For the second morning this week, I've managed to get a morning walk in. I know some are worried that I'm moving too fast. But walking clears my head and actually gives me more energy. I often say there's always an excuse not to walk, so now that my surgeries are over, I don't have to worry about catching a cold and it delaying my treatment. I'm just ready for Spring so that it will be light out when I walk in the mornings.
Besides I'm training to go up Pikes Peak in August. So, though I do listen to my body when it tells me it's too tired to hike around the neighborhood, I also try not to let it or myself get too lazy.
As I said walking clears my head. I plan lesson plans, think of wonderful comebacks to snarky people (not that I ever use them), compose letters, plan crafts and ponder things that weigh heavy on my mind or heart. This morning I was pondering genetics.
Yesterday, after over a week of playing phone tag with the genetics office at Penrose, I finally have an appointment for genetic counseling. (Of course it's not on Monday when school is closed for President's Day, so I'll be missing more time from the library.) I wasn't sure why they kept pushing for me to meet with the genetics counselor. There's no history of breast cancer in my family - well not that I know of - I don't really know my mom's cause of death. Though as I've said before, in the wee hours of the night I worry about the possibility of passing this cancer on to my boys. Yesterday, the woman scheduling my appointment told me that when a woman gets breast cancer in her mid 50s to 60s it is often a case of an aging body with cells that due to age no longer function properly. But when a woman younger than 50 is diagnosed with breast cancer it can be a matter of a gene that has mutated. And that gene can be passed on from the father. So that answers my question. If I have this gene, I may very well have passed it onto my sons and they could pass it on to their children. At this point, it's still all speculation. I have to fill out as much of a family history as I can (and now I'm feeling guilty for not knowing my mother's medical history - though that was mainly her choice, but it could impact my boys) and then spend an hour or so with a genetic counselor. That will determine if I'm "a candidate" for genetic testing. I haven't even had the nerve to research what that testing will involve. I'm sure it will involve needles. I think I better get more walks in before Tuesday. At least that's one thing I can control. It may be the one normal thing in my life right now.
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