Let's Talk Elder Care: October 16, 2009

Last post 10-16-2009 4:03 PM by Sarah Mayer. 0 replies.

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10-16-2009 4:03 PM

Sarah Mayer
Joined on 12-11-2007
Pittsburgh, PA
Posts 159

Let's Talk Elder Care: October 16, 2009

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October 16, 2009

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Story of the Week

Breast Cancer Story of Inspiration - Sweet Hopkins

I began running in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in 1996 with a note safety-pinned to my back that stated, "I run in memory of my grandmother, Mary Hall Ware, and in honor of my mother, Jay Ware Deese." One year I ran with my friends, focusing on my personal best time and passing women as I picked up my pace the last mile of the Race. Another year I ran while my husband, with our two daughters in strollers, cheered me on from the finish line. Another time I ran with one daughter at my side while my mother, free from cancer, walked with the other. We were celebrating my mother's ten years of survivorship.

Every October I ran. As my daughters approached adolescence, I loved sharing the Race with them, and I was proud that I could push their pace and talk them through the rigors of completing a 5k. Then came the year when the Komen Race for the Cure became more than an opportunity to note my personal time. It became a Race that made me understand what winning a race was truly about.

I ran the year after my initial diagnosis of breast cancer; after a radical mastectomy, chemotherapy, stem cell transplant and radiation. That year the sign on my back changed to read, "I have run for my grandmother, my mother, my aunt, my cousin, my friends. This year I am running for me." For four more years I ran; free from cancer but perhaps not as fast as I once was. But still I ran each and every step of the way.

Click here to continue read this story.

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A Place for Mom is proud to support the Alzheimer's Association as a National Team for the Alzheimer's Association 2009 Memory Walk®.

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Answer of the Week

Question: How do I suggest an Assisted Living Community? My mother, 94, say I'm trying to get rid of her. She lives with my family and I ; she is really driving me crazy. This has been going on for about 3 years she has lived here 5 years. I really need suggestions. Could someone please help?

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Dear A Place for Mom's Family,

According to the American Cancer Society an estimated 192,370 new cases of invasive breast cancer are expected to be diagnosed among women in the United States this year. One in nine Americans will develop breast cancer in their lifetime. The encouraging news is that there are 2.5 million breast cancer survivors in the United States and breast cancer is being detected earlier.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Continue reading this issue of Let's Talk Eldercare for information about breast cancer findings and more!

Sincerely,

A Place for Mom's Family

A Place for Mom's Family is a community web site offering a safe place for members to share experiences and find support and advice from other members and professionals.

Breast Cancer In Seniors

When detected early, breast cancer is treated successfully 98 percent of the time. Researchers continue to make impressive gains in the detection, diagnosis, and treatment of breast cancer. For example, according to the Mayo Clinic, the radical mastectomy, once a standard procedure for women with breast cancer, is now rarely performed.

However, breast cancer in seniors remains a very potent disease that will only be eradicated if women follow the recommended schedule and undergo annual mammograms. Recent statistics suggest that women are skipping annual mammograms, the key procedure to screening.

Continue reading this article.

Breast Cancer Research Advancing

Today the chance of a woman being diagnosed with invasive breast cancer is 1 in 8. The chance of it killing her is 1 in 35. And it remains the second leading cause of cancer death for American women behind lung cancer.

But missing in those statistics from the American Cancer Society is a message of progress and hope for October, which is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Millions of lives have been saved through advances in early detection, surgical procedures and research into prevention and new ways to attack the cells.

Continue reading this article.

Elderly Breast Cancer Patients More Likely to Receive Follow-Up Therapy if Treated in Private Medical Practices

In a study to determine the non-medical factors that may be associated with the decision to treat nonmetastatic breast cancer, researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health evaluated the association between oncologist characteristics and the receipt of chemotherapy in elderly women with breast cancer and found that they were more likely to receive chemotherapy if treated by oncologists employed in a private practice. For elderly women with localized breast cancer (stages 1-3), the researchers report that only 15% of women got treated, and the use of chemotherapy is a judgment call by the oncologist. With regard to younger women with nonmetastatic breast cancer, 70% received adjuvant chemotherapy. The study is published online in Cancer, a journal of the American Cancer Society.