Now the Republicans are waging war on the Democrats over women’s breasts, claiming that the recent recommendations concerning screening mammograms by the United States Preventative Task Force are part of Obama’s socialist plan for health care rationing.

Rubbish.

If anything, the new recommendations will well serve the insurance companies which have purchased Senators on both sides of the aisle but most lavishly on the Republican side. All those who oppose the slightest hint of a public option, which the people overwhelmingly want, are steadfastly loyal to the concept that health is not a public good but a venue for profit. When I looked up the US Preventative Task Force, I discovered that one of their partners is America’s Health Insurance Plans which represents 1300 insurance companies.  Just one example of the lobbyists sprinkled throughout the political system of federal advisory panels which Obama has targeted for removal. 

Gina Kolata of the New York Times writes an excellent article which lays out the history of screening guidelines. The experts have never agreed and never will. They fight over populations and cost benefit while individual women and their doctors must decide for themselves. We are told that they wish to save us the anxiety of yearly mammograms. Where are my smelling salts, ere I swoon?

One of Ms. Kolata’s observations went to my heart.

“…the test is finding cancers that grow so slowly that if they were left alone they would never be noticed or cause any problem in a woman’s lifetime. Since the harmless cancers (my italics) look the same as deadly cancers, they are treated as if they are potentially lethal, with surgery, chemotherapy and radiation.”

I was diagnosed with one of these “harmless cancers”—Ductal Carcinoma In Situ (DCIS). This is a cancer which arises in the milk ducts and is non- invasive right up until it turns into an invasive cancer at which point it is called something else. DCIS is controversial in the ivory towers of academia where they argue whether to even label it as a cancer. Twenty percent of all breast cancers picked up by mammography are DCIS. In some women, it lies dormant--in other women, it rises up to kill her. Unless they can predict which woman will live and which will die, they must treat you for this.

I sought care at my state medical school where a woman can expect the best and most up-to-date treatment. My doctors gave me the choice of a lumpectomy followed by radiation and chemotherapy (91% cure rate) or a simple mastectomy (99% cure rate). They did not tell me that my DCIS was harmless. They did not say that I should do nothing. I chose the best odds.

As far as the screening goes, I believe that women will follow the course which gives them the most comfort. My mammogram showed the telltale linear calcifications but not the 4 cm mass. The ultrasound showed nothing. The MRI was sensitive enough to pick up the DCIS, and I will be followed with MRI as well as mammograms. I believe that, rather than discouraging annual mammograms and breast self examinations, the illustrious panel should have recommended adding MRI screening which does not entail a radiation dose. 

For my friends here on OS, I have really missed you and have stopped by to read here and there. I've been juggling graduate school through all of this. Will take three incompletes, but I plan on graduating on time. I have had a lot of support. 

My best friend hosted a Bye Bye Boobie party for me complete with a cake.

And balloons.