Time to hit the bottle cause mommy has run dry...
But better to have a mom that is dry than to not have a mom at all!
Posted on 05/13/2013 10:08:45 PM PDT by CaptainK
MY MOTHER fought cancer for almost a decade and died at 56. She held out long enough to meet the first of her grandchildren and to hold them in her arms. But my other children will never have the chance to know her and experience how loving and gracious she was.
We often speak of “Mommy’s mommy,” and I find myself trying to explain the illness that took her away from us. They have asked if the same could happen to me. I have always told them not to worry, but the truth is I carry a “faulty” gene, BRCA1, which sharply increases my risk of developing breast cancer and ovarian cancer.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Depending on where the cancer initially starts (lobular instead of ductal, for example), it can be difficult to find. Lobular tumors are frequently missed. Two machines and a thorough physical examination by my physician (breast specialist) missed my tumor. Finally, a third more advanced machine (one of only a few in the country) found it, and placed it at half an inch in diameter. It was actually one and a half inches in diameter when removed a week later.
Mammography is a great tool, but it does NOT find all tumors, even sizable tumors.
I would have done the same thing she did. In my case, I didn’t have the gene, but I did have the cancer. :(
Insurance doesn’t pay for just anyone to take the test. You must fall in a high risk category in order to get the test in the first place. Unluckily, I fell into a high risk category - two different breast cancers under the age of fifty. :(
Luckily, I did not have the gene to pass on to my daughters.
Mylife, are you lacking in empathy? Can you not see how the odds of 87% would lead to a masectomy?
I am so glad she chose this, instead of my situation, double masectomy AND radiation, chemotherapy, loss of hair, getting sick, and then 5+ years of hormone therapy with some unpleasant side effects.
It’s a lot more pleasant to die of a heart attack than to live like this AND then die of metastatic breast cancer.
My kids and my husband go to bed every night fearing that my cancer will return.
Kudos to Jolie for doing the right thing for her children.
If you fall into a high risk category, insurance DOES cover this test.
High risk includes close relatives with breast cancer, or getting breast cancer a second time (with the first cancer having occurred before the age of fifty). Previous history of ovarian cancer is also a risk factor.
In my case, I was having a mastectomy anyway, so “I” didn’t need the test, but insurance paid for it so my daughters would know if they were at risk.
It still seems like a radical decision to me.
Angelina seems obsessed with “living forever”, this could me a manifestation of that desire...
Mylife, are you lacking in empathy? Can you not see how the odds of 87% would lead to a masectomy?
Odds of 87% I would lose an arm and a leg to cut that risk to zero, to say nothing of losing both of the “girls”, of course if done this early the “reconstruction” is a lot less invasive than having to have them removed after cancer is actually detected because they have to take a lot more tissue “just to be sure” they got it all..
Time to hit the bottle cause mommy has run dry...
But better to have a mom that is dry than to not have a mom at all!
Not to mention losing several lymph nodes in the process, and with that comes the possibility of swollen arms, hands, chest, etc. :(
I don’t swell, but my underarms still ache, sometimes, and it’s been a while. :( Breast cancer changes your life in so many ways, big and little.
“This kind of work that Angelina had done is like ‘concierge’ medicine. I wonder if ANY insurance covers that kind of test.”
Just pointing out that your information is flat out wrong. The test is paid for by most insurance companies if you fall into a high risk category (she did since her mother died of breast cancer), and insurance will pay for the surgery and reconstruction given those odds.
Just imagine - there’s an 89% chance that you’ll die of a heart attack at a relatively young age. Don’t you think that insurance is going to pay for your surgery if there is a surgery to take care of that?
I apologize for the second response. I didn’t realize I had answered “you” earlier. :)
Thank you for writing. It should be a given that no one on FR wishes illness for anyone. But that doesn’t mean that we have to fall into sentimentality over someone who not only represents the negation of our values, but is also a high-profile and powerful advocate for their destruction.
What medical insurance were you covered by?
Basing this on an alleged gene? That’s not good medicine.
I absolutely didn’t know that.
Your point is that an insurance company would rather do a pre-emptive breast removal (with those odds) than have to deal with a possible cancer diagnosis later?
I'd like to see your math on that one....the lifetime risk of dying in a vehicle crash is less than 1 in 100.
I think we are underestimating the life saving ability of this test. Breast cancer is one issue, the other is the high risk for ovarian.
If I had risk factors, I would have this test in a heart beat. If I was positive, the girls would be gone (any age) and I would have my ovaries out too, if I was older. If I was younger, I would be very very careful of ovarian cancer, have my children young and get those out asap.
I don’t what an insurance company would rather do, but I think if someone has a heart condition that would lead a doctor to give you those kinds of odds (89%), it wouldn’t be
considered unusual for an insurance company to cover the necessary surgery.
Removal of the breasts is the same thing. I am a two time breast cancer survivor, which means I opted for a lumpectomy and radiation the first time around and kept my breasts, which I enjoyed having. :) I was then diagnosed with a different kind of breast cancer 8 years later. Lucky me, huh? :)
An “alleged” gene? Do you understand genetics? It’s not an “alleged” gene.
The gene is real, but the allegations that surround it are somewhat in question.
Besides, the former Miss Voight has not exactly lived the clean life and may succumb to some other cancer or disease. She has chosen to let fear rule her life.
Wow. Tough odds. I’m sorry.
I’ve just been haggling so much with our company that it seems like they take our premiums to pay for people to say no to us.
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