Hello all,
A very close friend has just disclosed that she may have inherited BRCA. I have promised to take her to appointments and screenings, but I wondered if anyone has any advice about "key questions to ask" during appointments, so I can note them down for her? I said we could discuss it before we go and I'll write things down for her as a prompt, but I'm aware it might be so overwhelming that we don't ask key information. I lost my best friend of 30 years two years ago and I'm terrified of losing this friend too. Obviously, I'm keeping that from her because the last thing I want to do is add my feelings to what, I'm sure must be an absolute whirlwind for her. I know she's scared as she's not been able to tell her husband or children yet. I think she might be hoping she won't have to. It's not my place to tell her what to do either way, but has anyone else experienced this and has some advice about how I support her through this? Thank you for reading.
Hi Bogwhoppit
I have not been in this position myself but my sister-in-law's family have experience of a condition called fragile-x. It did not really affect their girls but then they were put in the situation of if the girls wanted to be tested in case they are carriers.
As I understand there is quite a lot of counselling before the testing and this page on the NHS site talks about that.
One thing that should not happen is that this is a "all in one" appointment. Really everyone comes away from appointments thinking about something they wished they had asked, Often of course our friends on here know the answers anyway or at least know how to find the answers.
<<hugs>>
Steve
