More with the Genetic Counselor

I asked him if insurance would be more prone to deny treatment if I test positive for the BC genes; he said he has never ever heard of that. I elaborated further, asking if I would have trouble getting insurance coverage down the road, because of the genetic testing. He told me that there are actually laws (or maybe they are just bills in Congress, but still) legislating that people who undergo genetic testing cannot be discriminated against for having had the testing. WOOHOO!! Better still, my family cannot be discriminated against for my having had the testing (like my younger sister Meg). YAY!

Testing will cost $2500, btw. Oh insurance, PLEASE cover that!

Oh, but lest you think the genetic counselor only had happy things to tell me…. He also said that if I do end up having the gene, the doctors may very well recommend hysterectomy to avoid ovarian cancer later.

Path Report
Suddenly got a bee in my bonnet about not knowing anything more specific about the cancer than that maddening “T-2″ business, which tells me NOTHING, so I called the surgeon’s nurse this afternoon and asked her to fax a copy of it to me (at Tom’s office), and she did, and then he LEFT IT ON HIS DESK.

Current State
Am really tired.

Path Report Update (or is it?)

Tom called to say he got the fax from the surgeon’s office, at last.

HOWEVER, they did not send the pathology report…they faxed over the surgeon’s NOTES on Monday’s visit. The good news is that we got a little bit more information about the tumor: it is ER/PR negative. From the quick googling I did, it looks like that means I am not a good candidate for hormonal therapy (like tamoxifin).

Jumping Right In

Genetic counselor called this morning, took a family medical history over the phone. Obviously, it’s not for certain until he does the bloodwork (which I now learn takes a month to get results back. gah), but he estimates that I have a 75% chance of having at least one of the breast cancer genes. No big surprise there, though*. He is coming to the oncologist’s on Monday to do the blood draw for the test. Very nice of him as he is based in Memphis and usually does not make “house calls.”

Later today, I’m going by the surgeon’s and signing release forms to get them to fax copies of my surgical and pathology reports to Katherine to forward on to her cancer expert friends, and that will get the ball rolling on a second opinion from people down in Jackson.

I would also like copies of those for myself, if I could. I can’t believe I left the office yesterday without getting them. Duh. What an idiot I am. I think I also left the surgeon’s without paying my copay or anything.

couldn’t sleep last night. Boys are very clingy. Much to do.

* given that my mother, her mother, and her mother all had breast cancer and my mother is the first to survive it.