test results are in
January 27, 2010 | T. Suzanne Eller
I saw the 479 area code flash on my cell. I usually don’t answer calls I don’t recognize, but this one triggered something. Where had I seen that area code before?
It was the breast center calling to share the results of my BRCA1 genetic test. Melissa and I had traveled to the genetic counselor and I had made a decision to go through with it after hearing what this knowledge would mean for my girls, and my son.
If I had the gene (I was diagnosed with breast cancer and mestasis at 32, went through chemo, radiation, and two surgeries and had a 40% chance of surviving 5 years), it carried some heavy connotations for my daughters, and also for my son I discovered.
Leslie and Melissa are in their twenties, and as they approach the age I was when I was diagnosed, we knew that we needed that information.
The counselor shared that it would mean that they needed to be vigilant (which they are) about mammograms and MRI’s on a yearly basis, but also that if I was a gene carrier that all my children needed to be tested. If they carried the gene, it meant making heavy decisions such as removing breast tissue or a complete masectomy and removing ovaries after family planning was complete. For Ryan, it meant that he would need to be tested for other types of cancers, and that any daughters he might have would need to be tested.
The reality is that thousands of young adults and women are weighing these choices when presented with positive test results every day.
I held the cell in my hand tight when I heard: “We have the results,” the counselor said.
“They are negative. You do NOT have the gene.”
1000 pounds rolled of my shoulders.
If the answer had been positive, we would have faced that as a family. But it’s not, and that means that though my children still need to be vigilant since mom was diagnosed young, that there is no BRCA gene buried in their or their children’s DNA. No heavy decisions, and I’m glad we made the decision to test. We don’t have to guess anymore.
Why did I get breast cancer at the age of 32? I’ll never know. A percentage of the population is diagnosed with no family history and no gene. It was random.
I’ll never trade that part of my history, for it was a time that I learned to trust God implicitly, and so did my children because it was their momma that was sick…
That same momma is grateful beyond words today.
RSS feed for comments on this post.
The URI to TrackBack this entry is:
http://www.tsuzanneeller.com/2010/01/27/test-results-are-in/trackback/
Praising God with you, Suzie!
January 27th, 2010 at 11:46 amGlad for your results Praise God he is so Good
January 27th, 2010 at 12:32 pmRejoicing with you!
Blessings,
January 27th, 2010 at 12:58 pmPearls
thank you, sweet friends!
January 27th, 2010 at 1:34 pmPraise God Suzie!
January 27th, 2010 at 3:01 pmSo happy for you, Suzie! Praises! Praises! Praises!
January 27th, 2010 at 4:14 pmThanking God for the joy of this news with you. B
January 29th, 2010 at 9:31 am