I took Ronnie with me. He seemed interested in the whole deal and didn't have class Monday afternoon.
When we walked into Paul Strauss, I showed him where all the smokers used to hang out. Now, the only things hung there are "No Smoking" signs with dire warnings of fines for smoking there. He thought that was hysterical, having to wade through a fog of smoke to enter a cancer center.
The oncologist and psychologist weren't there. Good sign.
He didn't hesitate. He pulled out a paper, dated July 21st and put it down in front of me.
BRCA2 6174delT "Absence"
BRCA1 185delAG "Absence"
BRCA1 5382insC "Absence"
And here we have, absence, absence, absence, he said, poking each box. I smiled. I was especially afraid of that 185delAG because it's so common. They even have their own FB page...
He then explained what else was on the form. They listed the method used. It was done on July 7th! That was less than a month after I was tested!! Still took two weeks to put this little piece of paper together.
He showed me the address. Correct? Yes! We don't know how the letter went missing.
Then, he confirmed that they will continue with the "full panel", searching for the identified mutations on the BRCA genes. But with those, my chances of being positive aren't really much better than any other breast cancer survivor. These three were the ones that occur more often in Ashkenazi Jewish people.
I'm also less worried because many of those mutations have been found in families with outright tragic stories. For example, one woman who wrote a book on the subject, her mother was one of 11 children, 5 of whom died of breast cancer and the mother had both breast and ovarian...
I'm going to get the final results in February so I can wait.
Meanwhile, Ronnie showed an interest in the little family tree that he wrote up. I told him that there might have been another cancer case. "One of the sisters..." no children marked for her. Yes, she had identical twins, both with Type 1 diabetes... and he noted it down.
Ronnie wanted to ask about balding. He wanted to know what his chances are, since his dad's side is all bald and on my side, it's impossible to know if it's on the X chromosome. We have three generations of women without brothers. He laughed and said he was in a similar position. "I'm 37 and haven't started losing any hair yet and all the men in my family are bald!" I thought he was even younger. Kind of relieved that he was that old!
Apparently, it's not so simple as riding on the X chromosome and isn't necessarily sex-linked, but some kinds are... it's complicated!
I thanked him for being so prompt with responding to my emails. He says he tries to keep it up.
Had to dash out of there and get Ronnie to his next class. Ran out of there feeling really thankful for pretty much everything...
Good way to start the Jewish New Year. Kind of brings the year's events to a close.
When we walked into Paul Strauss, I showed him where all the smokers used to hang out. Now, the only things hung there are "No Smoking" signs with dire warnings of fines for smoking there. He thought that was hysterical, having to wade through a fog of smoke to enter a cancer center.
The oncologist and psychologist weren't there. Good sign.
He didn't hesitate. He pulled out a paper, dated July 21st and put it down in front of me.
BRCA2 6174delT "Absence"
BRCA1 185delAG "Absence"
BRCA1 5382insC "Absence"
And here we have, absence, absence, absence, he said, poking each box. I smiled. I was especially afraid of that 185delAG because it's so common. They even have their own FB page...
He then explained what else was on the form. They listed the method used. It was done on July 7th! That was less than a month after I was tested!! Still took two weeks to put this little piece of paper together.
He showed me the address. Correct? Yes! We don't know how the letter went missing.
Then, he confirmed that they will continue with the "full panel", searching for the identified mutations on the BRCA genes. But with those, my chances of being positive aren't really much better than any other breast cancer survivor. These three were the ones that occur more often in Ashkenazi Jewish people.
I'm also less worried because many of those mutations have been found in families with outright tragic stories. For example, one woman who wrote a book on the subject, her mother was one of 11 children, 5 of whom died of breast cancer and the mother had both breast and ovarian...
I'm going to get the final results in February so I can wait.
Meanwhile, Ronnie showed an interest in the little family tree that he wrote up. I told him that there might have been another cancer case. "One of the sisters..." no children marked for her. Yes, she had identical twins, both with Type 1 diabetes... and he noted it down.
Ronnie wanted to ask about balding. He wanted to know what his chances are, since his dad's side is all bald and on my side, it's impossible to know if it's on the X chromosome. We have three generations of women without brothers. He laughed and said he was in a similar position. "I'm 37 and haven't started losing any hair yet and all the men in my family are bald!" I thought he was even younger. Kind of relieved that he was that old!
Apparently, it's not so simple as riding on the X chromosome and isn't necessarily sex-linked, but some kinds are... it's complicated!
I thanked him for being so prompt with responding to my emails. He says he tries to keep it up.
Had to dash out of there and get Ronnie to his next class. Ran out of there feeling really thankful for pretty much everything...
Good way to start the Jewish New Year. Kind of brings the year's events to a close.
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