Archive for June, 2009

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE … 

enough money within her control to move out 
and rent a place of her own, 
even if she never wants to or needs to… 
something perfect to wear if the employer, 
or date of her dreams wants to see her in an hour… 

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE .. 

a youth she’s content to leave behind…. 
a past juicy enough that she’s looking forward to 
retelling it in her old age…. 
a set of screwdrivers, a cordless drill, and a black lace bra… 
one friend who always makes her laugh… and one who lets her cry… 

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ……. 

a good piece of furniture not previously owned by anyone else in her family… 
eight
matching plates, wine glasses with stems, 
and a recipe for a meal, 
that will make her guests feel honored… 

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE .. 

a feeling of control over her destiny… 
how to fall in love without losing herself.. 

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW… 

how to quit a job, 
break up with a lover, 
and confront a friend without; 
ruining the friendship…. 

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW…. 

when to try harder… and WHEN TO WALK AWAY… 

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW… 

that she can’t change the length of her calves, 
the width of her hips, or the nature of her parents.. 
that her childhood may not have been perfect…but it’s over… 

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW… 

what she would and wouldn’t do for love or more… 
how to live alone…
even if she doesn’t like it… 

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW.. . 

whom she can trust, 
whom she can’t, 
and why she shouldn’t take it personally… 

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW… 

where to go… 
be it to her best friend’s kitchen table.. 
or a charming  Inn  in the woods… 
when her soul needs soothing… 

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW… 

What she can and can’t accomplish in a day… 
a month…and a year… 

SEND THIS TO 3 WOMEN… 

AND REMEMBER: 

GOOD FRIENDS ARE LIKE STARS. 

YOU DON’T ALWAYS SEE THEM, 

BUT YOU ALWAYS KNOW THEY ARE THERE!!!!!!

Breast Cancer Case Exceedingly Uncommon; Doctors Warn Media Spotlight Could Lead to Panic

By DAN CHILDS
ABC News Medical Unit
May 19, 2009

For many of the estimated 180,000 women whose doctors will tell them they have breast cancer this year, the diagnosis will no doubt come as a shock.

But for the parents of 10-year-old Hannah Powell-Auslam of Fullerton, Calif., who learned in early April that their daughter had breast cancer, the news was particularly hard to swallow.

“It should be the furthest thing from your mind,” Hannah’s mother Carrie Auslam told reporters from KCAL-TV in Los Angeles. “Ten-year-olds don’t get breast cancer.”

For Hannah, the realization that she would have to deal with a disease normally associated with women many times her age was a difficult one to take.

“I told my mom, I just wanna be a normal kid,” she told reporters. “I want to go back to school, play sports, hang out with my friends. So I started crying.”

According to the family Web site documenting Hannah’s fight against her cancer, Hannah underwent surgery to remove her breast on May 7, and she will likely progress to chemotherapy to minimize the chances that the cancer will spread or recur.

But Hannah’s family said that the girl has endured the diagnosis with remarkable strength. Today, after an operation to remove the tumor and the surrounding breast tissue, her parents say on a family blog that she is back home and now has become a young symbol of the fight against cancer.

Breast Cancer Exceedingly Rare in Kids

As of Monday evening, requests by ABC News to contact both the family and Hannah’s doctors were unsuccessful. Media reports have identified her cancer as an invasive ductal carcinoma at Stage IIA — a type of cancer that oncologists say has rarely, if ever, been found in a girl of Hannah’s age.

However, Hannah’s father Jeremy Auslam said on the Web site that while his daughter had originally been diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma, it was later changed to invasive secretory carcinoma. This type of cancer is also rare in girls of Hannah’s age and younger; it has only ever been documented in perhaps a few hundred girls in this age group. But Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, said that the change in diagnosis is good news, if true. “This type of cancer is also extremely rare, but in children is more common than ductal carcinoma,” he said. “The rarity of this disease makes information about it scarce; nonetheless it is thought to be a slow growing tumor with an excellent prognosis.”

