Double Mastectomy Analysis

Breast cancer is a very common cancer and most people know someone who has been affected by this nasty disease. However, more and more women have been deciding to have a double mastectomy as part of their treatment even if they are at low risk to develop cancer in their other healthy breast. Some consider this a safe smart decision while others think that these women may be overreacting. In Double or Nothing the author Ginny Graves gives us the facts and opinions from doctors and survivors and their thoughts of a double mastectomy. When women are diagnosed with breast cancer for the first time many of them want to have a double mastectomy. They haven’t heard the options or other treatments but their mind already jumps to having both breast …show more content…
My mom’s best friend Tammy became my second mother and we were very close. When I was in the fifth grade she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She opted to have a double mastectomy. I was able to see what the surgery does to your body. I could tell she was in pain and was unable to do lots of things until her wounds were healed. My mother and me also had to help change her bandages and empty her drainage bags that came from her breast. She had the surgery done and went through chemo and later had the reconstruction surgery done. For a while she was better and cancer free, but the cancer came back and slowly it took over her entire body. She died only a few years after being diagnosed with breast cancer. However, we learned that she had the mutation BRCA and that lead to her sister being tested for the mutation. The results came back that she did have the mutation and she choose to have a double mastectomy. In both Tammy and her sisters case I feel like having the double mastectomy was the right decision. In Tammy’s case the cancer came back but that was after the fact that she was already diagnosed. As for her sister, she was never diagnosed and hopefully never will be due to the fact that she had the double mastectomy and eliminated the chance of being diagnosed with breast cancer. Now later on down the road Tammy’s daughter will have to be tested and she will decide then if the surgery is for her. I have known women who have not had the surgery done and in their case the decision may not have been wrong. However, if I was every diagnosed with breast cancer I can say I would have to be on the side of getting both breast removed just from the experiences I have witnessed. The article Double or Nothing was very informative and made me realized the pros and cons of having a double mastectomy done. It made me realize that it may not always be the best option and