North Carolina Now; North Carolina Now Episode from 05/23/1995

Hundred this year it's Tuesday May 23rd. Learn who this woman is coping with cancer in North Carolina now. Thank you The evening everyone and Mary Lou Parr char glad you could join us tonight. We'll be examining a

health issue that is a growing concern to women. And that is the subject of breast cancer. We'll revisit a woman you met a year ago and find out how she's doing. And then we'll speak with an expert on the confusion about mammograms like how old should a woman be to routinely receive a mammogram and how good is a mammogram that early detection. And then we'll check in with our legislative bureau where Adam Hochberg is examining the legislature's attempt at giving local control to communities while still imposing regulations. First tonight a subject of interest for all women and their families. I'd like to update you on an interview I did about a year ago. Many of you may remember my August 1994 interview with a woman named Donna Cedarburg. She was a guest on our program to talk about a book that she had written with nine other women dealing with breast cancer. We've come to understand that Donna is now losing her fight with cancer. So before she becomes too weak Donna got together with those same women for a reunion. The gathering was videotaped for an upcoming documentary. We'd like to tell you Don his most recent

story with some excerpts from the documentary. When this was done a Cedarburg a year ago on North Carolina now when I was diagnosed in September of 1990 with breast cancer and went to and I had actually at the time I had chemotherapy and radiation therapy was well treated and the had to have joy for years and then the cancer came back into the bones in my back. So I now have not a static or Stage 4 or advanced breast cancer. So that's that's my story but the story didn't end there. In our conversation last year Donna told me why writing a book to help others especially professional women with a life threatening illness was so important to her. Well we give some sort of tidbit some tips in the book about taking control about finding time to express your emotions you know away from colleagues away from perhaps your

health care providers. But basically it's getting organized. And and and trying to take some of that control the schedule the way things are organized. Now one year later Doug and eight of the nine co-authors gathered to evaluate the reaction of the book. Donna now under hospice care continues to think about others and how folks might gain from her experience. She makes this suggestion. There's not a lot of literature in the resource rooms on death and dying and I'm sure that's because you know you don't want people to walk in on their first diagnosis and have that sort of you know literature as the first thing they walk in on. But I envision resource room where women who have or people who have an interest in getting a literature search on their disease could get this this thing done cutoffs I found the motivational books.

I cannot believe that these things are not available it's not a big money. I am and we've all agreed that the most empowering thing is just being educated. So I think whatever we can do to advocate a resource room that is is is probably a good idea just a practical thing. Last year Donna stressed that patients gain strength from knowledge of the disease. We all approached our physicians our healthcare providers asking to be traded as intelligent capable partners in deciding what care we were to receive. We were all. Some of us might have been considered aggressive demanding. I prefer to think of it as soft assertive but we really we we wanted to be a part of the health care that we were going to receive and the health care situation as many people now who have been in hospital slightly Things are a little unwieldy sometimes a little unfriendly.

Now as her health weakens approaches life by making peace with death. We all have the resources that we need to do what we need to do to get through this life. And maybe that's that sort of a gentle understanding that it's OK that we're going to be able to do this no matter what sort of run in front of us. And it's much simpler and all the prophets have wonderful things to say but we can say some of the same thing somehow if we just sort of I mean that you can find meaning in the Wizard of Oz that that's what you know which was my favorite movie and now I'll go back and I'll look at it and that's with childlike wonder I go back and I think well there is a metaphor it's like you know that sort of simple stuff. And to update you on his condition is worsening we understand the cancer has now spread to her liver and brain. If you would like to read the book that Donna and her co-authors

wrote It's entitled breast cancer. Let me check my schedule and a special thanks to horizon video for providing some of the video tape used in our story. Well we turn now to a woman who is an expert in the field of cancer prevention. She is a clinical assistant professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine. She's the acting director of the preventative medicine training program and also the associate director of the program on health promotion and disease prevention. Dr. Lynn Lynda Leininger thank you so much for joining us and being our guest tonight. Thank you. I guess after seeing that story so much of us wonder about early prevention. You know in our own lives and let's talk about that early detection how important is a mammogram for early detection it's I guess the question that's on every woman's mind. Sure. It's we've heard so much about it recently that it's clearly important for myself even as a woman in my 40s that this is something I think about. What we know for sure that's been been shown by a number of studies over a 30 year time period

