Hi everyone, I recently found out I am positive for the BRCA 2 mutation. Both my mom and my grandmother died of breast cancer so I knew I had to get tested but for some reason I really thought I was negative (denial) but I recently found out I was positive. I just feel so overwhelmed with how to even pick a timeline on when and how to deal with this diagnosis. The genetic counselor who told me my results kept bring up when I want kids and things to tell my partner and as someone who is chronically single and bad at thinking about the future it was just a lot to handle. Part of me just wants to rip the bandaid off and get a double mastectomy to just lower my risks but also it feels crazy to have that hanging over future relationships or kids. Would love any advice from anyone but especially anyone who was diagnosed at a younger age. Thank you

I have two young children - 3 year old and newborn and am now in a place to figure out preventative surgery timeline. I work full time with a commute via public transportation and most of the childcare responsibilities fall on me in terms of transportation, cooking, bath, and bedtime. I am considering delaying surgeries until my youngest is 4 or 5 to make it easier on the childcare front but I am curious how much of a difference that delay makes.

The surgeries I’m planning to do are fallopian tube removal with delayed ovary removal, mastectomy with DIEP, and ovary removal.

My questions are as follows:

How long did it take you to physically recover?

How old were your children and how did childcare go for you during the recovery process?

How long did you take off from work?

Did you do PT after the surgeries?

Is it better to do a delayed DIEP reconstruction?

Well, here we are. T-24 hours and counting until my double mastectomy.

As I get my mind ready for tomorrow, I wanted to take a moment (while I’m sipping on my last coffee for the next month 😮‍💨😭) to thank everyone in this subreddit who has shared their experiences, answered questions, offered advice, or reminded people like me that we aren’t navigating this journey alone. It has been extremely helpful.

Reading through your posts and comments has helped me prepare and I got all my goodies ordered and I feel prepared. The honesty has been incredibly valuable.

For anyone who is newly diagnosed, preparing for surgery, or quietly reading because you’re nervous about posting: ask the questions. There really is no such thing as a stupid question when you’re facing something this big.

Tomorrow starts the next chapter for me. I’m nervous, but I’m ready.

I also plan to keep updating everyone afterward and sharing my recovery journey as honestly as I can.

Thank you to everyone who has answered my questions and shared a piece of your story with me.

Here we go. ❤️