Angelina Jolie Had Preventative Double Mastectomy
 

Good for her for being proactive about her health!

http://vitals.nbcnews.com/_news/2013...ncer-risk?lite

I have heard it about 12 times already this am. I've been up about three hours. Must be a slow news day.

She did a good job with that, because younger people can get it to

I have had the test she wrote about. I don't have the gene and neither does my two adult DDs. I know that doesn't mean we are protected but it helps to ease worry about it.

And good for her for going public with it, showing that health is more important than looks, even to a movie star.

What a lot of people don't know is that you can still get breast cancer because they can not remove all the breast tissue. I saw a young lady at M.D. Anderson Cancer Hospital that had her breast removed because of the gene. She still got breast cancer. She was having major medical issues resulting from the chemo treatment. However, less breast tissue probably does reduce the risk.

I think she said her risk went down from 80something percent to 5%. I wonder if she also had her ovaries removed, because that was a 50% chance of cancer. Not an easy decision at all.

She has said she will consider having them removed later.

Movie star or not, she was brave to do what needed to be done, and opened up a whole new conversation for the rest of us. Everyone is talking about it, so now it's not in the closet anymore.

I applaude her for coming forward and hope she continues and fights to get gentic testing covered under insurance because the sad fact is that if you don't have the testing you dont know you have the BRACA gene so you won't have this lifesaving mastectomy, the testing is beyond afforable for even the middle class.
Don't even get me started on the need for national health care in the united states.

It was on the news yesterday. The only thing I question is some of the timelines. I had a lumpectomy and a friend of mine had a double mastectomy (of course we had to go through treatments) but still having a double mastectomy is no piece of cake and reconstruction on top. You need more recovery time. According to the news she was seen out and about within a couple weeks. The risk being reduced to 5% meaning they didn't remove lymph nodes, maybe? I applaud anyone who is being proactive concerning their health.

it was said the gene she has makes it possible to get cancer in her "chest" and ovaries. I wonder now what she will do about her ovaries? that is very difficult to catch problems there. I wish her luck.

My sister-in-law had this cancer, luckily she caught it early. However, both of her daughters have this gene. The youngest, had two children the last three years and then had both of her breasts removed so she would not get the cancer. The other niece has not decided yet. My sister-in-law discovered her cancer at age 30. It is a very aggressive, deadly cancer that spreads to other areas of the body. The niece who had the surgery did very well with the process. she had her implants and then went back for her tattoos......yes, they tattoo the nipple area on the skin where they would be naturally. She is very satisfied and now does not worry.

This preventative surgery is becoming more common everyday. My friend did the same thing and when you have a family history of breast cancer the insurance company will pay for the tests and the surgery and reconstructive surgery. That's a lot cheaper for them than cancer treatments and the two surgerys. My friend was out and about pretty soon. I had breast cancer, double mastectomy, radiation, and reconstruction and it took me a year to get back on track.

I just read about it in the paper and the statistics were really awful for her to get ovarian or breast cancer. I think it takes a lot of courage to do something like that, especially in the business she is in.

It's all good, but only the good Lord above knows when your number is gonna come up! So, what you gonna remove then?!

Latrinka, I understand where you're coming from. Based on personal experience I believe when it's our time to go, it's our time to go! I was in a very serious car accident in 1987. If it weren't for God and seatbelts I would not be here. I look at this BRCA preventative surgery like wearing seatbelts.

Between 54% and 80% of women with the BRCA gene develop breast cancer. Seatbelts reduce traffic fatalities by 50%.

A seatbelt saved my life just like preventative mastectomies save many women's lives!

In 2003, I had the same test since I lost my mother to breast and ovarian cancer and my family history reads like a horror book. I did not have the broken gene, but we don't know if my mom did or not. I went ahead and had a complete hysterectomy because I was having some warning signs and just couldn't take the chance. Had I had the broken gene, I would have had a complete breast removal and replacement. I would still have had the chance of getting breast cancer or, even now, cancer in my lower abdomen but my chances decreased immensely.

I'm tired of hearing about Jolie, but if it brings this to people's attention, it is a good thing.

I'm so happy for her that she was able to keep it quiet until she was ready to tell the world.

I had a scare a number of years back and I told my daughters if it is cancer I'm having both of my breast removed. They could not understand why, they were in their early 20s and I explained to them that my health was more important then my looks. It was not cancer so I didn't have to worry about it at this time.

