I have so much great stuff to share before the holidays that I need to get organized. Please check back in tomorrow for my weekly giveaways. I promise that it will be worth the wait!
In the meanwhile, I wanted to share a call to action email that I just received today that happened to be very close to my heart. After undergoing a double mastectomy as part of her cancer treatment a year and half ago, my mother had surgery yesterday to replace her breasts. She's still groggy and in a lot of pain, but will be home soon feeling like a whole woman again. It's hard to be so far from her and not be able to visit her, to hold her hand. But this is a much happier surgery than the one she had a year and a half ago when we were still waiting to hear how far the cancer had spread and how many lymph nodes would be affected.
I was shocked to read in the email I received today that insurance companies are trying to make mastectomies an outpatient surgery. I remember how my mother's world was forever altered a year and a half ago when she had both her breasts removed. In France, they gave her close to a week in the hospital to get used to her new altered body and the drains attached to her upper body to remove the fluid after the operation. I can't imagine how she would have dealt with the pain as well as all her emotions if she'd been sent home hours after the painful procedure.
Please join me in signing this petition on Lifetime Television's website in support of the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act. It requires insurance companies to pay for a minimum of 48 hours of hospital stay for women after undergoing a mastectomy. All you need to do is input your name, state and zip code.
I hope you'll take a few seconds to click through and add your name to this petition. Breast cancer is a threat to women worldwide. Let's work together to force the insurance companies to give us the support we need.
7 comments:
Dang girl, behind ya 100%. When I had my breast cancer suregery they kept me in for 48 hours only because I was pregnant and kept passing out on them! They wanted to send my home the same day.
Surgery aside the emotional and phycological aftereffects immediately fter the surgery should be important enough to be "observed" for at least 24 hours! One would think!
Thank you for helping to increase awareness and inform us of this action.
((HUGS))
svrmomof6
Yikes, sorry about all those typos!!! new keyboard is on the way from my folks as we speak! Geesh!
I will definitely wait and check back tomorrow for the surprise giveaways! I hope you got your new keyboard as I write this comment!
I am with you totally on this. Insurance companies suck! It is like pulling teeth to get them to help, and they want to do everything as cheap as possible. I will go sign the petition.
My best friend just had a masectomy on Nov. 8th. I was shocked when they sent her home the very next day! Poor thing was in a lot of pain and thankfully her mother was able to come and help take care of her and her three small children. Thanks for the heads up on this one!
Just a heads up I am going to post about this on my blog as well!
Unfortunately it is the males that often write the insurance rules for female surgeries. My feelings are that if they can't take care of themselves, then they shouldn't be going home. And of course there is the pain factor. A womans breats cover a large portion of their body area. Thus the potential for a lot of pain. And there is more to healing than pysically. Just mutilate (how many feel afterwards) a woman and send her home? That is not health CARE. Sounds more like those back room abortions they did many years ago. And do you know that many insurance companies had to be FORCED to pay for recontruction? Just my very own company wouldn't cover it until the gov stepped in.
Anyways I hope your moms reconstruction turns out marvy!
BTW, the link doesn't work.
Post a Comment