And Now, More Juggling!

And so it goes... The day started out early. We had to have mom up, ready and out by the crack of 10, which is no small feat. She was scheduled for a thorocentesis of her left lung; the one yet to be drained. Ironic that last week we were basically a "walk in", and were able to get in and out in record time. Today she had an appointment and we were there for six and a half hours. But in all fairness, we did have to stay about 2 hours longer this time because they needed extra time to observe mom. The puncture they made didn't close up as quickly as they expected so we had to hang out to let it heal, then get another chest x-ray to make sure everything was right. Exhausted as she is by all outings, she nevertheless insisted on walking up the stairs this time (Gary and I usually have to carry her.) She is pooped, but all in all, doing very well. And outing days are Chik-fil-A days! She loves Chik-fil-A and always requests that we stop by on the way home no matter how tired she is. Hey, if she'll eat it, I'm buyin' it!!

Not much to report with me. I spoke with my surgeon yesterday and she is in the process of finding a date that she and the plastic surgeon are available together. I've chosen to be tested for the BRCA gene (the breast cancer gene.) I'm meeting tomorrow with the genetic counselor. My understanding is that they draw a blood sample and then, yup, you guessed it... more waiting!! My surgeon told me it takes 3 to 4 weeks for the results to come back, but I've heard that it can take up to 6 weeks in some places. In any event, it won't change my decision about the mastectomy. However, if I test positive (about 1 to 2% of women are positive) I'm at a much higher risk for ovarian cancer. I will need to decide whether to have my ovaries removed because the survivability for ovarian cancer is not good. Since my mother and her grandmother both had breast cancer, I think it is a prudent move to have this test. Knowledge is power...