Archive for September, 2009

14 Patients Errantly Told Breast Cancer Free

This is every woman’s worst nightmare, and it’s actually happening to 14 or perhaps more, women in Britain who were mistakenly told that they were breast cancer free when in fact the technician who read their scans read them incorrectly.  Many other records are being poured over as well to make sure there are not more women who were mistakenly told that they did not have breast cancer when they really did, and of course this is a huge botched job by the hospital, which is in Britain.

The hospital has been very apologetic about the mix up, but those that are really angry are questioning why the hospital did not come forward sooner admitting the fact that there could be patients who have a false sense of security in that they do not have breast cancer when in fact they might, instead going over records and getting all victims names first.  Of course, this could have added potential time onto their correct and proper treatment so that they didn’t go on with the cancer for a longer period of time.

While the hospital acknowledges that this screwup could have potentially cost some women their lives as it cost them precious time in early intervention and therapy, it says that it believes it is still early enough to successfully treat those women affected, and hopes for them all to survive still.  Of course, this opens them up for huge lawsuits, there’s just no way around that at this point, and they are actually admitting a mistake, which is the right thing to do.

They are also refusing to name the technician that messed up, which is further angering those that have been impacted, but they may actually have their reasons so that there is no attempt on that person’s well being out of anger from the victims.  Who knows, this stuff always gets sticky.

I’d be extremely angry if it were me who was affected since this does put off early treatment, but I’d also like to think I’d remember that the health professionals who take care of us are also human, and there are bound to be errors made. Some errors are worse than others, and it depends on how the institution and the individual handles the errors that determines their trustworthiness.

Breast Implants as Tax Deductions

Although some women may not know it, even the ones who are in the position to take advantage of Uncle Sam’s tax breaks for those that have been surgically altered for cosmetic purposes, there are certain professions that the US government allows women to use their breast implant surgery as a tax writeoff at the end of the tax year.  I remember vaguely hearing about this benefit years ago when breast implants became uber popular, but then it felt like it was sort of a rumor, as this was before the internet and it’s vast array of information were so big.

However, even though this was rumor, there was only one known case where a stripper successfully sued the IRS to get her breast implant tax deduction to go through. The stripper, who went by the stage name “Chesty Love” sued the IRS for denying her tax benefit claim for her breast implants back in 1994.  She actually won the case, with the tax judge citing the fact that the breast implants could be considered a “stage prop” to help enhance her tips and performance as a stripper, which was vital to her livelihood. 

However, this doesn’t mean that everyone could win this.  You should always consult your tax professional before making tax claims for deductions for anything like this to make sure it’s on the up and up and won’t cost you tons of money in legal fees and headaches down the line when the IRS audits you or refutes your claim to a tax deduction for something as hard to prove it’s benefit as a breast enlargement surgery. 

It basically has to be proven that the surgery had a direct impact on your livelihood, and then again that would also be subject to the opinion of whatever judge was relegated to your case.  These tax laws are tricky, and they’ll nail ya if you don’t get the right advice from a tax professional who knows their stuff.

Preventing a Bab Boob Job

I was watching NFL football on Sunday and some woman who was on a show during  half time appeared to have a lopsided boob job.  At first we couldn’t decide (the boob job sleuths that we are lol), whether she was standing at an odd position and it looked like her breasts were askew, or whether she truly was an unfortunate victim of a bad boob job or simply had irregularly shaped breasts that gave the appearance of off kilter boobs.  Yes, I know, this is a science, isn’t it!?

Unfortunately there are a lot of bab boob jobs out there. I will acknowledge that there are an equal number of great breast implant jobs, but there are also a fair number of mistakes out there or just plain old sloppy plastic surgery work that result in everything from oberblown looking breasts, tight or unnatural looking breasts, and bad scarring or problems with leakage or irregularity that occur on a daily basis as well.  Yet, breast implants are still one of the most popular plastic surgery operations amongst women of all ages today, and with good reason.

Lots of women feel insecure about their breasts, whether it be about their breast’s size, shape or the way the hang, whether they are saggy or have a strange or abnormal nipple shape.  Breasts to women are like penises to men, they symbolize our womanhood. They are our crowning glory, and next to having great hair, having a great pair of perky, firm breasts is second to none.  Can anyone disagree?

There are thankfully a lot of natural breast enlargement alternatives today as well though.  You can help your breasts achieve a larger size, greater firmness and more perkiness by doing exercises, taking a bevy of supplements that are designed to help the breast tissue grow further even after it has biolbogically ceased to have the body tell it to keep on growing past puberty, and also there are even devices for breast enlargement.

