WOW! There is a great deal of insightful and important information here.

First, I would like to put a question out there for all my fellow BlogHers -

Speaking of Breast Cancer and Beyond; When my mother's breast cancer went into remission (she completed a year of chemotherapy and was given the "go ahead" by the oncologist to resume working), she had the toughest time getting her job back. The company she helped lift of the ground refused to hire her back for fear of a relapse. They decided that she was too much of a risk to hire back on, even though they thought she was "an asset" to the company. To be honest, all of the companies that my mother applied to shared the same sentiment -- what if the breast cancer came back? For months my mother fought not only insurance companies who failed to cover costs of certain procedures when promised, but she also fought to rejoin the land of the living. Fortunately, my mother did get her job back (though, insurance was still an issue).

At any rate, I'm curious about not only breast cancer and insurance (which I, like Lisa, have a general lack of trust for insurance especially when it comes to cancer prevention and treatment), but policies that protect women with cancer so that they can get jobs while in remission, be protected when they have opted for in-home hospice care and things go awry, and receive community support -- especially if these breast cancer patients are single mothers. Additionally, I'm curious about insurance covering preventative care for high-risk women, such as daughters of mothers who have died of breast cancer (like my mother did). I do know that many insurance companies do not cover mammograms or pap smears... but it seems rather nonsensical, if not insane, that insurance companies wouldn't cover PREVENTION especially when PREVENTION costs significantly less that treatment. Plus, working with women who have breast cancer in their family seems like a great opportunity for research to help better understand, prevent, treat, and eventually cure breast cancer.

With that, I also want to add to the list of women's health issues - SKIN CANCER! Melanoma is killing more women in their 20s and 30s than any other cancer, and unlike breast cancer, is about 90% preventable. Insurance companies don't cover costs of prevention for melanoma skin cancer, either (i.e., mole removal). Recently, my insurance company promised to cover several thousand dollars worth of surgery to remove a dozen suspicious and changing pre-melanoma moles, only to rescind the claim. As a cancer educator, it is difficult for me to quell the fear of many of the college students I work with about prevention and the costs associated with it (especially since many of them don't have insurance). To be honest, up until eight months ago, I lived without insurance and to get preventative care done, I would save up my pennies. Yet, there was one time doctors thought I had ovarian cancer, and needless to say ended up with an extraordinarily expensive bill that I'm still paying off (four years later).

Alas, I ramble...

The point is that I would like to add skin cancer to the list AND pick some of your brains about additional issues related to breast cancer and insurance.

Thanks,
Danielle M. White
Co-founder/president
The Cancer Crusaders Organization
info@cancercrusaders.org
http://onlyskindeepbook.blogspot.com

PS: Thanks, Lisa, for your comments about your son AND about eating disorders. After I lost my mother at age 15, I too suffered an eating disorder. The thought of my mother not being able to eat, and the image of her battling cancer and dying, made the thought of food sickening to me. It's so true... an eating disorder largely stems from one's inability to control their environment and surroundings which is commonly induced by tragedy and trauma such as "maternal cancer" as you said.

Mother Pie brings up a good point --

As a woman who lost her mother (and only parent) to breast cancer, and as a cancer educator, I understand the impulse to want to buy all things pink (and orange-n-yellow for skin cancer, too!)

Yet, I have read articles in NewsWeek and Time over the past couple of years regarding companies that sport the pink ribbon and, as such, claim to donate a percentage of proceeds from product sales back to breast cancer research. Unfortunately, most of those companies fail to make good on their promises. In fact, I remember that one of the only companies that does, indeed, fulfill their expressed commitment to donating proceeds to the cause is Yoplait. They, in fact, donate millions to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. So, be a savvy consumer -- Support breast cancer (and skin cancer) research, yes, but make sure you do your homework and know which of your favorite products do indeed support the cause and which ones are merely pulling the pink wool over your eyes...

Danielle M. White
info@cancercrusaders.org
http://onlyskindeepbook.blogspot.com

I posted this week about my eating disorder. I was inspired by the cover of People magazine this week. It's high time we got serious about addressing this issue.

Link Texthttp://surrenderdorothy.typepad.com/surrender_dorothy/2006/10/nicole_ritchie_.html

Surrender, Dorothy - When I was your age, we just let them ride in the back window.

