Metformin Study In The News

One of the benefits of this new habit of getting up at 5:00 a.m. every morning to go to the gym is that I catch up on my news. There is literally nothing else on that early other than infomercials! I NEVER used to get up and watch the news in the morning at home, but now it passes the time on the treadmill pretty quickly!

This morning, I saw a story on MSNBC about a Metformin study that shows a correlation between type II diabetics who have used the drug for five years and an OVER 50% less chance of developing breast cancer. It does not talk about women with PCOS who take the drug, and more studies are being conducted, but it was still encouraging news!

I have read that women with PCOS have in increased risk of developing breast cancer because they typically have higher insulin levels (even if not diabetic) and since high insulin levels promote abnormal cell growth, PCOS patients are at an increased risk for several types of cancer.

The thing I found most interesting about this article is that in addition to the reduced cancer rates, most likely attributed to lower insulin levels, some studies are suggesting that the Metformin actually inhibits tumor growth in patients already diagnosed with breast cancer. A study is being conducted now to see if Metformin helps lower the rate of recurrance of breast cancer after standard treatment in early breast cancer patients.

Personally, knowing all of this information is going to make my Metformin pills a little easier to swallow every day!

Playing Catch Up!

Whew! This has been a busy week... and it's not over yet! Today one of my best friends since 7th grade is coming into town, along with her Mom, to spend the weekend with us. Then tomorrow night we are throwing an engagement party for my brother and his soon to be bride! We are going to have about 25 people at our house! Eeek!

So, in the interest of time, here are the things I've gotten crossed off my list:

1) Make an eye doctor appointment

You would think this would be fairly simple, but I had to log in to our vision plan website to find out who was in network. My husband had previously set up log in information, but couldn't remember it, so I had to have them e-mail it to him at work, he forwarded it to me, etc. etc. and then I was able to look up and find a doctor on our plan. I called the office. All calls were being forwarded to the answering service. They told me to make an appointment online on their website. This took 20 minutes. No lie. But, it's done. Hopefully after March 15th street lights and signs won't look fuzzy when I'm driving anymore.

Just to let you know how slack I am, I made an appointment 3 years ago to go to the eye doctor. I went. I got my prescription. I never ever went to pick out glasses. So, it expired. I swear I will NOT do that same thing this time! (I hope!)

2) Clear out the Office

I really should put the word "office" in quotes, or at the very least, say "future office." Right now, it's just a room. Until last night, it was a room full of JUNK. My neighbors kids would comment on how messy it was. One of them told me that her Dad used that room for his office and she could see that we just used it for storage. Ugggh! Are we the neighbors with that house? We can't afford to build the wall unit desk we want or to purchase seating (which I'm determined to buy second hand), but at least now it's just a (mostly) empty room! Last night I cleaned everything out except for the things I need to list for sale on Craig's List (yes, that includes the random pedestal sink you see in the picture), the last box of the hardwood floors that we need to return to Lumber Liquidators (yes, my husband and I installed hardwood floors ourselves in the whole downstairs of our house the week after we closed on it. Very tedious. Very worth it!!!), the two chairs that are staying in the room, some computer stuff and some books that will eventually live on some sort of shelf.

Sigh. Deep breath of relief. It's nice not to have to look at that mess anymore when I walk in the door. And you know what? It only took me about 30 min. I should have done it a LONG time ago!

3) Touch Up Paint On Stair Walls

Okay, so our ENTIRE house was painted in beige flat paint. I can. not. stand. flat. paint. EVERYTHING shows on it, it's not washable, ugggh! I'm much more of an eggshell finish girl myself. Slowly I've been conquering one room at a time and painting it something a little more fun than beige, and DEFINITELY not flat paint! However... the hallway up our stairs... that's a different story! I could never get up that high to paint it over, so I will forever be touching up those walls. The builder left us a quart of wall paint for touch ups... thank goodness! Our hall walls were a MESS with a capital 'M'. Mostly from moving the king size mattress up the stairs. Matt and my brother did this. I was soooooo over moving by that point. It was over 100 degrees out the day we moved and we did it all ourselves. Fun times. I also hit the walls with the vacuum pretty much every time I go up and down the stairs. It looks a TON better! This activity also took me about 30 min. I can't believe I let the walls look like that for eight months!

and finally...

4) Set Up Payment Plan for MRI

Back in October I had to have a breast MRI done. (you can read about it here) After fighting with my health insurance for months, they are refusing to cover it. I'm so frustrated with them because the final letter they sent said that it's not standard medical practice to do a breast MRI for someone of moderate risk (which they are saying I am) and dense breast tissue (which makes it hard to accurately read a mammogram). If they don't consider it standard medical practice for someone of MODERATE RISK then there is something wrong. The radiologist that did my mammogram and ultrasound didn't hesitate for a second to say that I needed an MRI. The breast specialist I had to visit also whole heartedly agreed with that opinion, but I went up the chain of command at the insurance company until they finally sent it for an outside medical review. There is nothing further I can do. Thankfully the hospital gave me a 50% discount on my bill from the amount they were going to charge the insurance company, but it still leaves me to pay almost $700. I still would have had it done even if I had known ahead of time that the insurance company wasn't going to pay for it, but it still stinks. So, now I'll be paying $50 per month for over a year, but I know that I don't have breast cancer, so I can't complain too much.

Boobs

Yesterday I crossed another item off my list ~ following up with the health insurance company about my MRI. I had a breast cancer scare in October and the breast specialist I was sent to see ordered a mammogram and a breast ultrasound. Both were negative, however, I apparently have very dense breasts and the radiologist was concerned because he didn't see what he thought he would on the ultrasound, so he sent me for a breast MRI to rule out inflammatory breast cancer. IBC is the most aggressive form of breast cancer, and also the most rare. The other scary thing about it is that more often than not, it's not detected on a mammogram. Most people have probably never heard about IBC and would have no idea what the signs and symptoms are. I highly suggest that you read the symptoms here:

http://www.ibcresearch.org/home-page/typical-symptoms-of-ibc/

I was acutely aware of the symptoms and the aggressiveness of IBC because my cousin battled against it for nine years before passing away this past August. She was only 41. Fortunately for me, all of my test results came back negative and I will go for a follow up mammogram and visit with the breast specialist in June. My health insurance company however is saying that the MRI was not medically necessary because it was "investigational and/or experimental". So, I'm having to appeal and had to have my doctor send a letter with additional information, etc.
So, I followed up yesterday and found out that my claim has been sent out for "outside medical review" and I should know by the middle of January what their decision is. I'm praying that they will cover the test because we will be hard pressed to pay for that out of pocket. It's frustrating feeling like something so big is out of your control, but given the alternative, I'd rather pay that medical bill and have negative test results than the other way around.