Get your mammograms ladies

An article about a new study claims mammograms over diagnose breast cancer and that mammograms should be used less frequently. Sorry, I disagree. Women should be checked regularly once they reach a certain age. Better safe than sorry. Also, I imagine it is cheaper to catch and treat early.

My wife has been getting mammograms since she was 35 as her mother had breast cancer. At age 41 a tumor was found. Though very aggressive, the tumor was caught early and she only had a lumpectomy (plus chemo and radiation). If my wife was being checked less frequently, who knows when the cancer would have been found as the tumor was near her rib cage, meaning the lump wouldn't have easily been found until it was much larger. Granted my mother-in-law's prior history statistically put my wife at greater risk (as it will our daughter when she gets older), so she might have been checked anyway, making my argument moot.

However, contrast that with a larger woman in my wife's office who went for her first mammogram at age 40 and discovered cancer all over her breast. She had a mastectomy and is currently undergoing chemo. There was no prior family history and she wasn't showing symptoms. Also, due to her size, it is unlikely she would have found a lump through self examination. Though her cancer is advanced, and doctors say she may have only bought a few more years. those are years she may not have even had without the mammogram finding her cancer. While she may not make it to see her grandchildren, she should at least make it to see her children through childhood. It may only be a short time, but that time will be precious for her younger daughter.

I don't know what my wife's co-worker's medical bills are, but I imagine they are substantially higher than my wife's, which are not that low to start with. As coastal communities in NY and NJ that didn't build sand dunes or sea walls, or buried utility lines  due to costs are discovering, it is sometimes better to spend a few extra dollars up front then spend many more dollars after cleaning up the mess. I'm sure my wife would love to look back on spending that week between the initial finding and the follow up exam that confirmed she had an aggressive tumor as a week spent worrying about nothing.

Santa the hostile workplace employer

Tonight CBS is airing the annual holiday special celebrating discrimination based on a physical disability with regards to a reindeer, bullying, workplace prejudice, ADA violations, Title VII claims and possible OT violations. Yep, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer is on. The annual special that teaches children about bigotry, cruelty, and the triumph of discrimination.

Let's start with bigotry. Santa  promotes a hostile workplace, where management is allowed to discriminate against a potential employee because he is "different." And I'm not just talking about Rudolph. Look at what happened to poor Hermey the elf who wanted to be a dentist. Forced out because he wouldn't conform. Granted he was hired as a laborer, not a dentist, but to ostracize him from his own community just because he was different? Shame on Santa for allowing this to happen. I shudder to think what would happen if a couple of same sex elves wanted to hook up. 

And what is this nonsense about allowing his employees to not allow Rudolph to play in any reindeer games while they laughed and called him names? How cruel. Though it seems to me that those games were part of the workplace environment, meaning Santa should have made an accommodation for Rudolph's disability, Santa is at the North Pole and not subject to the ADA. Outsourcing is good when you want to avoid regulation. Still, if Santa were a stand up guy, he would have put a stop to this cruelty as soon as became aware of it, especially the name calling. That he did not speaks volumes of Santa's inner corporate heart. Of course what do you expect from a man who straps spare reindeer to the roof of his sleigh? And though I am not sure if there are possible OT violations in Santa's workshop (no idea what the law is in the North Pole), by working those poor elves non-stop I suspect he is violating his workshop's mission statement of bringing happiness and joy to all.

Face it, the only reason Santa put an end to the discrimination is because Rudolph had something Santa needed. Fine, all employers do that to an extent but Santa craftily put Rudolph in the no win situation of either accepting the years of harsh treatment and helping Santa or disappointing millions of children world wide. Let's face it, if Rudolph was shunned by his peers for just being born with a birth defect, how would he have been treated once the news broke that Rudolph refused to to use his special skill because he was just too emotionally depressed to get over his years of terrible treatment (good thing there was no social media back then)?  Well played Santa, well played. Personally I would’ve told Santa which part of my red-nosed anatomy he and the others could kiss but I guess I'm not as good a man as Rudolph. And, if it wasn't a foggy Christmas Eve, would the discrimination against Rudolph have continued? I bet a lump of coal that it would have.

Maybe he was just having a bad day. Santa is kind of a self centered jerk through the whole thing, which goes against his reputation for being a jolly old elf. Could be he was mad at his agent for getting caught in such a lame story? Or maybe he is a man whose past his prime and should be given a gold watch and thanks for his many years of service. A corporate leader with his skill set wouldn't last five minutes in today's environment. He has this weird mix of bullying those he perceives as weak while promoting the idea that if someone is not "useful" (Rudolph, Hermey, the Island of Misfit Toys) they are worthless. And he is so blinded by old ideas that he can't even see when something different can be an asset. Perhaps it is time for new management at Santa's Workshop?

So, in conclusion, light the fire and make some hot chocolate as you tell this true corporate tale. Time to indoctrinate a  new generation of serfs to know their place in life. Marginalized people are not supposed to rise above their station in life. If a bigoted employer wants to make you his bitch that is his right.