I’m happy to see some national follow-ups today on the latest news that statin drugs are apparently a wonder cure for preventing cardiovascular disease.
On Sunday and Monday, newspapers around the country, including The Wenatchee World, reported the latest finding that statins can halve the risk of heart attacks and stroke in people who don’t have high cholesterol. We published the Los Angeles Times story on our front page, which boldly declared the study suggests that “millions more people should be put on a daily regimen” of the drug.

That bothered me a little, and I told my husband so.  He countered that this is hugely important, and could benefit so many people. I agree.  Half of heart attacks occur in people who do not have high cholesterol.  And a simple $20 blood test can tell you if you have arterial inflammation.  But nowhere in the article, or others I found online, did the reporters mention  that statin drugs are not the ONLY way to reduce or prevent inflammation, which now becoming accepted as another cause of heart disease.

I did read in The Washington Post’s story this quote, “Some experts, however, expressed concern about rushing millions of healthy people onto powerful drugs.”  But still no mention of what causes the inflammation.

My worry is that, as a nation, we tend to rush to the drug first, rather than looking for changes in our own habits, and then using drugs as a tool if that isn’t successful.  And as reporters, we sometimes buy into the latest research touting the wonders of some of these drugs, without exploring what some of our readers may want to know — namely, ‘What’s the real cause, and what lifestyle changes would prevent it?’  If it’s not the bacon and eggs, what is it?

That’s why I was glad to see at least a few stories today like the one in U.S. News and World Report addressing just that. It’s titled, “Six ways to reduce inflammation — without a statin or a heart test.”  It’s worth a read, if you’re interested.

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This weekend, we plan to publish a story about Amy Hefner, a 32-year-old Wenatchee woman who is undergoing a mastectomy in order to prevent breast cancer.  She’s having that surgery today in New York, and my thoughts are with her.  Amy lost her mother to breast cancer seven years ago, and all six of her grandfather’s sisters died from it.  She does not have cancer, at least as far as they know now.  But she’s much, much more likely to get breast cancer than most of us, because of her family history, and the fact that she carries a damaged BRCA2 gene.
Usually, once my story is finished and in my editor’s hands, it’s pretty much gone from my head.  I’m on to other things.  But every now and then, a story comes along that captures my attention for weeks, even months.  And not just during working hours.  For me, this is one of those stories.
I first contacted Amy in mid-September, a couple days after she emailed me and our features editor.  She wrote to say she was willing to share her story about her decision to have preventive mastectomy.  October is breast cancer awareness month, and Amy had, by chance, scheduled her surgery for this month.  I got in touch with Marco, who said his department couldn’t get to the story right now.  It was mine if I wanted it, and I did.  So I talked to my editor, Russ, and we decided the story could make a nice weekend piece.
A week later, I met with Amy and interviewed her about her decision to undergo surgery.  I’ve talked to her by phone several times since then, with questions I forgot to ask, or with follow-ups.  She’s gone through so much in just this last month — an MRI that came back questionable; a biopsy that showed no cancer in one of the two spots; a talk with her surgeon, who was concerned that the other spot could be cancerous; a decision to move forward with a different surgery that would also remove her nipple from one breast instead of putting off the surgery to find out if the second spot is cancerous.  And to top it off, she learned from her insurance company that they won’t cover one of the two surgeons.  She and her husband will be in debt $10,000 to $15,000.
To me, Amy seems remarkably brave.  She has faced so much in her life.  This last month along has been a roller coaster ride for her. The physical changes she will undergo today when she loses her breasts are great.  And, she was willing to share all of this with Wenatchee and North Central Washington as her part to raise awareness for breast cancer.  Amy told me she never did like pink very much, but since her mother died, every October, “I’m all about pink.”  Amy has certainly raised my awareness about breast cancer.  I just hope my article begins to portray how very brave this young woman is.

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 I often catch my wife Casi at the grocery store pretending to know someone simply to talk them into playing hockey. She’ll point people out and say to me, “she looks like a good defender” or “that girl plays soccer, I bet she’d LOVE hockey”. Sometimes we get separated at Costco and after a few minutes of searching, I find her at the end of one of the aisles next to a pile of dog beds, with her infectious smile and innocent demeanor, talking animatedly with some unwitting person about how they can try it for free their first time, or just come and watch sometime and that we have all the stuff they need. If I didn’t know EXACTLY what she was up to, I might be offended or at least a little nervous about the things my wife is saying to this complete stranger. Most times this ends with her jotting down an email address or phone number, and a week or so later the same person showing up at our house to try on gear before the next women’s hockey night. To my chagrin, Casi is good at what she does. As embarrassing as it can be to have my wife forcing her dogma of the ice on people, we’ve made a lot of friends this way and I love her more for it. Sometimes I wonder what she loves more though, the sport itself or the “game outside the game”; the promoting, organizing, social aspects or the recruiting. 

 Women’s hockey is different. On the ice there are rarely the altercations so glorified in the men’s game and you will hear words uttered on the ice during women’s games that you will NEVER here from the guys: “sorry” or “are you okay”. Quite often you’ll catch a gal laying on the ice after a fall or collision, writhing around, but instead of crying in pain, she’ll be laughing out loud. Maybe it’s the right mix of hormones and level of maturity, but when it comes to hockey, the girls just seem to have more fun on and off the ice. Casi is a great ambassador for women’s hockey because she can take someone from thinking that hockey is a rough and tumble sport just for guys to thinking it’s the social event of the year.

 As I’m writing this, Casi’s twirly mane is tickling the top of my bald head and I cannot possibly finish this entry with out mentioning that there is plenty of room in the Women’s Hockey League and that the women’s team (the Wenatchee Banshees) is always looking for new fun loving ladies, NO experience necessary! If interested, please save yourself (and me) the time at your next grocery store visit, contact her first at either of the 2 previous links. You’ll be glad to part of the women’s hockey family.

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