Would you undergo preventive surgery to reduce cancer risk?

eviltwin wrote: »

It's not her fault she has the money to access the best possible health care. If I had her millions I'd get the best treatment money could buy.

No I wasn't saying it was her fault, just more available that's all. Like I said if I was in the position I would seriously consider it myself but realistically I don't have that option.

I don't think she should be ridiculed or praised. It's just an option that she has and she chose what was best for her.

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I'd say I would, but would find it devastating. I know cancer would obviously be even more devastating, but that still wouldn't change how hard I'd find having the procedure done at the time and after.

Links234 wrote: »

Yeah, I wish people would stop giving her oxygen, she's a bad troll

That's the thing - people are saying she's looking for attention, yet responding to her tweet. I realise I'm also doing so by the way.

ProfessorPlum wrote: »

Jez you don't have to have AJ's wealth to avail of preventative surgery in this country. If you have the risk factors, like she did, your doctor should offer you genetic screening and then you can make a decision to have surgery or not. If you have health insurance, great. If you don't, well that's great too, because the state will pay for it. That's the beauty of socialised health care. Of course it saves money in the long term. - saves on the costs of lifetime screening for the disease, and for the folk who would have developed disease, saves on the treatment. And cancer treatment is very expensive.
Personally, I wouldn't have to think twice if I had a risk anywhere approaching AJ's. As for protection of mental health - tbh, waiting everyday for the arrival of possible symptoms of cancer (which of course can be very nonspecific, so every ache, pain, lump or bump could be it) would surly drive the most sane amongst us demented. Breasts, ovaries, testicles - they're only appendages - they can all be replaced with something fake if you want. And that something won't kill you.

I don't think you would have to have Angelinas wealth in order to get preventative surgery and from what ive heard here it seems that it is more available than I previously thought which is great and I might look into having a test myself however the financial side is still a factor in this. You have to make a decision as a 'healthy' person to undergo surgery. The cost of childcare, missing out on work and other factors are something that people have to consider not to mention if the surgery goes wrong.

In terms of the 'beauty' of our socialised healthcare system, I know a bloke who has a fractured wrist that the hospital have said needs an urgent operation because his bone is dying. He does not qualify for a medical card and does not have private health insurance. The doctor in the hospital told him that he needs to get the operation asap. He said that it really should be done within six weeks that he would be referred to a clinic as urgent. The guy rang the clinic to get an idea of where he is on this urgency list and to know when to give his job an idea of when he will need time off. The woman at the clinic practically laughed and told him not to even think about it for the next year at least as that is how long the 'urgency' list is so he is walking round with a fractured wrist and dying bone for the next year.

It would be great to bring in preventative as the main approach just like mammograms and smear tests but what happens if this is introduced and you have a surge of patients every year with a probable health mutation seeking a preventative treatment on the socialised health system? This is a probability that you may get the disease so there is a good chance that you are going to have a lot more people getting the surgery than actually would have ended up needing cancer treatment also. Maybe in a couple of years this would work out better financially for the health system because you would have less cancer patients later on, needing treatment but what happens in the mean time if your on the waiting list for one, two years or more and in this time you develop cancer?

Like I have said I personally would probably get this procedure done myself because i would rather have some control over the situation if that is a possibility however I am just trying to see from another side of view because i can understand how this procedure might not be possible for everyone and also would not be a choice for everyone and i think its important to respect that.

I don't think its fair to label anyone who doesn't feel that it is for them as, a mother who is leaving her kids behind, because she chose that the procedure was not for her and not the best in thing to do at that time in her life or couldn't get it done because at the time her friend was dying, then she had some other issue to deal with or couldn't take time away from work or many other possible reasons and unfortunately later on developed cancer and died.

In my opinion there is no wrong and right decision here. Its based on personal situation and circumstance and you have to try to see it from all sides but just be happy with your own decisions and possibilities and deal with the consequences if so but it is not anyone's place to say whether it is wrong or a right thing to do for someone else. You can only speak for yourself and try to understand other peoples reasons for their choices about their own body

Thinking about it, I think I'd be fine without boobs. I actually have big enough ones, but I never think about them, rarely accentuate them, never feel superior because I have big boobs. I'm more into accentuating bum and legs. Some men aren't boob men, and I guess I'm not a boob woman! I guess it comes down to aesthetics and I think boobs of all size look good. I'd hope that they are given some kind of shape that doesn't look odd under clothing, but if I had a high risk of getting breast cancer, yeah, I'd do it!

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

Only a few generations ago people would get all their teeth removed to prevent further dental problems. Denture for life from your 20's

Around the time of the great fire of London 10% of the deaths not attributable to plague were to teeth.



Interesting to compare this to some people's attitudes on vaccines.

Yea they removed healthy teeth with no decay. People would go to the dentist with a toothache and come back with no teeth. I heard it was almost considered fashionable at one stage to have false teeth!!