What does Angelina Jolie's announcement mean to all of us?

Today, Angelina Jolie surprised us all by announcing she had a preventive double mastectomy. Jolie recently learned that she carries a mutation of the BRCA1 gene, which sharply increases her risk of developing breast cancer and ovarian cancer. Her mother died of ovarian cancer in 2007 at the age of 56.

"My doctors estimated that I had an 87 percent risk of breast cancer and a 50 percent risk of ovarian cancer, although the risk is different in the case of each woman," Jolie declared in her New York Times op-ed article. "Once I knew that this was my reality, I decided to be proactive and to minimize the risk as much I could. I made a decision to have a preventive double mastectomy."

All of which got me thinking about my own family history.

My maternal grandmother was in her mid-40's when she died of ovarian cancer.
My mother was 62 when an annual mammogram revealed a lump of 1 cm. She is now a 16-year breast cancer survivor.
[My sister was about 50 when she had half of her thyroid removed, the cancerous half. I know that's not in the same category as breast and ovarian cancers, but it is still cancer.]

I just had an all-clear at my annual mammogram and physical exams.

I haven't been tested for BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene status. My mother said hers was negative. My next question for my doctors will be, should I get tested?

I know many women who have battled breast cancer, certainly well within the 1 in 8 women. I remember so many of those women having to decide whether to have a lumpectomy or a mastectomy. My mother, and many others, survived breast cancer with a lumpectomy. Others had mastectomies. My dear friend Laurel had a mastectomy when they discovered a very aggressive cancer in her breast. She then had a preventative mastectomy for the other breast. She still died of breast cancer. So did Mary my neighbor, and so many more.

I found this excellent link regarding the pros and cons of preventative mastectomies. http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Therapy/preventive-mastectomy

There is a lot to learn, and many factors to take into consideration. Jolie's announcement will have a lot of women asking themselves important questions. I hope they take all the facts into consideration before they consider a double mastectomy. I wonder if preventive double mastectomies will become as standardized as mammograms? That is, will doctors recommend them and will insurance companies pay for them?

Not a very good Mother's Day

My knee started getting sore Sunday, Mother's Day, after lunch, and continued getting stiff and sore throughout the afternoon. I took puppy for a slow walk, thinking maybe that would help ease the joint. I lasted 30 minutes at a very slow pace, so slow that my pedometer didn't register the middle 10 minutes!

By evening, I couldn't bear any weight on my left leg, and some movements had me gasping in pain. I took some Tylenol for the pain. I barely made it up the stairs at night.

I saw my PCP this morning. He was able to move the joint in its full range of motion (but I was in tears from the pain), and declared that all the parts seem to be in their proper place and working. He believes there is inflammation in the knee, although why is a mystery.

He has me on an anti-inflammatory and rest for 10 days. If that cures it, wonderful. If the pain comes back, we will begin "the cascade of radiological testing." (Insurance companies will insist on starting with an X-ray, although the X-ray will not show us what we need to know.)

I was enjoying my walks with puppy, and the weather was just getting nice. I was 12 for 12, exercising every day so far in May and I was even dropping a few pounds again. Phooey to be sidelined.

Fun with Math

I love to save money. I take advantage of sales, promotions, coupons, and whatever else I can to buy the best food for the least amount of money.

 

We also have a really great math teacher at our K-8 school. She hosted a "Family Math" 6-week class a few months back. The idea was to get the kids and parents to work together on fun math puzzles and problems. Kids got to see how cool math is, with some practical applications, and math skills were reinforced with the family.

 

Thus I decided to write our math teacher about my most recent shopping trip with the kids.

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Dear Mrs. Math Teacher,

 

I thought you would appreciate these two grocery math stories from my shopping trip yesterday.

 

1. Least Common Factor sale problem.

One of Princess Imagination's favorite treats, Sparkling Grape Juice, was on sale at 2 bottles for $4. It usually retails for $3.99 each bottle. As I was picking up the bottles, I noticed a coupon on the bottle that said "Save $1 on any 3 bottles." I told Princess Imagination I wanted to plan my purchases so I took advantage of both sales.

 

I got 6 bottles for $12, less $2 in coupons, which is $10 for 6 bottles, or $1.67 per bottle.

 

2. Is "Buy 1 Get 1 Free" Sale the best deal?

There was a "Buy 1 Get 1 Free" sale on frozen shrimp. A two-pound bag of large, raw, white shrimp was $24.99, the second one was free. Nearby was a two-pound bag of medium, raw, white shrimp, on sale for $10.99, $5 off from the usual $15.99. A lady next to me was all excited to save $25. I said that is great, but I'm going to get my shrimp even cheaper than that. The "Buy 1 Get 1 Free" shrimp comes out to $6.25 per pound, but the other shrimp on sale comes to just $5.49 per pound. I don't care how big my shrimp is, but how little it costs per pound! (When I left her, she was still trying to decide whether to get the bigger shrimp or the smaller unit price.)

 

Also, yesterday was Tuesday, with a running store promotion of 5% off an entire order over $30 for seniors. I've discovered that if I have certain cashiers, they give me the 5% discount because I'm a loyal customer. So the additional 5% discount my grape juice was just $1.59 per bottle (only 40% retail) and my shrimp was just $5.22 per pound.

 

Oh, yeah, I love math.

