From: Joelle A Fischer

Friends/Family,

 

I don't send out messages like this very often, however, I felt very compelled to send this one out today.... 

 

PLEASE read this important email message below regarding a personal experience with breast cancer related to a Bill going to the senate (see large blue text below email message) that will prevent Insurance Companies from restricting masectomies to outpatient services and allow patients to have more hospital time for recovery. 

 

Details are in large print below and a link is provided to sign an online petition at:

http://www.lifetimetv.com/breastcancer/petition/signpetition.php

 

From: Bcc Rally [mailto:bccrally@yahoo.com]
Subject: Be my Bra - bill is in the Senate now

Thanks Suzie for sending this to my attention.

The bill passed in the House of Representatives in September and is now going on to the Senate.  Please go to the website to learn more about this topic.

This actually happened to me ( surgery mid-day and at 9:00 a.m., next morning, I had to leave the hospital) so my physician contacted my insurance company to get special permission for me to stay one more day.  The drains stay in longer than two days but that additional day gives you time to gain control of the pain and discomfort,  become aware of what is happening around you and mentailly prepared for what you need to do for the recovery process.

I personally think it should be 4 days minimum but 2 days is absolutely better than a drive through experience.

--Jeanne 

 

Subject: Be my Bra. 
From a nurse: 
I'll never forget the look in my patients' eyes when I had to tell them they had to go home with the drains, new exercises and no breast. I remember begging the Doctors to keep these women in the hospital longer, only to hear that they would, but their hands were tied by the insurance companies. So there I sat with my patients, giving them the instructions they needed to take care of themselves, knowing full well they didn't grasp half of what I was saying, because the glazed, hopeless, frightened look spoke louder than the quiet 'Thank You' they muttered.

 

A mastectomy is when a woman's breast is removed in order to remove cancerous breast cells/tissue. If you know anyone who has had a Mastectomy, you may know that there is a lot of discomfort and pain afterwards. Insurance companies are trying to make mastectomies an outpatient procedure. Let's give women the chance to recover properly in the hospital for 2 days after surgery. 

 

It takes 2 seconds to do this and is very important. Please take the time and do it! Please send this to everyone in your address book. If there was ever a time when our voices and choices should be heard, this is one of those times. 

 

If you're receiving this, it's because I think you will take the 30 seconds to vote on this issue and send it on to others you know who will do the same. There's a bill called the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act which will require insurance companies to cover a minimum 48-hour hospital stay for patients undergoing a mastectomy. It's about eliminating the 'drive-through' Mastectomy where women are forced to go home just a few hours after surgery, against the wishes of their doctor, still groggy from anesthesia and sometimes with drainage tubes still attached. 

 

Lifetime Television has put this bill on their Web page with a petition drive to show support. Last year over half the House signed on. PLEASE!! Sign the petition by clicking on the web site below. You need not give more than your name, state, and zip code. 
(  http://www.lifetimetv.com/breastcancer/petition/signpetition.php )  
This takes about 2 seconds. PLEASE PASS THIS ON to your friends and family, and on behalf of all women, THANKS