Breast Screening: use common sense, onus is on you

A BRIEF RUN THROUGH WITH ASHLEIGH

Beautiful things should be protected. Love yourself and know what is best for you.

As most women know medicine goes far beyond the ears nose and throat generally from the age of 18 and on. The process involves signing up for a series of yearly appointments, and waiting through what may seem like the longest week for test results that are in most cases, perfectly normal.

But what about the false-positives, the results that raise your doctors eyebrows, and through your blurred vision and muffled hearing all you manage to make out from his receptionist’s phone call is, “…the doctor wants to make sure it’s nothing serious, we’ve scheduled you in for a series of tests –just to be thorough- don’t panic.” She requests you mark your calendar for next month, the following month and finally three-months-later. Well now, there goes the year. If everything checks out normal after all is said and done you may still end up being treated for a sudden heart attack.

God knows stress is a number one killer in this country and we are ultimately our own worst enemies. It’s easy to convince yourself -despite what your doctor has said- the results are going to be bad news and you are going to do nothing but believe otherwise until the final verdict is in. Am I right? Yes.

New mammogram advice delivered earlier this month from the United States Preventive Task Force has stated women without unusual cancer risk (genealogical background) should not screen for breast cancer until age 50.

Canadian Cancer Society’s Gillian Bromfield, Senior Manager Prevention, explained in a phone interview, that American Cancer guidelines are on par with Canadian, and USPTF rigorously analyzes data for medical prevention services, only releasing statements which are in the best interest for individuals.

In light of recent news of the US House of Representatives passing a healthcare bill to reform medical coverage it’s easy to consider the USPTF’s information all-too-much a coincidence. Publications have released articles followed up by reader’s comments, angry and pointing fingers at HMOs, concerned American citizens who have a hard time believing this is not all about money. For many it’s arguably hypocritical, after all it’s seems like a preventative measure.

However, Bromfield stated the legitimacy of the information coinciding with the recent news is an unfortunate debate. It is fact, screening has lead to more accurate results for women who are between the ages 50-60, opposed to many of the false positives which have occurred for women in their 40s.

Nevertheless it is not to say women should wait until they are 50 to start taking precaution.

“Every woman should talk to her doctor and decide what is best for her,” said Bromfield. “We do know women discover their own lumps.”

The Canadian Cancer society emphasizes at the end of the day the onus is ultimately based on an individual decision.

“Women need to know what’s good for them,” said Bromfield. “Women in their 40s should get mammograms every two years, and every year after their turn 50.”

The “Task Force” has danced around its recent statement. It’s been reiterated they are mainly trying to eliminate stress and anxiety that comes along with the aforementioned week-long waiting period, and or the false-positives which tend to trigger higher-amounts of unneeded worry.

Most doctors will tell you early detection saves lives. Currently no one is saying not to take preventative measure, if a woman wants to, she still has ever option to do so.

“The issue is really about the concern and that the debate of recommendation will form policy,” said Bromfield.

It is still hard to grasp, though, that this isn’t a probable excuse to line pockets. Change is happening- no doubt, but it seems to be at the cost of rationing the simple American. National health insurance is one thing, but how does this happen without middleclass tax-hikes or the deficit staying below $1 trillion? Something has to give, and well, it’s still hard to seem like it’s not going to be you.

For women who have long procrastinated using reasons such as fear of bad news this only provides them with another excuse. Ignorance is bliss for some, and the USPTF just helped it along. It is important to remember, and cannot be stressed enough, common sense is key, listen to yourself, consider your options and the information you have. When the time comes, do what is right for you.

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A Brief Run Through With Ashleigh is by Ashleigh Izdebski and is a guest blog here at On Deadline which will run regularly.

A Brief Run Through With Ashleigh – new guest blogger

Greetings dedicated On Deadline readers and for our American followers, happy belated Thanksgiving and I hope your bruises from the Black Friday specials are healing up nicely.

