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I suppose one of the positive things about barely sleeping for several weeks is that when you do finally manage to drop off for real, you sink into a 14 hour coma. At least I feel a little better? Annoyed that I have to go back on Monday to get done what I thought would happen yesterday, but it's far less upsetting today.
To explain why the brca testing in particular has me on edge, I should probably tell you what it is. BRCA-1 and BRCA-2 are the genes thought to cause the familial/genetic form of breast and ovarian cancer. A positive result when screening for if these genes are broken ups your lifetime risk of these diseases to kind of astronomic levels. Whether or not they screen for it depends on how many of the risk factors associated you have, as the genetic version of these cancers is on the rare side. I have more than two family members who have had breast cancer. I am of Ashkenazi Jewish descent. I was diagnosed with breast cancer. That was triple negative. At the age of 36. That's like...more than half the list.
A positive result would have them yanking my ovaries (and possibly the entire works down there) faster than you could say 'got eggs?' as a prophylactic measure. It also has less than awesome implications regarding my prognosis on the breast cancer front.
Anyway, like I said, this gene expression is rare. Even for people who seem to have a lot of the risk factors it can come back negative. While it would not be surprising if I had it, it also wouldn't be surprising if I didn't. I was able to get away with not testing for it this long because I'd already chosen a prophylactic mastectomy for the non-cancer breast, and additional elective surgery wasn't going to be on the list while I was still in active treatment anyway. It is not a question I can avoid any longer, though. Nor are the decisions I'll have to make based on the results.
It is a tiny bit stressful, yes.
To explain why the brca testing in particular has me on edge, I should probably tell you what it is. BRCA-1 and BRCA-2 are the genes thought to cause the familial/genetic form of breast and ovarian cancer. A positive result when screening for if these genes are broken ups your lifetime risk of these diseases to kind of astronomic levels. Whether or not they screen for it depends on how many of the risk factors associated you have, as the genetic version of these cancers is on the rare side. I have more than two family members who have had breast cancer. I am of Ashkenazi Jewish descent. I was diagnosed with breast cancer. That was triple negative. At the age of 36. That's like...more than half the list.
A positive result would have them yanking my ovaries (and possibly the entire works down there) faster than you could say 'got eggs?' as a prophylactic measure. It also has less than awesome implications regarding my prognosis on the breast cancer front.
Anyway, like I said, this gene expression is rare. Even for people who seem to have a lot of the risk factors it can come back negative. While it would not be surprising if I had it, it also wouldn't be surprising if I didn't. I was able to get away with not testing for it this long because I'd already chosen a prophylactic mastectomy for the non-cancer breast, and additional elective surgery wasn't going to be on the list while I was still in active treatment anyway. It is not a question I can avoid any longer, though. Nor are the decisions I'll have to make based on the results.
It is a tiny bit stressful, yes.
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