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Angelina Jolie Reveals She Had Preventative Double Mastectomy

Would you do what Angie did?

  • No f'n way - that's crazy.

    Votes: 5 20.8%
  • Absolutely, makes perfect sense to me.

    Votes: 12 50.0%
  • I'm in morning for Angie's natural boobs...

    Votes: 4 16.7%
  • other...please explain

    Votes: 3 12.5%

  • Total voters
    24

Dragonfly

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omg! Celebrity gossip, news photos, babies, couples, hotties, and more - omg! from Yahoo!

Wow.... she did not have cancer, she simply had a
blood test showed she was genetically susceptible to cancer.

So she underwent major surgery to prevent something that may or may not have been an issue for her.

That seems highly CRAZY to me.

Would you undergo something that traumatic to prevent the possibility of getting cancer?

Detected early enough aren't most breast cancer cases survivable?
 
Seems a bit drastic to me, but it's her call.


So when was this done btw?
 
I wonder where insurance coverage falls on this?

It's voluntary, elective surgery right? Not that Angie cares, but what about others?

I'd suspect insurance would not cover any of that.
 
omg! Celebrity gossip, news photos, babies, couples, hotties, and more - omg! from Yahoo!

Wow.... she did not have cancer, she simply had a

So she underwent major surgery to prevent something that may or may not have been an issue for her.

That seems highly CRAZY to me.

Would you undergo something that traumatic to prevent the possibility of getting cancer?

Detected early enough aren't most breast cancer cases survivable?

Knowing how bad the odds are with those kinds of genes... yeah, I'd think about it. It's not unheard of for women to do this.

Why wait until you have cancer? Especially since it's extremely likely you will?
 
So when was this done btw?

Over the course of three months, beginning in February and ending in late April, Jolie went through a series of medical procedures to have her breasts removed and then reconstructed. And her fiancé, Brad Pitt, stood by her side every step of the way.

According to article...
 
Knowing how bad the odds are with those kinds of genes... yeah, I'd think about it. It's not unheard of for women to do this.

Why wait until you have cancer? Especially since it's extremely likely you will?

But you might not.
 
My cousin had this done about 15 years ago.
 
But you might not.

Let's put it this way. It's more likely than not that you will. Especially with the type she has. She says her risk was actually 87% with her genetic factors.

Average 65 percent lifetime risk for breast cancer
Hereditary Breast Ovarian Cancer Syndrome (BRCA1 / BRCA2) - Information About Cancer - Stanford Cancer Center - Stanford Medicine

You wanna roll those dice?

And here's the thing. They're just tits. Sacks of fat. They don't matter all that much.

If that were me, it sure as hell ain't worth resigning myself to probably winding up with cancer in middle age.
 
Seems a bit drastic to me, but it's her call.


So when was this done btw?

I have no doubt that she was absolutely convinced. She knows the consequence of her action.
 
Let's put it this way. It's more likely than not that you will. Especially with the type she has. She says her risk was actually 87% with her genetic factors.


Hereditary Breast Ovarian Cancer Syndrome (BRCA1 / BRCA2) - Information About Cancer - Stanford Cancer Center - Stanford Medicine

You wanna roll those dice?

And here's the thing. They're just tits. Sacks of fat. They don't matter all that much.

If that were me, it sure as hell ain't worth resigning myself to probably winding up with cancer in middle age.

So you monitor the hell out of it, catch it way early if you get it, and take care of things then.

Why put yourself through major surgery if you don't have to?

Caught early, what are the odds that you survive?

65% chance you'll get something means 35% chance you won't.
 
So you monitor the hell out of it, catch it way early if you get it, and take care of things then.

Why put yourself through major surgery if you don't have to?

Caught early, what are the odds that you survive?

65% chance you'll get something means 35% chance you won't.

I'll tell you exactly why you put yourself through the surgery.

I've had exactly the same surgery twice. It's called a pelvic laparoscopy.

The first time, I had it while I was ill and weak. I had a gigantic ovarian cyst that had to be removed. Recovery was slow and painful (relatively speaking).

The second time (keep in mind, I had scar tissue at this point), I had it electively while healthy. I was feeling fine the very same day and I healed twice as fast.

That's why you do the surgery when you're still healthy. Especially if you damn well know you're probably going to wind up sick if you don't.

