Wednesday, November 18, 2009 8:57 PM CST
COLUMN: Task force puts boobs front and center for public conversation
By PENNY WEAVER, News Editor
pweaver@jg-tc.com
A government panel’s recommendation this week has most of America talking about boobies.
Aha! Your eyes began to glaze over at the word “government,” but I brought you back with the b-word. I still got it, baby.
Well, if I ever had it ...
Anyhoo...
You heard about this, didn’t you? This collection of government boobs — oh, somebody stop me — says that most women don’t need mammograms in their 40s and instead should get one every two years starting at age 50.
For those who don’t know, the common recommendation for quite some time has been that at age 40, women start getting mammograms each year. The test screens women for breast cancer.
And, for anyone who may not be aware — that one male out there who has no mother, sister, wife, girlfriend, daughter, female friend or other XX chromosomal influence in his life, or any female out there without breasts (it’s a diverse world, and I’m just trying to keep up) — a mammogram involves squishing a woman’s breasts between two horizontal metal plates so that an accurate scan can be taken of the tissue.
This nonstop-fun procedure is credited with detecting breast cancer early and saving many women’s lives in the process. It’s one of those uncomfortable rites of passage for women.
After the government panel’s Monday bulletin, health leaders have batted the idea back and forth all week. On Wednesday, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said women should continue getting mammograms starting at age 40. That’s what the American Cancer Society has long advocated as well.
I haven’t personally experienced this fun, since I turn 40 next year, but my doctor mentioned it this fall. I’ll have to report back to you on that, if I’m not too, ah, pressed for time.
What bothers me about the discussion this week is that — as usual, it seems, in human conversation these days — there seems to be no middle ground, no common-sense direction.
The doctors and scientists on this government task force concluded that early and annual breast cancer screenings often is harmful to women, causing unnecessary false alarms and unneeded biopsies and yet not substantially improving women’s odds of surviving a cancer diagnosis.
Gosh, which would you prefer: A bit of a false scare to have to get over, or finding out you have cancer too late to do any good?
This panel — officially, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force — made their guidelines for women in general, as the recommendations are different for those at a high risk for breast cancer due to family history or other factors.
The task force also said that breast self-exams do no good, so women shouldn’t be taught to do them. I guess simplicity isn’t their cup of tea, either.
I ask you, what kind of sense does that make? Just because they can’t prove that breast exams are helpful doesn’t mean that they aren’t. Isn’t that something inexpensive and simple that might help? So, why not?
If they don’t help, nothing’s lost but a little time. If they do help, who can assign a value to that?
According to Dr. Otis Brawley, the American Cancer Society’s chief medical officer, the government panel’s suggestion to delay mammograms is based on its conclusion that screening 1,300 women in their 50s to save one life is worth it, while screening 1,900 women in their 40s to save a life is not.
Sounds like the government, doesn’t it?
As the Associated Press reported, breast cancer is the most common cancer and the second leading cause of cancer deaths in American women. More than 192,000 new cases and 40,000 deaths from the disease are expected in the U.S. this year.
That sounds like a pretty good reason to wear a “Save the Boobies” T-shirt at Relay for Life.
I’m not in favor of unnecessary medical tests. The trick is in defining “unnecessary.”
With no history of breast cancer in my family, I’d be inclined to get a mammogram only every other year, if my doctor agreed. I think women and their doctors should make these decisions.
The bottom line is that we’re all gonna die. I know — no one wants to hear that. But we can’t prevent everything, and we can’t “catch” every ailment “in time” to keep it from killing us.
What reasonable measures we can take, I think that just makes sense. But we all can’t remain in denial about the simple fact that each of our lives really will end one day.
I know someone whose doctor recommended she be put on a lung transplant list due to the poor condition of her lungs from lifelong asthma and other ailments. She’s almost 70, and she said “no.”
It’s not that she wants to die or that she’s given up. If you ask me, she’s simply using common sense. Death is going to get all of us. Some things just aren’t what I’d call “reasonable” to go through, whether due to the severity of the illness, the age and condition of the patient, and countless other factors.
While the issue of when and how often women should get mammograms is important, it’s perhaps not the most pressing (whoops — I used that one already). I’d like to see some other challenges get more attention than they do — such as child abuse, hunger and more widespread ailments that have lagged behind in being addressed by society as a whole.
We need some smashing successes in those areas, too.
Maybe next time this government panel gets together, they’ll let me write their report. At least it would be more fun to read when they get their recommendations off their chest.
In the meantime, it won’t hurt all Americans to keep boobies on their minds.
See guys? Now you have your excuse. Go crazy.
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~STRANGER~ wrote on Nov 19, 2009 4:31 PM: