Ovarian cancer is a relatively common form of cancer that disproportionately affects women over the age of 60. Ovarian cancer is much easier to treat when it is caught early, which is why preventative screenings are so important. Here’s what you need to know about Medicare coverage and ovarian cancer.

What Is Ovarian Cancer?

Ovarian cancer happens when abnormal malignant cells are found in the ovaries and surrounding areas of the body. Without treatment, these malignant cells can spread and become fatal. While there is no cure for ovarian cancer, it can be managed effectively with proper treatment if it is diagnosed in time.

It can be very difficult to catch ovarian cancer early, as the symptoms are easy to misdiagnose. Some of the most common symptoms of ovarian cancer are abdominal and pelvic pain, feelings of bloating or feeling full too quickly, and issues with urination. Because of this, it’s so important that you schedule regular cancer screenings.

Does Medicare Cover Ovarian Cancer Services and Treatments?

Medicare plans offer extensive coverage for preventative screenings, which can help you catch ovarian cancer early. The most important of these is your yearly wellness visit, which includes screenings for a number of different conditions.

Medicare also covers screenings for related conditions, including mammograms, cervical cancer screenings, bone mass measurements, cardiovascular checks, and more.

If you’re diagnosed with ovarian cancer, your Medicare plan may cover some of your necessary treatments.

Medicare Part A covers most hospital stays, including those for cancer treatments. For outpatient services, including some (but not all) ovarian cancer treatments, you will need Medicare Part B.

Medicare Advantage plans may offer more extensive coverage for both inpatient and outpatient services.

How Can You Prevent Ovarian Cancer?

While it’s not possible to completely prevent ovarian cancer, there are some things you can do to reduce your risk. One of the easiest ways to do this is simply by eating a healthy diet and exercising regularly.

These healthy habits will not only help you feel great, but they’ll also reduce your risk for all cancers. Avoiding unhealthy behaviors, like smoking, excessive drinking, drug use, and using products with carcinogens, can all help to reduce your risk for cancer as well. Your doctor can provide even further guidance on preventing ovarian cancer.

If you haven’t had your yearly screening yet, now is the perfect time to schedule one. Medicare coverage can be complex, so don’t be afraid to seek assistance in navigating your policy to ensure you’re getting the most out of your coverage.

Jason and his team at Time for 65 are ready to help if you have questions about your healthcare options with Medicare.

What do you know about ovarian cancer? Do you do your yearly screenings regularly? Have you skipped an exam because of Covid-19 isolation? What do you know about Medicare coverage when it comes to ovarian cancer? Please share in the comments below.

Editor’s Note: This article is not intended to provide medical advice. Please consult with your doctor to get specific medical advice for your situation.

If you’re a loyal Lululemon fan, prepare to be extra excited to upgrade your athleisure collection for spring. After years of consistent customer requests, the luxe activewear brand finally launched a new version of their best-selling Align leggings with pockets, so you can store all of your essentials during your workout—it’s basically a dream come true if you like run, walk, and hike outdoors (and with a large portion of gyms and fitness studios still partially closed around the country, you probably do).

Alas, the Align family now has three additional styles to choose from: the Align Pocket High Rise Pant 25″, the Align High Rise Crop with Pockets 23“, and the Align Short 8″ Pocket. TBH, I usually steer clear from pocketed fitness leggings because they tend to look bulky and unflattering to me, but the new Align’s design is anything but. Yes, they’re pricey, but customers swear the Align is worth every penny thanks to the buttery-soft (and squat-proof) Nulu fabric, comfortable four-way stretch, and their super-flattering, butt-lifting fit.

Plus, Lululemon’s original Align cut is the legging of choice for countless celebrities, including Meghan Markle, Hailey Bieber, and Jennifer Lopez, so we’re pretty sure the pocketed version is going to go viral too. In other words, you might want to hurry before they sell out in your size and colorway of choice!

Our mission at STYLECASTER is to bring style to the people, and we only feature products we think you’ll love as much as we do. Please note that if you purchase something by clicking on a link within this story, we may receive a small commission of the sale.

Courtesy of Lululemon.

lululemon Align High Rise Pant with Pockets 25″

These pocketed leggings feature a super flattering high-rise and an ankle-length hem.

Courtesy of Lululemon.

lululemon Align High Rise Crop with Pockets 23″

Everyone needs a pair of basic black leggings, and this functional pair is a worthy investment.

Courtesy of Lululemon.

lululemon Align High Rise Short with Pockets 8″

I mean, could these floral print bike shorts be any cuter?