Dorothy, this is incredible:

Eating disorders are selfish, and that's why it's so hard for people to be understanding. Outwardly, it seems the afflicted person is just being vain to the point of killing themselves. I'm here to tell you that's not the way it works. Eating disorders, textbook ones, like the one I had, stem from the inability to control one's life. In my case, it stemmed from two bouts of maternal cancer at a formative age, mixed with a super-Type-A personality and shot through with an inherited predisposition toward the melancholy. Sometimes there may seem to be no trigger point, but I guarantee that somewhere in that girl or woman's past (and it usually is a female) there was a combination of bad circumstance, perfectionism and a mean comment about the girl's butt...

This post sucked me in and wouldn't let go. You know, this piece is a serious argument for installing an "email this post to your friends" button, D...

Lisa Stone
BlogHer Co-founder
Surfette

Although I haven't been able to update as regularly as I'd like to recently, I have chronicled much of my journey of the last year through a diagnosis of advanced colon cancer, two surgeries, six months of chemo and all the other stuff that comes along with it.

Christine
Colon Cancer Sucks Ass

Diabetes, anyone?

My blog, www.diabetesmine.com, covers living with diabetes from just about every angle -- including a new interview series with food/exercise/medical experts and a forum for partners of diabetics.

I also recently won the 2006 LillyforLife Achievement Award for Diabetes Journalism.

Come check me out at DiabetesMine

Best of health to all,
AmyT

Hi, I write Eating Fabulous, a blog about functional food and healing foods, adopting Socrates' mantra: let food be your medicine, and medicine be your food.

I recently wrote an entry on the breast cancer diet, specific food items that can help lower the risk of (breast) cancer.

I'm a member of the BlogHer network, a medical librarian, and have a blog on women's health news at http://womenshealthnews.blogspot.com

I am 39 years old with two kids and breast cancer. My blog chronicles my experiences through treatment - the good, the bad and the truly bizarre.

www.notjustaboutcancer.blogspot.com.

in Spending to Make a Difference, Shopping for a Cause I write about the dangerous environment of buying emotionally. I also have a link to a BC board on my site. My mother is healthy and just came to visit me in NYC -- she was diagnosed w/ bc 22 years ago. My heart is in the issue.

H.A.Page
MotherPie
www.motherpie.com
New Media and Motherhood by AnotherMother
Finial thinking with fingertip flashwriting

I've written several posts about Breast Cancer this month.

I encouraged my readers to visit the Canadian Breast Cancer Network (CBCN)'s online auction, going on during the month of October, and I wrote about the 'Pink for October' blog campaign and pink ribbon products

. In that post, I lamented the amount of products sporting a pink ribbon that don't specify how much money is donated to which organization (a pet peeve!).

A post from BlogLily called Pink about why she did not wear pink for breast cancer awareness.

And that brings me to my point: the pink-wearing day is part of a narrative about illness that doesn’t match my own experience.

I also have to link her to post Saying Farewell to Illness.

I’m here to report that the revelation that I am not, in fact, sick, was a gentle one. It didn’t hit me like lightning. It came slowly, the way the fog lifts in the city.

Sassymonkey, Sassymonkey Reads, and Sassymonkey Eats

[I know this is an older article, but I wanted to hop on board,as it's my first day here]

I also blog about my cancer experience, from the viewpoint of a post-punk, DIY/craft nut at: http://www.diynotdie.com

I'm of two minds about the status of breast cancer campaigns: I participated in Pink for October, because it wasn't trying to sell people some product, but the whole pink thing does set my teeth on edge.
I'm trying to get people aware about more meaningful cancer (or any serious illness) relief efforts like: raising money for a sick friend's medical bills, setting up a sick-day bank at work, and to remind folks that sometimes, just a hand with daily tasks does a lot for a sick person's morale.

Blogs & the web in general are invaluable to me, with all the research I've done about my own situation, and TwistyFaster's candid blog helped me a lot with my thoughts about my upcoming mastectomies. So did the woman in the photo above, the rebel woman behind http://www.rebel1in8.com.
I hope to be able to help others, as they have helped me.