So, I read my local paper’s online edition daily.  Today, one of the headlines was on a local reporter’s discovery of being a BRCA2 carrier, and what she has chosen to do about it.

She is having two prophylactic surgeries, BEFORE she is diagnosed with cancer.  I asked my doctor, after the birth of my son, to PLEASE give me a mastectomy and an oophorectomy.

I knew my risks, from watching my mother battle cancer twice, from learning the family history.  Most women did not live significantly past their 50th birthday, and they followed a “breast, breast, ovaries, death” pattern.

My doctor felt my desire was “extreme” and an “over-reaction.”  So, I did not have my surgeries: I didn’t have any physician at that time who was willing to perform the surgeries for me.

Instead, six years later, here I was: newly diagnosed with breast cancer.  Now, as you all know, I am recovering, and Praise the Lord I am in remission.

But one person commented on the article to indicate that the reporter’s choice was “sheer insanity” and “a desire for self-mutilation.”  So, I posted a comment in the local paper.  And, unbeknownst to me, my entire comment was logged through my facebook, directly onto the paper’s website, and straight onto the other commentator’s facebook page.

Now, despite this public forum we have here in the blogosphere, I am feeling a bit exposed.  But, just so you can laugh along with me at myself, the newspaper here is The Desert Sun, http://www.mydesert.com.  The article was “The cancer gene and a woman’s drastic decision.”

Whew.

Blessings to you all…