In our continued effort to bring you varied and interesting content let me introduce to you our new guest blogger Ashleigh in our new feature:

A Brief Run Through With Ashleigh.

Her first post will run tomorrow and I hope you enjoy the refreshing content and outlook she will bring to our humble little blog here at On Deadline. Her  she is in her own words:

I’m not too sure where I fit in with the world –small towns get the better of me, and busy people make me more nervous than three large coffees- one place I do feel comfortable is in front of my computer writing. I suppose it’s something I can do in any setting and instantly feel at ease. Teleportation devices haven’t been invented, and until they are writing is my best means possible to escape the overwhelming eccentricities of life.

I enjoy baking, cooking, and I jog but I don’t like it. I despise small tax-returns, but then again working a lot seems to be time-consuming and ultimately I find my time better spent working on my novel I am very close to finishing.

Life is overall great, and I enjoy it most when people are making me laugh. I have two cats, Sneakers and Violet-Alice- who ultimately doesn’t know her name and prefers Pretty-Kitty. Sneakers has a personality disorder and tends to beat her up, I’ll never understand it, but it’s alright they don’t seem to care about me anyway. Of course until it’s time to feed them, and even then they’re only pretending.

Education was top on my parent’s list of priorities for me so I kinda went along with it and eventually through some trial and error and surfacing hidden talent I discovered I’m not a bad writer. I guess it’s better than being double-jointed. As a result I have a Journalism diploma; it’s framed and sits in the bottom of an unpacked cardboard box.

Please feel free to email me: acizdebski@gmail.com

 

Kidnapped journalist now free

Amanda Lindhout has been freed after being kidnapped 15 months ago.

Amanda Lindhout is now free after 15 months of being held captive and the profound relief and happiness of her family and friends must be off the scale.

This space here at On Deadline has long thought about how its final post about Lindhout’s ordeal would look like.Would it be a positive one, buoyed with happiness and relief for Lindhout, Nigel Brennan and their family and friends? Or, would it be a sombre one, reflective, angry and full of helpless thought and exasperation?

When my eyes registered the name Amanda Lindhout in a headline on the newswire the other day, my heart jumped and time simply halted. My initial reaction was negative but I almost literally jumped out of my computer chair at work when I read the headline to its end and saw the word “freed”.

I do not know Lindhout, nor Brennan but their plight struck me right from the beginning I came across it. The ensuing chats, emails and discussions with people who knew Lindhout or simply wanted to know more, as their kidnapping turned from days to weeks, months and then a year simply brought them to my everyday thoughts even more.

It was encouraging to talk with fellow journalists and bloggers who grappled with the same issues I did. Do we write about it? Do we continue to bring attention to their kidnapping while knowing such attention could be used against them, increasing the demands of their captors? How to deliver and spread the word delicately, tastefully and not seem self-promotional?

Whether you care to understand the fact or not, journalists and photographers, from big city papers to small town weeklies are a society’s ears, eyes and conscience. Their career is a calling.

When debates began to rage a bit this summer that claimed reporters like Lindhout and Brennan deserve what they get by trying to report in places like Somalia I could not believe what I was hearing. Without journalists willing to pursue and tell the difficult and dark stories in various spots worldwide, how often would we be kept in the dark? Also, simply because they are freelance reporters does not make their intended work less worthy, nor their lives.

I wondered, would the same people, who chastised Lindhout, deride and belittle the death of a cop or firefighter, saying they simply got what they deserved for choosing such careers? Whether you care to understand the fact or not, journalists and photographers, from big city papers to small town weeklies are a society’s ears, eyes and conscience. Their career is a calling.

The above questions and  issues were all the more interesting, I learned, since with your own blog, you are publisher, editor and advisory board all in one.

In the end, it was you, the On Deadline reader, the ones who took the time to comment or email me about Lindhout, that helped me find a path to keep writing and informing you, let alone pursue outreach via other outlets.

All the best to the Lindhout and Brennan families and let’s all be thankful this is a story with a happy ending.

