My Health Insurance Business… Post Katrina!

As many of you know, Katrina destroyed many lives, families, businesses, homes and personal properties in late August 2005. We lost my Uncle Red, a Catholic priest in Lake Catherine, LA during the hurricane. He didn’t evacuate, and his body was never found. All that was left to his church were the front and back walls and the altar with some statues. Everything else, including him, were washed away.

Prior to Katrina, I was simply a wife, mother, grandmother and health insurance agent! After the hurricane, my business was nearly non-existent. That business (since 1992) allowed me the luxury of working from home, making appointments with clients at MY convenience, and being able to go on field trips, vacations, and staying home with my kids whenever I wanted to. It also allowed me to take care of the office duties for my husband’s business.

Since the hurricane, I’ve discovered the world of nutritional cleansing and breast health and have stayed busy with family and business ventures, but did miss my insurance clients and the income I had built up over the years!

Just recently, the phone has started ringing again for health insurance! The business that was so good to me for so many years is slowly making a comeback, and I am so grateful. Not that my life hasn’t been fulfilling since the hurricane; on the contrary, it allowed me to discover nutrition and a passion for breast cancer awareness that I never knew I had!

With health insurance, just because someone calls you and WANTS insurance, doesn’t mean they’ll QUALIFY for it. Pre-existing conditions, PRICE and other issues can be a problem! I  offer my clients several different companies and types of policies to fit just about all scenarios.  All of my ventures go hand in hand to offer health AND security.

If you know of anyone in Louisiana that needs health insurance, or simply want to learn some healthy habits to enhance their health, please send them my way! I cater to both individuals and small groups, and am very interested in speaking with them to discover their insurance and health needs. We now can offer them health insurance and wellness opportunities to protect them and keep them healthy! “One plan does NOT fit all” and I look forward to helping them get the information to make SMART health decisions to suit their needs!

*We can talk to individuals and businesses WORLDWIDE regarding our cleansing program and breast health information.

Vitamin D, Breast Cancer Risk

From MyBreastCancerNetwork.com

Illuminated Again

by  Craig Stoltz
Friday, May 16, 2008

A new report casts some light on a link between Vitamin D levels and breast cancer progression. In the Canadian study, low blood levels of D were strongly linked to breast cancer diagnosis–and women with inadequate levels of the vitamin in their blood at the time of diagnosis had a higher risk of the cancer spreading and nearly twice the risk of death. It’s not the first time the vitamin, produced in the body when the skin is exposed to sunlight, has been linked to a variety of diseases, including cancers and heart disease.

Three Things You Need to Know:

1. The study did not prove low levels of Vitamin D cause worse breast cancer outcomes–and it certainly didn’t prove that raising levels of the vitamin level will improve those outcomes. The study simply observed links between levels and disease. Vitamin D blood levels may be a “marker” for good health, which helps the body fight off cancer.

2. Having said that, enough evidence of a link is accumulating about protective benefits of Vitamin D that some physicians recommend brief sunlight exposure as a way to build D levels in the blood. Their recommendation is to get 10 minutes of sun exposure on the arms and/or legs, without sunscreen, a few days per week. The flip side of sun exposure is increased skin cancer risk, however. The more conservative recommendation is to use Vitamin D supplements in consultation with your doctor.

3. Looking at the stats, there’s bad news/good news: Among women diagnosed with early stage breast cancer entering the study, only 24 percent had adequate levels of D. The better news: 83 percent of the women with adequate D levels were alive without cancer spread 10 years later. So were 79 percent of women with inadequate D levels and 69 percent of those who had a significant deficiency.

So: considering hedging your bets? Talk to your doctor. Some physicians recommend blood tests to check for D levels, and may recommend sunlight, supplements or other risk-reduction strategies.

For some background, here’s an excellent post by one of our breast cancer experts, PJ Hamel, on Vitamin D and breast cancer. And here’s one by Dr. William Davis on the link between heart disease and Vitamin D.

The federal government’s Office of Dietary Supplements has this excellent overview of Vitamin D research.

Our 33rd Wedding Anniversary

My husband and I just celebrated our 33rd wedding anniversary this weekend!  We brought our Grandchildren to see the 2nd Narnia Movie:  Prince Caspian (EXCELLENT MOVIE!) Friday night, and then Saturday night enjoyed a wonderful ribeye steak dinner, awesome Banana Banchee drink, and a night at the fights!  My husband and I are both Boxing Fans and got to see a young man (who is a friends of ours) Will McIntyre win his first championship belt!  Today we attended church, and had a lovely day with family.    After all the terrible weather earlier in the week, our weekend weather matched the loveliness and fun we had this weekend!  Just beautiful!

V Day in the SuperDome/posted in April

Just had to share this with you all!

As Breast Health Consultants and Breast Cancer Advocates, my team and I went to New Orleans this weekend for the V-Day activities in the Super Dome (about 40 miles from home). We knew there would be women there from all over the world, and we would have great exposure for our breast exam kits and more important, the opportunity to share the gift of early detection with so many women!

