Out of all of my new appointments, then genetic counselor was the more terrifying. I am the first person in my ENTIRE family to be diagnosed with breast cancer, so we weren't thinking it was a genetic mutation, but then again I am 26 year old with cancer which is also not normal. After the counseling session, we decided to go through with the high risk gene panel, which would take 2-3 weeks to get results. The hard part was my surgery was schedule for 20 days out (so we were hoping for the shorter end of that time-frame). Let me tell you that luck just wasn't on my side. Two weeks after my appointment, still no results. But I did have my consultations with the reproductive specialist and plastic surgeon, which made me feel more comfortable, at least for now.
About a week out from surgery I was going crazy because there was still no news about my genetic testing! I called the counselor three or four times because I needed to feel like I was doing something! Thankfully I had a great counselor who understood that I was scared and frustrated and she let me know that as soon as she heard anything, she would call. So a few days before my surgery, I still didn't exactly know what procedure I was going to have done: lumpectomy or bi-lateral mastectomy? It was a horrible feeling for a control freak like myself.
After a few days I talked with the genetic counselor again, and after talking with the lab directly, my results would be in early the next week (my surgery was scheduled for Wednesday). I was slightly freaked out, but thankfully the nurse from my surgeon's office called and solidified a plan; we were going ahead with surgery as scheduled with removing the tumor and if need be I would have a secondary surgery later. While this isn't exactly the news I wanted, I was very glad to have a plan in place going forward.
My surgery was scheduled for 7:30AM on Wednesday, October 29th which meant I had to be at the hospital by 5:30AM. While I was glad to be a morning surgery, getting to the hospital while it's still dark out was not my cup of tea. I had a big crew with me that morning as well: Colin, my mom, stepdad, stepmom, dad, and brother were all there! They brought me up to pre-op quickly and then we went through the routine of answering, "Name? D.O.B?". I've gotten really good at answering those questions before even being asked now!
My pre-op nurse was great and made it a little easier to relax (she found a vein quickly for my IV, which always helps). I was the first patient of the morning for my doctor, so everything was running smoothly and on time. When I saw my surgeon that morning, we talked about the genetic testing and how those results STILL weren't in. I said to her, "I don't care at this point when they come in, as long as it's not today or I'll be so angry!" Guess what... yea you got it right. They came in WHILE I WAS IN SURGERY! And the worst part of all of this... they couldn't tell me anything about the results. I did have a genetic mutation on the BRCA2 gene, but they weren't sure what that meant. The counselor said it could be a year, five years, or even ten years before they discover what that certain mutation means. So it was a bunch of hurry up and wait for no real answer, awesome!
Besides receiving the genetic results the day of my surgery, everything went swimmingly. They removed the tumor and two lymph nodes just as a precaution. I had some good medicine to help with the pain and recovery and slept a lot. So the hard part was done... or so I thought.
Until next time. And always remember...
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