70 year old with brac-2 positive?

July152020

Hi,

My Mom had breast cancer when she was 50 and has been cancer free for over 20 years. I recently got diagnosed with BC and found out I am brca-2 positive. I didn’t want to tell my mom about it because I don’t want her to worry but the doctors are telling me her chance of getting ovarian cancer is still high as a 71 year old and recommend that if she’s positive she should also remove her ovary and tubes, I am not sure if it’s even safe to get that surgery being 70+.

Anyone out there has similar experience?

Thanks

Beaverntx

I had a total hysterectomy, including tubes and ovaries, at age 77 with no problems. Age is not really the decider but your mom's overall condition. My surgery was robot assisted which made it much easier. Feel free to PM me if you have questions.

2019whatayear

I think you should definitely tell your mom. Either your mom or your dad passed the gene on . Not knowing doesn’t help. If your mom has the gene then she can decide if she wants the preventative surgery or not

Beesie

It's your responsibility to tell your mother. This is health information that could affect her. If she'd found out that she was BRCA2 positive, you would have expected her to tell you, right? This is no different.

Does your mother have other health issues? Any 71 year old I know (I'm in my mid-60s so I know many of them) is sharp and fully in control of their own medical care. And thinking about it, every 71 year old I know would be able to handle the surgery - not as well as when they were 40, perhaps, but likely without any major problems. My own mother had breast cancer surgery (two surgeries, actually) at 80 and a hip replacement at 85. She breezed through all the surgeries. And she and my father made all their own medical decisions well into their mid 80s.

Is there a reason, other than age, why you think this will be difficult for your mother?

July152020

thanks everyone for your comments. The only reason I am worried about telling her is that she lives in China and medical systems works very different there. I recently found out that you need have a family member to donate blood before you get a surgery and they don’t have enough wheel chairs (only two for entire floor and there are a lot of people on one floor) in a whole floor for patients who just had surgeries and a family member had to get up at 5am so she can make sure she gets a chair otherwise the patient would have to walk to a different building to get some scan).

Anyways, I have decided I will tell her about the gene, I just need to come up with an excuse to ask her to get tested because I don’t want her to know I have cancer.

Thanks everyone!

Cowgirl13

As others have said, 71 isn't that old. I'm 74 and fortunately I am in good health.

AliceBastable

My mom was 85 when she had breast cancer surgery. Dad was 88 when he had a kidney removed and an aneurysm repair at the same time. I had breast lumpectomy AND a kidney out at 68 (not much younger than your mother) and I could have done without a wheelchair when leaving the hospital, just slowly for the nephrectomy. I had a full hysterectomy at age 58 and I don't remember it hurting much, plus walking is the best thing for abdominal surgery to keep swelling from happening. Both the hysterectomy and nephrectomy had just one night hospital stays.