It’s Your Health
Regarding “To Test or Not to Test” [January/February], when it comes to my health, I don’t much care about saving the government money. I’ll risk a false positive or negative.
I continue to do monthly breast exams even though the experts recommend against it. Seven years ago, I found a tiny lump—it turned out to be malignant and invasive. I had surgery and radiation and all’s well so far. My husband, equally careful about his health, had a baseline PSA several years ago. He continued to pay to have this test from time to time, and when the numbers began to go up, he was referred to a urologist who said he should continue with “watchful waiting.” However, my husband requested a referral to a cancer specialist who, by digital exam alone, determined that he had a large and advanced tumour and that watchful waiting would soon kill him. He had surgery and radiation and four years later all seems well.
The moral of these stories is that you have to be proactive about your own health care.
Jeanne E. King
via e-mail
Happy Reading!
I enjoyed “The Joy of Discovery” [“From the Editor”] in the January/February issue. As an avid reader, I would like to suggest two authors for consideration.
The first is Donna Leon: her police procedurals set in Venice are wonderful. Her main character, Commissario Guido Brunetti, is so believable and human that I am sorry when I near the end of each book. She has also done a cookbook featuring many of the recipes Brunetti enjoys with his family. A warning, though: these books are addictive.
The second is Arnaldur Indridason, whose books are set in Iceland. In such a mysterious and fascinating place, a police procedural takes on new meaning. One caution is that it would be better to read the books in order to better enjoy the character development of his main detectives.
I agree that Val McDermid is great. Her Tony Hill and Carol Jordan novels are on Netflix in a British series called Wire in the Blood.
Happy reading!
Norma DesRosiers
via e-mail
Always Beautiful
I enjoyed reading the article on Margaret Trudeau (“Having the Time of Her Life,” December). I was a fan of Margaret Trudeau from the day she made news when she married Pierre Trudeau. She was a breath of fresh air. She seems so peaceful now, with those turbulent years behind her. The death of her son was tragic but handled with grace, and now with Justin Trudeau as our new prime minister, her cup overflows. How proud she must be. Margaret was always a beautiful woman, but now she is stunning.
Nicoletta De Palma
via e-mail