Friday, October 24, 2014

First blog ever !! part 1

I never thought I would start a blog.  But I've noticed myself reading other people's blogs very often lately and they have been very helpful to me for so many reasons, so why not start my own.   Hopefully I can help someone.

A bunch of years ago, I have no idea how long ago, my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer.  Not a surprise though because her mom had it and had a double mastectomy. Mom opted for a lumpectomy and did fine...until the second diagnosis.  At that point she had a double mastectomy, no reconstruction though.  She was also tested for the BRCA genes and of course she had one.  She tormented me for a long time to get tested myself.  I knew I had to go and do it but I also knew it would mean many big decisions for me and I wasn't ready for that.  But then I started hearing about many people that I adore becoming diagnosed with the horrible illness so I went for the testing.

The doctor that worked with me was incredible.  She really seemed to understand everything going on in my mind.  Well of course I tested positive for the gene or I wouldn't be here blogging about it.  Again, I wasn't surprised but very sad and worried.  She recommended that I have my ovaries removed first, an oophorectomy because it would lower my risk and its a good start.  So I got right on that.  That was an easy decision.  I knew I didn't want to have anymore children.  I was about 42 at that time.  I had only two concerns with it   I would go into immediate menapause and that was scary to me since I had seen others have a difficult time with that.  I was also very concerned about missing work for 3 weeks...silly, I know.  But I went ahead and had it done and it went perfectly.  I felt great after 2 weeks.  Menapause wasn't bad, similar to how my mom's went.  Just bad night sweats and a lot of sweating if I had alcohol.  But it lasted a few months and then never again.  I think my thyroid got messed up around then though, but that's another story. But, no more menstrual cycle.  Jackpot !!!

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