Principle of Totality, Threat vs. Risk, and Hysterectomy

[Courtneyjo]

Just to toss this out–there is a kind of ovarian cancer that is considered borderline. It shows up young, and if detected early, is curable in most people. I don’t know if this would show up on genetic screening; I assume it would, but what do I know?

As a young (I’ll be 30 in two weeks) woman in this situation, I would recommend against the pre-emptive hysterectomy. I had mine last week because I have this borderline ovarian cancer. If I knew 10 years ago what I know now, I would not have had the procedure done pre-emptively. I could have gotten hit by a bus at 21, does that mean I should never have left my house? It’s good to know what risks we face in life, but we are all going to die someday; to undergo serious surgery for a problem that may or may not develop is crazy, in my opinion.

I too had this type of ovarian cancer at age 38, and was cured by a “complete” hysterectomy (removal of ovaries, uterus and tubes). That was sixteen years ago. It was the right thing to do but changed my life completely. The medical community does a very poor job of informing women on the long-term effects of hysterectomy.

My MIL had double prophylactic mastectomies because her mother had developed breast cancer. Her mother had a mastectomy and lived for thirty-five more years, dying of a stroke in her nineties. My MIL, on the other hand, died at age fifty of bone cancer, just five years after her double mastectomies. Her mother outlived her by twenty-five years.

Although I can’t provide the source, I have read of women who’ve had pre-emptive mastectomies who still developed breast cancer, becasue just a tiny bit of breast tissue had been left behind.

Rather than pre-emptive surgery, I think that a woman should know her own body very well and be pro-active and firm with her doctor if even the slightest symptom develops. I was and it saved my life.

 

[seekerz]

I too had this type of ovarian cancer at age 38, and was cured by a “complete” hysterectomy (removal of ovaries, uterus and tubes). That was sixteen years ago. It was the right thing to do but changed my life completely. The medical community does a very poor job of informing women on the long-term effects of hysterectomy.

My MIL had double prophylactic mastectomies because her mother had developed breast cancer. Her mother had a mastectomy and lived for thirty-five more years, dying of a stroke in her nineties. My MIL, on the other hand, died at age fifty of bone cancer, just five years after her double mastectomies. Her mother outlived her by twenty-five years.

Although I can’t provide the source, I have read of women who’ve had pre-emptive mastectomies who still developed breast cancer, becasue just a tiny bit of breast tissue had been left behind.

Rather than pre-emptive surgery, I think that a woman should know her own body very well and be pro-active and firm with her doctor if even the slightest symptom develops. I was and it saved my life.

Borderline ovarian cancer is different from other types of ovarian cancer so the outcome is usually better. On a whole ovarian cancer is detected late because there is no effective screening for it… That’s the factor leading some to choose pre-emptive surgery.