I am not one for saying, “I wish I would have…” The decisions that I made through the years, good and bad, made me the person I am today and, in general, I am pretty satisfied with that person. Oh, there are certainly things that I wonder about.

What if mom had let me accompany my friend’s family on a trip to Europe when I was in junior high school?

I did not get to Europe until I was in my 50s, but I did not even know that the offer was made until I was in my 20s. How would my life have been different? Would my life have been different?

What if I had majored in something that I was interested in rather than something that I thought would land me a good job?

I really enjoyed marketing, but studied accounting, which I hated and had no aptitude for. I was the first in my family to go to college. I went so that I could have a better job and not have to work in a factory. Mission accomplished. I never worked in the accounting field.

I wonder, but I don’t dwell on what could have been.

Today, I Ask Myself a Lot of Questions Before I Make Most Decisions

I’m a list person. Pros and Cons and frequently a list of even more questions. This process has clarified one regret.

I wish I would have asked more questions.

Ask for help! Ask why! Ask about the bit that is niggling in the back of my mind!

It is not a sign of weakness or ignorance to ASK. If you don’t understand what someone has said, it is because she has not been explicit enough to help you understand. Do not be intimidated by authority, position, social status, or apparent intelligence. Asking questions demonstrates your interest, willingness and need to learn.

I know my life would have been different if I had not been so afraid to ASK.

It’s Time to Bring Our Questions into the Present

As women over 60, we have an opportunity to follow our dreams. But, before we can get on the path to happiness, we need to learn to ask the right questions. We can’t take anything in life for granted.

By now, our lives have momentum. In some ways, this is a good thing. As women in our 60s, we know who we are. At the same time, unless we question ourselves and evaluate our past choices, we may never get off the tracks that we have laid for ourselves.

If you look back on your life and find yourself saying, “I wish I would have…,” maybe it’s time to focus on what you can change in the here and now instead.

What questions do you have about the direction of your life? Do you ever find yourself regretting any of the decisions that you have made in the past? Or, have you found a way to live in the present? Please join the conversation.

Franklin Covey wrote this as the second of his 7 habits of Highly Effective People, “Begin with the End in Mind, which means to begin each day, task, or project with a clear vision of your desired direction and destination, and then continue by flexing your proactive muscles to make things happen.”

I call this having an outcome picture. A picture in your mind that depicts the end result or outcome.

You Do This Already!

Do you realize that most of us think with the end in mind? Remember when you began and completed a recent project? It could have been reorganizing your kitchen cupboards, finishing a quilt, or cleaning the house.

Chances are that thoughts about the end result motivated you to get going on it. We do this without consciously recognizing it. I’m proposing, as Mr. Covey has, to try using this technique consciously with work, home projects, or with your own mental health.

That doesn’t mean we always reach the picture we had in mind when starting the project. We all can relate to that, right? It’s easy to get distracted and off course, forgetting the outcome we were headed for. Keep reading to find out what to do, when you get off course to the goal.

What If…

Let’s imagine that you started your day with an outcome picture of certain events you knew were to take place as the day unfolds. Do this BEFORE you begin your projects. See if you feel added motivation to complete projects.

• “I have a clean kitchen with all the dishes put away.” Now in your mind’s eye, picture your kitchen when it’s in order.
• “I reject any negative thoughts about myself and easily switch to the positive all day long.” See yourself catching those negative internal comments or thoughts that hold you back in your day then changing them to positive ones. See your whole being brighten up and feel more confident.
• “I’m tackling the messy closet today and won’t quit until it’s organized.” Get a picture in your mind of the closet straightened out and clean. See yourself using the closet with ease now without struggling to find anything!
• “Today, I’ll take 5 minutes every two hours of my workday to stop and breathe, letting myself relax a bit.” Now you picture yourself taking those breaks, and as a result you see yourself calmer and happier at the end of the day.

How Others Have Made This Work

Every architect or builder has the end blueprint in mind as they begin the build. As one architect says, “We can see the end result and the hundreds of tiny steps between an initial design sketch on a napkin to the final paint touch up on your finished project.”

Every quilter buys the pattern, the fabric and puts the hours into the project looking at the picture of the beautiful quilt it will become.

When you start a 1000-piece puzzle, you keep looking at that beautiful picture on the box, as you seek out the right pieces.

I heard an analogy once of starting out on a trip without a plan to get to a new destination. If you didn’t study a map, or use your GPS to guide you, but got in the car and started turning on different roads, would you ever reach the destination? In this context, the end result picture is the map.

