Sandra Lee advocates aggressive screeening/treatment for DCIS

This is a tough one. Clearly, I can't agree with her declaring she's cancer free. Cancer free for now would be far more accurate, but plays less well in the media. As for the tx of DCIS, this has been an ongoing controversy with doctors and patients alike falling into different camps. There are many, many women, like Sanrdra Lee, who go aggressive and are comfortable with their choice. Others feel that aggressive to is over treatment and opt for less aggressive to or even watch and wait. They too are comfortable with their choice. I never faced this situation, so have no personal experience, but not being able to tell which in situ cancers will turn invasive and which won't does give one food for thought.

I wish they wouldn't spread the misinformation and if they don't know anything, just keep their mouth shut. I understand the need to talk about it - we all do - but I think she just wants to be on camera. I put the 'cancer free' comment into the same category as the people who asked me 'if they got it all'. I would also hope she was misquoting her doctor saying they were 'ticking time bombs' and the doctor actually gave her sound medical advice regarding her choices.

I watched the video clip. To me, it just sounds like she is trying to justify her treatment decisions. We all do this to some degree. I'm one of the few who would have "watched & waited" if I had DCIS. That was my plan before it was determined that it was really IDC.

I'm not familiar with her DCIS diagnosis - were there multiple DCIS sites, large mass, strong family hx? If that is her situation then she certainly had strong evidence for her choice of treatments. I strongly agree that until the medical 'experts' can accurately determine which DCIS cases are aggressive - then the decision and worry is left on the patient. Her choice gives her peace of mind and that is all that matters. However, that being said - sadly this type of public cancer discussion communicated by a celebrity only adds more confusion for women and new patients. It was not a balanced interview with an oncologist to CLARIFY the entire discussion. Tabloid news IMO.

In addition, the general public has very mixed and confused ideas about cancer. For example, colonoscopy procedures are advised to screen for pre-cancerous polyps and remove them - not watch and wait. Same for skin cancer screening for pre-melanoma - remove and not watch and wait. Although these are different cancers - the message is to remove and not watch and wait. No wonder people are confused.....

VR - totally agree with you. This was about a celebrity needing air-time for "her" message.

Time to enable PINK SHIELD!!

voracious, you're right, including a doctor would have been a good idea. But that'd be less face time for Sandra Lee.

The other thing you mention reminds me of what I'm noticing this year: "breast cancer awareness month is days away." That month is starting to bleed into September so we get an extra week or two of the pink glut. Numerous advertisements for pink ribbon fundraisers on TV and in the newspaper for next month are already everywhere. It's unsettling. I think Sandra Lee's appearance was timed to usher in the month a few days early.

She made the decision that was right for her at the time. I have no argument with that. However, I find this irresponsible:

Why we would consider negotiating with cancer is beyond me," said Lee, who had a second surgery after her mastectomy to treat an infection. "Let's just wait and see what it does. It's like a terrorist that lives inside your body and we're going to wait and see what it does? We know what it's going to do."

I understand her fear, but the terrorist-negotiation metaphor really doesn't work. Cancer is not a sentient being. I would be interested to know more about her history - I do know she has Lupus.

Also, the white mantilla is a nice touch.

I'm not sure how mild/severe her Lupus is - I have it too, and mine is limited to joint pain/fatigue. I will be having radiation - my docs said that the contraindication is more for women with skin involvement, or scleroderma.

http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Sandra-Lee...

What bothers me about celebrities voicing their opinions so immediately after their diagnosis and treatment is that there is no introspection on their part. They seem to want to capitalize on the publicity, taking no time to do more thoughtful research or see how things unfold after a couple years. It's just bam, right out of the gate, let me share all this info right now now now, and in general, they do not add anything new to the conversation. I'd like to hear some celebrities who are dealing with bc start talking about how the pink ribbon has become a marketing tool for companies and corporations to make money, and how awareness has become stagnant in the quest for a cure. But not one wants to stick their necks out and make waves as it would signal possibly the end of their careers to go up against something like Komen, which so many of them immediately embrace.