Well, WOW! Did we have a great opportunity! On Friday, we were able to give out over 2500 brochures explaining and introducing our breast exam device to them while visiting all sorts of booths and services for women! There were speakers from all over lecturing on the many ways women are being victims of violence in the world. It’s message was love, protection, education and awareness and it was a wonderful, yet bittersweet day!

We spoke about Hurricane Katrina and its still devastating effects on New Orleans and the gulf coast residents. The camaraderie of the women from all parts of the world, all races, sizes and beliefs all meeting together in one place was amazing to say the least. The word “vagina” was everywhere (hence “V-day!”)and some were very comfortable with that while others were a bit shy.

As Christian women, our team of Plexus Pink agents fell somewhere in the middle of that comfort zone. All of us definitely have one, but our thoughts and ideas usually are on the BREAST, not the VAGINA or “down there” as it was called by MANY!! It took a little getting used to hearing about it OUT LOUD so much!

On Saturday, we had more time to mingle and get to meet more women, but Saturday’s speakers had more emphasis on more political topics, sexual preference, and topics that as a Christian, were a little more uncomfortable and divisive. The emphasis wasn’t exactly on love, peace and uniting people. (Just my take on the subject!)

This wasn’t quite as comfortable for us, but we still remembered our mission of saving lives through early detection and stuck it out even through the entire “Vagina Monologues” (held at the New Orleans arena) to close the weekend out.

The message of the Vagina Monologues included many celebrities, sad and funny stories about their “down there”/vagina’s, and for the most part was about ending Violence on Women, but it also strayed onto other subjects that might make a Christian feel uncomfortable (some of the language and some of the messages were PRETTY GRAPHIC!)

All in all, I wouldn’t trade any of it and was so glad I got to take part in such a wonderful women’s weekend and meet so many women from all over! I hope I was able to make women more aware of their breasts, and I am now more aware of my “down there!” and the horrendous things many women in our own country and in other countries are experiencing. We need to keep our sisters from all around the world in our prayers!

Happy Mother’s Day

My daughter, Delilah, is a loving, very thoughtful and caring, sweet young woman. She has 3 children and one more on the way. She truly has a “mother’s heart” and knows just when to say what I need to hear, good and bad! This is the sentiment in her card to me:

“Even when you’re all grown up, your mother still can say

Exactly what your need to hear

to take your cares away…

Even when you’re all grown up,

Your mother still can do

Some special little favor

that just means the world to you.

She still can really make your day

in one way or another…

YES, even when you’re all grown up,

You ALWAYS need your mother! and inside: You always knew what I needed, hope you know I’ll always need you.”

My son, Noah’s card had a French bulldog (We have a brown brindle female) on the front with pink furry slippers in its mouth and the inside said, “No body else could ever fill your slippers.” Really cute!  I am very blessed to have them both live in the same neighborhood wit us!

This is from a blog I read this morning, and it brought back so many memories of my own mother in law. She was a hard woman at times to love, but raised her son to be a wonderful husband and an excellent provider, and we’ll be married 33 years on May 16th. She lived with us for 18 years, and we certainly had our ups and downs!

Please read this from someone I’ve never met (and I don’t even know her name), but she blogged it and I read it and it is a fitting tribute to my own mother in law, Gertrude Armando, that died of lung cancer in 2004:

“My mother-in-law”

 

I visited my dear mother-in-law today. It was a short visit as I was taking 4 of my children to the beach.

I have never been able to call her Mom, therefore she is Rita to me.

Rita will be 85 this summer. She has been a brave widow for 14 years.

We have not always seen eye-to-eye on subjects. She loves to feed my kids candy behind my back, when I am trying to take care of their teeth by limiting sweets.

She gives me obviously used clothing that looks 20 years old. I say thank-you only now I really mean it, whereas years ago I said it only to be polite.

She gives me boxes of food to sample that she has opened and sampled first. A little pet peeve, I admit.

She reminds me to write thank you notes to Great Uncle Harry and her neighbor as if I had no training at all. Well, that’s how it seems to me.

She cannot say she loves me, after I tell her, genuinely, that I love her. She will reply “me,too”. She is of the Depression Era, where all sorts of things were in short supply. That’s the reason she loves sweets, and saves envelope tops and string. Being of hardy German stock she “holds her cards close to her”, meaning she doesn’t show much emotion.

After almost 22 years of marriage to her son, I have come to know, love and respect my Mother-in-law.

And today was the ‘cherry on top’!

My oldest son who lives 10 minutes away has not brought his 5 month old daughter to see her Great Grandma. I have reminded him of how much a visit like that would mean to Grandma Rita. He agrees on the outside, yet he still hasn’t made any effort. I hurt for Rita, feeling shunned myself by this son.

Yet her response is filled to overflowing with grace!!! She says she understands completely; that young people are sooooo busy they just don’t have time for anyone else. She sincerely does not hold it against him at all!! I am amazed.

I sniff at being rebuffed by this son and she gives grace that will allow him to mature in his own time.

How could I be blessed with such a wonderful example of saintliness??

