Polar Vortex What??

Polar Vortex makes my nipples hard.

Something about the word "Vortex".

No, seriously it does.

Which kind of goes along with my next topic.

My Dr. quit last year.  He just up and left.  I haven't been able to make it to see someone new until tonight.

We were going over my family history.

"Mother?" She asks.

"Deceased." I reply.

"Cause?"

"Stage IV Cancer."

"Do you know the origin?"

"Origin? Oh yes breast cancer." 

Then later in the actual exam/consultation.

"Have you had a mammogram?" The PA asks me friend-like, unobtrusive. "Insurance will cover it for you even though you are young..."

"Because my Mom died of it?" I cut her off.

"Yes."  So it haunts me.

"What about the BRCA test? Should I be getting that?"

We talk about it. How insurance might not cover it and what happens if it is positive.

Then she asks, "Do you have children?"

"Haha. Not yet."

"So you're planning to have children? Are you on the pill?"  

"No, I'm not. On the pill that is." 

Then I say, 

"You know, I don't think that I want to have the BRCA test." 

 Because I started thinking about it.  

If I know that I have a cancer mutation that will cause me to develop breast cancer, 

1. I am going to want to cut my breasts off and,

2. I may decide not to have children if I know I am going to pass it down.  

"Well," I say, "maybe when I'm forty."

She says that we can talk about it at my next appointment.

Many people don't know what the BRCA test is that I'm talking about(some do bc of Angelina Jolie blah blah blah).

The BRCA test, is a genetic way to determine whether or not a person(me) carries a specific mutation.  Typically it is BRCA1 or BRCA2 which can cause breast/ovarian cancer.  

However, the tests are not always conclusive,in fact sometimes they are ambiguous. 

And I wonder, do I want to know?  If I get a test and it's positive  will I constantly be thinking about the cancer I may get? But if I get a test and it's negative will I feel relieved?  And if it is inconclusive...then what?? 

If you were me would you get the BRCA test?  Would you wait until you hit thirty-five or have children?  Would you decide not to have children?

There are all these crazy questions going around in my head now.  I don't have any clear answers yet. 

BUT, I've decided to wait for at least another couple years...and hopefully these big ole' ticking time bombs will remain healthy at least until I'm 90 or so.