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Expert
Posts: 1477
  
Location: In the land of peanuts and cotton | We lost my grandmother to breast and ovarian cancer. My aunt has had it. Now the doctors suspect my mom to have ovarian cancer. I'm seriously considering being tested for BRCA 1 and 2 gene mutation. I would like to hear from other women that's had it done first though. |
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 Miss Laundry Misshap
Posts: 5271
| Haven't had any gene testing done.
That being said, I think it's a simple test of blood or hair for DNA.
It'll tell you whether your chances are good or bad for getting it. Just depends on if you want to know ahead of time that you should be checked out more frequently, or if you'd rather sit in the dark and wait until you get sick.
Had a friend who's whole female side got colon cancer. Her mom and 3 other sisters. She was the last one left that hadn't passed away from it. She got it and didn't make it long. I don't know if her daughters have been tested for the gene or not. |
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Veteran
Posts: 242
| I have. My mother died from breast cancer in 1988. They found a lump in me 2xs. After the 1st time my husband who is a MD really encouraged me to be tested. It was negative which just throws me in as having the same chance as any other woman, but also I wouldn't pass it to my daughter either. If I had tested positive I think I would have had the surgery to remove all breast tissue and not take the chance. I think if you are positive for the gene insurance will pay for surgery too. I have since had another lump but thank God it was another cyst. I have small dense breasts so it is very scary for me!!!! It's that time of year for me to have my yearly so I'll pray again nothing is found. The test was simple-just draw blood. Didn't take long for results. Explanations were easy to understand. I was not tested for ovarian though.
Hope that helps-good luck. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 700
Location: Driving, Grooming, or Saddling for a Kid! | My mother has breast cancer so I was tested |
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 Accident Prone
Posts: 22277
Location: 100 miles from Nowhere, AR | I have a strong family history of breast cancer, my mom had it when she was my age, but when my mom did the gene testing she was negative. So no point in me having it done since it's apparently a gene that isn't being tested for yet. |
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 Coyote Country Queen
Posts: 5666
| Our family are carriers for BRCA1. My mother and grandmother both lost their battle with breast cancer in their 30's, and there have been several other cousins with ovarian and breast cancer. We did the testing around 12 years ago, so my memory is pretty vague, but it seems that all we did was give a blood sample and wait for results. The best thing is knowing for sure whether or not you are a carrier. I'm so glad that our family did the testing, and were able to know whether or not we needed to take proactive steps to prevent cancer, or whether we were in the normal population as far as our chances for getting breast/ovarian cancer. |
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