Today is the annual running of the Boston Marathon, no small affair in my adopted hometown. Last night, I read a feature story in the News Sentinel about a marathoner and breast cancer patient who chose the Boston Marathon over her breast reconstruction.

According to the article, Peg Hoffman of Fort Wayne, Indiana, went through four grueling surgeries in an attempt to reconstruct her breasts after cancer. Here are the two sentences that stood out to me:

“She chose the surgeon’s option for immediate breast reconstruction.”

And then a quote from Peg:

“I went into it (the first surgery) very carefree…but it got scary. I had a number of issues, infections, skin dying, and I had to have three more surgeries to fix these.”

Carefree to scary

I couldn’t help but wonder if Peg’s surgeon told her about the 30 percent complication rate of breast reconstruction? Or that most women undergo four or more surgeries? Did the surgeon reveal that immediate reconstruction has a higher complication rate than delayed reconstruction? If the surgeon had, most likely Peg wouldn’t have been “carefree” going into it or surprised when complications arose.

Soon JAMA will publish the results of the Mastectomy Reconstruction Outcomes Consortium (MROC) the first study to measure complication rates and final outcomes across reconstructive surgical options. My hope is that surgeons and patients alike will use this new information to guide their conversations and decision-making processes.

In the rush to reconstruct, it’s women who pay the price.

Eventually, Peg’s complications were so severe that she had to choose — either continue trying to reconstruct or go flat, let her body heal, and achieve her dream of running the Boston Marathon. She chose the marathon and even made a training shirt that said, “Boston Over Boobs.” Go Peg!

Peg’s hometown paper ran this feature as a feel-good story, but what this article does so successfully (and obliviously) is highlight the lack of information women are given prior to reconstructive surgeries and the high costs of reconstruction, not just the dollar amount but the months of healing required at a time when women are in the prime of their lives — when many would rather be following their passions, nurturing their careers, and/or raising their children.

I am not anti-reconstruction. I am pro-choice in every way. But women can’t make good health care decisions if they don’t have good information. Education = empowerment.