I got great news today

It’s been a while since we walked down Breast Cancer Lane, but hell, let’s head that way now.

I got great, great news today. I underwent testing three weeks ago to see if I carry a gene mutation for hereditary breast and ovarian cancer.

I do not carry the gene. Most importantly—my daughter doesn’t have it.

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If you’ve following breast cancer news, you may have heard of the BRACA1 and BRACA2 genes. These gene mutations significantly raise your chances of developing breast and/or ovarian cancer. The routine “fix” for a positive test it to have a double mastectomy and ovaries removed. In other words, get rid of those places where cancer might develop.

Dramatic, eh??

With the history of breast cancer in my family (my maternal aunt and maternal grandmother), my doctors and PJ’s doctors have urged that I get tested. If I came back positive, she would be tested.

Since I came back negative, she doesn’t need to worry about it. She continues to have slightly elevated chance of developing breast cancer (somewhere in an early blog entry I mentioned her “chances.”) because I had it, but her chances are significantly lower than they’d be if she tested positive.

If I’d been positive, I probably would have waited until the breast cancer returned (if it returned…) and then had surgery. But young women who have the bad gene generally get on with having babies and then have the surgeries.

If I’d been positive, there’s a chance PJ might come back negative. It’s nicer knowing she doesn’t have to

I’m grateful that we don’t have to think about this, particularly for PJ. It would be a terrible burden to carry until she was ready to take action. And she’d wonder if she’d pass it along to her children.

All along this interesting sally I have said that I’m lucky. Lucky to have found it early enough, before it had a chance to do serious harm. Lucky to have rebounded. Lucky to have such a wonderful network of family and friends. Lucky, lucky, lucky.

Lucky again today. What great news!

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Happy Mother's Day

My baby and me. We walked the lake in Wakefield, went out for iced coffee, did a WalMart run, and it was all very wonderful.

It doesn't get much better than this!

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