Necessary ultrasound, breast cancer

April 2006, I was diagnosed with Stage 4 lobular breast cancer. I have since learned a lot: “Stage 4 means it has spread beyond the breast … to other parts of the body;” “the 5 year relative survival rate is 20 percent;” Lobular breast cancer is not always seen in mammograms/X-rays, because it presents in sheets, making it harder to detect as it spreads; my cancer has never shown on a mammogram … not even when I had a very evident “dimple in my breast.”

My doctors’ reports, dating back to April 2002, stated: “… breasts are heterogeneously dense;” “this limits the sensitivity of mammography;” “dense breast tissue may obscure an underlying neoplasm;” “4 to 8 percent of cancers are not identified by mammography.”

Three doctors knew I had: a sister with breast cancer; a previous, different cancer; and dense breasts. None ordered an ultrasound. I was not diagnosed at an earlier stage.

My bottom line message is: Your breast size is not what determines the density. Density is the type of internal substances your breast is made of. Always ask for a copy of the doctor’s mammogram report/s. Don’t just take the standard “we are pleased to inform you that the results … are normal” letter as the last word. Get a copy of the doctor’s report, go over it with the doctors. If your report says you have dense breasts, ask for, no, insist on an ultrasound or the new MBI (Molecular Breast Imaging). A biopsy might be needed. THE EARLIER CANCER IS DETECTED THE BETTER YOUR SURVIVAL RATE WILL BE.

Don’t be part of the 4 to 8 percent as I am. I will never be told what every cancer patient wants to hear …“You are now cancer-free!” If only I had thought to ask for those reports.

Mary Sumpter
Oxnard

You are what you eat

A study of 16,000 people in 52 countries in the current issue of Circulation found that eating meat, fried foods and salty snacks raised the risk of a heart attack by 35 percent. Conversely, a diet rich in fruits and vegetables reduced the risk of a heart attack by 30 percent.

Again, a 24-year study of 88,517 female nurses in the April 14 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine found that those who ate lots of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and plant-based protein were 24 percent less likely to have a heart attack and 18 percent less likely to have a stroke than those addicted to a more typical American diet.

With the cost of medical care becoming a national crisis, it’s high time for each of us to assume more responsibility for our own and our family’s health by becoming more selective with our food dollars.

Charles McGregor
Ventura

Childhood cancer awareness

Imagine an intruder in your home. Imagine you are there with your children. Imagine that intruder attacks. What would you do? I think your answer would be to throw yourself in front of the intruder to protect your children. And if you had to, I imagine you would give your life to protect your children.

Unfortunately, that intruder, cancer, intrudes on far too many homes. I think most of you think you are home alone with that intruder. But the truth is, your children are there, too.

October was Breast Cancer Awareness Month. September was National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. How many of you, moms fighting for awareness and funding for breast cancer knew that? Did you know that about 1 of 300 children will be diagnosed with cancer, before age 20? Did you know that 1 in 4 or 5 of those children will not survive? Did you know that cancer is the No. 1 cause of death from disease of our children today? Did you know it kills more every year than asthma, diabetes, cystic fibrosis, congenital anomalies and pediatric AIDS combined? Did you know that the awareness of this tragedy and funding for treatments for our kids is woefully inadequate? Did you know that all 12 major groups of childhood cancer receive less than 3 percent of federal and private funding for research?

About 20 years ago, awareness and funding for breast cancer was woefully inadequate. So I applaud your efforts to fight breast cancer. You and your supporters have done an unbelievable job. I have friends who are breast cancer survivors thanks to breast cancer funding, and I am grateful. Now, let’s also give our kids a chance.

I am simply asking that now and next September, you also consider supporting childhood cancer awareness and funding. Look into CureSearch, People Against Childhood Cancer, St. Baldrick's, Alex's Lemonade Stand, the Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium and the many other fine organizations fighting every day for our kids.

Who knows? The child you help save, god forbid, may be your own.

Lorraine Romero
Ventura

GOP dynasty in four years

Reading your editorial page is like reading enemy propaganda.  What is it that makes you and your readers hate America so badly that you endorse turning it over to a leftist radical whose main political experience is running for office?

I get it that you all hate Bush for keeping the country safe for the past seven years, but he is not responsible for the financial system crisis. I get it that you are all hand wringing, antiwar cowards, but sometimes it takes a war to end injustice, tyranny, imperialism and hostile dictatorships.

Did you also hate FDR for going to war with Germany when Japan attacked us? Did you hate Truman for going to war with North Korea when they never attacked us? Did you hate Kennedy and Johnson for going to war in Vietnam when they never attacked us?  Hundreds of thousands of American lives were lost. Where is your outrage? 

There isn't any because those presidents were Democrats, and you are a bunch of partisan hacks.

Regarding the pathetic, cowering letter from Mr. John McNally, if he is a former Reagan conservative, I am a former Miss America. Liberals always say they are former Republicans when they denounce their country, as if it gives them some credibility. Give me a break!

McNally moans about John McCain volunteering to drop bombs on Vietnam. Here is a newsflash for him: McCain was a Navy pilot. That's what Navy pilots do during wars. It doesn't matter if he volunteers or not; when his name is on the flight schedule, he is going. It is not up to pilots whether or not they accept a mission.

Then McNally goes on to whine about how McCain singing "Bomb Iran" jokingly with a veterans group was "chilling" to him. I'm assuming it isn't chilling for McNally to know that Obama associates with terrorists, goes to an anti-American, anti-white church, bought his house with a sweetheart deal from a convicted felon, took lobby money from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and has promised to "redistribute wealth,” also known as socialism.

You might not like John McCain, but to question his commitment to his country is treasonous. The man spent more time being tortured by communists in Vietnam than Obama has spent in politics. McCain does not vote "present" on tough issues. You libs go ahead and turn the country over to a smarmy chimpanzee with no record of accomplishments except a speech in 2004. He will destroy the Democratic Party for good and usher in a GOP dynasty that will last for centuries. I'm willing to wait four years for that.

Forrest Mize
Ventura