There are tons of alternatives to breast implants in other words, that you might want to look into if you’re in the market for a great new pair of boobs. But also there are lifestyle habits you can undertake that help to ensure your breasts will look great for years and years to come.  Things such as adequate moisturization with the right products, breast massage, and wearing the right types of supportive bras can really carry your boobs through to your middle age and beyond while still looking fabulous.

Vampires Actresses Arrested for Flashing

It seems like there are a million of these darn vampire shows on TV now, it’s almost getting annoying!  Well, apparently either a lot of twenty something actresses from a new CW show called Vampires thought that flashing on an overpass to the oncoming traffic might get them some much needed PR, or they really were doing what they said they were doing – filming for the show.  4 actresses, of course all young and beautiful, were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct after callers called in and said they were flashing traffic that was going by.

When questioned by the authorities, the actresses claimed that they were filming for their show, which may have been true, because a cameraman was arrested right along with them.  Hmm, it is kind of odd though, you’d think that they wouldn’t all four have come up with this great idea to flash the camera, unless it really was for the show, so that’s what makes me think they were flashing their boobs for the show perhaps?  Then again, it’s a CW show, and I really don’t think that they would be showing breasts or any other risque body part on a show on that network.  Hard to say!

Other celebs have been known to flash in public too. The most noteable woman is probably Courtney Love, who is well known for her flashing her breasts at shows and even just for fun in public sometimes.  Talk about a loose cannon!  She has admitted to getting a breast lift surgery, which I believe she later had taken out and her dog ate one of the implants and choked on it, if I remember correctly.  I remember reading about it because it was such a darn bizarre story, of course!  I was at a show once years and years ago where her band Hole was playing (by the way, they’re really good and they are playing here again in the Cleveland area fairly soon), and I remember the male parts of the audience that kept yelling out for her to “show her tits”.

Yeah, guys can be so charming, can’t they?  The other of course famous celebrity who has actually been arrested for flashing and inappropriate behavior, was the former children’s movies and children’s TV show star, Pee Wee Herman.  Talk about throwing your career away on an embarrassing incident.  Sheesh, and I remember watching Pee Wee’s Playhouse every Saturday morning!

Model’s Body Identified by Breast Implants

If you even read or watch the news at all, you’ve seen the big news story about a “reality star” named Ryan Jenkins, a nice enough looking young man, who murdered his swimsuit model ex wife.  To conceal her identity as much as he could, he also denegrated her body by taking off her fingers and removing her teeth, which makes dental record identification and fingerprints impossible, which are the two most common ways of identifying someone who has died or been murdered.  The cause of death is thought to be strangulation.

The guy sounds like he was seriously disturbed, and his “reality star” status was just because he appeared in the cast of a reality show something like Megan Wants a Millionaire.  I’m not sure if he was actually a millionaire, but the news did mention that his parents are wealthy, so it sounds like he came from money.  His ex wife, whom he was married to for a very short time, named Jasmine Fiore, a swimsuit model, was found in a dumpster and was eventually identified by the serial number on her breast implants.

Yikes, didn’t know they could do that.  Apparently the serial numbers for various patients are kept on file at doctor’s offices and since her teeth and fingers were removed, this was how police were able to identify her body and start the manhunt for the biggest person of interest in the case, her estranged ex husband Ryan Jenkins.  The woman is seen in photographs as a blond and a brunette, and modeled swimsuits for a living.  I think the couple met in Las Vegas.

The story took a turn a few days ago when the manhunt ended in a run down motel where his body was found hanging from a pole in a closet from an apparent strangulation suicide.  Either the guy felt guilty and took his own life or he was afraid to go in the slammer. At any rate, a sad story, if not bizarre and unusual.

German Politician Uses Cleavage in Campaign

Well, this is certainly a new one.  We over here in the US could only talk about how Sarah Palin showed a little leg, but she never even dared to show any cleavage.  Shoot, it’s hard enough for women (yes, still even in this day and age) to be taken seriously in politics, and if you throw some cleavage in there it suddenly becomes about how you are using sex to get votes. Unfortunate, but true, those are the “issues” we tend to focus on.  Well, a female politician in Germany actually has pushed the cleavage envelope and has put out a promotional poster of herself sporting ample cleavage for her recent campaign, and of course there’s talk about it.

