Emotional Day...

Options
Logang
Logang Member Posts: 421

Feeling a little more anxious and emotional today after finding out my aunt is now battling metastatic breast cancer. She just found out she has mets to her liver. She was diagnosed several years ago with estrogen receptor positive breast cancer. I try not to worry about recurrence although I'm high risk with an oncotype of 57, but things like this make it hard not to worry!

Comments

  • Curlyq1974
    Curlyq1974 Member Posts: 144
    edited December 2016

    Logang, totally expected! Best wishes for peace of mind for you and excellent treatment for your Aunt.

  • Moderators
    Moderators Member Posts: 25,912
    edited December 2016

    Big hugs Logang -- we're so sorry to hear about your aunt. Please find some comfort in knowing there are many, many members here living fulfilling lives after a metastatic diagnosis, and there's no reason why your aunt's shouldn't be the same!

    Perhaps she could find some support here at Breastcancer.org as well? Have you suggested she join our Community?

    Please keep us all posted on how she is doing. We're thinking of you both!

    --The Mods

  • Logang
    Logang Member Posts: 421
    edited December 2016

    Thank you moderators! Sometimes it makes you feel better just sharing these kind of things.

  • Icantri
    Icantri Member Posts: 93
    edited December 2016

    I think everyone here can imagine how you are feeling and would feel the same as you are right now. I am so sorry.
  • KBeee
    KBeee Member Posts: 5,109
    edited December 2016

    I am so sorry to hear about your aunt. I do feel your pain with an extensive family history, uncertain mutation, and high Oncotype..... I try to focus on living each day, but feel like a ticking time bomb. Hoping your aunt's treatments keep one step ahead of the cancer for many, many years

  • Logang
    Logang Member Posts: 421
    edited December 2016

    Thank you for your responses. I lost my mom when I was so young I don't even remember her. She had breast cancer at 30, went through chemo, was in the clear, then had me. It came back when I was 2 and she died at 34. It was in the early 70s, so I know right out of the gate hat my chances are soooo much better! I would venture to guess hers was hormone driven as well, but back then they didn't know what they do now....

    I will keep chugging along and live my life. It will be easier once I get back to work the end of next week from medical leave. I won't have as much time to think...

  • KBeee
    KBeee Member Posts: 5,109
    edited December 2016

    Did they just do the BRCA test, or did they do the more extensive genetic test which tests for over 20 genes?

  • KBeee
    KBeee Member Posts: 5,109
    edited December 2016

    Did they just do the BRCA test, or did they do the more extensive genetic test which tests for over 20 genes?

  • Logang
    Logang Member Posts: 421
    edited December 2016

    I had the full panel done with no mutations found. My genetic counselor and surgeon both think there is a gene mutation that hasn't been discovered yet.

    My mom was 1 of 11 ( 9 girls, 2 boys). There mother died from breast cancer as well as one of her sisters. Two of the others have had it. One of my cousins tested positive for the Braca mutation. One of the 2 boys has had luekemia. I am the first out of my ocean of cousins to be diagnosed. Most of them began screening early d/t our family history.

  • KBeee
    KBeee Member Posts: 5,109
    edited December 2016

    I had one doc look right at me and say that there's definitely a genetic component hers; just not one we can test for yet.

    I just sent a sample in for KRAS testing too, since it is not included in other panels. I had to pay though

  • JoAnn_K
    JoAnn_K Member Posts: 17
    edited December 2016

    On my mother's side, three generations of women have had breast cancer and it has been distributed randomly among the three generations. It has been on both my grandmother and grandfather's sides. I am 100% Ashkenazi per 23 and me website. Yet, I do not test positive for any known gene aberrations. The genetic counselor advised me that it is likely there is a genetic cause, but like you heard, no one knows what it is yet. So, in being proactive, my two daughters, 32 and 35 have to get mammograms yearly alternating with MRIs since they have large, dense breasts.

  • Logang
    Logang Member Posts: 421
    edited December 2016

    Glad to hear your daughters are getting the correct early screenings Joann! I started mammograms at 35, but that isn't how I was diagnosed. I found a lump 6 months after my last screening mammogram. I wish my docs would have pushed me to have an MRI. I have extremely dense breast tissue. I also wish I would have known that there was a high risk clinic I could have been going to. My local doctors probably had no clue. It is at the breast center I was referred to and continue to be treated at. It is over an hour from my house.

Categories