My Mom just sent me this.

[Jeanette X]

Proposed Mastectomy Law Change

(written by a surgeon);

I'll never forget the look in my patients eyes when I had to tell them they had to go home with the drains, new exercises and no breast. I remember begging the doctors to keep these women in the hospital longer, only to hear that they would, but their hands were tied by the insurance companies.

So there I sat with my patient giving them the instructions they needed to take care of themselves, knowing full well they didn't grasp half of what I was saying, because the glazed, hopeless, frightened look spoke louder than the quiet 'Thank you' they muttered.

A mastectomy is when a woman's breast is removed in order to remove cancerous breast cells/tissue. If you know anyone who has had a mastectomy, you may know that there is a lot of discomfort and pain afterwards. Insurance companies are trying to make this an outpatient procedure. Let's give women the chance to recover properly in the hospital for 2 days after surgery.

This Mastectomy Bill is in Congress now. It takes 2 seconds to do this and is very important. Please take the time and do it really quick! The Breast Cancer Hospitalization Bill is important legislation for all women.

Please send this to everyone in your address book. If there was ever a time when our voices and choices should be heard, this is one of those times. If you're receiving this, it's because I think you will take the 30 seconds to go to vote on this issue and send it on to others you know who will do the same.

There's a bill called the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act which will require insurance companies to cover a minimum 48-hour hospital stay for patients undergoing a mastectomy. It's about eliminating the 'drive-through mastectomy' where women are forced to go home just a few hours after surgery, against the wishes of their doctor, still groggy from anesthesia and sometimes withdrainage tubes still attached.

Lifetime Television has put this bill on their web page with a petition drive to show your support.. Last year over half the House signed on. Please sign the petition below . You need not give more than your name and zip code number.

http://www.mylifetime.com/my-lifetim...ancer-petition

http://www.snopes.com/politics/medical/mastectomy.asp

[Tadao]

You know, I'd care more about what these people say if they wouldn't focus on one type of person. HOW ABOUT A BILL THAT MAKES IT ILLEGAL TO DUMP DRUGGED PATIENTS PERIOD.

Fuck you bitches.

[Jeanette X]

Insurance companies are apparently trying to make this specifically an outpatient procedure.

[Tadao]

Yeah, and they'll continue to do it one by one to every procedure if they can get away with people not dropping dead from having been kick out of the hospital.

Divided we fall.

[kahljorn]

i dont get it.

[Tadao]

Women think they are being singled out again.

[kahljorn]

I don't understand why they need to be in the hospital for 2 days longer unless they're gonna die or some shit. I'm sure they could like I dunno, pay to stay in the hospital if it is such a big deal.
And I dunno about WOMEN but personally I'd rather be at home relaxing than at a hospital.

[Tadao]

You get more attention from people when your in a hospital bed. It's always about drama with these bitches.

[kahljorn]

Pfft and they wonder why they got cancer. Cause god hates drama, bitches.

lol

[The Leader]

So wait, is this another one of those stupid online petitions that no one of importance look at because it's so easy for one person to sign it under different names a number of times? People would be better off mailing their congressman something about this but that would take effort, now wouldn't it? Internet petitions trick idiots into believing that they're actually doing some good without the need for them to leave their home. Of course, it is sponsored by Lifetime so I don't know why I'm so annoyed that they're catering to the lowest common denominator.

[Jeanette X]

So e-mail your rep if you're too high and mighty to sign a petition. I've e-mail reps in the past and gotten replies in the mail. Jesus.

[The Leader]

It doesn't have to do with being too high and mighty, it has to do with the fact that no one actually puts any stock in online petitions because they are easily manipulated and thus unreliable. Now that you have my attention, what other junk mail did you get today?

[The Leader]

Preferably something written by a nondescript surgeon. ;/

[Tadao]

I signed it as Cani C. Yourtits

[The Leader]

But they don't have any anymore.

[Tadao]

Double zing

[Kitsa]

When my mom got her double mastectomy, it was an outpatient procedure. She came home afterwards and a home health nurse came by for a week or so. As far as recuperation, as long as there aren't any demands on the patient (kids and pets who need attention should be taken care of by someone else), home is probably more comfortable than the hospital in that respect. My big issue with home recovery was infection control. But then again, infection control in hospitals isn't going so well these days either.

She disliked the pandering shit, as in, "Here, write your feelings about your mastectomy down in this pink-ribboned journal" and the usual cancer complaint of people being all over you to be seen doing something for you, then disappearing when it gets boring. My family has gone through that whole process more than most.

She wasn't a big fan of the way they take the drains out, with no anesthesia. Having surgical tubing jerked out of your chest with no preliminaries, after your body has partially healed around it, is so sickeningly not fun the pain almost made her vomit. They could be doing better in that regard, I think.

I'm amazed by how many procedures are outpatient and same-day surgeries now. On one hand, they want to get you out...not just for the insurance to pay out less and get you out of the hospital to get someone else in, but also because hospitals are filled with MRSAs and all that crap now and sometimes it's better to be out than in.

Don't take from any of this that I endorse the system. I don't.

Also, don't get smug, guys, you can get tit cancer too.

[Tadao]

Yeah, but this is all about tit cancer and women. Like I said. Divided we fall.

[Jeanette X]

Originally Posted by Kitsa

She disliked the pandering shit, as in, "Here, write your feelings about your mastectomy down in this pink-ribboned journal"

Feelings about mastectomy, day 10:

AGH FUCK WHAT THE FUCK NO DRUGS OR ANYTHING YOU JUST RIP THE TUBING OUT HOLY FUCK THAT FUCKING HURTS OW OW OW OW OW OW I THINK I'M GONNA PUKE OH SHIT OW OW OW OW