No Gene Mutations Here!!!

I was back in Hamilton on Wednesday.

It was a busy morning...

First I went back to see the Plastic Surgeon to look at some of his photos of previous reconstructions that he has done. I must say, pretty impressive! I have decided (after painstaking deliberation) to go for implants. The biggest factor was Luke and the recovery time, followed by an uneasiness about the length of surgery for the autologous tissue process (8-10hours) and not wanting to have 3 other surgical sites (my abdomen and thighs)....I guess I also felt that the tissue procedure was so final whereas I can always reverse the implants and/or have them removed and do the tissue procedure down the road if I want.

I still have slightly mixed feelings about having something 'foreign' in my body but hopefully I will be able to get over that...and thinking about it in the bigger picture of course having implants over cancer seems like a no-brainer! One of my friends has arthritis and has had a hip replacement and she said exactly the same thing about getting her new hip....she said that it did feel a little weird at first but that in time she got used to it - hopefully I will too.

Did I mention that this whole journey has been brutal for someone who has traditionally been TERRIBLE at making decisions!!!!

After that appt. I was off to meet the genetic counsellor for some of my test results.

As you will recall (maybe!) they tested me for the BRCA1, BRCA2 and P-ten gene mutations.

The BRCA1 & BRCA2 genes mutations are more common and they both tested negative. These results won't really impact my treatment or course of action at all (except this means that for now I get to keep my ovaries!), but it is a big relief for the rest of the family and all of our children.

While I am sooooo relieved that the results were negative, it also left me asking 'why-me' especially considering I have tried all of these years to prevent this from happening (though I must confess that I find some of these attempts like wearing deoderant instead of anti-persperant completely laughable now - I sweat needlessly all of those years!!!).

I also can't help but question if there are other genetic mutations out there waiting to be discovered. Unfortunately, in the last few weeks I have spoken to and met 2 other young women who's mothers had breast cancer and they also tested negative for these known mutations....it could be the environment and/or shared lifestyle but I guess only time will tell....


The P-ten mutation is much rarer but they checked for it because my Mom had also had thyroid cancer. These test results won't be ready until early Sept...so watch this space!

Regardless of all of the above, I was very relieved to learn that my 2 sisters are being referred to an oncologist at the Juravinski who does high risk surveillance.

The other really hard thing about this appt. was that genetic counsellor showed me my mom's pathology report from her mastectomy. It made me really sad for what she went through...her cancer was very progressed by the time it was diagnosed and it made me realize how much she protected and sheltered all of us from what she was going through.


Appt. #3 for the day was with my surgical oncologist. I had a few questions I wanted to go over with her before my surgery. She also told me that my surgery has been booked for August 25th. That is a lot later then I was expecting. Apparently it needed to be done within 12 weeks and I think I will be getting in just under the wire at around 11 weeks...she also told me that while it is unlikely there is more invasive cancer, it is likely there is more DCIS waiting to be removed from my breast! The more young women I meet who've shared this journey (which sadly at the moment is A LOT) I know that really anything is possible so I am preparing myself for that...

It was a long day (as is reflected by the length of this post - sorry about that!) and I was definitely glad to get home that night :-)