Breast Cancer's Stepchild - Ovarian Cancer

October is national Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  Our local and national calendars are filled with events celebrating breast cancer survivors and educating women about the detection of this disease.  Even our favorite national football teams celebrate by wearing pink on their jerseys or shoes.

However, one form of cancer which gets lost in the mix is ovarian cancer, which I bet you didn’t know can be directly related to breast cancer through inherited gene mutation.  The gene mutation can cause both breast cancer and/or ovarian cancer.  It’s important for women with a known family history of breast cancer to know about the gene and to take responsible actions to help prevent its consequences.

September is National Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month and unless you are a survivor most people aren’t even aware of it.  Each year it sort of just quietly slips by without too much fanfare.  Teal is the color for ovarian cancer.  Not too much of that displayed nationally.

In full disclosure, if I seem a little jealous and critical of the big celebration for breast cancer awareness and bemoan the lack of the emphasis for ovarian cancer awareness, it’s because I am bias.   In August my wife’s 10 ½ year journey with ovarian cancer came to an end.

However, because of the close relationship between ovarian cancer and breast cancer, it’s important for women to understand both.   Due to my wife’s family history of breast cancer (her mother died at age 40 in addition to many other relatives) her doctors recommended that she begin the cycle of yearly mammograms and Pap smears earlier than most.  However, because of a lack of knowledge on the part of her doctors in informing her to be tested for mutation of the BRCA1&2 genes, at age 53 she developed ovarian cancer while having perfectly normal mammogram and Pap smear screenings.

She tested positive for the BRCA1 gene mutation.  Most likely she had inherited the gene mutation from her mother.  So while we were vigilant for breast cancer we missed the other possibility of the gene mutation, ovarian cancer.  She never developed breast cancer.

Ovarian cancer is difficult to detect, there are some symptoms but most women just attribute them to aging.  You don’t develop an external lump which can be detected.  You have to actively look for it.  One sure sign is the BRCA1 or BRCA 2 genes mutation, for you will have on average, a 50 to 85 percent risk of developing breast cancer/ovarian cancer by age 70.

Please be aware that while Breast Cancer Awareness Month will emphasize the screenings for breast cancer, it is important to note that it has another associated form of cancer linked with it through gene mutation that needs special attention and a separate testing procedure, which is covered by most health insurance plans.  If you have a family history of breast cancer and your  OB-GYN doctor is unfamiliar with the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutation, find a new doctor.

A Gambler's Paradise

Apparently our Baton Rouge legislators can add ‘gambler’ to their list of legislative skills as they attempt to manage the fiscal problems of this state.  Yesterday it was reported by state auditors that Louisiana gambled away over $1 billion in tax break incentives to people and corporations last year.

I say “gambled” because according to the auditors, “There are no specifications in the tax break statues regarding the method of calculation to be use in determining the (return) related to each incentive.”  The Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s Office further stated, “With no guidelines or restrictions, the accuracy of the (return on investment) calculation and the appropriateness of the methodology used cannot readily be determined.”  To simplify, our elected officials in the State Capital are giving away up to $1 billion a year to stimulate the state’s economy with absolutely no idea of how much money (economic stimulation) our state gets in return for these investments

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When the state’s Revenue Secretary, Kimberly Robinson, was confronted with these startling facts, she responded that the state is working on developing procedures to get a handle on determining the returns the state actually gets on these investments.  Sure hope she doesn’t handle her family’s spending budget, for it would seem to me you would set up these procedures BEFORE you gave out the cash incentives.

So as you go to your favorite stores and continue to pay one of the highest sales taxes in the nation, just remember that your state legislators have your back by gambling away your hard earned cash.

Also remember that the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry headed by the former Jindal munchkin, Stephen Waguespack, is the major legislator puppeteer in our state legislature, and the leading proponent of these tax incentives.  LABI champions these incentives in the name of “economic development” for our state and is basically pretty content to leave the present system of ‘no accountability’ in place; for it is a lucrative cash cow.

I’m all for “economic development” for our state; it is necessary for our fiscal survival.  However, it’s time for our legislators to break free from LABI’s control, ignore its recommendations, and to start doing their job by independently analyzing just which tax incentives really do provide an economic benefit to the state rather than simply exist to line the pockets of people and corporations. 

Sadly, I suspect, that with the present crew of “ fiscally responsible” Republican legislators, there is little hope that any  change will occur, for it’s always business as usual in our great state.  This can change if you vote them out when given the chance.

