Word: cancerous
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Joanne Motichka had been expecting bad news. Her mother died of breast cancer, and she knew that she herself had a high risk of getting the disease. So she had regular mammograms, saw her gynecologist frequently and began seeing a breast-cancer specialist too. "I was cancer phobic," says the 45-year-old artist and photographer who goes by the professional name Matuschka. It was no surprise, therefore, when the lump she found in her right breast in 1991 turned out to be cancerous. On the advice of her surgeon, Motichka had a modified radical mastectomy: the breast was removed...
...verdict reflects a growing understanding that breast cancer doesn't always require the most severe treatment. A study released in 1996 showed that for small tumors that haven't spread, removal of the tumor and some surrounding tissue (a lumpectomy) followed by radiation is just as effective as taking off the entire breast. Thanks to women's increasing vigilance, some 85% of the 175,000 cases diagnosed in the U.S. each year are found early enough to avoid radical surgery...
While the evidence was far less conclusive in 1991, when Motichka was diagnosed, many doctors already believed that less invasive treatments could be effective, and were advising their patients to consider that option. According to Motichka, her physician, Dr. Hiram Cody of New York's Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, recommended a mastectomy anyway...
...didn't have difficulty walking down the street." Beyond that, active involvement with oncologists and advocacy groups was educating Motichka about treatment options, and she began to wonder if her disfigurement was a mistake. She went back to Dr. Cody, who insisted that based on the kind of cancer she had, she had never been a good candidate for a lumpectomy...
...necessarily. There are situations in which mastectomies still make sense. An estimated 1 in 2 women diagnosed with breast cancer, many of whom could be treated with a lumpectomy, nonetheless choose a mastectomy, either for added reassurance or to avoid radiation's side effects. And some women at high risk for breast cancer reduce the odds by having their breasts removed protectively, even before they get the disease. That doesn't bother Motichka. At least, she says, "they're making their own decisions...