I'm sorry, but I think sitting around waiting to get cancer is ridiculous. They're just boobs.

Keep in mind, not ALL types of breast cancer have a good survival rate. Some of them are quite grim.

And even if you manage to luck out and get a cancer that's easier to treat, your chance of survival is STILL more than 10% lower than it would have been if you'd had the surgery first.

I don't get why someone would risk that over boobs.
 
I don't get why someone would risk that over boobs.

Major surgery is major surgery. Boobs or not.

There's huge risks for infections in hospitals.

We're all susceptible to all kinds of cancers.
We can't just run out and cut off all the parts of our bodies that "might" get cancer.

Obviously - she's allowed to do whatever she wants....but I think it's pretty nutty.
 
Major surgery is major surgery. Boobs or not.

There's huge risks for infections in hospitals.

We're all susceptible to all kinds of cancers.
We can't just run out and cut off all the parts of our bodies that "might" get cancer.

Obviously - she's allowed to do whatever she wants....but I think it's pretty nutty.

There is a risk in being alive that you will get cancer, yes. But I would say that when your risk is nearly 90%, as hers was, you'd be a fool to play the odds.

Surgery while healthy is nowhere near as risky as waiting to get cancer. Surgery is actually not all that risky on something like boobs, that doesn't involve any major support structures or nerves. If you're not getting surgery in a back alley, worrying about some sort of major infection is a bit silly.
 
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If it was my wife, and the risk really is that high (87% chance of getting cancer in her lifetime) I might encourage her to do it. I don't know if it would be better to wait til we're done having kids so she could breastfeed or not.
 
Smoke is right. There is a gene mutation that increases your risks of developing breast cancer and ovarian cancer, among other types of cancers. I'll bet that Angelina also has a family history of breast cancer in close first-degree relatives. That is another indicator. And even having the breasts removed is no guarantee that she still won't develop cancer one day because it is nearly impossible to remove ALL of that tissue, and monitoring is no guarantee that they can find a cancer before it is too late. There are plenty of times when it is missed.

http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/BRCA

A woman’s lifetime risk of developing breast and/or ovarian cancer is greatly increased if she inherits a harmful mutation in BRCA1 or BRCA2. Such a woman has an increased risk of developing breast and/or ovarian cancer at an early age (before menopause) and often has multiple, close family members who have been diagnosed with these diseases. Harmful BRCA1 mutations may also increase a woman’s risk of developing cervical, uterine, pancreatic, and colon cancer (1, 2). Harmful BRCA2 mutations may additionally increase the risk of pancreatic cancer, stomach cancer, gallbladder and bile duct cancer, and melanoma (3).

Men with harmful BRCA1 mutations also have an increased risk of breast cancer and, possibly, of pancreatic cancer, testicular cancer, and early-onset prostate cancer. However, male breast cancer, pancreatic cancer, and prostate cancer appear to be more strongly associated with BRCA2 gene mutations (2–4).

The likelihood that a breast and/or ovarian cancer is associated with a harmful mutation in BRCA1 or BRCA2 is highest in families with a history of multiple cases of breast cancer, cases of both breast and ovarian cancer, one or more family members with two primary cancers (original tumors that develop at different sites in the body), or an Ashkenazi (Central and Eastern European) Jewish background (see Question 6). However, not every woman in such families carries a harmful BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation, and not every cancer in such families is linked to a harmful mutation in one of these genes. Furthermore, not every woman who has a harmful BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation will develop breast and/or ovarian cancer.

According to estimates of lifetime risk, about 12.0 percent of women (120 out of 1,000) in the general population will develop breast cancer sometime during their lives compared with about 60 percent of women (600 out of 1,000) who have inherited a harmful mutation in BRCA1 or BRCA2 (4, 5). In other words, a woman who has inherited a harmful mutation in BRCA1 or BRCA2 is about five times more likely to develop breast cancer than a woman who does not have such a mutation.
 
images
 
I type about women who choose to have this done all the time. They have witnessed first hand their mothers or sisters, etc., suffering with breast cancer and have decided for themselves that keeping the breasts is not worth the agony.
 
I salute women who pre-emptively do this.
 
I salute women who pre-emptively do this.

It can't be an easy decision to make, especially someone in a position like Angelina Jolie.
 
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