that it's screening mammography for women in their 50s and 60s is beneficial and by beneficial what I mean is that we're able to help some women who are screened to live longer. That's the important benefit. Not only can it find breast cancer earlier but those women some of them can live longer. What we've not been able to show is that same benefit for women in their 40s. Yes I can find breast cancer in women in their 40s. But we haven't been able to show conclusively that those women actually live longer as a result of screening. Ok done of the women in our story found a lump in her breast at the age of thirty six and now she's 41 years old and she's in stage 4. Is that sort of rare for a woman that young to have breast cancer especially at that severe stage. It's not rare unfortunately but it's not as common. The biggest risk factor for breast cancer is increasing age. So while there are cases of women in their 30s who get breast cancer and a few more in their 40s women in their 50s and 60s and even 70s aren't much

are much more likely to get breast cancer than younger women. OK and so you know we hear so much about get a mammogram at this age and this is you know we've heard 30 35 40 50. When they're so can so much confusion out there and and you hear so many different things from medical professionals it seems like they're sort of confused. You know what are we supposed to do. What advice do we take. What's maybe your advice on this. I suggest that women in their 50s and 60s get a mammogram every year or every one to two years for women less than 40. I don't suggest that that routinely they get mammograms for women in their 40s where the controversy is I think that it's important for women to sit down and discuss the benefits and the risks of getting a mammogram with her physician. What what kind of risks are you talking about. Well just as as pills or medications can have side effects screening tests like mammograms can have side effects as you might call them also. And what I mean by that is that there are number of false positives or mammograms

that are read as possibly abnormal that are found. Given everyone that turns out to actually be a breast cancer in fact for women in their 40s there are about 250 possible abnormalities for every woman. That's actually found to have breast cancer. And if you think about it if you're a woman in your 40s and you go in and have a mammogram and then you get a phone call from your physician or from the radiologist saying Mrs. Jones we've looked at your mammogram with think there may be something there we're not quite sure. We want you to come in for some more tests. We'll do those we may or may not be sure then we may have to do some other things. You can imagine the amount of anxiety that that creates in a lot of women. What's been shown is that even after those additional tests are done and if they're shown to be negative for normal no breast cancer is there that anxiety that worry persists and women long beyond the time of that initial mammogram and so it's a real worry that some of us have what let me just play the role the devil's advocate then for what you just said.

What about the you know when you balance this out with the the type of emotion that this can in the anxiety. Like you said that this can bring about. What about the peace of mind that this can bring about for some women who may be in their 30s and feel like maybe they're at a higher risk factor because you know people in their family have had cancer or breast cancer. What about that sort of peace of mind factor. Well that may be certainly very important for some women and that's part of the balanced decision that I think a woman should engage in with her position and way for herself how she would consider the peace of mind versus the possible anxiety and emotional distress that she may go through. And I think women would judge that differently. Some women would value that peace of mind more. Some would fear the anxiety more. And so I think that's an individual decision. Well physically though does a mammogram cause you any harm I mean there would there be any reason why the age of 35 you would routinely start having mammograms. Well in terms of physical harm the risk of radiation is very very small now that we have high quality mammography with a very low dose radiation. So that

shouldn't be a concern for any woman. The real concern is whether or not at age 35 a woman's life can be extended through regular mammography. And again we have no evidence that that's actually the case. We can find it but we can't help a woman live longer as a result of finding it OK. And also just quickly. How much I know percentages is kind of strange we have to talk about here but I mean just how much would be able to be detected I mean you know perhaps there is a law. But the mammogram doesn't detect it. You know what I mean yes. How how much of a percentage are you able to capture with a mammogram. That's a really reasonable question and the estimates are that that mammograms can find about 85 percent of cancers that are present. So that means that one in 10 or perhaps as much as even two and 10 aren't picked up by a mammogram. That's why we recommend for women in their 50s and 60s to have a clinical breast exam by a healthcare provider. In addition to a mammogram the two tests really are complimentary and both are acquired. We also recommend that women in their 40s have clinical breast exams and then discussion about whether or not

they want to have a mammogram in all women of all ages should be having the self-exam of the breast self-exam and if anything feels strange to go seek this doctor's advice. OK and then before we go we have just a little bit of time left but I touched on it just a little bit about do you do the factors increase a little bit more if there has been a history of cancer or breast cancer specifically in your family. Yes there are probably five to 10 percent of women are at much higher risk because of family history. Certain family history if if they've had a first degree relative meaning a mother or a sister whose breast cancer was before men applause that woman is at increased risk. We're not sure about how good screening is for those women. That's not been well studied so the best advice Dr. Langer is to go see how the lives of your own physician. Thank you again for being our guest tonight. Well coming up we'll check in with our legislative bureau but first Michel Louis is up with news on a proposal to have the state's presidential primaries moved up. Plus he has your statewide news and business wrap up Michel. Mary Lou thinks Good evening everyone in the State House today the debate was hot