Amanda Lindhout freed! Canadian journalist free!

What great news, after 15 months Amanda Lindhout is freed!

Regular readers of On Deadline know we have been following her ordeal closely and as delicately as possible. We have posted our thoughts and support for efforts for her release and during that time it has brought us into contact with some interesting people who know Amanda and have worked with her before.

A more detailed posting by us is to follow. As we have before, we will respect the wishes of Lindhout’s parents who asked that media refrain from further reports until Lindhout and her colleague Nigel Brennan, are safely out of Somali.

Click here for the full story on her release in the meantime.

The evolution of religion, what is faith to you?

Are there more threads in world religions that unite rather than divide?

Why can’t more religious discussions be like this?

TVO’s The Agenda, with Steve Paikin, recently held a dynamite discussion about the evolution of religion. It pulled together five very engaging experts of various faiths. The discussion that unfolded was both refreshing and enlightened.

Try and have an intelligent and subdued discussion about religion and faith and it usually spirals into a question of “I’m right, you’re wrong” with intimations of whose religion is better or proper. Lord knows I’ve tried and ended up in some barn-burning debates turned verbal jousting, with no one really willing to back down.

In fact, ever since I was called “one of those worldly faith-snob-know-it-alls”, a title I now wrap myself in, like a favourite blanket on a cold February night, I simply avoid a discussion of religion or faith in my immediate circles.

“What is harder to quantify, which requires faith of a different kind, is how much good or peace has unfolded thanks to faith and religion- that stuff doesn’t make the headlines but it is all around you,” On Deadline.

Why avoid the discussion? Well, because that title bestowed upon me fits. Ok, I’d rather not have the words “snob” and “know-it-all” applied to me but I will admit, I do have a global view of faith. I’m not saying my view is right or better  but it tends to be more wide angle and not cut-and-dry, which creates frustration, generally with me and anything I say.

Look, I really have no clue if God or some other omnipotent being under a different moniker exists (though God does have a wiki page) but I do know that faith does and from where I sit that is all that matters. Also, it is hard to ignore the evolutionary evidence around us.

Travel this world far enough or explore the varied places of faith in a multicultural city like Toronto, with an open heart and mind and you will see the spiritual threads that unite us all through so many beautiful paths of faith.

A wonderful statue at La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. photo Vince Versace

Faith, in my book, is what gets you through the night, through your crisis, your pain or your personal test at any given moment in your life. If it is right for you, that is all that matters. Your faith is not inferior to others just because people do not believe in it.

The wrongs committed in the name of a religion are lengthy and extremist elements exist in a majority of religions. These elements cloud the discussion and sway first impressions and insights. What is harder to quantify, which requires faith of a different kind, is how much good or peace has unfolded thanks to faith and religion- that stuff doesn’t make the headlines but it is all around you.

Statue in a beautifully subdued Jizo garden near the Zojo-ji Temple in Tokyo. photo Vince Versace

Ultimately, why be so intolerant about something that is not readily tangible, something that one cannot hold in their hands but only in their heart. This is what makes faith the most intimate and personal thing one can have, beyond the judgment and reproach of others.

What is faith to you? Do you ever run into problems having a healthy discussion on religion and faith?

Cat City doc, a message for all of us

Rocky, a very handsome cat but not all cats are as lucky as him to be in a loving and caring home.

Look deep enough into Toronto’s alleyways or its quiet industrial and public areas and you will see them, feral cats fending for themselves and forgotten by so many.

“On any given night in Toronto it is estimated that over 100,000 lost, abandoned and feral cats roam the city streets,” report the makers of Cat City, a film about Canadian cat overpopulation. “Never spayed or neutered these cats produce thousands of offspring adding to the burgeoning number of homeless pets.”

If you own a cat, know someone who owns a cat, or are thinking of getting one or someone else who might want to, watch Cat City or at least the trailer included in this post.

