Genetic testing

Hope your week is going well...mine hasn't been too bad a week!  I've had my Genetics test, been to a concert, worked Sunday and been busy with month end. Also had various doctors appointments for injections and medication checks, plus my counselling.

My Gene test was today, feel better knowing that there is only a 10% chance I'm a BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene carrier and also that it still only means an Oophorectomy and not a Hysterectomy if I am. Sadly the results take 8-12 weeks! So a very long wait, but there is no change to the outcome of any on going treatment luckily.

I'm still waiting for an MRI scan to check out what they think is Endometriosis and hoping that it also only means I need an Oophorectomy. I'm also still waiting for a pain clinic appointment!

The concert I went to was Peter Andre and no I'm not insane, I've loved him forever. He's another great performer like Robbie Williams. I went with my best buddy Jan who shaved her hair off last year.

We have lost quite a few pink sisters recently and we want to assure those of you reading that are newly diagnosed that this is not the norm. It has been a hard few weeks in the cancer world for all my pink sisters and me. But today we are all staying positive and our word today is HOPE!

Tomorrow is my temporary prosthesis (chicken fillet) appointment at Hospital, so I can go on holiday and look good in a bikini...haha...that's assuming I lose all this gained weight from steroids!

My counsellor is wonderful, it's so great for cancer patients to be able to have somewhere to go where they can just let it all out! Please find her details below and at www.rutlandcounselling.com

A Poem by Jude P

Pardon me for thinking that this year has been the pits ...
One minute constipated, then the next I've got the sh**s
Scans, drugs and appointments are coming out of my ears
No time to sit and reflect, no time to voice my fears
I need an operation? Or two, or three or more?
Can someone stop this roller coaster and show me where's the door?

I don't recall the moment I signed up for all of this?
I just was happy in my life, ignorance was bliss,
I didn't know of others, never gave a passing thought
To those who went before me on this cancer juggernaut.
Then life changed in a heartbeat the day I found a lump,
My hands began to shake, and my heart began to thump!
How long ago that seems now! Yet it feels like yesterday?
So much has changed, forever, in a very special way.
I had the operations, the scans, the drugs and more!
That left me feeling battered, so tired, so sick, so sore!
I lost my hair, my eyebrows, my pubes and hairy pits
All small beer when compared to the fact I lost my tits!
But there are compensations! Bright spots to enjoy!
Little things now mean a lot and I'm not being coy!
I love to wake each morning, no matter how I feel
To know the joy of living, and of keeping feelings real!
Take pleasure in the small things, appreciate your life
Above all love your family , husband, partner, wife.
Remember too to look for , the joy in every day
The support you get from people who you met along the way
The laughter in the chat room, the friends, new friends, for life
Are all bright spots to look for, they're the joy in times of strife,
So cancer may be scary, may cause some fears and pain,
But with the help of your pink sisters, you will soon be smiling again.

In memory of Jojo, Rosie, Kate, Lesley, Lisa, Julie, Alison, Margaret, Danielle & Ann. R.I.P.