Posted on 09/20/2007 10:34:02 AM PDT by qam1
Her latest mammogram was clean. But Deborah Lindner, 33, was tired of constantly looking for the lump.
Ever since a DNA test had revealed her unusually high chance of developing breast cancer, Ms. Lindner had agonized over whether to have a mastectomy, a procedure that would reduce her risk by 90 percent.
She had stared at herself in the mirror, imagining the loss of her familiar shape. She had wondered, unable to ask, how the man she had just started dating would feel about breasts that were surgically reconstructed, incapable of feeling his touch or nursing his children.
But she was sure that her own mother, who had had chemotherapy and a mastectomy after a bout with the cancer that had ravaged generations of her family, would agree it was necessary.
“It could be growing inside of me right now,” she told her mother on the phone in February, pacing in her living room here. “We could find it any time.”
Waiting for an endorsement, she added, “I could schedule the surgery before the summer.”
But no approval came.
“Oh, sweetheart,” her mother said. “Let’s not rush into this.”
Joan Lindner, 63, is a cancer survivor. Her daughter, by contrast, is one of a growing number of young women who call themselves previvors because they have learned early that they are genetically prone to breast cancer, and have the chance to act before it strikes.
As they seek to avoid the potentially lethal consequences of a mutant gene, many of them turn to relatives who share its burden. But at a moment when a genetic test has made family ties even more tangible, they are often at their most strained.........
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
But one way or another, of whatever cause, we're not getting out of here alive.
Staving off one cause of death simply means that something else will catch up with you.
Can’t you pay for the genetic testing out of pocket?
And if you develop a cancer elsewhere in your body, what good have you done for yourself? Do you also avoid driving because you might be in a car accident?
I worry about the same thing. Both my mom and her only sister had early mastectomies, and on the other side my grandmother and both her sisters died of breast ca.
But there are just certain things you shouldn’t get tested for because of the legal ramifications. For instance, the doctor wanted to check my son for sleep apnea. But do you know that certain states have talked about limiting the driver’s licenses of anyone with such a diagnosis?
And just think of Hillary computerizing everyone’s medical records....
You know what Rush says.
Carrots kill you. He can prove it. Everyone he knows that ever ate carrots is either dead or going to die.... LOL.
YOu can if you can afford to pay $2400.
but I think you miss her point
Do you want to take the 90% risk that you will die a cancer ridden, in extreme pain, overly medicated shell of your former self....
OR die from something else that is hopefully less torturous and lengthy (e.g. splattered by a Mac Truck)?
Everyone dies but if you can take precautions to prevent what you can, why wouldn’t you?
And if you develop a cancer elsewhere in your body, what good have you done for yourself? Do you also avoid driving because you might be in a car accident?
Well golly, if I knew that I had an 85-90% chance of getting into a fatal or near fatal car accident if I were behind the wheel, darn right I'd avoid driving!
Please educate your self on sleep apnea, I have friends with it and it’s no joke. If it’s a possibility, I’d suggest getting him checked.
While you think you may be protecting him, enabling him to get a license when of age....if he develops severe apnea,well getting him a drivers license will be the last of your concerns.
If your son does have sleep apnea, it can severely limit his life because he’s always tired, and eventually it could kill him. I wouldn’t fool around with it.
And as the earlier poster said, driving with untreated sleep apnea just isn’t a wise idea.
Yup. I'd buy a couple of extra mams a year instead on your own dime and not mention it to your insurance. Breast cancer gets more treatable every year.
Having a mastectomy is this instance is ridiculous, How does she know it will not appear elsewhere?
Enjoy your life, get checked out once a year, and realize life isn’t forever.
I have a brother in law whose father died of heart disease at 33, he has lived most of his life fearing his fate. He has feared it until age 60. He is still kicking, but has had a bout with prostate cancer.
When he got to thinking about it, he always thought heart attack. His heart was fine, but he didn’t think much about prostate cancer.
I’m quite disappointed in the responses here. I’m a 14 year breast cancer survivor but many women I know are not so lucky. It is a horribly painful death and slow. The cancer can move to the lungs, bones etc. If this woman could stop the risk of breast cancer by doing this then more power to her. If the boyfriend couldn’t take it then he’s not worth having around.
People with an 85-90% chance of being in a serious car accident should avoid driving.
I wish probability was used instead of something as imprecise as a percentage.
What does it mean if a weatherman forecasts a 50% chance rain?
You're facing a crazed proven killer invading your house. You've got an effective weapon, trained on his center of mass. He starts to turn towards you, and begins to raise his pistol towards you. Your finger tightens on your trigger...
Do you throw your weapon away, saying, "Oh, well; somebody else would probably shoot me some other time, anyway?"
Interestingly there is already a genetic test for this, if they find that you have 2 X-Chromosomes it is highly recommended that you do not drive.
I think breast cancer is one that is heavily related to glucose and insulin levels. If I were this woman I’d be on a ketogenic diet permanently.
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