Pin the Tail

I cried at the hospital when, at age three, I burned my toe. Later I cried when I had stitches after slicing my arm open on a barbed wire fence to, surprise-surprise, pet some little puppies…and, naturally a lot of tears were shed during my stay in the local hospital’s “Calms room” provided to parents with babies in the intensive care unit.

But today I felt like crying, felt a little choked up, when I went in for an annual exam. All was very cheerful, the nurse practitioner is fabulous and many questions I have were answered about sundry healthcare matters.

I had to fill out a cancer history sheet. So I checked off the facts that would lead anyone to notice that there is a high incidence of ovarian cancer in my family, maternal side…

And today I was glad to finally look into getting my blood tested for a genetic disposition that some people have for ovarian and breast cancer:

According to estimates of lifetime risk, about 12.0 percent of women (120 out of 1,000) in the general population will develop breast cancer sometime during their lives compared with about 60 percent of women (600 out of 1,000) who have inherited a harmful mutation in BRCA1 or BRCA2 (4, 5). In other words, a woman who has inherited a harmful mutation in BRCA1 or BRCA2 is about five times more likely to develop breast cancer than a woman who does not have such a mutation.

Lifetime risk estimates for ovarian cancer among women in the general population indicate that 1.4 percent (14 out of 1,000) will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer compared with 15 to 40 percent of women (150–400 out of 1,000) who have a harmful BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation.

The nurse explained that my blood will be sent to the sole lab in the U.S. that conducts the testing. They will look into my insurance information and benefits. THEN they will call to tell me how much the test will cost me. “It is very expensive,” Nurse Lovely Smile explained to me.

“Well, like how much, like thousands of dollars,” I asked.

“Sometimes upwards to three thousand dollars,” answered Nurse Lovely Smile.

We wrapped up our appointment time. All in all a very productive appointment where I felt very at ease talking over a number of things– at a noticeably non-rushed pace that has me thinking that I will always have this appointment with Nurse Lovely Smile even though I totally like my doc, Doctor Handsome, at the practice. He never looks at his watch– but today was particularly careful and leisurely I thought.

I felt sad though about the test. I think it will be a go no matter what as I believe it is within reach financially. Although it will be somewhat of a dent as Fluck Mill House is costing us some pretty pennies this season with urgent repairs. It behooves me to be knowledgeable about my genetic makeup because I want to be around for Finn among other reasons to live. And ovarian cancer is a blackhearted killer.

I sat in the lobby waiting to checkout and make an appointment for my blood work.

The heavenly voice of Eva Cassidy came on the muzak singing “Fields of Gold.” A singer with one of the most perfectly beautiful voices ever, she died of melanoma at age 33. Testing for a gene that predisposes people to melanoma is also available. Again, like the ovarian cancer gene testing, it is not particularly readily encouraged as a proactive step to take, or even clearly condoned, by the medical community.

With the availability of the genetic tests, shouldn’t there be a shift in the paradigm of cultural (medical and beyond) that questions at all the efficacy of the benefit of knowing fully what risk factors one may have towards a long and healthy life?

What is wrong with our culture, our medical establishment, and policy makers, that there is any question at all about making genetic testing available at the earliest time and at an accessible cost.

So much talk about “jobs, jobs, jobs,” but no correlation by the blatherers being made to increase labs and research for this piece of the continuum of health care. It’s enough to make one cry.

For what it’s worth I’ll be fasting tonight for my blood to be drawn tomorrow. Sniff.