My mom and I went to UCSF yesterday to meet with Liane Abrams, the genetic counselor, and get the results of the blood test I did last month. Much to my relief, 48 of the 49 different genes they tested came back as negative for any mutation (that’s including the BRCA-1 and BRCA-2 genes I was tested for last year), and the one that didn’t come back negative came back as a “variant of unknown significance” (which is a great phrase and totally my next band name). That variant one is PMS2, in case any geneticists want to know, and is apparently something that shows up in 1% of the Ashkenazic Jewish population. Liane didn’t seem to think the variation was any big deal at all in my case, and assured us that it certainly wouldn’t change my treatment plans in any way. So that was a big sigh of relief.
Weirdly enough, that meeting with Liane was kind of fun. She’s a nice Jewish lady with a New York accent and we felt very at home with her. She taught us some science (she’s clearly an experienced researcher and a great teacher) and we laughed a lot. She also took the time again to ask us about my treatment plan, and about how we each were feeling and how Josh and the boys were doing, and seemed genuinely and humanly concerned. She even asked me to email her to let her know my surgery date, I think she might be intending to come visit, which is very sweet.
On the way out we stopped by the main desk and got to meet Grissel (Dr. Ewing’s practice assistant and the one I’ve been going back and forth with about my surgery date), which was good. She was very nice in person and apologized profusely for the delays and the confusions in the scheduling process. I think having a human interaction face-to-face was helpful in making us each more sympathetic to the other, and we were able to confirm for sure that the surgery date will be 11/16, which removed the last bits of lingering uncertainty. She said she’d be letting us know about pre-op appointments as soon as possible, and would be sending us more info about what to expect and how to prepare as well (even though I have a lot of that already from Dr. Foster).
I also found out that there is really no such thing as a patient navigator at UCSF, which is too bad. Given my experiences with Grissel and trying to get a surgery date and all the institutional delays I’ve experienced, I think they really would benefit from a program like that. I am going to try to contact their Patient Relations Department to suggest such a thing.
Ok, so now it is time to focus on preparing for the 11/16 surgery date and the recovery thereafter. It feels good to finally have forward movement in this treatment process and I am going to turn my considerable manifestation powers to bringing forth a smooth, easy surgery and healing process with no complications and a biopsy that shows clean lymph nodes. Lymph Lady*, come to my rescue!
*That was the name of the superpowered alter ego that I created for myself the first time I went through cancer. I figure she’s still there somewhere in her secret hideout, just awaiting the call...ready to spring into action and battle cancer once again!