The aunt that I am referring to is mentioned in my original post.  The one that started this whole blog.  Her battle has been long and she fought very hard.  Her name is Doris Thurman.  We buried her November 12, 2008.  I would like to give you her final thoughts about cancer. 

Cancer is limited

It cannot cripple love,

It cannot corrode faith,

It cannot eat away peace,

It cannot destroy confidence,

It cannot kill friendships,

It cannot silence courage,

It cannot invade the soul,

It cannot reduce eternal life,

It cannot quench the Spirit,

It cannot lessen the power of the resurrection.

You cannot deny that you have the disease, but you can deny despair from taking control.  Wherever you are, whatever your circumstances, call for God’s daily delivery of wisdom, strength and grace.

Each morning slam the door on despair.  If you don’t it will slip in and rob you and you’ll soon find a peace missing.

“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you.  Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” – John 14:27

There was a smile on her face as she lay in her casket, her battle was over.

God Bless Us All.

Sandy

Hi

Today I would like to talk about  being tested for gene mutations related to breast cancer.  The are called the BRAC1 and BRAC2.

Since my mother has had breast cancer and both of her sisters have had breast cancer, I am kinda of worried that I may have the BRAC1 or the BRAC2 gene mutation.

As I understand it a mutation of those genes increases your lifetime risk of breast cancer from an average of 13% (this is what an average persons risks are) to 85%.  The risk of ovarian cancer also soars from 2% (for average) to 50%.

Some women are having their (healthy) breasts removed and reconstructed after learning that they have the gene mutation.  I am thinking very seriously about having this testing done but I need to be able to handle the answer and not go crazy with worry.

If I decided to have my breasts removed (provided that I had the gene mutation) and rebuilt, I doubt that my insurance company would pay for it.  They would only pay if I got cancer.  I can’t stand the thoughts of going thru all the poisons being put into my body.  I have seen too much of that since my dad had colon cancer.

I would like to hear some other thoughts on this subject.  I sometimes get bogged down with my own thoughts and can’t see the forest for the trees. If anyone reading this would post their comments and thoughts I would appreciate it.

Thanks for reading

Sandy