BRCA negative!

This afternoon I got the call from the geneticist at the Mayo clinic -- the 2nd part of my test has now come back, and both parts found me BRCA 1/2 NEGATIVE!!!! So -- my kids and cousins all still have a breast cancer risk to the extent that they share my genetic background, but it's not the high risk that goes along with BRCA.

Alan tells me that the test has a 10% false negative rate, which is high considering how expensive a test it is. However, it's the best we can get -- and my risk was only 12-23% anyway (much higher than I would have thought -- apparently having an Ashkenazi Jewish background is a big risk factor!) The only genetic risk I know of other than that comes from Great Aunt Marcia, my paternal grandmother's sister. It is assumed that some of where my breast cancer comes from involves a genetic risk of SOME sort regardless, because I am so young and healthy and athletic, eat right... etc. and I got it anyway. However it is not the high genetic risk of the BRCA mutations -- we think.
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BTW I cut all my hair off yesterday, in preparation for shaving -- and then I decided it looked okay that way.... so I held off on the shaving for the moment, and today Cara came to fix up the butchered haircut for me. (Emily is calling me "Spike.") However, I am still shedding so fast I will be surprised if I get to keep this spikey new do for longer than 2-3 days.

I was careful to cut it off into a ponytail, which I am saving. It's 9" at its longest. I need to find out if Locks with Love can use it.... Does anyone know?

Meanwhile, the weather changed and my neck and ears are cold. I keep reaching up to let my ponytail down to warm me up.... what do short haired people do about this kind of thing?