Monday, May 18, 2015

"Doing XYZ prevents breast cancer." aka a Lying Meme.

(Actually, I've sat on this post just to make certain I was being objective about my perspective.)

Since I was attempting to catch up on fakebook this afternoon, I was scrolling along quickly in between doing a bunch of stuff today.  I found a meme which made me angrivated in an angrivated way that only others like me would understand.  Basically, it's yet another meme circulating about breast cancer with a very false claim about how if humans stop using toxins, then breast cancer would be prevented.  (Note:  WOULD BE was implied as if it was set in stone in would be prevented for any and all diagnosed, implying that no use of toxins will keep anyone from being diagnosed.  There was no acknowledgement of the fact that men can be diagnosed with breast cancer also, which was another thing I found disturbing.)


So, I did what those of me do.  I sent a comment about what I saw and why I believed it to be putting out incorrect information.  (And this particular meme was from a group that is supposedly about "breast health," which makes it even more appallingly sad they're putting out incorrect information.)

I attempted to be polite, convey civility without being condescending, and didn't drop the F bomb.  (I know, right?  Wtf?!)


Here's what I sent:

This picture meme is misleading because it's not known what causes all the different kinds of breast cancer there actually is.  People who have lived "perfectly" have still wound up with one or another form breast cancer.  Men can get breast cancer, you certainly aren't acknowledging that.  


And before you get pissy with me about my comments, I've had breast cancer and I did everything "right" and still wound up with it.  It doesn't discriminate between yoginis who are hardcore vegans and breastfed or women who breastfed and ate the occasional burger or women who were raised on farms or in cities or who are in their twenties or in their eighties or used makeup or didn't use makeup, women who had a genetic pre-disposition to it from a family history or women who have no family history of it at all.  Cancer does not discriminate.

Regarding breast cancer, another lie is that early detection saves lives.  It does not.  Women who are diagnosed at grade zero, stage zero can go stage 4/mets at any time and eventually die from whatever form of breast cancer there is, just like some women diagnosed as stage 4 can survive for a few years, and some won't.  Breast cancer STILL kills.  People diagnosed, and I say people, because both men and women can wind up with breast cancer, can still wind up with mets/stage 4, even though they did everything "right," according to their doctors or did everything their doctors told them to do.  Cancer happens and it's a shit storm.  

Where's your meme telling people this sort of thing about kids who wind up with cancer?  Are you going to imply their parents weren't responsible enough with one thing or another and that's why their child wound up with that vile disease? 

You probably won't take it down or alter it, but at least I said something.  There are tons of people out there like me who are attempting to educate others about the gross misconceptions about cancer.  Toxic chemicals in any form are a bad idea--for anyone.  But to say protecting the earth from them prevents diseases like breast cancer is flat out not true.

Thanks for your time.

Of course I felt as if the reply given to me was standard response fodder, but at least someone did read my comments.


I've been chosen to participate in a really cool thing.  Bressante makes custom foob forms and amazingly enough, I was chosen to receive a pair.  This could be interesting, people.  They definitely appear to be an improvement over the old kinds on the market.  Here's information about Wendy's Kickstarter page.  She's doing this to help people like me.  

Building a Better Prosthesis  That dot in the center of the U.S. you see on the map?  That's me.  I'm hoping that the funding will come through from kind souls who believe this is a project worth contributing to.

There's a few links I'm going to share to some posts/articles related to various cancer related shit since cancer is a shit storm.

Want Attention?  Just Say Breast Cancer.  (This is a lovely commentary about the ribbon versus ribbon stuff that seems to now be going on.  Thanks ever sofa king much, Big Name Pink Ribbon Foundation for being divisive instead of helpful, since ALL cancers can and do kill people.)

Something I Can Use  (More cancer patients versus cancer patients commentary, communicating about what cancer patients really need, and included in this are some thought provoking statements about head shaving.)

