"Does your sister have it?" is what they would ask when told that my Mom was clear, to which I would reply:"Ummmm, I don't have a sister."
"Well then I'd say you don't have much to worry about."
Simple as that. Nothing to worry about obviously. Silly me.
It wasn't until moving to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties that we really started to pay more attention. At the age of thirty, by request of my gynecologist, I began yearly Mammogram screenings inbetween pregnancies. I had my first core needle biopsy at age thirty three. Words like dense and fibrocystic were thrown around while I was sent home to put a bag of frozen peas on my breast and figure out how to nurse a two year old with a painful hole in my boob.
Because despite all of my concern, everyone was still of the belief that I had no reason to worry about Breast Cancer because my Mother did not have it.
Little did everyone know......I look just like my Dad.
As you can see, I am my father's daughter. I have is eyes, his build, his sweet sense of goofy wit and now it seems, his cancer. Out of the eight people in three generations my of father's family, six of us have cancer. Too many to be a coincidence, but genetic? Some are still not convinced.
Recently, I was BRCA 1 & 2 gene tested and was told that I had no mutation in that gene.
"Don't worry" the doctor said "You have a mutation on a gene but it's undetermined, we'll let you know as we learn more about it."
Undetermined??? Don't worry? She might as well have said 'At least my mother doesn't have it?'
How can you look at that chart and tell me we don't have a genetic link? How can you look at that chart and tell me not to worry? I thank God everyday that my Mother doesn't have cancer and I pester my father often to have everything checked. I know that when he goes to the doctor, they will listen and take care of him.
At least he can say, his mother had it and maybe be taken seriously.
Thanks Leigh...I'm reading laughing and crying with you!
ReplyDeleteThank you Bobbie. I think you should start a blog of your own.
DeleteI love this, Leigh. I think I have the same exact family chart- and the same BRCA1 and 2 results- and the same conciliatory geneticist. I guess one of the only up-sides to having a mother who died of ovarian cancer at 46 is that it made a few people take my concerns seriously. There weren't very many doctors who were supportive of my having an elective total hysterectomy at age 38, but I felt lucky to have the choice to do something that my mom didn't even have the chance to consider. So I still worry about myself getting cancer, but I worry most about my girls.
ReplyDeletexxx, Leslie
Leslie,
DeleteI think you were brave and wise to do what you did and since one of my aunts just turned up with uterine cancer, I may not be far off from going down that road myself.
All I can say is what a gift your mom gave you...knowledge. I too worry about my daughter. She does unfortunately have it on both sides. Her father's and mine. What I neglected to mention in my post was that there are 2 cases of Breast Cancer on my mother's side too. Just not my mother. So in my mind, my daughter has a great, big cancer target on her back.
The only thing that gives me solace is how far they have come in women's cancer diagnosis and treatment in the past 10 years. Just think what another 20 will do for our girls:)Best of luck and thank you for being an amazing supporter of mine.