lesion that caused the pneumonia.
10/3/16 Last of 12 radiation treatments to right lung.
11/4/16 Huffing and puffing, low O2, high heart rate, on tiniest bit of exertion. Diagnosed as radiation pneumonitis. Treated with Prednisone.
11/11/16 PET scan shows significant improvement to radiated part of right lung BUT a bunch of new lung lesions, and the bone met is getting worse.
11/22/16 Begin Eribulin and Herceptin. H every 3 weeks. E two weeks on, one week off.
3/6/17 Scan shows progression in lungs. Bone met a little better.
3/23/17 Lung biopsy. Tumor sampled is ER-, PR+ (5%), HER2+++. Getting Herceptin and Perjeta as a maintenance treatment.
5/31/17 Port placement
6/1/17 Start Navelbine & Tykerb
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