Cancer Charities Scammed Millions of Consumers  (Yes, it can and does happen, people.  Please think before you pink, or pay attention to where you're donating.  There is no fucking way I'd donate anything to the Big Name Pink Ribbon Foundation or The Other Big Name Cancer Society.  Neither have ever done ANYTHING for anyone I've encountered who's had to deal with cancer.  They sure as fuck won't get anything from me.  Am I saying not to donate?  Nope, not at all.  I'm just encouraging you readers out there in HorseDoovers Land to check around, ask questions, do a bit of research first, and then donate.)

Living With Cancer; Patients On Our Own written by Susan Gubar says "At one point or another during and after radiation and chemotherapy, the women in my support group have needed physiological, psychological, dietary, cognitive, sexual, child-raising, financial, or housekeeping guidance that none of us received.  Of course we address these matters among ourselves, but why don't cancer centers provide professionals to advise us?  If nothing else, such supplementary counseling would give cancer patients the boost of knowing that we are doing what we can to help us cope with difficult circumstances."  (I have a comment or two about that wonderfully put paragraph.  It's because it's all about money and nobody but others like us really give a fuck about our functionality and quality of life once it's fucked up from the shit storm that cancer is.)

My Life on Xeloda  Commentary about why is treatment still so primitive?  This was an outfuckingstanding read.

Not Long and Beautiful  Interesting thoughts on losing hair and breasts.

Living With Stage Four  The breast cancer nobody understands.

And because I always want to share options I've found for those of you who want foobs, here's a couple of links.

Super Gel Breast Forms  These look like they could be interesting, maybe more comfortable than the old silicone foobs which are pawned off on so many of us as replacement foobs.  Eventually, I would like to try a pair and then share my thoughts on them here for you people who are interested.

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

38 views in one day?

April 28, 2015, there happened to be 38 page views.  None of them were mine.  Wtf?  Where did you people come from?

Anyway, moving on..."Oh Mother's Day, what are you doing?  Blah, blah, blah."

Please can that nonsense and yes, I'm a Scrooge about shit like that.  To me, it's just another day to do laundry and cook like any other day.  As a wife and mom, if there is appreciation of me, it should be every day, not just one day out of the year.  Did anyone even think of that?  Just curious.

Last week, I was brave and called a place around the corner and down the road to inquire about boarding prices.  $350.00 pasture board, $450.00 stall board.  Those prices are indicative of the lower end of what's customarily charged for boarding.  Some places include vet/farrier fees in that price, if those services are needed, some charge extra.  Those prices are also customary of leasing fees.

I called the place around the corner, around the corner (No, that's not a typographical error.) and inquired.  $125.00 pasture board, $150.00 stall board, because "I try to keep it affordable for people." were his exact words.  He has a horse for lease that's a TWH for $275.00.  Still more than can be afforded right now (but reasonable because that's a full lease with as much riding time as I could possibly stand) what with the house build going on, but I may look into the process of getting hired as a sub so I can pay for my own horse related activities once I contribute several thousand to braces for College Monkey.

The husband told me he didn't want me to work unless I *wanted* to work, but with an insanely expensive addiction of horses that I know I want to continue pursuing, I feel like it's my responsibility to contribute in some manner since writing sure as fuck hasn't paid off.  (So yeah, I'll wind up working to pay for something I'd love to enjoy, only to be too tired to enjoy it.  No logic, but since it's me and we all know I have no concept of limitations regarding my life post cancer until I'm non-functional from exhaustion, well, we'll see how this goes.)

I went and met said TWH and the guy who owns him around the corner, around the corner.  TWH was adorable, of course.  I spoke with the guy for some time and offered to walk his fence line twice a week and pick up trash that blows in.  There are two horses I can groom, TWH and ON.  ON is too old to be ridden, he's a retired re-enactment horse, but would love the attention, so I don't mind.  I'm all about grooming horses since I'm not able to ride right now.

(The one thing that was interesting was that I met a BLM Mustang who was very much interested in nuzzling me, rubbing all over me with his face, and I was amazed at how rowdy he wasn't and how well mannered he was.  He was an absolute kitten horse and evidently, came off the truck like that.  Talk about shattering a legend about Mustangs being rowdy, well, he certainly did.)

