Colorless Green Ideas Sleep Furiously

Malta should have won all the things...

Sun, 19 May 2013 01:05:45 +0200

when you’re sad

remember the malta guy

suicideblonde: Angelina Jolie on why she had a double...

Tue, 14 May 2013 20:09:42 +0200

Angelina Jolie on why she had a double mastectomy, and how it can save lives

My mother fought cancer for almost a decade and died at 56. She held out long enough to meet the first of her grandchildren and to hold them in her arms. But my other children will never have the chance to know her and experience how loving and gracious she was.

We often speak of “Mommy’s mommy,” and I find myself trying to explain the illness that took her away from us. They have asked if the same could happen to me. I have always told them not to worry, but the truth is I carry a “faulty” gene, BRCA1, which sharply increases my risk of developing breast cancer and ovarian cancer.

My doctors estimated that I had an 87 percent risk of breast cancer and a 50 percent risk of ovarian cancer, although the risk is different in the case of each woman.

Only a fraction of breast cancers result from an inherited gene mutation. Those with a defect in BRCA1 have a 65 percent risk of getting it, on average.

Once I knew that this was my reality, I decided to be proactive and to minimize the risk as much I could. I made a decision to have a preventive double mastectomy. I started with the breasts, as my risk of breast cancer is higher than my risk of ovarian cancer, and the surgery is more complex.

On April 27, I finished the three months of medical procedures that the mastectomies involved. During that time I have been able to keep this private and to carry on with my work.

But I am writing about it now because I hope that other women can benefit from my experience. Cancer is still a word that strikes fear into people’s hearts, producing a deep sense of powerlessness. But today it is possible to find out through a blood test whether you are highly susceptible to breast and ovarian cancer, and then take action.

My own process began on Feb. 2 with a procedure known as a “nipple delay,” which rules out disease in the breast ducts behind the nipple and draws extra blood flow to the area. This causes some pain and a lot of bruising, but it increases the chance of saving the nipple.

Two weeks later I had the major surgery, where the breast tissue is removed and temporary fillers are put in place. The operation can take eight hours. You wake up with drain tubes and expanders in your breasts. It does feel like a scene out of a science-fiction film. But days after surgery you can be back to a normal life.

Nine weeks later, the final surgery is completed with the reconstruction of the breasts with an implant. There have been many advances in this procedure in the last few years, and the results can be beautiful.

I wanted to write this to tell other women that the decision to have a mastectomy was not easy. But it is one I am very happy that I made. My chances of developing breast cancer have dropped from 87 percent to under 5 percent. I can tell my children that they don’t need to fear they will lose me to breast cancer.

It is reassuring that they see nothing that makes them uncomfortable. They can see my small scars and that’s it. Everything else is just Mommy, the same as she always was. And they know that I love them and will do anything to be with them as long as I can. On a personal note, I do not feel any less of a woman. I feel empowered that I made a strong choice that in no way diminishes my femininity.

I am fortunate to have a partner, Brad Pitt, who is so loving and supportive. So to anyone who has a wife or girlfriend going through this, know that you are a very important part of the transition. Brad was at the Pink Lotus Breast Center, where I was treated, for every minute of the surgeries. We managed to find moments to laugh together. We knew this was the right thing to do for our family and that it would bring us closer. And it has.

For any woman reading this, I hope it helps you to know you have options. I want to encourage every woman, especially if you have a family history of breast or ovarian cancer, to seek out the information and medical experts who can help you through this aspect of your life, and to make your own informed choices.

I acknowledge that there are many wonderful holistic doctors working on alternatives to surgery. My own regimen will be posted in due course on the Web site of the Pink Lotus Breast Center. I hope that this will be helpful to other women.

Breast cancer alone kills some 458,000 people each year, according to the World Health Organization, mainly in low- and middle-income countries. It has got to be a priority to ensure that more women can access gene testing and lifesaving preventive treatment, whatever their means and background, wherever they live. The cost of testing for BRCA1 and BRCA2, at more than $3,000 in the United States, remains an obstacle for many women.

I choose not to keep my story private because there are many women who do not know that they might be living under the shadow of cancer. It is my hope that they, too, will be able to get gene tested, and that if they have a high risk they, too, will know that they have strong options.

Life comes with many challenges. The ones that should not scare us are the ones we can take on and take control of.

"Some days, it’s not about passion and courage. It’s not about heroism and drama. It’s not about..."

Tue, 14 May 2013 19:52:47 +0200

“Some days, it’s not about passion and courage. It’s not about heroism and drama. It’s not about slaying dragons or conjuring exotic visions… Some days, it’s simply about the delicious act of doing simple things, simply.”

- Jack Ricchiuto (via kari-shma)

"You know when sometimes you meet someone so beautiful — and then you actually talk to them and five..."

Tue, 14 May 2013 19:49:07 +0200

“You know when sometimes you meet someone so beautiful — and then you actually talk to them and five minutes later they’re as dull as a brick; but then there’s other people. And you meet them and you think, “Not bad, they’re okay,” and when you get to know them … their face just, sort of, becomes them, like their personality’s written all over it, and they just — they turn into something so beautiful.”