and heavy over welfare reform. The bill that would among other things require unwed teen fathers to pay child support either through getting a job or through community service. The measure passed its second reading on a vote of 76 to 41. Republican jury Barry led the fight in favor of changing the laws to lower the welfare rolls. Barry says the bill if passed will save the state millions of dollars over the next five years. The biggest controversy over the bill is the provision that would count food stamps and housing subsidies as income when considering people for AFDC benefits. Berry says the bill will take North Carolina's welfare program in the right direction. For starters people must come to believe that if they are going to have children they have an obligation to care for the a.m. but for motion away and financially. And we owe all have an obligation to make sure that they understand. But opponents of the bill say it's too punitive. Representative David Redwine asked where

Barry intends to find jobs for the estimated 78 hundred people will be immediately removed from the program. Under the plan I think most of us want meaningful will care reform. I don't think we want main wheel theory for a delicious provision comes that this bill lays you on that if you're going to induct in my opinion with main welfare reform two amendments were added to the bill one sponsored by Representative Larry Lenny substituted the word out of wedlock for illegitimate. That amendment was questioned by Representative Alba Adams who asked Lenny what he thought the difference was between the two terms. Then he responded by saying no birth is illegitimate. The state kicked off a new media campaign today trying to curb the number of teenage pregnancies posters printed material and radio ads will be used throughout the state advocating abstinence from sex before marriage. The ad campaign is already credited with cutting Maryland's teen pregnancy rate by 13 percent over a five year period. Governor Hunt told a news conference today that somebody two teenage girls

become pregnant in the state every day. North Carolina legislators are moving closer to moving up our presidential primary. House Judiciary Committee approved a plan today to hold the primary in March instead of May. The bill would also require primaries were state offices to be held in March during presidential election years. The bill's sponsor Representative Steve Wood says the early primaries would give presidential candidates more incentive to visit the state. It would be the first to know exactly first among equals as far as primaries are concerned that we would be one of the first certainly in the first line of the first A detain and the fact that we want a larger stage and we have now 14 electoral votes. So I would say on behalf of any presidential candidate that 14 electoral votes is a crash devoutly to be wished. But opponents of the bill say the campaign season is already too long. Some lawmakers including Representative Dan Blue are arguing in favor of moving primaries for state

office back to August or September to create a shorter general election campaign period. Minority students who want to attend UN See system schools won't have to worry about their scholarships. The university system says minority scholarships are safe despite the recent Supreme Court ruling that refused to allow the University of Maryland to reinstate minority scholarships there. USC officials say the minority scholarship program at Chapel Hill is significantly different from the one at the University of Maryland. Hog farmers in eastern North Carolina scored a major victory this afternoon over complaints about odors. A jury in Johnston County ruled in favor of Lee brother's farm in a nuisance suit brought by neighbors. The neighbors had claimed that odors from the farm drove away prospective property buyers but it took jurors only a few hours to reach their decision. After listening to two weeks of testimony there are several similar suits pending throughout the region. It was 50 years late but it came from Russia with love. This week a World War Two veteran and

highpoint was honored with a Russian medal of commendation. Thomas Meekin received a medal in the mail for helping the former Soviet Union in the battle of Stalingrad. The package came from the Russian embassy in Washington and even included a letter from President Boris Yeltsin and Russian. The letter expressed the Russian people's thanks for Beacon's efforts during the war. In business news a North Carolina economist says the southeast is especially well positioned to weather any economic downturn. Mark Vitner EK economist for first union says the Southeast is now the fourth largest economy in the world in terms of gross domestic product. Among the factors contributing to the region's vitality. North Carolina's strength in attracting new business and new job growth. Vitner says the recent weakness of the dollar could bring more foreign companies to southern soil. Sellers of unlicensed merchandise beware. The state legislature is one step closer to cracking down on the sale of T-shirts hats and other items that illegally sport trademarks. The Senate Judiciary approved a bill that would

give state investigators the power to protect trademarks licensed in North Carolina. Secretary of State Rufus Edmonson told the panel that the illegal sale of college Merson merchandise is a multimillion dollar business which cost thousands of textile jobs in the state. Stock prices climbed sharply on Wall Street today with the Dow Jones Industrials finishing just below record territory. The Dow gained nearly 41 points to close at forty four thirty six point forty four. Volume was heavy with three hundred sixty three million shares changing hands. The Standard Poor's 500 Index and the Nasdaq composite index both posted record finishes. The S&P rose nearly five points while the Nasdaq was up nearly seven and a half points. And now here's a look at some stocks of North Carolina interest. Thanks thanks.