Hannah’s Cancer a Scary Diagnosis

Regardless of what type of tumor it was, any kind of cancer is a heavy diagnosis to handle for a child Hannah’s age, noted Lillie Shockney, administrative director of the Johns Hopkins Avon Foundation Breast Center in Baltimore, Md. “This is the youngest case I’ve ever heard of,” Shockney said. “I find for youngsters at this age its best to not be focusing on the kind of cancer it is, but that it is cancer and that surgery and other treatment are needed. “It’s hard enough for adults to get their heads around breast cancer, much less a child.” While Hannah’s story is ultimately a hopeful one, Shockney said that it is also highly unusual, and she added that she does not feel that it would be appropriate for parents to believe breast cancer is a major risk for their young daughters. “I don’t want the outcome to be that mothers are panicked across the country wanting to have their daughters in elementary and middle and high school to get mammograms or even clinical breast exams,” Shockney said. “This is a highly unusual situation.” Shockney was not the only one to express reservations about how the situation should be broached to the public. While the Auslam family has been very open about Hannah’s fight, the media coverage of her experience has sparked debate among breast cancer experts as to whether or not such a rare case of cancer should be given widespread coverage.

The risk of calling attention to such a story, said Fran Visco, president of the National Breast Cancer Coalition, could give parents and their daughters the impression that this form of cancer is far more common in young girls than it actually is — a misconception that she said could lead to unnecessary fear and unneeded medical procedures. “Breast cancer in this population is exceedingly rare, less than one in a million,” Visco said. “We don’t want these girls doing self exams and getting mammograms. We don’t want to spread that message; it will only result in harm and no benefit. It’s important to understand: this could be harmful to these young women.”

Cancer in Young Girls ‘Not a Public Health Issue’

Dr. Daniel Hayes, clinical director of the Breast Oncology Program at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center in Ann Arbor, agreed that there was no need for young girls to begin unnecessary cancer screening. “This is not a major public health issue, and there is no ‘take home’ message,” he said. “What we don’t want is a bunch of young girls having unnecessary biopsies or, worse, mammograms.” On the other side of the debate is Dr. Marisa Weiss, the president and founder of Breastcancer.org and author of the book “Taking Care of Your ‘Girls’: A Breast Health Guide for Girls, Teens, and In-Betweens.” Weiss heads up the Prevention Initiative for girls, a national outreach program designed to educate girls ages 8 to 18 on breast health and breast cancer prevention. She firmly supports the idea of educating girls about breast cancer and how to prevent it, even at a young age range. At the same time, she noted, “the fact is that breast cancer in girls is extraordinarily rare, though it does happen.”

So why tell these girls about breast cancer at all? Weiss said that educating girls when they are young lays the foundation for a lifetime of breast health. “What we do is explain to them what to expect in terms of breast development — what are healthy changes, and what are unhealthy changes.” Weiss added that establishing positive breast health habits when girls are young — habits such as healthy eating, exercise and smoking avoidance — has the potential to lower future breast cancer rates. “There is an opportunity, while they are that age, to build the healthiest foundation possible… this is just about the time when they begin to take up those unhealthy behaviors.”

Parents Must Communicate Concerns to Doctors

Regardless of how rare Hannah’s cancer is, some doctors said the case illustrates the need for parents to communicate their concerns to doctors — and for doctors to take into account any potential health threats, however unusual.

“What bears emphasizing is that: a) this is incredibly rare, and teenagers need not worry about this happening to them; and b) physicians need to be aware that, while rare, this can happen, so that new lumps should be taken seriously,” said Dr. George Sledge, professor of Medicine and Pathology at the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis and editor-in-chief of the journal Clinical Breast Cancer.

Lichtenfeld agreed. “Hannah’s case, which thankfully appears to be having an excellent outcome, is extremely unusual and should not be cause for undue alarm,” he said. “As with any health issue, parents who are concerned about any seemingly unusual physical change should talk to their family’s health care professional.”

Likewise, Hannah told KCAL that she hopes her experience will help other children like her keep open lines of communication with their parents when it comes to health issues.

“I want to set an example for all the kids in the world, that if there’s something wrong with your body, you tell your parents,” she said.

Original Article CLICK HERE

TO PARA PHRASE ABIGAL ADAMS WHO WROTE TO HER HUSBAND JOHN AND EN-
couraged him to “Remember the ladies” in the new CONSTITUTION, I am writing to ask President Obama as he embarks on his trip to the Middle east where he has pledged he will beging new relations with the Muslim world that he will  REMEMBER ALL THE WOMEN living in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran etc who are suffering the most brutal human rights violations based soley on their sex – FEMALE.