Toronto has plenty of big city problems, drug abuse, homelessness, crumbling infrastructure, gridlock and violence. The overpopulation of cats in our fair city does not rank higher than those issues of concern but it is a concern and should be an issue we keep in mind.

‘There are over 400,000 animals put down in shelters across Canada yearly, two-thirds of them are cats.’- Cat City

How we treat our pets, our domesticated animals, whether cat or dog, is truly telling of who we are. These animals end up on our streets not through natural means. They have to fend for themselves or die and this cruelty falls on our shoulders.

These pets are the discarded. The forgotten. The abused. The ignored. They are creatures domesticated over centuries by humans, reducing their natural instincts to varying degrees so they can be in our homes, in our families. There is an armada of groups and individuals taking care of these street animals selflessly but we all need to do more.

“We have a responsibility to care, if not for them then at least about them,”- On Deadline

Simply put, spay and neuter your pets. Cost effective city programs need to be rolled out in this area. Until that is a reality, get it done anyway, be a responsible owner or encourage it as a common practice with others.

Also, consider adopting pets from the Toronto Humane Society or places like the Toronto Cat Rescue or the Annex Cat Rescue.

Remembrance Day, Canada, 2009

Ottawa, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. photo by Vince Versace

REMEMBER THEM ALL TODAY

Their faces flash across the screens, another young boy not coming home, another family man never again to hug his kids, another young woman never to return and be daddy’s little girl again. When does this all end and how do we make it so?

Old and weathered, our veterans of wars past grow frailer but they will soldier on today. They will attend cenotaphs across our great nation, to honour the war dead, honour their fallen friends and recall a sacrifice too great to ask of most.

Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Val D’Or, Quebec, Penticton, British Columbia, Edmundston, New Brunswick – our fallen, our recent war dead on the field of battle in Afghanistan, may all hail from such different hometowns but they call one nation home, Canada and it is our responsibility to remember them.

They are in fact our brother, our sister, our father and our mother. On dusty, windswept plains, they fight, they soldier on, fighting an enemy that has never wronged them directly, never wronged Canada before this conflict, but now continually draws its pound of flesh at their expense and ours.

Do not forget them a world away. Do not let your support of them dwindle.

Most may not support the Afghanistan mission but we must stand behind them as they gear up, strap on their boots and serve their fellow brother and sister-in-arms and ultimately our country.

The little girl in the pink snowsuit will now only know her dad via video, pictures and her mother’s words. Another family will honour their fallen 21-year-old son by finishing the rebuild of the Barracuda he hoped to do with his father. Meanwhile, an elderly veteran in Fredericton is left speechless and visibly pained by vandals who destroy part of a war cenotaph in Fredericton.

The war brings so much pain to so many. We must honour not only those that have fallen but also their families now left to do the soldiering on, in their memory and in their hearts and lives.

Stand proud and honour both the fallen and the survivors, from decades ago and now.

If for one day in your busy lives, remember them all on Remembrance Day.

Pan Am Games coming to Toronto will work

The Pan Am Games will leave a positive legacy for Toronto.

Naysayers be damned, Toronto is finally getting an international sporting event, the 2015 Pan Am Games.

Yes, taxpayers will be paying for the infrastructure and any cost overruns that will occur.

Yes, most games, whatever their ilk, tend to never be built on budget.

Here is the flip side though: improved transit, infrastructure, waterfront redevelopment, increased housing, improved sporting facilities and a boost to civic pride.

Sure, the Pan Am Games are not the Olympics or even the Commonwealth Games, they are C-level sporting event but it is a first for Toronto, finally, after many failed attempts at Olympics, World Expos and other international track meets.

The best things about these types of games are that they are catalysts for regeneration, improvement and establish fixed deadlines for things to get done by.

