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I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask this, but I'd like some input from internet strangers. I've followed this thread for a long time and you guys seem nice and pretty well-informed. Both my mum and my maternal grandmother died of cancer. Both had breast cancer, and in my mum's case she had chemo and a mastectomy, was thought to be clear and then had secondaries a few years later that killed her. Obligatory 'gently caress cancer!' here. I've been batting the idea around in my head for a while now about looking into genetic counselling. I'm rather conflicted, though - if I have the BRCA gene, then it still isn't a certainty that I'll get breast cancer, and at the moment I work on the assumption that it's very likely that I will get it given my family history. So I don't know what good knowing would really do, but on the other hand I figure that if I can find out then I may as well. I'm really not sure. Does anyone have thoughts?
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# ¿ Jan 19, 2013 14:14 |
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# ¿ Apr 19, 2024 19:25 |
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Ariamaki posted:I don't know about doing a genetic session for it, but with a family history like that... It would probably be no different from doing regular checkups. I'm in the UK so I don't really get to just pick and choose when to get tested for things. I'm not sure how it works, but I did wonder if having the genetic counselling would mean that I was perhaps offered mammograms early? I need to find out more about that side of things, I guess.
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# ¿ Jan 19, 2013 16:24 |
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xarg posted:How old were they? If they were under 50 then it's probably worth getting genetic counselling (and possibly genetic testing afterwards). If they were both reasonably old then the risk is much lower that it was due to the BRCA mutation. With or without the mutation, depending on their age at diagnosis this may or may not put you into the "high risk" category, which would involve earlier and more regular screening with mammograms (and ultrasound when <35). Lady Demelza posted:There's a 50/50 chance of inheriting the BRCA mutations if your mother had one of them, but it could be that two generations of women were just unlucky enough to get breast cancer. BRCA mutations don't just increase the risk of breast cancer; they also increase the risk of ovarian, colon and pancreatic cancer. Do these cancers run in your family, including male relatives (except ovarian, obviously!)?
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# ¿ Jan 20, 2013 15:57 |