An embrace of a crooked bank

Apparently the State Bond Commission of Louisiana is more interested in protecting manufacturers and sellers of guns rather than protecting its citizens from unethical money scammers.  Earlier this year they passed a resolution forbidding the state of Louisiana from seeking bond funding bids from CITI Bank and The Bank of American because of their moral stand on restricting their business with manufactures and sellers of guns, yet they have no problem awarding their recent bond bid to Wells Fargo Bank.

In the last few years, Wells Fargo Bank committed serious crimes. That’s the clear takeaway from the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau’s decision which resulted in it is levying its largest-ever fine against the bank. Wells Fargo had to pay out $100 million to the CFPB, plus $85 million to other authorities, for a pattern of fraud, dating back to 2011, in which its employees opened up a vast number of new checking and credit accounts without the account holders’ consent or knowledge.

Additionally, more recently, thousands of customers who bought cars with loans from Wells Fargo were forced to buy unnecessary insurance policies from the bank with premiums that topped a $1,000 a year. The bank said the policies could have contributed to about 27,000 customers having their cars repossessed after defaulting on their loans.

So, as is so often the case in Louisiana, morality and ethics are cast aside in favor of rewarding crooked, unlawful practices.  Way to go to go: Treasurer John M. Schroder; Attorney General Jeff Landry; Speaker of the House Taylor F. Barras, R-New Iberia; Rep. Stephen Dwight, R-Lake Charles; Rep. Blake Miguez, R-Erath; and Rep. Raymond Crews, R-Bossier City, all of whom voted for the restrictive resolution and yesterday voted to accept the Wells Fargo bid.

A Final Message

On August 20th my wife, Liz, passed away after a 10 1/2 journey with ovarian cancer.  Before she passed she wrote the following: 

When my obituary appears in the newspaper, it will not say “Elizabeth lost her battle to ovarian cancer.”  Cancer will not defeat me.  We will travel into the great beyond together knowing that our companionship has changed me along the way, making me more aware of the beauty in everyday living; awakening my Christian spirit and awareness of God’s grace.  Compassionately understanding that every one of us on this earth has struggles not visible to others; traveling through time aware and grateful for every day’s smallest gift.

Misspoke, unlikely!

Remember the famous Hillary Clinton line about Trump’s supporters being “deplorable people” and the backlash it created among his supporters?   President Trump’s backtracking of his statements made at Helsinki with Putin may have even surpassed Clinton’s.  After President Trump realized that throwing the entire U.S. under the bus for President Putin was imbecilic, he attempted to still justify this faux pas by tweeting Wednesday morning, "So many people at the higher ends of intelligence loved my press conference performance in Helsinki.”

So is Trump saying, if you thought he really screwed up by denying every U.S. Intelligence Agencies’ findings that the Russians hacked into our electoral cyberspace, you are somewhat lacking in intelligence?  Even Fox News was critical of Trump’s condescending and erratic performance echoing the other Trump-labeled “fake news” outlets.

I always thought standing up for your country was a sign of patriotism; guess I am just being dumb according to our Commander in Chief.

Trump’s opinion of just how dumb I really am is further reinforced by his attempted backtracking of his aberrant Helsinki behavior, namely that he misspoke.   He claimed he misspoke by using the word “would” for “wouldn’t” in his statement regarding Russian cyber hacking.

In front of the entire world President Trump stated regarding a question about the reports of Russian cyber hacking, “My people came to me… they said they think it’s Russia.   I have President Putin.   He just said it’s not Russia.   I will say this.   I don’t see any reason why it would be Russia.”    A day later in a tweet, which was not on display throughout the entire world, he said he meant to say “wouldn’t be Russia.”

If you believe any of this, I am embarrassed for you.

Luckily President Trump doesn’t lead combat missions abroad.  I have this picture in my mind that our troops are approaching a village inhabited by peaceful villagers and Trump says, “If you see anyone in your view, do fire.”  After all the peaceful villagers are killed and his superiors ask why his platoon killed all the villagers, Trump replies, “I meant to say don’t fire.  Granted this is an absurd example, but cited to make my point.

At the Helsinki  Summit I truly believe President Trump, at the time, said exactly what he meant to say because I can’t recall any such misspoken admissions by Trump regarding any of the other often bizarre things he has previously espoused.

For the moment President Trump is seen as Putin’s puppet worldwide and, thanks to our President,  one of the world’s most devious and ruthless dictators has come off as someone U.S. citizens should trust over our country’s own intelligence agencies.

However, as Trump boldly stated during one of his campaign speeches in Iowa, “I could stand in the middle of 5^th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters.”  To all President Trump’s loyal supporters, President Trump doesn’t misspeak.