No cancer for me (Well, at least I’m not high risk)

Since I was a teenager, I have always been scared that I am going to end up like my mother.  She passed away from breast cancer when I was 12.  She was only 33, but they caught it too late and could never do enough to get rid of it.  Please don’t get me wrong here - I never really knew my mom.  My dad and his mother raised me from the age of 4.  I didn’t even get a chance to see her in the hospital before she died, so it’s not like I saw her suffering or was deeply impacted like other surviving families are by this dreaded disease.  A couple of years ago I found out that both of my aunts also had been diagnosed, one of them pre-menopausal as well.  She had her first diagnosis at the age of 43 and after a second lump was found years later, she decided to check out this genetic testing of the BCRA-1 and BCRA-2 genes (BReast CAncer Gene 1 and BReast CAncer Gene 2).  This test pinpointed the gene that is carrying the mutation which causes breast and ovarian cancer in our family.  She was given a positive result for the BRCA-1 gene mutation, which now meant that everyone in the family could go for a simple blood test to determine if they carry the same gene mutation.  Finally – a way to find out ahead of time if you’re going to end up with cancer.  Of course, a positive result does not mean that you are going to get cancer, only that your risk of developing it is very high.  It also means being added into the high-risk cancer clinic and receiving free preventative surgery and help with any concerns you may have.  All the women in the immediate family went and had the test done, and everyone came out with a positive result - that is, until I got my results back today.  I am pretty sure I was the last one to get the test done, and most of the women in the family had already had or at least scheduled the surgery to have their breasts and ovaries removed (if over 30 years old) by the time I went in for my appointment.  I think it was harder waiting for those results than anything else, especially when I went into this “knowing” I’d get a positive result just like everyone else in my family.

When I was told this morning that my test came back negative, I should have been ecstatic.  Unfortunately, for some reasons that I cannot fully understand, never mind explain, I am not as relieved or as happy as I should be about these results.  I should be shouting it from the rooftops – I am not at high risk for developing breast/ovarian cancer!  In fact, I have just as great a risk as anyone else in my state of health.

To me, all that really means is that, if I do develop cancer, I will suffer – first because I will have cancer, and second because I will not be able to afford all the medical attention I would need to fight it and not end up like my mother.  I don’t even have children.  That is actually another factor that contributes to my risk.  It turns out, if your mother had breast cancer pre-menopausal, and you don’t have children by the time you are 30, your risk of developing the breast cancer yourself is greater. But hey, that’s only one of the risk factors. There are so many, it shouldn’t matter.  If I want to avoid developing cancer, I need to completely change my way of living.  But really there is no way to avoid it.  I always knew I’d end up with cancer, and that really hasn’t changed.  All this test has done for me is told me that I don’t have the same gene mutation that my aunt does, although my sisters came back positive.  But they’re twins, so I guess that only counts as one result.  To me, my risk is the same as it always was.  My mom had it, and so will I.  I know that is such negative thinking, and it probably shouldn’t be allowed after the result I was given this morning.  I guess, when you spend 15 years believing something, it isn’t so easy to change that, even with a negative result.  But at least I can move on and go back to just living my life and not worrying any more.

Granville Island

Well, we did it!  We actually took something off the list and crossed it off!  We did originally had other plans to paddle up Widgeon Creek, but the rain in Maple Ridge made us change our minds.  The alternate idea that everyone decided on was a mini-train ride through Centennial Park in Burnaby.

But, due to indecisiveness on the part of our friends - and an unexpected trip to Starbucks while we sat around waiting for them - we instead spent the day on Granville Island, just the two of us.  We thought about taking the mini ferry over, but when the walk is less than fifteen minutes, really, what’s the point?  We parked by Stamps Landing and walked out along the seawall there, which was wonderful, because it was perfect for the weather we were having – not too hot, but definitely nice enough to be out enjoying the day. 

 

It was really neat seeing all the shops they have there.  Number one was the Model Trains / Model Ships Museum, which was pretty cool.  Unfortunately, they only had two of the three trains running, but I had fun trying to find the animals hidden around the diorama.  We also checked out all the awesome artwork and the carved masks in the Eagle Spirit Gallery, where we had to be buzzed into the store and ended up keeping them into their lunch break while we slowly took everything in (oops). Next, we stopped to watch a street performer attempting to make a few bucks from all the spectators at Triangle Square.  We only caught the last ten minutes of the show… as he juggled his knife, a plunger and a flaming torch and then managed to squeeze his body through a tennis racket, all while teetering on some balancing apparatus atop a very wobbly table.

 

We saw this really cool aparatus that moves balls through an obstacle of automation. This thing sits out front of the gates to the Ocean Concrete Factory.  With a little research, I have discovered that this kinetic sculpture is called Ocean Commotion and was actually only unveiled in February 2007.  This thing was so intriguing, I can’t explain it.  It was like some kind of demo of a cement factory, with balls representing the cement, water and gravel that make up the concrete all falling into trucks and running along conveyors and chain pulleys that all ran in a continuous circuit that was actually made up of several different circuits.  It was so awesome, we must have stood there watching this thing for at least 15 minutes.

 
We snacked on some perogies from Perogy Place in the Public Market, and wandered some more.  We came across a place called the Wood Co-op, which had lots of neat things… wooden boxes, furniture, decorations, jewelry, even hair accessories.

 
We went back out along the water a bit more and sat atop the hill where the flagpole is in Ron Basford Park, what used to be called the Mound, for a toke.  Returning brought us to a place called New-Small & Sterling Glass Studio, where we got to watch glassblowing, which was something I’d always wanted to see.  Too bad she just kept making the same ordinary round balls over and over. It would have been neat to see her do something a little more interesting.  We did stop at a place called Dragon Space or something that was a spiritual shop - perfect for people like me.  Although I am not necessarily religious, I am wiccan and I always love the atmosphere in a place like that.  I guess maybe not something I should have dragged my boyfriend into, but I enjoyed all the stuff they had in there.
After that, back to the Public Market for a couple slices of PizzaPzazz, some tea for my man from the Granville Island Tea Co. and we were off.  It was now about 5:30 or close to and time to call it a day well spent.  We toyed with the idea of hopping on the Aquabus back to Stamps Landing, but again, with the walk being so short – and need for an opportunity to smoke some more before hopping in the car - we decided the walk back would be a good way to end the trip, sore as we were from the 5 hours of walking we’d already done, but worth the walk either way.

 

I know there are a lot of things that we didn’t see or even stop to check out, but all in all, I had such a wonderful day, I couldn’t ask for more.  Thanks for another awsome day hun!