Genetic test came back--I am NOT a carrier!

Hi swg- I'm glad your test came back negative. In my case the mammoprint came back low risk. That was the deciding factor for no chemotherapy, also grade 1 and no apparent lymph node involvement.

Your tagline nearlly matches mine. I see in another post you had an MRI, did they find any more spots? My genetic testing came back negitive as well....how ever I met with my MO after surgery. Biggest mistake I made.....I have a VERY strong family history and with the type of cancer...mine is genetic. They just do not know what gene mutation caused it. I would just really recommend looking at the whole picture, not just the genetic testing. Genetics is a very new science they are learning from everyday.

I did not end up having chemo, my oncodx was 15. No radiation because I choose a mastectomy as well. Depending on the size of your tumor, they may still recommend radiation since you are able to do a lumpectomy. Most likely, chemo will really come down too if they don't find anything bigger and if your lymph nodes are clear.

Good luck!

Yes, my 3 spots were spread out. Being multi focal ment no lumpectomy.

My surgen refuses to considered immediate recon. There are too many chances of complications, VERY long surgery and if you have chemo/rads it can ruin the immediate recon. I am flat on one side and considering a left masectomy in January. Then follow with recon in March when both sides are "level" playing fields.

I will add, the plastic surgen I met with also highly discouraged me to have any type of immediate recon. He gentaly showed pictures of complications and how difficult it is to have symmetry. For me, I would rather wait and have a better chance of being "equal" on both sides. lol There are a lot of horror storries of plastic surgery, I have to wonder if some is due to eagerness of patience and doctors.

If I could do anything differently, I would have slowed down and had both sides done at teh same time. But, somethings have happened since and I can see it is working out as I need it to for insurance purposes.

Are you sceduled for surgry yet?

The bad thing with genetic tests like BRACA is that it only tests for known markers. BC is a strong trait in my family and yet all of us who were tested had negative results. We also did the Mammoprint on the tumor and that was actually the deciding factor for chemo treatment for me. So just know that genetics are only as good as the science behind it. When I was diagnosed I knew what I was going to do. Genetic testing was only done to see if there was a link/marker that they could use to help define treatment.

My Surgical oncologist was ready to do a single MX but I wanted to do both, and given my family history, she agreed with me. Thankfully, I did not have to go through IV Chemo, however I was prepared to do that if necessary. I have been on Tamoxifen for almost a month now and that decision was almost completely based on the Mammoprint results.

I had immediate recon, my SO and PS are both advocates of “less is best” when possible when it comes to surgeries. So I had BMX with TE placement. I’m small so the expansion is taking a while, but it is progressing. I will say that I am not symmetrical or even pretty at this point. That’s now what the TE are for. So if you do end up in the same place I am, understand that these first weeks/months are about expansion, not about pretty. It’s not easy, but I have total faith in my PS that it will be right in the end.

Best of luck in your test results and treatment.

The quickest recovery, from my understanding is expanders. You get them filled every week or two---I plan to go slowly as I hope this avoids feeling tightness/uncomfortable durning the process. Plan on 50 cc's each fill ( I think)...so a D can take 3-5 months to fill. Once they are full or to the size you want then you have "exchange" surgury where they cut out the expanders and replace with the actualy implant.

There are a ton of other types of plastic surgery, just don't know much about the others. Good luck.