We remember that in the 1970s and 80s the United States took strong steps and offered direct condemnation of the Apartheid regime in South Africa. This pressure was largely responsible for ending that violation of human rights in South Africa. Women are even more oppressed today. We urge the President to have the courage to insist that the countries he visits reform themselves so that half of their population is no longer subjected to, torture, repression and death just for being born a girl.
Women’s Watch will be watching and listening.

NEWS FOR WOMEN AROUND THE WORLD HAS BEEN MIXED RECENTLY.

The Good : In Kuwait four women were elected to the legislature for the first time in that country’s ninety year history. This is directly attributable to the United States action in 1990 of saving their little oil kingdom from the ravages of Saddam Hussein. After that women were allowed to vote and runn for office.

A measure allowing husbands to rape their wives was narrowly defeated in Afghanistan after Afghan women took to the streets to demonstrate their opposition . Male supporters of the measure have vowed to re-introduce it at a future session. Why is the United Staes expendiing human personell and treasure for these guys ? We should have some stipulations like after World War II.

The Bad: In Afghanistan the students at two girls schools were deliberately poisoned, sickening 99 in one school and 68 in another. Men likely Taliban members, took credit stating “Allah did not want women to read.” Sounds like all tyrants – “ban reading – otherwise they might learn about a better life.”

June 4 is the day the North Korean Communists have set for the Show trial of American women journalists – Euna lee and Lisa Ling whom the KorComs have accused of spying. Where is the outrage in the media ? Why did Obama’s date night get more coverage than this kidnapping and incarceration of American women reporters ??

The Ugly : Judge Sonya Sotomajer has been nominated for a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court. Glad to see a women given the nod. But I was sorry to hear she made racist comments. Yo Sonya, let’s not act like the men. The struggle is not about revenge.

Sweden has legalized sex selection abortion. This usualy decimates the unborn girl babies. Given the gorgeous hot  women that populate that cold artic peninsula does that mean there will be more ULGINESS in the world by killing off all the future models ?

HEFYRE

In Iraq’s Red Zone, there is an apartment with no listed address. The two small bedrooms house six women and their children, who comprise a temporary, but closely bound, family. Of the six women, four have been raped. The curtains are drawn tightly against the outside world, but that is not their only defense. One of the women raises her handbag to show that, in case of the worst, she carries a gun.

“FRONTLINE/World” on PBS has produced a piece on the rapid rise in rapes in Iraq, which takes us inside this women’s shelter in the middle of the Red Zone. It is one of very few in existence and forced to operate covertly in the face of threats and danger. Before the war began in Iraq, rape was not a frequently reported crime and when it did occur the legal recourse was clear. Today, though the exact figures are unknown, estimates of rape are in the thousands. On the question of who takes responsibility to prevent and punish rape in Iraq, the short answer seems to be no one.

The rapes are committed by warring religious factions, they are committed by Iraqi security forces, they are committed by foreign soldiers sent there to serve, they are committed by contractors sent there for hire, they are committed by former friends and neighbors, they are committed by strangers. Even knowing who to report a rape to is difficult and dangerous.

In 2006, Steven Green, then a soldier stationed in the middle of an Iraqi combat zone, left the base in the middle of the night with a group of three soldiers. The group headed to the home of 14 year-old girl, where they shot and killed her parents and sister, before gang-raping her and shooting her dead.

Just last week, Green’s trial in a US civilian court, resulted in a sentence of life imprisonment. The defense never denied that Green committed the crimes, nor did they deny that it was premeditated or that Green was the ringleader. The strange and distasteful defense they brought was that the context of the Iraq war and living with the daily stress of combat brought Green to it.

What they didn’t mention was the growing culture of rape in Iraq — ignoring it when it happens, blaming the victims, punishing or even killing the victims. Though Green was tried and convicted, the majority of rapes in Iraq are not punished. They’re often not even reported.

Original Article CLICK HERE

By POLITICO STAFF | 5/31/09 9:51 PM EDT