I'm posting this entry on the behalf of Marisa Acocella Marchetto, author of 'Cancer Vixen,' who asked that we let you all know that she can be reached at marisamarchetto.com. Enjoy! ~Kelly

I had about 9 mammograms and sonograms on both breasts.
Why?

They wanted to make sure the thick scar tissue (I keloid) from the lumpectomy wasn't a lump, so my doctors were being extra cautious.

Talk about rattling your nerves.

But other than that, yesterday was an awesome day.
Here's why:

The Cancer Vixen Fund at St Vincents Comprehensive Cancer Center (the fund I started along with Grace Dos Santos) sponsored its Second Annual Free Mammograms on National Mammography Day for women who are uninsured.

We started at 8 am. Over 70 women got screened. Last year we paid for 38 mammograms and one woman, Sabrina Furer, tested positive for breast cancer. Sabrina has finished her treatments and has now become a life-long friend and is an official VIXEN. She told us that yesterday was the 5 year anniversary of her mother's death. Her mother died of breast cancer.

As the women continued to get their mamms, the Nurse Practitioners and Oncologists held a mini symposium for any one who wanted to stop by.
The experts told us that it's been confirmed that INFLAMMATION CAN CAUSE CANCER. Naturally I asked if, when you're angry, or raging, can your emotions manifest as inflammation in your body? I know it's an obvious question but I wanted to hear them say yes.

Once again a reason not to let anything get to my chest.

Once again a reminder to channel my emotions and not let them get the best of me. Easier said than done.
But I can try.

So, it is with this spirit that I comment on the comments (and the "razzing") down below...

To J, who feels "outside the circle":
You're "inside my circle". Welcome Vixen J! Anyone who survives any cancer is a hero in my book. We are not victims, we are VIXENS!
Also, I agree with your wish to "spotlight" some of the other cancers, and so do some other people who are very busy trying to cure cancer, namely the genius-world renown head of The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, Dr. Larry Norton. Dr Norton (call him Larry) said in the last BCRF Advisory Board meeting (I'm on the board) that there is a master key that will unlock the cancer riddle that will solve not just breast cancer, but all cancers. He's trying to get all the researchers together and share data on all cancers to kick this dreaded plague off the planet once and for all.

J, I also wanted you to know I send you great health and great energy your way.

Actually, I send it to all of you. All of you reading this now, and all of you who took the time to write your comments (even you, Selma!)

To P Ellis:
You are 100% right. When I was on book tour last October in Canada, I did many panels and spoke extensively with Canadians about their healthcare versus ours. They told me their stories of waiting to be treated, to see a doctor, etc. With a cancer diagnosis, timing is everything. Everything must move at the speed of light, and you suddenly find yourself playing "Beat the Clock". Waiting for treatment, waiting to see a doctor, just waiting period can make the difference. You know what I'm saying here. The Canadian system is less than perfect, and they would be the first to tell you that themselves. Yet some of them would tell you that they are relieved that they don't have to pay for their own insurance, and their own doctors.
The ones who can afford to who have been diagnosed with cancer come to the states for treatment, and go to Memorial Sloan Kettering, Dana Farber etc.

To Selma:
Do you have health insurance?
(To your point, Catelyn)

Do you know what it's like to get a cancer dianosis?

Do you know what it's like to get a cancer diagnosis without health insurance?

I do.

When I was writing Cancer Vixen as I was getting treatment, I kept every single receipt. Had I not gotten insurance (luckily I did. After my husband Silvano and I got married, I was able to go on his plan, but his premiums went sky high) the whole she-bang, from diagnosis to surgery to chemo to radiation would have cost me $192,702.04!!!!!

Who the heck has $192,702.04????

I don't have $192,702.04!!!!!!

The healthcare system in Italy and France is socialized medicine. I know this because I just in France and Italy on book tour for Cancer Vixen (The French retitled it "CANCER AND THE CITY") just these last 2 weeks. In Italy, as the Italians have told me, you have to wait to see a doctor, you have to wait to get a mammogram even if you have a lump UNLESS you pay for the mammogram yourself. (By the way, one of the reasons for the long wait is that people abuse the socialized medical system because it's free - which is yet another problem.)

Big surprise! It's all about the money!

Which is why a lot of people in this country (minus the 47 million who are uninsured) don't want universal health care - because they don't want to pay for it because our taxes will go up.

So, why should we care about the people who don't have insurance?

Here are the facts:
47 million Americans do not have health insurance.
That means that in every 5 Americans in this country are uninsured.
49% of Woman who are diagnosed with bc and are without insurance have a greater risk of dying from the disease.
Why? Because they postpone their surgeries, they can't pay for them. They postpone their chemotherapy. They can't pay for it. Or they stop treatment in the middle, or just after they start, or some DO NOT GET TREATED AT ALL. And that's a little different than Canada, they get their treatments late - but they get them.

Had things been a little different for me, and had I not gotten insured and had the treatment I did, who knows what would have happened to me? That's why I started my fund, to do what I could for the women out there who do not have healthcare. I'm not a politician, I'm a cartoonist. I don't have the answers, but I do know this: People are dying. And if people are dying because they can't afford treatment, or they can't afford to finish their treatment, our system isn't working.

That is what's immoral.

There. I got that off my chest without writing a flaming letter.
Get it? Flaming- inflammation.
So, thank you for being part of my therapy!

But I have a question for everyone out there:
Does anyone have a solution?
Write me!

Love and light,

Marisa

Read an interview with Marisa Acocella Marchetto.