Category: Patient

  • Being a Survivor Doesn’t Mean You Can Ignore Me

    Being a Survivor Doesn’t Mean You Can Ignore Me

  • What about my “foobies” surgery?

    I did finally come to terms with my decision to have a preventive bilateral mastectomy to lower my risk of breast cancer from my BRCA2 gene mutation.

  • Following Positive/High Risk Patients and Survivors

    According to the National Cancer Institute SEER (Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results) stat fact sheet on female breast cancer there were an estimated 12.3% of women living with breast cancer in the United States in 2012. 98.6% of breast cancer survivors diagnosed with early stage breast cancer are alive after 5 years or more. As early detection, treatment, and advancement in…

  • Treatment to Survivor

    Being a breast cancer survivor isn’t a static label. For me, being a breast cancer survivor has added another layer to the person I am and have become, and that has been an evolutionary process. It took time to get my energy back, but I now happily maintain a very active lifestyle. Again, it took time, and patience…

  • What to Expect from Surgery and Recovery

    Whether a woman is facing the decision to have breast surgery as a treatment option for cancer or she is being proactive and having a preventive procedure done to reduce the risk of ever having cancer, the decision is not an easy one. Surgery can be a frightening experience for some people, and rightfully so.…

  • So I am supposed to chop off my breasts?

    jh

  • Coping with Cancer: 5 Lessons from my Patients

    As a clinical genetic counselor, a big part of my job was educating my patients about the basics of genetics and hereditarycancer. Another equally, if not more, important part of my job was to talk to them about how a diagnosis of cancer, a positive genetic test result, or a combination of the two was impacting their life and those of their…

  • Healthy Habits, Healthy Mind

    The funny thing about ‘healthy habits’ is that you can do everything ‘right’, but there are no guarantees in life. For me, breast cancer is hereditary. he·red·i·tar·y Something (like a health problem, like cancer) that is due to inherited genetic changes (mutations), which can be passed from parent to child.  I have a BRCA1 gene mutation and so does my mom.…

  • Preventive Oncology

    To this date, we cannot totally prevent cancer from forming; however, for certain cancers we can reduce the risk of it developing. Approximately one half of cancer cases can be prevented by modifying risk factors or by early detection of precancerous lesions. For breast and ovarian cancers, approximately 10% will develop due to hereditary predisposition. We have…

  • You want to take my ovaries out?

    I was diagnosed with a BRCA2 gene mutation on August 1, 2013. My surgery for a complete preventive hysterectomy (to remove my ovaries, Fallopian tubes, cervix, and uterus) was just six weeks later on September 11.