Accomplishing Something a Bit Crazy

When I was 40 years old, I decided I would ski a Cross Country Ski marathon. What a wild idea. I’m not the most athletic type. Nevertheless, I wanted to do some kind of marathon in my lifetime yet wasn’t sure it would be possible for me as I kept celebrating birthdays!

I purchased the right ski gear, trained in cold snowy conditions, and stayed in the best shape possible. My goal was having my own sense of accomplishment of doing a marathon and the medal they would give me at the end of the race.

The day came, and I skied the best I could, but was stopped at the halfway mark because my time was too slow. That was a disappointment, and thoughts about giving up on the goal were swirling around in my head for several months.

I kept at it though, trying again the next year, armed with a better understanding of the challenge ahead of me. I trained when no one else was out skiing and I’d rather be warm in my home. Sometimes the snow and cold wind would whip around making me wonder what the heck I was doing!

I skied 32 miles on marathon day, and they put a ribbon with a beautiful medal over my neck when I crossed the finish line. That was my motivation, and I accomplished it! I sure didn’t win any records for speed, but I had the medal around my neck, exactly like in the outcome picture in my mind all those snowy training hours.

What’s Your Goal?

What’s your challenge today, or any day? It could be starting a small exercise routine, knocking out sugar from your diet, or cleaning out an overstuffed closet in your home. What outcome picture can you clearly form of your challenge?

Try this. Sit in a quiet space, close your eyes, and see if you can get a clear picture of what it looks like when the challenge has been met. Sight, sounds, tastes, feelings… use all that applies to make the picture real.

Start Small and Attainable

I’ve found with young kids, rather than telling them to clean their room, you divide the room into four equal sections, and ask them to clean one section at a time, one day at a time.

Try that on yourself. When you have a big overwhelming area to unclutter, do one small part of it. See yourself in an exercise routine, one time a week to begin with.

Is Stopping an Option?

The idea here is to start, keep the outcome in mind, and keep at it. What if you don’t make it, get distracted, or just lose interest? Franklin Covey has his answer in the quote above, “continue by flexing your proactive muscles to make it happen.”

My advice it to start over. Is the outcome picture still one that you truly want? If not, time to change it. Has that picture morphed into something more realistic or more challenging? Dust off the picture, change it to what it needs to be now, then flex your imagination muscles to make it happen.

Do you have examples where the outcome picture, or starting with the end in mind, helped you accomplish a large goal? Have you dropped a goal that you know you need to pick up again? Will you give this a try to accomplish something big or small in your day, week, or year?

Although it was Grammys weekend, Saturday night was also the Kids’ Choice Awards. We know what you’re thinking but some major actors, models and influencers were there—including TikTok superstar Addison Rae and her new blonde hair. She’s been fully brunette for a while now and we’re obsessing over these contrast highlights that feel so fresh for spring.

“Addison wanted to punch up her brunette locks with some brighter golden blonde pieces while still leaving dimension and movement,” her colorist, Redken brand ambassador Cassondra Kaeding, said in a statement. “We landed on a golden bronde color with soft balayage tips and it looks so gorgeous on her.” She reveals they did “one big color appointment” and a follow-up to keep her hair feeling healthy. “Toning her hair with Redken Shades EQ Gloss helped us create that perfect golden bronde tone with tons of shine!” she adds.

Our mission at STYLECASTER is to bring style to the people, and we only feature products we think you’ll love as much as we do. Please note that if you purchase something by clicking on a link within this story, we may receive a small commission of the sale.

Source: Instagram

This cool ’90s hairstyle was created by stylist Adir Abergel. “My inspiration for Addison’s look was a modern twist on the 90s top knot. It’s chic and effortlessly fun just like Addison,” he said in a statement. To get that lift at the crown, he used the Virtue Volumizing Primer ($36 at Sephora) from root to mid-shaft. Then, he added Virtue Healing Oil ($42 at Sephora) to enhance shine. He also used the ghd Max Styler ($199 at Amazon) for the sleek style.

The rest of Rae’s glam was done by makeup artist Mary Phillips using Pat McGrath Labs makeup. Copy the graphic cat-eye at home by first applying the shade Entrapment from the Mothership V Eyeshadow Palette ($125 at Sephora) all over the eyelid. Add the hue Disobedient through the crease and along the lash line. Smudge PermaGel Eyeliner Pencil in Xtreme Black ($28 at Sephora) onto the lower lash line. Define the upper lash line and extend into a wing shape. Gorgeous.