Genetics test before surgery?

Hi! Sorry about your diagnosis, but it's so great you're on the ball and you've got a treatment plan. Genetics testing generally takes 3 weeks. Those 3 weeks felt like months for me, so totally understand how you're feeling. Depending on your results, it may change the surgical options (i.e. lumpectomy vs. mastectomy and prophylactic mastectomy on the other breast). Try to think of it as the more information you have, the better informed your decision will be, maybe that will help with the wait. Let your doc know how you're feeling and hang in there!!!

arlva, from what I've seen over many years on this site, I'd say that on average the wait time between diagnosis and surgery is about 5-6 weeks. Sometimes it's faster but sometimes it's slower. So even waiting for the genetic results, your surgery likely will fall within that window, or not much beyond.

To all of us, a diagnosis of breast cancer feels like an emergency. We want the cancer out right away. But to our doctors, except in rare cases, breast cancer is not a medical emergency - most breast cancers are slow growing and a few weeks won't change the diagnosis or prognosis. In your case, you have what preliminarily appears to be a small cancer with a favorable pathology, being ER+, HER2- and grade 1. And you are 38 - which is young for a breast cancer diagnosis. Women with genetic mutations do tend to be diagnosed younger, which is why your surgeon is concerned that you may have a genetic mutation and wants to wait for this information. As peggysmom said, the results might change your choice of surgery.

A suggestion. Is your surgeon willing to schedule your surgery now for a date that falls sometime after she expects to have the genetic results? If you are already on the surgery schedule, there would be no additional delay once the results are in. You could plan for the lumpectomy, if that is your preference, and if the genetic results cause you to rethink that, then you move to Plan B. But at least Plan A would be on the books. Maybe not possible, but worth asking about.

I had genetic testing before surgery too. The test takes 2-3 weeks but I had to wait to get an MRI to see if there were any other spots on my breasts and that has to be done at a certain time btwn periods anyway - so it wound up my results came back a couple days before the MRI was scheduled anyway. The results were positive for BRCA 2 so it was what I needed to make my treatment decision