My own dear Mother-in-law continues to teach me. Only this time, I soak it up and realize she has been a treasure in my life, ever since I met my husband.

I am not going to beat myself up for my past attitudes. I know I will reap what I sow. But if I can learn now about what it means to be a good mother-in-law, so much the better for my own daughters-in-law.”

Yes, we all reap what we sow, and the best thing any of us can do is just to love each other and be the best example to our children we can be…then hope for the best! Happy Mother’s Day!

It’s so Important to Get a Second Opinion!

This is an email sent to me by Kaye, an on-line friend:
Hi Debbie:

I was always a good person and got my yearly mammogram. Unfortunately, my previous doctor, according to her own hand written notes was “monitoring” (for 3 years) a lump in my right breast which she “thought” was benign. She never told me. I moved quite a distance and switched doctors, which I believe saved my life.

My new doctor wanted a mammogram, no problem, I’m thinking. She called me up the next day and told me to get in her office immediately. I had stage 2B breast cancer with 2 positive lymph nodes. She and I checked my breast and we couldn’t feel the one in the breast (I have lumpy breasts). But, the one in my armpit was very low down on my side, and about the size of a cherry. I was completely shocked. I would NEVER have given myself a breast exam that far down my side. The lump was about where the bottom of a woman’s bra would hit. Needless to say, I feel fortunate that I switched doctors, that my new doctor wanted a digital baseline mamo for her file and that I was only stage 2B. I’m done with chemo and radiation and am sporting my 1 inch crewcut now.

ANYTHING you can do to encourage breast self exam is CRITICAL. However, I feel it also import to remind women not to just check the main underarm area, but her entire SIDE. This is NOT stated in Medical guidelines; I feel it should be. Also, Patients need to demand to see the radiologists reports and not take their doctors word for anything.

Thank you for your prayers, Debbie. I had a great surgeon, great oncologist, great radiation team. I feel blessed and cancer has taught me a lot - I’m a better person for it.

I would have never known any of this had my new doctor not asked for my previous mamos with the radiology reports. I drove and picked them up and sat in my car, absolutely SHOCKED reading them. “mass in right breast, probably benign” “continue to monitor” they did this every year since 2003 and all I got was the postcard in the mail that said my mamo was completely clear…’No sign of abnormality.” Thank God I saved the postcards - my attorney loved that!

My new doctor was LIVID. I learned a great lesson to be a PRO-ACTIVE PATIENT. I ask questions, ask for copies of reports and I’ve surrounded myself with aggressive doctors now. My gynecologist is in the loop with my breast cancer and now she has me come in every 3 months to check for cervical cancer - taking Tamoxifen can cause problems. Plus, my internist (the one who asked for the mammogram) checks me for diabetes, thyroid issues, etc.

I’m blessed to have a great employer and great insurance. So many women in this country DO NOT HAVE ACCESS TO GREAT INSURANCE. Is their life any less important than mine? I think NOT! Oh, gee, don’t get me started. I could totally become a healthcare advocate for the poor and non-insured.

I live life by this thought: ” What do you call a man or woman who graduated LAST in their medical school class? Doctor. ” Kaye

Free teleseminars!

Over the next two months, a team of experts from Boomer Diva Nation will host a series of teleseminars and radio interviews on a variety of topics.  These topics are designed to educate and empower you.     All of the teleseminars are FREE.  To get more info on these teleseminars, visit:  http://www.talk2bev.com/

Thursday, May 8 at noon Breast Cancer Advocate Debbie Mormino on BlogTalk Radio:  The Breast Diva Talks about Toxicity, Obesity and Breast Cancer.

Thursday evening May 8, at 8pm Author Karen O Bannon:  The Relationships Between Mothers and Daughters. 

Thursday, May 15 at noon Author Vicki M. Taylor on BlogTalk Radio:  Fighting the Battle of Living with Mental Illness.  Encore Presentation Thursday evening at 8pm 

Thursday, May 22 at noon Fearless Fifties Advocate/Author Jacqueline Wales on BlogTalk Radio:  Ten Secrets to Taking Fear Out of Your Life

Thursday evening, May 22 at 8pm Author/Virtual Assistant Kathie Thomas:  The Value of being a Work-at-Home-Mom  

Thursday, May 29 at noon Entrepreneur Heidi Richards at noon on BlogTalk Radio:  How to get the Most Out of Social Networking

Thursday, May 29 at 8pm  Wedding Planner Pam Archer:  Top Ten Mistakes when Planning a Wedding or Event-

Thursday, June 12 at noon Life Coach Eileen Williams BlogTalk Radio:  Reinventing Yourself at Midlife

Thursday evening, June 12 at 8pm: Boomer Blogger Rosie Horner:  Making the Most of Your Online Presence   

Thursday, June 19 at noon Best Selling Author Linda Alexander on BlogTalk Radio:  Telling Your Life Story or Anyone Else’s

Thursday evening, June 19 at 8pm PTSD Counselor/Author Lady Cerelli :  Why We Take Things Personal

Thursday evening, June 26 at 8pm Cookbook Author Betty Lynch  Eat to Live