There is no question more women than ever before are surviving breast cancer. This is happening because of early screening and better and more aggressive treatment. So I was absolutely shocked today to hear that the United States Preventive Services Task Force (a committee appointed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services) is now recommending that women do not get regular mammograms until their fifties and even then limit screening to every other year. In addition they are suggesting that breast self exams not be taught. ARE THEY CRAZY?

There is no way to completely express my feelings about this. I was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer at the age of 44, and the tumor was discovered through self breast exam and confirmed through a mammogram. This was only 18 months since a previous mammogram that was negative. My story is not unique.

I am wondering if the members of the Preventive Services Task Force have been living in a cave for the past decade. We have come so far. We can predict breast cancer through genetic screening. We have digital imaging along with mammograms to help detect tumors earlier. Efforts to raise breast cancer awareness and research funds is amazing. What on earth is this group thinking?  It all sounds so backwards, especially now that we are seeing some progress on health care reform.

This is an assault against women. There is no other way to describe it. Although breast cancer strikes men as well, breast cancer is identified as a woman’s disease and these guidelines are targeted at women’s health.

I am angry and I hope you are too. I will be contacting my representatives and I intend to be relentless.

Kathy-Ellen

I think that last suggestion is the important one--make sure Congress hears from you that this recommendation should not be implemented.

Ron Daly got it. He understood the most effective strategy for any kind of communication: Don’t start with what you want to tell people. Start with how you want them to feel.

This rule comes from a snippet of wisdom that should be taped to the bathroom mirror of communicators everywhere: People may forget exactly what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel.

And how, exactly, do you want them to feel?

To create the most compelling, award-winning, knock-it-out-of-the-park speech—whether your executive is launching a new product or announcing safety policies—this is your answer:

People need to feel that they're part of something bigger than themselves.

Reported by @OliviaMichell at Twitter.

iPhone Wheelchair App Puts Users in Control

10:31 am, November 19th, 2009, Nicole Martinelli

There are iPhone-controlled cars and beds — now one company plans to integrate iPhones/iPods in its wheelchairs for a new kind of accessibility.

Dynamic Controls developed a system to connect an iPhone or iPod Touch to the wheelchair system via Bluetooth; it mounts on an adjustable arm and has a recharger, too.

I'm glad I'm not using a wheelchair any more, but I love seeing assistive technology get geeky.

By the time I was six months old, she knew something
was wrong with me. I got looks on my face
she had not seen on any child
in the family, or the extended family,
or the neighborhood. My mother took me in
to the pediatrician with the kind hands,
a doctor with a name like a suit size for a wheel:
Hub Long. My mom did not tell him
what she thought in truth, that I was Possessed.
It was just these strange looks on my face—
he held me, and conversed with me,
chatting as one does with a baby, and my mother
said, She’s doing it now! Look!
She’s doing it now! and the doctor said,
What your daughter has
is called a sense
of humor. Ohhh, she said, and took me
back to the house where that sense would be tested
and found to be incurable.