Other forms of Cancer..higher risk for bc?

Minderella

5 Years ago I had what I thought was a mole on my chest, that wound up being Squamous Cell Carcinoma, that was scraped and burned off. I'm supposed to go in for full body checks annually, but I havent. I found out from my mother that several people on her side of the family, namely her dad and aunt had stomach cancer. Would either or both of these put me at a higher risk for bc? Ive tried researching it online but cant seem to find any definate answers and being new to the board, im having a hard time navigating to find info. Im still waiting on the results of my mammo and u/s and even though im willing them to be ok, I still have a nagging feeling that something isnt right. Im reading too much and worrying too much but its hard not to.  

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We all want to know as soon as we can whether or not we have breast cancer: we all want to be prepared for whatever is ahead for us.  Remember, in the USA, about 80% of breast biopsies turn out to be benign.

There are some syndromes that can 'clump' together.

For example, if your family carries a BRCA 1 or BRCA 2 deleterious gene mutation, the incidence of certain cancers is increased.

A woman’s lifetime risk of developing breast and/or ovarian cancer is greatly increased if she inherits a harmful mutation in BRCA1 or BRCA2. Such a woman has an increased risk of developing breast and/or ovarian cancer at an early age (before menopause) and often has multiple, close family members who have been diagnosed with these diseases. Harmful BRCA1 mutations may also increase a woman’s risk of developing cervical, uterine, pancreatic, and colon cancer (1, 2). Harmful BRCA2 mutations may additionally increase the risk of pancreatic cancer, stomach cancer, gallbladder and bile duct cancer, and melanoma (3).

Men with harmful BRCA1 mutations also have an increased risk of breast cancer and, possibly, of pancreatic cancer, testicular cancer, and early-onset prostate cancer. However, male breast cancer, pancreatic cancer, and prostate cancer appear to be more strongly associated with BRCA2 gene mutations (2–4). http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/BRCA

However, just because you have had a squamous cell carcinoma does NOT mean you have a BRCA mutation. Squamous cell carcinomas are DIFFERENT FROM melanomas.  BRCA mutations run in families.  Though it is POSSIBLE for a person to have newly mutated gene, that would be EXTREMELY uncommon.  It is also possible, but astronomically unlikely, that all the air in the room you are sitting in will travel to the other side of the room and you would die because there was no air where you are sitting.

  The guidelines for BRCA testing by the USPTF are here: http://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/uspstf05/brcagen/brcagenrs.htm#clinical   As this website says, only about 2% of the general population qualify under these guidelines to be tested for BRCA.   Roughly 15% of breast cancers are thought to be due to a BRCA deleterious gene.

If you have a history of chest radiation treatment (such as for Hodgkin's disease which is a type of lymphoma; not chest Xrays to find out if you have a certain disease), then that radiation puts you at substantially higher risk for future breast cancer.

About 70% of women who get breast cancer have no obvious risk factors besides being a woman.

Its totally understandable to be worried; we all worry about the worst case scenario. But the worst case scenario probably won't happen.  If you worry about something and it doesn't happen, then you've wasted that energy.  If you worry and the worst case scenario does happen, then you've had to go through the worry TWICE.  I know that doesn't stop us from worrying. 

Some people find distraction (something you love or hate to do, such as exercise, reading a book, window shopping, meditation, religion, cleaning the house, etc) helps.