I do question this procedure. What happened to changing eating habits and clean living? Our foods are so processed now we don't know what we are putting into our bodies anymore.

It's nice that she was able to do it, but the average joe can't afford the genetic test, I know because of my faimly history and having breast cancer the Dr. wanted me to take t for the sake of my family. It is not covered by insurance and only cost around 10,000.

How is it that all of the breast tissue was not removed? I was and OR nurse and when I saw this type of procedure done ALL of the tissue was removed from the underside of the skin all the way to the muscle. So, it seems to me that an inadeqate approach was used. It is extremely rare for cancer to start in a muscle. I am a 2X survivor of this horrid disease and was very blessed with a good surgeon and lots of prayer to be permitted to survive.

How sad that Jolie will now cause so many women with history of family members having this horrible disease and who cannot afford the test, guilt of not getting the test, to add to the fear of having the disease.

I would bet that 99.9% of Hollyweird women have fake breasts. You can go through your whole life worrying about getting a disease or you can thank God for the blessing of living another day, no matter what kind of day it is. National "healthcare" will NOT help to extend your life or the quality of your life. Educate yourselves about it. Read cchfreedom.org to learn all you can about this nightmare that is about to invade the freedom of choice in each individuals personal healthcare.

Several of the women in my BC Support group have one of the 2 BRCA genes. Yes, there are 2 possible 'bad' genes that can cause breast and related cancers. One of them had melanoma (one of the related cancers) when she was 17. All of these women have elected to have double mastectomies, hysterectomies, and oopherectomies (removal of the ovaries). They are still at risk for brain and bone cancer, but much less so now. The one who had melanoma has never had breast cancer, but her sister did and had the test, which was positive, because several female relative had had BC, and that is why she was tested. All of them are brave, pragmatic women, and I feel very priviledged to know them and have them as my sisters in breast cancer support. We get together twice a month, laugh a lot and get serious when the need arises, especially for newbies or recurrences, and we're VERY supportive of each other, a lot like lionesses in a family pack.

We share information about doctors - oncoolgists, surgeons and plastic surgeons. There isn't one right doctor for everyone, because we all have different needs. And we share info about our different pre- and post-surgical treatment - chemo, radiation and anti-hormone. I'm nearly 5 years in remission, and it's amazing how much more has been learned about breast cancer treatment in these 5 years. It has become a chronic disease instead of a terminal diagnosis, IF it's caught early, as it almost always is in this day of mammos, MRIs, ultra sounds, and self-exams. Don't forget those self-exams! 5% of BC tumors DON'T show up on mammos - mine didn't. You don't know about them until they are big enough to feel in a self-exam! Fortunately, those are the ones that are SLOW-growing, so you still are likely to catch them early like I did at stage IIa.

BINGO!!!!!!! I wish I could talk to every woman about this test.....some oncologists really really avoid this test for a very good reason....I for one am not convinced this test does anything more than put more fear and panic out there. During my treatment for ovarian cancer a woman sat next to me receiving chemo for ovarian cancer....she had both breasts removed and complete hysterectomy and she still got ovarian cancer.....would not have believed it if I didn't witness first hand.....please be careful with this test!

i had prophylactic subcutaneous mastectomies in 1985. my sister had died at 30 from bc. the later lab tests showed that i would have had cancer in both breasts within 2 yrs if i had left them alone. i was 34 and the mother of 2. the third arrived the next year. my logic was you can't get cancer in something you don't have. my other sister has since lost both breasts to cancer and my mom gave up one. we used to call her the keeper of the family boob. dad was the guardian. 8-)) both have since passed. my sister's disease and death was a wake up call! without her the rest of us would have died of breast cancer. my odds were sky high and i went against drs' recommendations and had the surgery. it was a gut core decision on my part. i knew they had to go. my dh was wonderful! he said he was behind any decision i made and supported me totally. his stance was there was nothing they could remove that would make me less desirable and he loved me for me. we just celebrated 37 yrs together. every day is a gift! i understand angelina's motivation and logic. there isn't anything i wouldn't do within my power for my children. they are now 34, 32 and 26. when i had the surgery the boys were 4 and 6. i wouldn't have missed the following years for anything! and now i have a dgd! the cherry on top of life's sundae!