Before You Donate
Think very seriously before donating to any breastcancer organization, or fundraising program until you read their Annual Report to see who their top contributors are, and if they have a product that appears frequently in the message the organization sends to the public. That would be unethical and its illegal. The same applies to a request that the public buys products, but does not receive a "donor receipt" for tax-deductible purpose. Read any and all food labels that breastcancer "non-profits" are promoting to raise money. Some organizations tell the public to help them raise money by asking you to visit their websites, but that only gives them "hits" to increase their sponsors.
Another tip, "signing" an online Petition is not acceptable, so don't fall for such antics. An ethical non-profit, or professional will not request your visit to their website, nor use "cookies" placed on your computer when you visit their site.
Purchase the Breastcancer Postage Stamp, the Post Office will always give you your charitable deduction receipt. Its a valid form of fund raising.
WHAT IS A PET SCAN?
PET scan = Positron emission tomography scan.
A procedure in which a small amount of radioactive solution with glucose (sugar) is injected into a vein.The patient must then be at absolute rest for 30-60 minutes, and then placed in a scanner that is supposed to make detailed, computerized pictures of areas inside the body where the radioactive glucose solution is taken up the most to be seen strongly in areas of malignant cells (theory). It must be noted that the PET does not perform a whole body scan, so there are lesions that may be missed without the WBS.
Because cancer cells often use more glucose than normal cells, the pictures can be used to find cancer cells in the body. The injected solution depends on the area of the body your doctor wants scanned.
A PET scan creates colored pictures of chemical changes (metabolic activity) in tissues. Because cancerous tumors are usually more active than normal tissue, they appear different on a PET scan.
It is a painless procedure other than the IV.
WHAT DOES THE PATIENT NEED TO KNOW ABOUT A PET SCAN?
If a malignancy or spread of a malignancy is to be ruled out the PET may offer a part of many studies including blood tests, ultrasound, CT scans (Computer-Assisted Tomography), MRI, and the valuable physical exam done by one's oncology surgeon or oncologist.
If breast cancer metastasis is suspected, Medicare currently will pay for the PET Scan but most insurance companies will not—so first check with your Case Manager at your insurance company.
WHY won't most insurance companies cover this test? After talking to Medicare and five top health insurance carriers I learned that it still has a high number of false positives. Medicare was greatly impacted by the nuclear medicine lobbyists to approve the PET Scan "to rule out breast cancer metastasis."
False positive readings may be due to inexperience on the part of the physician interpreting the results.
Often it is only a nuclear radiologist interpreting the findings. The inherent fact is the technology is not biochemically or anatomically applicable, according to this writer's experience and other highly intelligent physicians with considerable common sense, which is greatly lacking in medicine, today.
note: My first was in 1999 and 2nd in April, 2005.
Reviewed: Saturday, July 30, 2005