the reluctant blogger

a friend and member of my Quaker meeting (that makes him twice a friend) sent me an email recently noting there hadn't been a blog entry from me for some time, and, uhm, was I OK? yes! but I suffer from terminal blog procrastination, which, while annoying and probably incurable, is way better than cancer. some updates in my life: nurse coordinator and genetics counselor Martha (Marty) Weinar at the Hosp. of the Univ of Pa., the sister of my excellent friend Beth Palubinsky, had a very helpful discussion with me about genetic testing for breast cancer, and as a result I gave her a bit of my blood for a test that will determine if I have a mutation in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes, which were linked several years ago to breast cancer. one of my aunts died in her late 30s from the disease (young cancer tends to point to a genetic cause) but Im not aware of any other family members with it also. (not all members of my farflung sometimes dysfunctional family are necessarily communicating well with eachother.) of interest to note: my aunt who died was on my father's side, and for some reason people assume that breast cancer can't be passed on from the paternal side of the family. totally not true! Ill know within three weeks or so if I carry a mutated gene, which would strongly suggest that my own breast cancer can be blamed on a kink in the DNA. why does it matter to know this? it won't change my treatment or prognosis; but the news would be of great interest to my sister and also my son, who, if he inherited the mutation, could pass it on to his children. (that paternal thing again.) my adorable daughter is adopted so the news will have no impact on her. who doesn't want to be able to pin down the cause of their cancer, something few of us are able to do? my advice: do this if your insurance covers it and a genetics counselor recommends it. why not?
tests, damnable tests and more tests, which, dear fellow cancer patients, I dont have to tell you about. CAT scan recently was quite good, but my hip is suddenly hurting, which points to the need for another bone scan or MRI. MRI it is. (the last MRI, in august, found bone cancer in my right thigh.) Ill try to be positive here - remembering how a test a couple years ago "found" bone cancer in my spine. it turned out to be osteoporosis. I was so happy I wanted to throw an "I have osteoporosis!!" party. so we'll see.
here's a request I made before: email me if you're currently working through chemo or radiation for any kind of cancer. I keep planning on doing on story on this. fvrazo@phillynews.com
cheers, fawn