i feel samantha jones' pain...
"lifestyle choices"? implication: attention ladies with brca1 mutations, hurry up and get pregnant. now. it will save your life.
http://info.cancerresearchuk.org/news/archive/newsarchive/2008/june/18618131
look, i can understand that there is probably some valid medical/scientific/hormonal reason for noting the correlation between pregnancy and cancer. but this shit has got to stop.
don't refer to the decision to not have children (or breastfeed) as though it were akin to drinking a 6-pack every day or eating twinkies for every meal. it doesn't help anyone to refer to it that way. don't you realize, that for many women who don't have children and have a brca1 mutation, whether or not to become pregnant or not can be a heartwrenching choice? (for those of you who haven't clued in -- it's this upbeat inner-dialogue: "maybe i shouldn't have kids because i could die young of cancer and leave them motherless...")
when you make us brca1 bitches feel as though motherhood is some kind of adjustable risk factor over which we have total control, you're just being an asshole. stop it. yes, at some level we're talking semantics, but clean your language up. explain the correlation between pregnancy and cancer without the bullshit judgmental tone.
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Then there are those of us who came down with a wicked case of cancer *while* they were pregnant, had no family history and were convinced--along with their doctors--that their symptoms were just related to hemorrhoids (and really couldn't do anything more about it, being preggo and all), all the while the cancer probably progressed at a faster rate due to the natural suppression of the immune system during pregnancy...
Damned if you do, etc. etc.
I've heard the vaguely-worded "Get pregnant, reduce your risk of breast cancer!" It wasn't even attached to BRCA1 when I heard it. Then, "Make sure to breastfeed, reduce your risk of breast cancer!" Then I heard, "Don't have an abortion, it increases your risk of breast cancer!"
Now, having just buried my two infant daughters, I wonder where that leaves me. It's all vaguely algebraic. Good thing that between mom's breast CA and my own radiation history, I look at my boobs as rentals anyway.
That, and any researcher worth their salt should know that a lot of BRCA1 patients have had to have hyster/oophorectomies already, making this news flash about "survivability" especially cruel.
In other news, did you know that <a href="http://women.ygoy.com/2008/05/26/is-abortion-safe-for-a-woman/">abortions can give you rectal cancer</a>? My totally ripshit comment is still "awaiting moderation."