Oncology Appointment

When Jeanette was first diagnosed with peritoneal cancer in 2011 she underwent a lot of testing.  One of the biggest issues to solve was the origination of the cancer.  We quickly learned that it was ovarian cancer that had attached itself to the lining of her stomach.  As Jeanette had already successfully fought metastatic breast cancer years earlier, her oncologist decided to also do genetic testing.  It was at that time that she let the family know that she was a carrier of the BRCA 1 gene which had increased her risk of both breast and ovarian cancer.  Because she was a carrier, Phil, Dan and Doug all had a 50% chance of being one as well.  At the time her doctor offered genetic testing for the boys, but only Phil was interested.  His bloodwork returned positive for the cancer gene as well.  We were a little surprised by that as we always thought that he looked the most like the Heinisch side of the family and the least like Jeanette's.  The other piece of advice that we received from all of the testing was for Meg to start having mammograms at the age of 19 because of the Brucker family history of cancer.

None of us had really done much with the information that we received a decade ago relating to Jeanette's BRCA 1 diagnosis until this past summer.  Doug had a colonoscopy and Meg and I met with Dr. Freeze to discuss setting up a mammogram for Meg.  Dr. Freeze had a different suggestion then we had previously heard.  She wanted Meg to meet with a breast oncologist from Goshen and discuss genetic testing.  At first Meg and I were reluctant as she really didn't want to know if she had the BRCA 1 gene.  She didn't want a mammogram either, but at least that sounded better to her than finding out that she was at high risk of ovarian and breast cancer.  In the end we went with the oncologist idea, however, and set up an appointment for Thanksgiving break.

This morning Meg and I headed to the Goshen's Women's Retreat Center to meet Dr. Fiona Denham.  We were extremely impressed with her.  She was even younger than Dr. Freeze and was extremely informative.  She thoroughly explored Meg's family history of cancer, giving her thoughts on genetic vs. environmental risks.  Due to Jeanette's diagnosis, Dr. Denham highly recommended genetic testing, but respected that Meg wasn't ready for that.  She was prepared for that answer and gave Meg screening choices instead, most of which would start at age 25.  It was a lot of information for Meg and I to absorb, but she and I felt really good about the appointment when we walked out an hour and a half later.  I also appreciate that I had quite a bit of information to pass on to Doug as well.