The legacy of these games for our crumbling city is worth it. Sure, we have budget shortfalls to contend with right now and thorough and proper due diligence and planning will be needed by 2015. But, if Toronto continues to profess itself to be a world-class city, hosting these games does help us get closer to that claim. However, what moves us up a few more notches higher on that scale is the improvements to transit and infrastructure we sorely need, let alone the waterfront regeneration entailed.

Think back to all the previous bids that were shot down. What has the legacy been FOR NOT hosting past Olympics or similar events?

That money we never ended up spending to make those games was never properly invested, because if it had, we would not have a transit system bulging at the seams, highways and roads crumbling, choking with traffic and band-aid maintenance and construction of this infrastructure along the way.

For every boondoggle of a games like the 1976 Montreal Olympics there are games like the 1998 Nagano Olympics or 1992 Barcelona Summer Games.

In particular, during a visit to Barcelona a few summers ago I was amazed at the city’s subway and transit system, modern public spaces and idyllic waterfront. The city’s old architecture and spots like Antoni Gaudi’s La Sagrada Familia already made it beautiful but its modern functionality is a credit to the 1992 Summer Games, said many locals in conversation.

The same reflections were shared in speaking with people in Nagano, Japan. They credited the Winter Games held there as helping reconnect the city to a modern Japan, especially hubs like Osaka and Tokyo.

The benefits with the Pan Am score will extend to places like Hamilton and Markham as well, so the legacy will be lasting and large. Bring on the improvements and bring on the games.

Dying 6-year-old girl leaves love notes behind

Elena Desserich left hundreds of love notes to her family around their home. Photo courtesy of Toronto Star via Desserich Family

This is a heart-wrenching story that stopped me in my tracks this morning during my reporting machine gear up of two cups of coffee. Elena Desserich, a six-year-old girl dying of brain cancer left hundreds of little notes hidden around her home for her family to find. They are still discovering them.

It is a painful and beautiful story with a wonderful message we are sometimes reminded of but so easily forget.

Treasure the ones you love. Make amends with those you can. Live life with grace and fairness. Appreciate this life for we never really know how long we have.

Our thanks to the Desserich family for sharing their story with the Toronto Star, and in turn, all of us.

Are you “royally” interested in the Royal visit?

How much do our UK ties matter?

How royally interested are you in “The Royals”?

With Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles, the Duchess of Cornwall, arriving in Canada this week the discussion has begun again about our ties to the monarchy and the Queen.

Confusion tends to reign among outsiders of all things Canuck when it comes to our connection with Merry Ole England and the monarchy. Some people think we are still ruled by Queen Elizabeth II, since she is still technically recognized as our head of state through her representative Michaelle Jean, the Governor General (GG).

Interestingly, though not elected, the GG does have a hammer it can swing, as we learned earlier this year.  When Prime Minister Stephen Harper wanted to prorogue the government to head off a hastily created and power hungry coalition by opposition parties he needed to consult the GG. Harper had to convince her that it was in the best interest of the country to have a time out called and she agreed, allowing it to happen.

A nation’s history is important, as are its traditions. The Americans are admirable in their patriotism, the British live and breathe their history to this day, Italians, Greeks and the Japanese revel in the contributions they have made to their world. Canada is still typically humble, unless it has to do with hockey or Tim Hortons.

For Canada, our formative European roots are spread mainly between France and Great Britain with England giving birth to Canada. A recent Angus Reid poll indicated that Canadians really do not care for the monarchy like they once did. In fact, the results were so bad that the current visiting royals will skip provinces like Manitoba and Alberta where response to their visit was incredibly low.

Forty-nine per cent of respondents in that recent poll supported the reopening of the constitutional debate on possibly replacing the GG with an elected head of state. Opening the debate is one thing, but a massive unanimous consent is needed in the House of Commons, the Senate and all the provinces to make any type of change concerning the GG and the monarchy in Canada, report Royal Watcher insiders.

What do you think? Has Canada grown up enough to officially break off the current ties we have, no matter how symbolic they simply are. Does this homecoming really matter? Are you a Royal Watcher excited like a kid on Christmas Eve?