So don’t stop believing, sisters–
Ann Murray Paige – FIT House Member of the Month! from Ara Arbabzadeh on Vimeo.
Posts Tagged ‘San Francisco’
Ann’s Diary: Great Labs
Fresh off my high from attending The Global Leaders Healthcare Forum in SF yesterday, I woke up to an email from my doctor;
SUBJECT: Great Labs
Yes! My tumor markers, which went up in November, have continued to go down. This time by about 10 points–which wouldn’t be such a big deal except that they’d shot up 50 points last fall and I was floored and depressed during the holidays. Now they’ve gone back down, about 40 points last month, and today–about 10 more points–if you do that Math–and please do because I s*ck at Math–this means I’ve gotten back what I ‘lost’ around Thanksgiving time and I’m back on the “Beat Cancer’s Butt” trail.
What’s the reason? The cause? I don’t know–I really don’t. Yet I have to assume that the drug Zometa is at the heart of it. That’s the drug I get dripped into me each month at the Chemotherapy Infusion Center at the hospital–but technically Zometa isn’t chemo. It’s a bone strengthener. I’d stopped it in October due to a side effect and that next month my tumor markers shot up.
So why is it helping me? Who knows. It could be that it sends out some message as it’s strengthening my bones against any infiltration of the breast cancer now pounding my left lung, saying “and don’t go over there, either.” Either way, it’s working for me–this patient, this mother, daughter, wife, sister, cousin, friend–it’s apparently keeping me alive.
Which brings me back to the health conference I blogged from yesterday, and the big global healthcare question I took away from it all: what happens when the price of a drug is deemed too expensive to keep on the shelf, yet that same drug is deemed critical to keeping someone alive for a few months, a few years, or more? Who gets to decided what the cut-off day is for the financial effectiveness versus the human one?
We don’t know yet–though for the uninsured that day has already come. Yet for the rest of us–those who have insurance, pay our bills, etc.–we are potentially in that same “can I get the meds?” boat if one day an entity bigger than we are decides that a drug is ‘too expensive’ to give out. Let’s take Zometa for example: what if….
I don’t know. I just know that we’d all best be paying attention to who, what, where, and when they–whomever they are–decide.
| Posted January 11th, 2012 by |  |
Ann’s Diary: Getting Out There (Global Leaders Healthcare Forum)
In this new year I am committed to getting out there. Whatever out there is. I guess some would say I’m already out there, though not altogether in a productive way. Safe to say I don’t care, and they’re kidding, and it’s all good–
still, I hope 2012 brings me many moments to ‘get out there’–and do some good.
To that end, I have accepted an invitation to blog tomorrow from The Global Leaders 2nd Annual Healthcare Forum going on in San Francisco. I’ll bring my age-old iBook G4, my pink purse stuffed with ‘pink tips’ books to hand out like candy, and myself. I’ve even agreed to co-lead a discussion table on patient advocacy. Who knows what the day could bring?
The brochure begins like this:
Register today for The Global Leaders 2nd annual healthcare forum focused on “Eliminating the Gap Between Innovation & Resources.” The conference will focus on connecting CEOs and other senior executives with institutional investors and business development executives who can help bring the pieces together in a rapidly changing landscape. To request that a PDF of the conference brochure highlighting the days activities and speakers be emailed to you, email: jayme.porkolab@tgleaders.com
As I’ve never been to anything like this, I have no idea what I’ll find. But whatever I find, I’ll be blogging right here, as well as posting on FB and Twitter–so check in with me. It could be interesting.
And if not interesting, at least we could cyber-hang in San Francisco together. When people ask you what you did tomorrow you can say, “I was in San Francisco, California, USA at the Global Leaders Health Conference with Ann Murray Paige.”
How’s that for “getting out there”?
| Posted January 9th, 2012 |