Thank you Earth. Thank you. The Republican controlled House came to power promising to give more control back to local authorities but when mayors and other leaders of North Carolina cities and towns met in Raleigh recently. When I complained about an increase in interference from the state legislative correspondent Adam Hochberg has more city leaders gathered in Raleigh for their annual meeting they might be forgiven if they felt a bit confused and like this was supposed to be happier when things would change in Raleigh for when the state legislature would give local leaders more authority to run their cities and towns the way they see fit. House Speaker Harold Brooks-Baker even began his remarks to the group by reinforcing the idea yeah OK we're going to go are we in the

house as well as in the Senate. Feel very strongly that we believe that the best government is what's closest to the people and you represent part of that government back in the municipalities throughout this great state. But according to the mayors and other local leaders gathered here what legislators are saying is a lot different than what legislators are doing. Indeed the head of the North Carolina League of municipalities says this year has been worse than any in recent memory when it comes to the legislature trying to dictate from Raleigh how local governments run their affairs. Our new legislators in the ones that have been in for a long time seem to want to be taking our responsibilities that we deal with in our local level cities and counties away from us and interested in that to a great extent we hope that doesn't continue. City leaders are fighting against a long list of legislation that they say amounts to state interference in local affairs. One bill passed by the House would make it harder for local governments to ban billboards. Another group of bills would restrict the right of cities to annex new

property. And another measure specifically aimed at Chapel Hill Harborough in Durham would overturn local laws that restrict guns. To me it's a little ironic because we hear power ought to be where the people are the locals ought to make the decisions. And yet we're getting preempted in many areas and legislators didn't stop with those issues. They've also reached down into control of the public schools before the election Republicans promised in their contract with North Carolina to return control of public schools to local boards of education. But since the election the Republican controlled House has passed measures mandating that local schools must teach phonics that schools must teach abstinence from sexual intercourse that they require to pledge allegiance every day and observe a moment of silence. And all of the North Carolina School Boards Association says he's counted more than 20 pieces of legislation that he says are road the control of local school boards.

I don't think there's any question that there's a uniqueness to different localities in North Carolina or any state. And that's the reason we have separate school boards. If that were the case why don't we have one huge school district in the entire state of North Carolina we know that won't work. So we broke it down into localities and I think they have unique needs and those needs should be measured by the people who live in vote in those in those counties or whatever we call the school districts legislative leaders insist they're sincere about their promise to give local leaders more control. The House speaker Harold Brooks-Baker says some decisions are so important that the state needs to step in and make them. There are some issues that you know there's a large group of people throughout the state that have a very strong feeling. Such as gun legislation. And so there are some times that that issue comes before the General Assembly and the members have to take a look at it. And as for the education groups the ones that mandate phonics or the pledge are a moment of silence.

House leaders say they're not trying to interfere in the classroom but they say those things are too important to leave up to local school boards to decide more than mandating it's really sending the signal I think get them to out there to the it to the academic community and saying We feel like you've gotten off track in these areas we just want to send a signal here and say get back on track on some of these things that the lot of other people feel are important. Representative Wood says it's not too much of a stretch for the legislature to mandate that teachers run their classrooms a certain way. He says the state already has books full of laws governing the public schools. Now the proposals of the House has passed this year pale in comparison to what's already on the books. And Representative Wood says all the mandates that the House has passed this year will take only a few minutes out of each school day. But Bob Barr alum the school board official says each mandate the legislature passes means school officials have to spend more time tracking the state laws and less time teaching children. We

appreciate you inviting us into night here's what we're working on for tomorrow night Bob Garner will examine the concept of a no frills prison system in our state and then we'll travel along with Maria Lundberg to the mountains of North Carolina where she looks at one of the oldest and most lucrative industries in our state. Handcrafts looks like an interesting program tomorrow. Now speaking of interesting trip a Golden Retriever from Topsail Beach helped his family one hundred ten thousand dollars on America's Funniest Home Videos that TV show. Well the prize was given due to a video of Tripp refusing to take a bath in which the retriever he growled bared his teeth and then hung on to the doorway of the bathroom with both of his front paws. Well apparently the scene was so funny that beat out five other videos for the prize. We hope you have a wonderful evening and we'll see you back here tomorrow night is a very good night everyone.