 

Best regards,

The Mominator

Time is relative

Pink  Ballerina, Princess Imagination & I were discussing something that happened in the past. To me, it was just a little while ago, a few months maybe. To Princess Imagination, it was "years and years ago." We finally figured out that it was in April.

So why did it feel fairly recent for me, and so far away for Princess Imagination? Pink Ballerina felt that Princess Imagination was just exaggerating. "Actually," I said, "it's because of your age."

I then explained that if we round off our ages, I am about 50, and Princess Imagination is about 10. That means, every year of my life is only about 2% of my life, my memory. It just wasn't that long ago. But since Princess Imagination is about 10, every year of her life has been about 10% of her life, her memory. Actually, even more, since children don't remember much of their first few years. So what happened in April is relatively so much closer to me in my memory, than it is in yours.

By the way, what happened back in April? We got a puppy!!!

Bumblebee status update

Bumblebee’s case manager called recently to say that the state-required 3-year evaluation would be due this year, but “he spoke with the school, things are going well, and they all agree that they don’t need an evaluation on Bumblebee.” I called back and said that we don’t think things are going well and we would evaluations in several areas.

Academic

Bumblebee’s grades in his four main subjects are C’s and D’s, and even those classes are watered down not as challenging as mainstream courses. We would like an Academic Evaluation of his strengths and weaknesses with suggestions for improvement. For example, should we be working more on Basic Skills, functional academics, and life skills?

Occupational

Bumblebee’s handwriting is very poor. We are not concerned whether his handwriting is print or script, but it should be functional and legible.

Bumblebee spends much of each day in repetitive self-stimming activities (clapping, leg jiggling, echoing, singing, shouting out, etc.). Bumblebee’s Developmental Pediatrician has suggested that Bumblebee would benefit from a sensory diet. What kinds of things can we do at home and at school to calm him down?

Speech

Bumblebee’s speech is still hard to understand, and he still doesn’t understand many of the pragmatics of speech. Unfortunately, Bumblebee’s speech deteriorates quickly when he is frustrated, just when we need to understand him the most. We would like a Speech Evaluation with suggestions and exercises for improvement.

Emotional

Bumblebee is easily frustrated, and his frustration quickly escalates to violence. Bumblebee has broken many things at home, including punching holes in walls. We would like an Emotional Evaluation with suggestions and techniques for improvement.

Social

Bumblebee is so far behind his age peers that he can not make friends. His age peers do not return his phone calls, and younger friends are now outgrowing him. We would like a Social Evaluation of his strengths and weaknesses with suggestions and techniques for improvement.

Future

Do we need an IQ Evaluation to help plan his future?
What is available to Bumblebee at his school, or otherwise, post-12^th grade?

Stay tuned.
Love, the Mominator

Apostles

A few weeks ago, Parish Council Woman asked us if Bumblebee could be an Apostle for Holy Thursday’s Washing of the Feet. I reminded her that Bumblebee has autism. She said that she knows that, and she was trying to get more diversity in our Apostles. Oh, and she forgot to mention that she would like Gadget Guy to be with him as another Apostle. She’s seen how well Gadget Guy gets Bumblebee.

We were extremely nervous very honored.

In the meantime, the Sacristan asked us if Pink Ballerina could be an Altar Server. I asked if he wanted Princess Imagination as well. He said no, he was recruiting senior servers only because Princess Imagination is really too small to be holding the heavy books or heavy candles for that length of time.  I also asked the Sacristan if he could warn remind tell every one who would be working with the Apostles that Bumblebee has autism. I gave him a few hints: Bumblebee works best with simple directions, no figures of speech, no rushing.

Thursday came. Bumblebee was having a tough day (maybe because school was on a half schedule?).  We had him take an early shower, and we had an early dinner. Gadget Guy took Bumblebee over to the church early. They had some guy time together while waiting.

The procession began. Bumblebee and Gadget Guy got separated by a pew. The prayers began. Bumblebee got fidgety. A lady Apostle worked with him. The readings began. Bumblebee got more fidgety. The other Apostles helped, some room was made, and Gadget Guy was able to slip over next to Bumblebee.


Finally it was time. The first half of the Apostles went up in pairs. One Apostle snuck out of order to make sure Bumblebee would later pair up with Gadget Guy. Feet were washed, Bumblebee watched.

The second half of the Apostles went up in pairs. Bumblebee and Gadget Guy were the first pair; Gadget Guy was seated right next to Bumblebee.

And then the miracle happened.
Bumblebee was just a regular Apostle who got his feet washed.

Got the results of Pink Ballerina’s most recent lab tests…m

The nurse reports that everything looks normal, throat culture was negative for Strep and Pink Ballerina seems to be recovering well from the Epstein-Barr virus.

Me: Epstein-Barr? You mean she had mono? When did she have mono?

Nurse: Sometime after the October 11, 2011 tests and before this round of tests. There's no treatment other than rest. The mono can still make her feel tired and it can reactivate when she gets run down.

Me: OK, then, good to know.

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So on top of everything else, Pink Ballerina had mono along the way. Maybe when her friend had mono? We’ll never know if one infected the other, or if both got it from another child. It doesn’t really matter.

And how did we miss mono? I guess it was just mixed in with all those dizzy and tired spells. We know that the Norovirus recently went through our school, and that may be what sent us to the doctor’s office last week.

Never a dull moment.

Love, the Mominator