Actually, it’s two women who are part of a Christian Democratic party that are on the poster. They looked so much alike and both had such ample cleavage I did a double take, but it is two women, and both are wearing very low cut, tight black tops.  The campaign poster adds ot the tongue in cheak aspect of the poster by saying “we have more to offer”.  Hmm, more boobs I suppose?  At any rate, if they wanted to get attention then this is certainly working, as there have already been numerous discussions over the posters, some thinking they’re tacky and over the top and other thinking they’re just plain funny.

I tend to be from the camp that they’re “just plain funny”.

Bizarre Boob Job Request at Embassy

The British embassy certainly has it’s hands full of people’s frivolous requests who are travelling abroad and use them as their end all be all, but this one request probably takes the cake.  Apparently a woman who was travelling abroad went to the British Embassy to complain that her boob job was bad and that she was unsatisfied and asked if they could help her.  That’s not what the embassy is for, and this woman must not have gotten that memo because she genuinely wanted them to help her get restitution for what she deemed was an unsatisfactory breast implant operation.

Of course the Embassy told her to buzz off in not so many words, and they are obviously frustrated that people think it’s ok to waste their time on ridiculous and petty complaints and requests when they have real problems they need to deal with for travellers who have serious issues that need to be addressed.  Embassies are placed around the world to represent those that come from other parts of the world and are travelling.  Embassy is derived from the word ambassador, and it is designed to be a neutral ground and advocate for the person who is having problems in a foreign country.

This is also why they are often the target of terrorist attacks, and one of the reasons why they become frustrated when people misunderstand their purpose and waste their time and resources on subjects that have nothing to do with negotiation or the Embassy, but rather can be taken care of in a law office or in a travelers center.

New Drug Targets Breast Cancer Stem Cells

I love when exciting news comes out about new drugs or treatments other than radiation and chemotherapy for breast cancer, or any other kind of cancer for that matter.  This time the news is particularly exciting because it involves a new drug that researchers are saying targets and kills what they call the “master cancer cell” which is thought to be the ultimate reason behind why many times cancer comes back in people that have experienced a remission.  These master cancer cells are thought to basically be genetically programmed to be harder to kill, and are actually the mothers of other cancer cells in a way because they are the basis by which new cancerous cells are formed.

The new evidence on these master cancer cells strongly suggests that they are the very reason that many people experience a recurrence in their cancer even years later sometimes after the treatment has stopped, or even soon after treatment has stopped for the cancer.  Cancer stems cells are extremely hard to actually pin down to study because, like other stem cells in the body, they can quickly transform into different type sof cells, making them difficult to trace and treat, and they are also exceptionally harder to kill than a normal cell or a cancerous cell even.

The winning chemical out of about 32 chemicals that were shown to be beneficial in the trials to kill and target stem cells that were cancerous was a chemical called salinomycin.  When these cancer stem cells were exposed to the salinomycin, they were much less potent and ineffective at triggering breast cancer in the mice they were injected into ( I know, poor mice, I feel bad for them!), and so the conclusion obviously was that this was a powerful breast cancer stem cell combatant, which is welcome news to an area that until now yielded little real results due to the difficulty in pinpointing these elusive stem cells.

They are now trying to utilize this compound into something that is useable and safe throughout the woman’s whole body who has breast cancer, and which are able to safely target these stem cells without causing massive breakdown of any other cells in the body, like with chemotherapy.  The stem cells are particularly dangerous because they have the capability to mock other types of cells and also to replicate exact copies of themselves, therefore self renewing constantly and becoming twice as virulent.

Breast Reconstruction May Not Improve Quality of Life

First off, let me say that I think the findings of this study may not include a lot of women who have had life improvement through their breast reconstruction, or that they may not have included a big enough study group, because I for one do think that if I had a mastectomy it would affect my self esteem and feelings of sexuality toward my partner, so I probably would have been an anomaly according to this latest study that women do not generally experience a boost in their quality of life and sexual habits due to breast reconstruction after they have had a mastectomy to rid themselves of breast cancer.

Generally the though was before this study, the logical reason to have a breast reconstruction surgery was so that your feelings of femininity and your perceived quality of life would not be affected after you have had one of both of your breasts removed because of cancer.  This perception can definitely hold true in some cases, but this latest study has shown that a lot of women don’t report improved quality of lives because of this reconstruction, or any difference in their sex lives with their partners because of it.  They did the study on both women who had the reconstruction after removal of the breast(s) and women who did not and found that there was really no difference.

What I do think may have happened here though is that perhaps this was a personality thing. Perhaps the women who chose not to have the reconstructive surgery to their breasts were generally more happy and secure to begin with.  It’s something called the x factor, when there is another factor that enters into a study or survey that doesn’t necessarily have to do with the actual study results or have any impact on them.