- Amy Pond (via theselittlewondersstillremain)

"I always read. You know how sharks have to keep swimming or they die? I’m like that. If I stop..."

Sun, 12 May 2013 15:55:43 +0200

““I always read. You know how sharks have to keep swimming or they die? I’m like that. If I stop reading, I die.””

- Patrick Rothfuss (via wordpainting)

"I paint self-portraits because I am so often alone. Because I am the subject I know best."

Sun, 12 May 2013 15:51:13 +0200

“I paint self-portraits because I am so often alone. Because I am the subject I know best.”

- Frida Kahlo (via violentwavesofemotion)

"She didn’t belong anywhere and she never really belonged to anyone. And everyone else belonged..."

Sun, 05 May 2013 16:32:33 +0200

“She didn’t belong anywhere and she never really belonged to anyone. And everyone else belonged somewhere and to someone. People thought she was too wonderful. But she only wanted to belong to someone. People always thought she was too wonderful to belong to them or that something too wonderful would hurt too much to lose. And that’s why she liked him— because he just thought she was crazy.”

- C. JoyBell C. (via theselittlewondersstillremain)

clumsyoctopus: flower language has always been an intense source of disappointment for me like,...

Sat, 04 May 2013 09:12:35 +0200

clumsyoctopus:

flower language has always been an intense source of disappointment for me

like, they all mean really generic things like “love” or “forever” or “i’m sorry”

i thought you could combine flowers

like you could just send someone a bouquet and from the combination of hibiscus and posies and tulips they’d understand “the rebel leader is dead, rendezvous at the docks at 8, bring the dog, you will need lighter fluid and a large tomato”

pleatedjeans: [watch the video] based on Ze Frank’s True Facts...

Sat, 04 May 2013 09:07:01 +0200

pleatedjeans:

[watch the video] based on Ze Frank’s True Facts series.

"I am a self-diagnosed past addict. I pine for lost love. I think incessantly about love I never had,..."

Fri, 03 May 2013 19:09:39 +0200

“I am a self-diagnosed past addict. I pine for lost love. I think incessantly about love I never had, love I really want to have, love I’ll never have.”

- Tegan Quin (via requiemforthepast)

30rocknbc: “I promise you this weekend will be filled with...

Fri, 03 May 2013 18:38:53 +0200

30rocknbc:

“I promise you this weekend will be filled with looking out windows while holding a glass of scotch.” – Jack Donagh

"Many believe that wearing the scarf is oppressing and backward while showing skin is not. In reality..."

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 01:43:54 +0200

“Many believe that wearing the scarf is oppressing and backward while showing skin is not. In reality those thinkers are really oppressed and indoctrinated by the patriarchy they live under. A woman has her true freedom when she is free to choose as to show or not her skin or hairs.”

- Meena (via meenakamal)

Photo

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 13:54:41 +0200

dominickwithak: I love #TinaFey #TheSims3 #30rock

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 13:34:20 +0200

dominickwithak:

I love #TinaFey #TheSims3 #30rock

"Do you know what I need? To escape into the mountains, surrounded by tall trees, I will lay on the..."

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 13:26:15 +0200

“Do you know what I need? To escape into the mountains, surrounded by tall trees, I will lay on the moss, and breath in the scent of mushrooms, flowers and wet soil.”

- L’ Échappée, Les Discrets (via ar-ty)

"Besides the alternate universe offered by a book, the quiet space of a museum was my favorite place..."

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 13:09:35 +0200

“Besides the alternate universe offered by a book, the quiet space of a museum was my favorite place to go. My mom said I was an escapist at heart … that I preferred imaginary worlds to the real one. It’s true that I’ve always been able to yank myself out of this world and plunge myself into another.”

- Amy Plum - Die for Me (via requiemforthepast)

"The useless days will add up to something. The shitty waitressing jobs. The hours writing in your..."

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 01:23:45 +0200

“The useless days will add up to something. The shitty waitressing jobs. The hours writing in your journal. The long meandering walks. The hours reading poetry and novels and dead people’s diaries and wondering about sex and God and whether you should shave under your arms or not. These things are your becoming.”

- Cheryl Strayed, “Tiny Beautiful Things” (via the-bex)

"I want to tear myself from this place, from this reality, rise up like a cloud and float away, melt..."

Sat, 27 Apr 2013 23:14:31 +0200

“I want to tear myself from this place, from this reality, rise up like a cloud and float away, melt into this humid summer night and dissolve somewhere far, over the hills.”

- Khaled Hosseini - The Kite Runner (via requiemforthepast)

"Books were only one type of receptacle where we stored a lot of things we were afraid we might..."

Sat, 27 Apr 2013 11:56:28 +0200

“Books were only one type of receptacle where we stored a lot of things we were afraid we might forget. There is nothing magical in them at all. The magic is only in what books say, how they stitched the patches of the universe together into one garment for us.”

- Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451 (via bookmania)

10knotes: This post has been featured on a 1000notes.com blog.

Sat, 27 Apr 2013 11:35:32 +0200

10knotes:

This post has been featured on a 1000notes.com blog.