Yesterday, I walked between fifteen to twenty acres of fence line and picked up trash.  Of course the horses wanted to follow me around, hoping for treats, but none were overly pushy or demanding, which is a good thing.  The owner of this place had told me he has a stud horse who wouldn't object to me being in his pasture walking the fence, he'd just want treats.  That was funny because when I climbed through the fence and this big, black stud horse notices me standing there, he decides I'm interesting and wants to investigate the new human.  He comes running at me, so I just stood there and waited.  He slowed up to a trot about fifty feet away, then about twenty feet away, he slowed up to a walk and very politely approached me and asked for treats.  I don't make it a habit to give treats to horses I don't know, so I talked to him and petted him for a few minutes and then once he lost interest, read that as he figured out I didn't have any treats with me, he wandered off, I finished that fence line.

Time taken walking entire fence line of said huge property?  Two and a half hours.  I wore my tall boots because of snakes and ticks.  It's not flat terrain, either.  It's very rough and uneven.  I have to clean my boots today because they need it.  I may switch to my shorter boots, even in spite of ticks, since they are easier to clean.

After that, I went to the other barn and groomed the big palomino gelding.  (He'd been a complete jack wagon last week.  Not in a rude manner, but a typical horse manner.  I went out to catch a horse to groom.  He wasn't interested, so I got the big mare, took her into the barn, groomed her, and turned her loose.  I tried again on the big palomino gelding and again, he wouldn't cooperate.  I chose one of the red geldings, took him into the barn, groomed him, and turned him loose.  Guess who suddenly decided to follow me?  You guessed it.  The big palomino gelding.  "Want to be in your pocket!  Want to follow you into the barn!  Right now!  Let's go!  Groom me!"  Dude, seriously?  You had two chances, now I have to go back to being responsible wife and mom and go home, clean up, and cook.  *shakes head*)  Anyway, yeah, yesterday, I managed to groom him.  He was good while he stood for me, although he was funny.  We had to walk from way over in the other pasture area, but he decided once he got into the barn, he needed to poop.  At least he pooped when I brought him in and he didn't actually poop on my head while I was cleaning his back hooves.  (Either you'll get it or you won't.  This is what horses do, get creative about pooping.)




Friday, May 1, 2015

Delightful visit was delightful.

It was Wednesday evening when Army Monkey and his adorable wife arrived with their two cats.  Fortunately, the way this house is, we were able to have space for our two cats in a third of the house and their cats in the other two thirds of the house, so no cat fights here.

They stayed Wednesday night on their way from Further Out West to their New Civilian Life Down South.  (While where they lived in Colorado was lovely, neither were fond of the cold weather.  Both are happy to be heading back down to the Deep South.)

Thursday morning was breakfast of coffee, milk, juice, a double batch of sour cream biscuits, and sausage gravy.  I also threw an herbed pork loin into the crock pot for supper.  Since Football Monkey never misses school, it was decided it would be okay for him to skip school that day since he doesn't get to see Army Monkey and His Wife very often.  The College Monkey only had one class, so while he went to his class, the rest of us loaded up and went to look at the new house.

Once College Monkey was done with class, we all met up at a favorite place to eat lunch.  The two younger monkeys came home and the rest of us paid a little visit to the liquor store nearby.  Everyone was talking about a food coma, but 

Because this was such an awesome post, there needs to be some bitching included.  I don't gaf who you are, jeggings are a bad idea, whether you're a hundred pound stick or weigh three hundred pounds and look like a stuffed sausage in your jeggings/leggings/whatever the fuck it is they're called these days.  Stop with the madness, people.  Please.  I'm all for not giving a fuck what anyone else thinks and dressing to be comfortable, however a little respect for other people's eyes/sanity needs to be taken into consideration.  No, I'm not turning into the fashion police.  Yes, I am going to bitch about this because well, my fucking blog, my fucking posts, my fucking content.  If you don't like it, please feel free to click the back button, and don't forget to burn your tights/jeggings on the way out.