Share your Genetic Testing Story

Right when I turned 40 in the year 2000 I had my first mammogram, calcifications were detected. Had a stereotactic biopsy and then an excision biopsy which found a DCIS. Due to small breast size and suspicious cells in all samples, I had a mastectomy. My mother has 3 sisters that had breast cancer - one of them also had cervical cancer, one had a melanoma as well and a recurrence of her breast cancer, and one had breast cancer show up in her other breast and then had bone mets and died this past March. Although I was tested for BRCA1 and BRCA2 in 2013, I am going to M.D. Anderson for genetic counseling right now. We're high deductible plan, so I had to pay $930 just for patient setup and first 30 minute visit with a nurse practitioner. I have asked about potential total cost several times and I am told 'that will be discussed at your registration.' Although I know MD Anderson is a great facility, I find this lack of information regarding cost extremely unsettling. My aunt's death was horrific, and I want to do everything within my power to prevent any full breast cancer, so I do think it is worth consulting somebody since 20 years has passed since my DCIS diagnosis. I figured they know a lot more now than they did then, and I might need to be on some preventative medication like tamoxifen. I hope this is worth it.

My story so far:

I just turned 38...cancer runs heavy in my family (cousin died from luckemia, great aunt had breast cancer, aunt had breast cancer twice, grandpa died of bone cancer, grandma had skin cancer, my mom has conquered breast cancer in her 50's, sister just beat breast cancer last year and she is 40, another sister has a cancerous brain tumor ...cancer has hit hard). So, In March 2021, I was diagnosed with the mutated Palb2 gene. I am at an incrediblely high risk of getting breast cancer due to my mom, my sister, aunt, great aunt all having breast cancer. Every 4 months, I have been having a mammogram and at my first one, one mass was found. It is not cancerous. I was strongly advised to go thru with a double mastectomy and Diep reconstructuon. It was set for Dec 17, 2021. I did all the pretest needed a month before the surgery and had another mammogram, MRI, ultrasound. Another mass was found which was not there before. Another biopsy was done and it is not cancerous at this time, but there is blood flow to it which is very concerning. 5 days before surgery, my surgery was cancelled due to COVID numbers in this area and due to the governor's mandate that all elective surgeries are to be cancelled for the foreseeable future. Why is this surgery considered an elective surgery when it really is a cancer prevention treatment?? It's so frustrating....I was so close to my surgery, have spent a HUGE amount of money on all these tests, and now, I just have to sit and wait hoping cancer doesn't strike while I wait to have this surgery.