Medical Update

Seriously - it's a thyroid shaped pillow! Just for fun.

I realized when we were traveling recently and seeing a lot of people that we haven't seen in awhile that I haven't given an update on all of the medical drama from earlier this year.

I had three major issues: allergy testing, genetic testing, and thyroid testing. The allergy testing came back as expected: allergic to bee stings (honey bee and yellow jacket). I can choose to do allergy shots and minimize the reaction, but for now I am going to stick with trying to avoid getting stung and carrying an epipen. The thyroid issues weren't issues. I have some nodules which is fairly common and I don't have any symptoms. I had one nodule that had changed and they decided to do a biopsy, which came back normal. The test itself is pretty miserable and although I knew I was going to have it I wasn't expecting to have it on the day I did. I thought I was going in for a consult with an endocrinologist who would order the test and instead she did the test. But that was probably good because it meant I wasn't wasting time dreading it!

The genetic testing came back positive for a BRCA1 mutation. I had a 50/50 shot and in my heart of hearts I knew that it would be positive but it was still difficult to hear. I do feel like I have some very good doctors on my team and I am generally impressed with the way the testing was handled. I have been surprised by the range of experiences we have all had with testing and then with follow up. But in general, after finding out you have one of these mutations, the first thing to do is go to doctors and get caught up (or started) with things like mammograms. In many ways, although the breast cancer risk is very high, it is less concerning. There are screenings for breast cancer and so if you stay on top of things the chances are it will be caught early. There are no screenings for ovarian cancer and the tests available are not as reliable as one might hope. The symptoms are vague as well and so very often it is not caught until it is pretty advanced. So the recommendation is pretty clear here: as soon as you are done having kids, have surgery to remove the ovaries. Since I've already had a hysterectomy I am clearly done having kids and I will be scheduling surgery in the not too distant future. The recommendations on the breast cancer risk are less clear - ranging from double mastectomy to increased screenings to what is called chemo prevention (taking medications that are thought to lower breast cancer risk).

Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it) as my mom was getting caught up on all of her screenings, she was found to have endometrial (aka uterine) cancer. Thankfully, it was caught relatively early. She had surgery but did not need chemo or radiation. I was able to go to Atlanta to be there for her surgery and to help out for a week, but she did great and I'm not sure she truly needed the help. The visit was extremely helpful anyway, in that we all got to "talk business"' then and our vacation a couple weeks later did not have to be all about cancer.

My sister is doing great and continuing to recover from chemo and from the whole experience. But it's been quite a year for my family!