I was watching The Doctors TV show the other day, and they were talking about BRCA testing – who should get it and who shouldn’t.
The BRCA test is a simple blood (or saliva) test that can help prepare you for some rather unfortunate health predicaments during your lifetime.
However, most people fear the results – because if the results are bad, then you’d always have the burden of knowing and deciding what you’re going to do to (or not do) that will ultimately affect the rest of your life.
BRCA testing is a genetic test that looks at the sequence or code of the BRCA1 and/or BRCA2 genes. Changes or mutations in the genetic code indicate increased cancer risks. The test can be performed on a blood or saliva sample. It takes about 3 weeks to get results. Source
I’ve often thought about taking the BRCA test, but I haven’t done much research about it – until now. There are several cancers in my family. My husband has melanoma skin cancer. A few of our friends have cancer. And, well I’m getting older and I’m starting to think more about these types of things.
Here’s what I’ve learned about the BRCA gene test…