Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Do Not Start With the Redhead Having a Hot Flash

The first thing that caught my eye was Senator McCain's assertion that a "$300,000 . . study whether . . yoga can be . . effective . .to reduce the severity of hot flashes in breast cancer survivors" is "waste."  Then, I find that the total for the100 stimulus projects that he and Senator Coburn describe as having "questionable goals," that are "being mismanaged or were poorly planned" and are even "costing jobs and hurting small businesses,"  is 1/2 of one percent of the Federal Stimulus package
Being a woman in her 50s with 20 + years of moderate to severe hot flashes has made me somewhat of an expert in what is, and is not effective in reducing them.  Your opinion of my expertise aside, I can assure you with some conviction that it significantly exceeds that of both Senators McCain and Coburn.  When I read that the Senators thought it wasteful to study yoga as an effective methodology to reduce the severity of hot flashes in breast cancer survivors, I thought perhaps the honorable gentlemen would have found the study less wasteful had studied reducing symptoms of discomfort for prostate cancer survivors. 
No matter, Senators.  You have my attention.
And I have a calculator.
  • FLASH - Whether you agree or not with their conclusions of wastefulness, the totality of the programs in their 55 page report is one-half of one percent of the total Federal Stimulus package.
  • FLASH - If I were running a business with gross revenues of $200,000, and wasted 1/2 of 1 percent of that money, that would be $1000, or $83 per month.  I do not actually have gross revenues of $200,000, but I do waste $20 per day, and consider myself a very non-wasteful person.
  • FLASH - From another perspective, if Senators McCain and Coburn were to write a 55 page analysis for every $7 billion in the stimulus package, their report would be 9,428 pages long.   62-year-old Coburn may live to see the publishing of that report, but I don't believe it could be completed in the remaining lifetime of soon-to-be 74 year-old McCain.
  • FLASH - This is a mid-term election year.  Voters may be polarized, angry, out of work and disappointed, but, by enlarge, can tell the difference between something of real importance and of a politically motivated attack.  There are plenty of relevant political issues that differentiate the parties.  This is not one of them.
  • FLASH - Do not tell women that a study to minimize the discomfort after breast cancer surgery is wasteful.  We are more than 50% of the population and it may infuriate us.  Those of us over 40, actually having these symptoms (who choose not to take hormone replacement therapy because it has a statistically significant increase in instances of breast cancer) will not only not vote for you, but may actually become quite vocal and tell others what you have done.  You can't afford to lose have the voters.  THAT is a significant number.
  • FLASH - Some of us have calculators.  And we know how to use them.

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