Guest Author - Rhonda Cravey

Imagine enduring the surgical removal of one or both of your breasts – a mastectomy. Your surgeon separates your breast tissue from your overlying skin and from the chest wall underneath. All of the breast tissue – which lies between the collarbone and ribs, from the side of the body to the breastbone in the center – is removed. If you are having a modified radical or full radical mastectomy, some of your chest muscle may be removed as well.

You will most likely have bandages on your incisions and you will have drains to allow fluid build-up to leave the surgery site. Depending on the type of mastectomy, you may have a drain inserted in your armpit.

You are exhausted and in pain. You are dealing with the psychological and emotional factors of having lost one or both of your breasts. You are scared of the risk factors associated with a mastectomy which are, according to breastcancer.org:

• Numbness of the skin along the incision site and mild to moderate tenderness of the adjacent area (due to cut nerves).
  
• Extra sensitivity to touch within the area of surgery.
  
• Fluid collecting under the scar.
  
• Delayed wound healing.
  
• Increased risk of infection in the surgical area.

And then, further imagine, that your insurance company wants you to go home the same day, within hours, of having surgery. They want you to go home just like you would go home after a trip to the grocery store. Just like you would go home after church services on a Sunday morning. It appears your insurance company is more concerned with their bottom line than they are with your medical well being.

What are your options? As one individual person, you might call your insurance company and plead upon their sympathies to change their rules. But if you have ever made such a phone call you are aware of the utter futility of your actions.

Fortunately, there is power in numbers. And in this case, the numbers are large, 20 million to be exact. MyLifetime.com has collected 20 million signatures in support of eradicating "drive-through" mastectomies. And they have taken these 20 million virtual voices, along with Emmy-nominated actress Marcia Cross (“Desperate Housewives”) and bipartisan members of Congress, to Capitol Hill in support of eliminating this dangerous practice of forcing women to leave the hospital following their physically and emotionally difficult breast cancer surgeries before they and their doctors may feel they are ready to go home. The press conference, which was held Wednesday, January 23, 2008, supports the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act of 2007.

Representative DeLauro (D-CT) in the House and Senator Snowe (R-ME) in the Senate have sponsored the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act of 2007 (S.459/H.R. 758), which includes no mandates but allows a woman and her doctor to decide if she is best off going home or staying in the hospital for at least 48 hours after having a mastectomy. To date, the legislation has 204 co-sponsors in the House and 18 in the Senate.

Marcia Cross is a passionate advocate for breast cancer awareness, as she has several friends who are survivors. Cross was upset to learn that women have had to endure “drive-through” mastectomies, and was eager to travel to Washington, D.C., to meet with Members of Congress to bring attention to this issue.

Joining Cross in Washington were:

• Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA)
  
• Representative Rose DeLauro (D-CT)
  
• Representative Jerry Moran (R-KS)
  
• Meredith Wagner, Executive Vice President, Public Affairs, Lifetime Networks
  
• Dr. Kristen Zarfos, Director, Comprehensive Breast Health Center and Attending in General, Endocrine and Breast Surgery at St. Francis Hospital, Hartford, Connecticut; Assistant Professor of Surgery at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine
  
• Breast cancer patient

Lifetime is the leader in women’s television and one of the top-rated basic cable television networks. This “drive-through” mastectomy movement is part of Lifetime Networks’ Every Woman Counts campaign on myLifetime.com. This campaign is an educational online and offline community that informs women in both the 2008 elections and beyond.

What can you do?
Find out if your political leader supported this bill at mylifetime.com.

If your political leader is not on the list, contact your Senator and/or your Representative and encourage them to support this bill.

Sign the petition at myLifetime.org.