Only two years after my dad lost his battle it seems we are not being granted any reprieve from the constant shadow of cancer. Today's mammogram results abnormal... biopsy now to happen on Monday and we go from there.
If it was anyone else, I'd be the first to be preaching 'stay positive', 'the odds are great these days' however in my case, its not so simple with a family history such as this:
Great Grandmother had a full mastectomy and radium treatment.
Grandfather had a full mastectomy.
Grandmother a lumpectomy and radiation.
My father, well there was more cancer in his body than not.
BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations in a large percent of my family and while having one male with breast cancer / gene mutations is rare - two males is somewhat unprecedented again adding to the already insanely high risk. With two sons myself, this is what scares me the most - now if only they'd hurry up with my genetic test results!
So here we go on this wonderful journey, that at the age of 37 I hoped was not one I had to take quite so soon... definitely one I expected but it would have been nice to have a bit of reprieve.
What no one seems to understand is that even if Monday's biopsy results are benign, being quite young, I have a pretty long future of living with such high risk. Here comes the roller coaster ride...
