Love this chick.
Her announcement of a double mastectomy with reconstructive surgery due to her BRCA gene mutation is nothing short of amazing.
Like the article states-it was her choice.
Prophylactic mastectomies may not be the answer for every woman with a BRCA gene mutation, as my choice may not have been even that of my best friends.
But that's what's awesome about having choices and options in your healthcare.
Angie -yep, we're sisters now, I can call her that- basically said she was consumed with fear that she would die of cancer at an early age, much like her Mother losing her battle to ovarian cancer at 56. Or her Maternal Grandmother who died at 45 of an unidentified illness. Odds didn't seem to be in her favor, I agree. And I understand. My Maternal Grandmother died of breast cancer at 53. I often wondered which of us women-one of my Mom's 4 sisters or her, me, or one of my sisters or female cousins-would be the one to be diagnosed with breast cancer. Not could one us, who and when would one of us be diagnosed? Cause I just always felt certain that breast cancer had never fully left our family alone. So I get that fear.
“She is a special case, and you can completely understand why she did it,” said Dr. Susan Love, the author of a best-seller, “Dr. Susan Love’s Breast Book,” and a breast surgeon. “But what I hope that people realize is that we really don’t have good prevention for breast cancer. When you have to cut off normal body parts to prevent a disease, that’s really pretty barbaric when you think about it.”
*taken from the NY Times Health Section 5/14/2013
She's a special case and you can completely understand why she did it, but still find it barbaric? She was very clear why she did it-to be around for a long time for her children and partner. To help ease her children's fears of losing their Mother having never gotten to know their grandmother. Well, Dr Susan Love, I don't see anything wrong with that reasoning. And you making that statement sounds like you don't think someone like, me, for instance, would be special enough, or have good enough reason to want to be cancer free-or at least sway the odds more to my favor. And I think my husband and children would disagree with you. Even though I do not carry the BRCA gene mutation, I researched being tested a few years back and knew what my decision would be if I did. Prophylactic treatment all the way.
When I was diagnosed, I had cancer on one side, in one breast, in two locations. I had to ask my surgeon to take both my breasts. He never offered it to me while presenting treatment plan options. I had to ask if he would, and if he thought insurance would pay for it. I had to ask about nipple sparing technique-which I did not do BTW. I had to ask for the oncologist most likely to do genetic testing. And I had to ask for my surgery to be delayed so we could wait for the genetic testing to come back first, in case it was felt a hysterectomy or oophorectomy would be in my best interest to be done adjuvantly. Had I not educated and advocated for myself, and my health, those options would not have been offered to me. I have said many times since that I am saddened by women who don't know to ask, or what to ask, or where to start and are guided by physicians who have no vested emotional interest in their patients. My question to my primary care doc was "who would you take your wife to?" Cause that's who I want. Don't get me wrong, I was very well taken care of by my physicians-friends and co-workers and referrals. But I also walked into the office already having an idea of my own how this was gonna play out. And I got what I advocated for.
So if you think Angelina Jolie can't bring anything to the table when it comes to her announcement other than more media recognition or greater celebrity status, I say you're a fool.
She did her business in private, and can I say WOW, really private for nothing of the sorts to have leaked prior to her announcement! And she isn't asking for pity or acknowledgment. She's letting all women out there know-the 200,000+ that will be diagnosed this year alone, that there are fabulous options available to them. She encourages women to empower themselves with knowledge and advocate for what they want and need.
She mentions more than once the costly expense of genetic testing. The BRCA test is about $3400 and you need to submit some familial info to be approved. No medical records of family members, just relation, diagnosis and age at diagnosis. And you have to meet some criteria to be considered for the testing. And there is ONE, I repeat ONE lab in this country that does the testing. Myriad Genetics in Salt Lake City, Utah. Maybe a little pressure from a well known celebrity could drive the cost of this test down, or prompt more insurance companies to consider the price of genetic testing and prophylactic treatment vs surgeries and chemo and radiation once the cancer emerges. I know having the mutation doesn't automatically mean one will get breast cancer, but in this case the doctors say having done the mastectomy, her odds went from 87% down to 5%. Those are some damn good odds I would be willing to go right to my bookie with. Because even with my mastectomies, chemo, and tamoxifen, I still have a 10% chance of recurrence.
And these days with a lot of focus on preventative medicine to prevent diabetes and heart disease, why not preventative treatment for breast cancer? I don't discount healthy eating and exercise, but with a gene mutation, the groundwork is already laid for something to go haywire, so doing everything right and still getting cancer is likely.
And while it's said that having the BRCA mutation is rare, and preventative treatment is drastic, there are doctors who admit even doing what I did was unnecessary! And I personally know two women with gene mutations whom I consider brave, amazing people. One who knew she had the mutation prior to diagnosis and said she was just waiting for the cancer to rear its ugly head, and the other has a significant family history and chose prophylactic treatment to hopefully never endure what she saw her loved ones go through. These women have helped me so much along the way, they are my personal heroines!
And rare or not, doctor or not, degree or not, take a walk in the shoes of any woman on the receiving end of a cancer diagnosis or a 87% chance of getting cancer and then you can judge her decision.
And only then.
Cause statistics simply don't stack up against the will to do whatever it takes to watch your children grow up.
And nobody has the right to take that away.
No comments:
Post a Comment