Friday, June 09, 2006






This is what Casey, Jake, Cody and Sidney do when I'm home recovering from treatment.

Halfway?

Treatment number 4—check. It’s a little hard to “talk” about—there’s that weird inside feeling that is indescribable, although I will say it makes me feel ill in some way. This has definitely been the roughest so far. I thought at first that I might slide through. Monday and Tuesday weren’t so bad. But by Tuesday evening, I was “hurting,” and have been ever since. Perhaps the onset of the fatigue is just coming later. Perhaps it’s just different because my body has been poisoned now for the 4th time with the same drugs. Hard to say. Definitely hard to talk about.

I had my first appointment today with the genetics counseling office. It was mostly about background stuff—family history so they can build a pedigree. Interestingly, it seems pretty one-sided. Dad’s side is kind of “missing” in terms of detail—I don’t know a lot about aunts, uncles, cousins of his. But it’s also missing in terms of women. Given that, it is entirely possible that one of the major genes that is identified as defective in breast cancer has been passed down on his side. The nurse actually told me there is a correlation with one of the breast cancer genes and prostate cancer. I had a hunch, but that’s the scientist in me. So I’ve signed on to have some DNA analyzed. They don’t yet have a sample—insurance has to be submitted and the like. The hope is that I test “positive” for a defective gene—so that the future of my health planning can be determined. If I come up negative, the decisions get a little harder. Is it worth the risk to NOT have a mastectomy (or a double mastectomy) or to leave my ovaries in place if I don’t have defective genes? I can say right now, I don’t want to have to go through chemo again—but this is the bad week. I guess when it comes to chemo there is no good week.

That pedigree—it was interesting. I had to make the connection that my dad’s brother married my mom’s sister. It makes an interesting connection for the pedigree, and could prove insightful for my cousins, should I have defective genes. It might help them to get better health screening down the road…at least I hope it would help them. And of course mom’s side is huge. I think I remembered everyone.

So if I am defective, or have a variant (a defective gene they don’t yet understand), I can again enter the research world. There are a few researchers here at Ohio State and at the Mayo Clinic that would be interested in my DNA. I guess that’s one way to get back into research. Of course I would want to go in and do the analysis myself, but I guess they can’t let that happen…I’ve probably been away from it for too long…

I guess all in all the meeting today was interesting. I’m 38 and I have the opportunity to determine a major portion of how I handle my healthcare for the rest of my life. Not just getting check ups—but removing parts that could cause later problems. Now that’s not making big decisions…

For what it’s worth, what hair I have left seems to like to grow. I need a hair cut again.