What good news. Although it seemed yesterday some folks on here were acting like it should have been done automatically. Strange how easy that is when it's not their body being altered.
I posted on yesterday's thread about my 33 year old sister's decision to opt for a double mastectomy due to her cancer and BRCA positive status, and the subsequent finding of pre-cancerous and in-situ cancer in her healthy breast. She now has an excellent prognosis.
I don't think anyone believes a mastectomy should be "automatic", but I do think the jury is still out on the relative efficacy of mastectomy vs. lumpectomy and it is a reasonable choice for some higher risk patients. I would have supported whatever decision my sister had made. It is a horrible choice to be faced with, but I don't want those who opt for mastectomy to feel further stigmatized by feeling that they are somehow "damaged" or "altered". My sister's infant son and the rest of her family consider her just as much a whole person as she ever was and we are simply grateful to God that she will be with us, hopefully for a long time to come.