A question about Angelina Jolie and Double Mastectomies [View all]

[truedelphi]

I have a question... First let me relate my experiences as a caretaker.

As a private duty Certified Nursing Assistant, I have taken care of several women after they had a single mastectomy.

I think it is fair to say that even when only one breast is removed, there is a quite an amount of suffering involved. The armpit area and the shoulder muscles that allow a person to use the arm on the same side of the body are too sore, swollen and disabled to allow only the most limited mobility for some time. (Can't remember if it took the women three to six weeks, but it was quite a while.)

On edit: Please make note of response number two below, as marybourg stated that when a woman is cancer free at the time of the operation, the lymph nodes are not removed and arm mobility may remain normal.

Our hospital system is so broken that women were released far before they should have been. Often they are instructed that they can, within 36 hours of the surgery, be at home, to feed themselves, bathe themselves, get to the bathroom, etc, change the bandages and then they are expected to do their own wound care!

Those women who were aware of the body's physiology,usually nurses or doctors themselves, would hire me to come in and feed them, bathe them and do the wound care. As well as help with normal household activities. (Pay the utility bill, handle guests arriving, and all of the may daily activities that life involves.)

There are also expected side effects. Cellulitis is one such illness that can afflict a person whose breasts are removed. Sometimes cellulitis lasts for the rest of the person's life! There is also the danger of staph infections, or complications from the anesthesia that was used. All of these things are extremely important factors. And they all need to be considered.

Why is it that Angelina doesn't talk about any of this? She only discusses her doing the reactive type of procedure she did, and no mention of any of the rest of it. I have no idea what it even costs to do this surgery - but I am sure it is not inexpensive. (Even though the surgeons and hospitals have already removed themselves from the "after care" part of the situation, it is still expensive!)

Jolie and Pitt have full time nannies, so I don't know if she would even need to consider hiring on private duty nursing help. I imagine that she also has premium health care,w ith the top surgeons who specialize in this available to her, 24/7.

Most of us don't have those resources.

I don't want to comment on my personal "take" on the wisdom or lack of wisdom in her doing this. I am not someone with an 85% chance of getting breast cancer. Nor am I feeling under the gun, with emotions surging about me, as she must have been. But I do want to point out some considerations that the "Hollywood-ization" for this procedure ignores.

Please make sure you can handle not using BOTH ARMS for a period of time. Make sure you fully understand your insurance policy and what to expect in terms of a hospital stay, and who will and how will the policy cover at home care, if at all. Please make sure you won't lose your home, or your job or your life, if you go down this road. Do avail yourself of any and all internet discussion groups; I know Yahoo used to have some decent discussion groups on various women's health problems, that gave me a lot of advice on how to obtain a decent surgeon, how to participate in the optimum situation for my health care, when I was thinking I might have another serious health problem. (Not breast related.) That was about ten years ago - I can only imagine that support groups on the web have expanded since then.