E! Television host Giuliana Ranci was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. After a lumpectomy failed to remove the cancer, she has reportedly decided to move forward with a double mastectomy.
When faced with the decision to undergo mastectomy, she had to gather information first. “We talked to as many experts as we could,” her husband Bill Rancic explains. “We got the best information available to us,” he said.
They considered the impact each option would have on her quality of life
“If she would have gone with the lumpectomy and radiation, then you have to go in every six months for the rest of your life getting mammograms” Bill says, and “knowing giuliana, she’s going to be worrying three weeks before the mammogram, waiting for the results worrying and you’re always looking over your shoulder. So i think in this particular case this was the best option for giuliana.”
Planning Reconstructive Surgery
Dr. Kathy Ann Joseph a professor of surgery at New York University also appeared on Today. She was asked: “What are the factors that a woman must weigh before she decides to foe with a double mastectomy?”
“Almost all my patients that have to undergo a mastectomy, I always refer them to a plastic surgeon for reconstruction,” Dr. Joseph answers.
She explains, “most women, if they’re healthy, they can undergo reconstruction. sometimes they can’t if they’re very ill or so forth, but almost all women can have reconstruction and we do like them to have it immediately. I think that’s so important for their psychological well-being.”
Giuliana said that when deciding on mastectomy, it helped to view photos of women who had undergone breast reconstruction.