Dad won't test. :(

MelissaDallas

Terrific!

Beesie

That's great news! 

You have a really good attitude about this, and a good plan on how to proceed.  I'm glad that the plan is coming together (despite your parents! )

geekyknitter

As others have mentioned, I think the biggest thing that has caused all the good that has happened here for me...is going to see a genetic counselor.  Without that, I would not have had the help in convincing my insurance company to cover either the BRCA testing OR the breast MRI and I might even have just listened to my OB/GYN and assumed I wasn't high risk and didn't need to pursue either.

Going to see a genetic counselor really is like putting power steering on this whole process...it makes that big of a difference.

Thank you all for letting me know that this kind of specialist even exists, let alone to seek one out!

sabihah

Great to hear!  Way to be persistent.

geekyknitter

So...my blood is off on its way to Seattle!  Now I'm working my way through the process to schedule a breast MRI.  There is only one place in the state of Alaska that does them, so I'm going to have to navigate a bit, but it's in progress.  

geekyknitter

When I went in for my blood draw, I asked the genetic counselor about the BROCA panel.  She said that she thinks we should try the BRCA panel first and also said that the University of Washington, where I'm testing through, runs the BRCA tests on the "same platform" as the BROCA panel and will notify her if anything glaring comes up that indicates we may want to run the panel.  She has had them do this for her before and plans on calling them to have them make a special note about it.  If anything seems suspicious when they run for BRCA, it will mean having to go back to insurance to get them to pay for the BROCA panel or maybe those specific mutations that look suspicious.

I'll admit I didn't quite understand the details when it came to the "platform," but it seemed that this is my best shot and we're pretty lucky that BRCA is being covered, so we'll see how it goes.

geekyknitter

I thought I'd pop in to give an update.  I don't have my BRCA results back yet, but I did get my MRI results today.

I have dense fibrocsytic breasts, which I already knew.  The MRI also found a small mass in my left breast.  The report said it is most likely benign, but since this is my first MRI, they are sending me for a targeted ultrasound.  I'm glad they're being thorough, but it's still a little scary.  I'll be happy to have it done and know there is definitely nothing lurking in there!

So...more testing and more waiting...

otceb

Hi Geekyknitter, sorry about the MRI result. We will see what the next tests show, but at least you're in good hands and will not be in the dark much longer.  Good luck with everything!