There is a strong history of cancer in my family. I have a total of about 8 family members who have or passed away from breast or ovarian cancer. I knew the chances were pretty high that I had the BRCA gene mutation. So, back in February my Doctor referred me to a genetics specialist to find out for sure.
Thinking that you know you have the mutation and actually knowing are 2 totally different feelings. Especially when they start spouting the statistics of how much more likely you are to get cancer with this particular mutation. I have seen what breast cancer did to my Grandma and how it affected her family. I decided then that I would do whatever it takes to keep from getting this horrible disease.
My doctor recommended a oophrectomy, and a bilateral mastectomy to reduce my chances from 96% chance of getting the disease, to just 4%. If I were faced with the same circumstances before I had my son, I would have made a different choice and just rolled the dice to see what would happen.Since I do have a son, I said that I was finished with all those lady parts inside and how fast can he get them all out of me! So, on October 10, 2011, I had my first ever surgery, and it was a complete hysterectomy.
I had the DaVinci procedure and must say that I felt pretty good after 2 weeks. My friends have teased me for years that I get "hot flashes" and I really haven't felt anything worse than my normal hot flashes since the surgery. If anything, I get cold more often now, and I never got cold before. I did also pull a long hair off my chin the other day. My mom warned me about that one.
Today I made the appointment with the breast surgeon. This one scares me. Not sure I am ready to talk about that just yet.
