Who did your mutation come from?

I would like to welcome all of you back! I've decided to make a pledge to myself to get back in the swing of things and set some goals for my blog! My first easily achievable goal is one post a month with new information that I have not previously covered.

Today's blog comes from this article. If only takes a minute to read if you would like to click over. The main point of the article is a new finding related to the BRCA mutations. I'm sure we all realize that these mutations and their study is still in its infancy. Over the years to come we will all be flooded with information. This specific article caught my attention because of my family history. For those of you have read my entire story you know that me and my sister both have the BRCA 2 mutation, but we don't have a complete history of who carried it before us. Our mother lost her battle with cancer before testing was widespread, and my maternal grandparents had both passed before we made the decision to have the testing done for ourselves. This is all significant in my mind. I'm an information junkie, and I can only imagine what the future holds for my family.

Back to the article. The title caught my attention, but the first sentence carried my through the end and left me wanting to find the actual study results. Why do you ask? Anytime I come across information based on age or the early onset of cancer I feel like it applies to my family and want to analyze every word with intense scrutiny.

In this specific study 130 women with breast or ovarian cancer and one of the mutations were considered. These women were all chosen because they knew which of their parents had passed their gene mutation to them. In the cases where the father had passed the gene down there was a higher likelihood that early onset cancer was present. This was in direct relationship to those whose genes were passed by the mother. This is important for those of us carrying a gene mutation.

When we become aware of our gene mutations we are thrust into a demanding and time sensitive battle of what to do and when. Each of us face the decision making process and attempt to make the best choices based on what we have available to us. In this study we are given fairly specific information. If your mutation was passed from your mother you may have a little more time to make these sensitive decisions, whereas if yours originated from the paternal side you might need to stay a little more aware of the recommendations and what early onset could mean for you.

How far down the line do these implications carry? Let's say that my grandfather was the one who passed the mutation to my mother, are their early onset tendencies that continue to carry on to my sister and I?

Another portion of the article highlighted on the point that mutations have become consistently documented in women of Irish and Jamaican descent. These findings are not all that surprising to me. I believe as testing becomes more common place we will find a widespread population of many lineages exhibiting breast and ovarian cancer related mutations.

Year in Review 2011

Looking back at some of my posts from last year I came across my Year in Review post, so trying to keep with the tradition hear goes...

January - Cody & I successfully rented out our first purchased rental property. We made plans for several family vacations, and a vacation for the two of us!

February - The second week in February we found out we were going to be adding an addition to our family. Much to my surprise it was not going to be a Puppy. We were having another baby!

March - Let's go fly a kite! The first of our family vacations was replaced with Cody working & morning sickness for me. So before Cody left on his trip I took JB & Taylor to buy kites!

April & May - Brought about the most awful and relentless wind. We typically experience wind during the spring in the Panhandle, but oh my last year was so much worse than usual. By the time May was over we had a terrible case of cabin fever.

June - We found out we would be welcoming Charlie Dale to the family around the beginning of October. Cody and I traveled to Florida for several days to attend our dear friends Chris & Tiffani's wedding! I also passed out at Church towards the end of the month, and was tagged as the invalid pregnant one who must be constantly watched by my Dad and husband.

July - Did I mention we had the hottest summer I can remember, and as a pregnant woman this is not fun. Instead of going on another tropical vacation like this time the year before I went to Denver City to see my family for nearly two weeks. Back to the invalid pregnant tag, Cody was working and out of town a great deal so I was sent to the babysitters house with the kids. We had alot of fun and were able to swim at my little sisters house!

August - JB started kindergarten! Yeah what a milestone, but before the first week was over we ended up in the Pediatric ICU due to a Rattlesnake bite. Here is the link to that story.

September - Three weeks after JB's hospital stay we were back welcoming Charlie Dale!

October - All I can say is Oh My! Three children is much different than two. We adjusted to the life of diapers, formula, and no sleep once again. We survived!

November - Our Princess turned 4!

December - I received my first phone call about JB visiting the principals office (I'm sure it won't be the last). I started and completed my Christmas shopping on December 22nd. I must admit that we still have not had our Christmas with Cody's family, and I still have not finished making all of their gifts. I will do better in 2012!

The best part of 2011 is this!

Hello 2012!

Well, I have to say that I am glad to leave 2011 behind and welcome in the new year! 2011 was filled with many unexpected events for our family, but in the end another year filled with blessings! Here is the link to my family blog, I am still trying to catch up there. Sure you will understand why I am behind.

This year I have many goals for myself, and one is to keep up with this blog a little more! Right now I am setting my goal of at least one blog per month with news from the BRCA world. I feel like this is a realistic goal, and one I can be proud of for the time being.

Here's to an uneventful 2012, and many blessings to you and yours!

What's in a name?

It's nearly that time around the Timmons house. I am currently 18 weeks along and this pregnancy seems to be flying by now. Next Tuesday on JB's 5th birthday I will be going in for my monthly appointment. At that time we will be scheduling my next ultrasound for the following weeks. I am very excited about finding out what we are having, but at the same time we will be doing away with a set of names.

Cody and I easily agreed upon names for both a boy and a girl very early on this time. Boys names have always been pretty easy for us. JB was inspired from a college friend of Cody's. All we had to do was fill in the blanks. Joshua came from the Bible, when all else fails look to the book!! Brent is Cody's middle name. This one was very easy. On the other hand though Taylor was a bit more of a challenge. Cody and I both like traditional names, and our girl names have always been a challenge. Taylor was also shy and we did not know she was a girl till around 28 weeks. When we finally found out I had to start over with my lists again. Why? Cody had vetoed everything on my list. I went through the baby name book countless times and started my list with about 30 names. I narrowed that down on my own first to 16. I took those 16 to Cody and he did not like any of them. I knew I wanted to use part of my Mother's name, but was not sure which part. So I had the additional challenge of finding a name that went with either Dana or Carol. Finally at 33 weeks I went back to Cody with 6 names with my mother's names as I would like to use them. Taylor had been on my first list, but I guess when I added the Carol is just seemed to work.

This time around Cody and I both agreed on both a boys and girls name within the first few weeks of finding out we were pregnant. They are once again traditional names and pulled from both of our families. I think this is what is making it so hard to have to say goodbye to one set of the names.

For a boy we will be having a:

Charlie Dale- Charlie is associated with both sides of the family. Charlie first comes from Cody's maternal great-grandfather, Charlie Brent. It also has ties in my family. My grandpa was Joe Charles Deaton, as well as, a cousin of mine. Dale is my dad's middle name.

For a girl we will be having:

Dana Christine- Dana was my mother's name. How lucky will I be to have two girls with both of my mother's names in theirs. Christine was Charlie Brent's wife. Making her Cody's maternal great-grandmother. I was lucky enough to know Granny Christine while she was alive, and this is truly a tribute to her!!

Now you know the story behind our names! Who are you voting for?


Dana Christine or Charlie Dale??

Here's to finding out soon!!

It's sinking in...

Talk about a whirlwind, the last 18 months have been non-stop and fairly intense. Just when I was thinking that things were beginning to return to a quasi normal, "Hello Betsey, your pregnant!" I am still not sure what God's reasoning is behind this pregnancy, but I am sure that over time He will let me in on his thinking. This last weekend we were in Denver City, and a friend of mine reminded me that I had once said "I will never be pregnant again." Maybe this is God reminding me that I am not the one in control.

All in all though, it is starting to become more of a tangible reality that we are having another baby. It has also started to occur to me some of the differences due to my mastectomies. I do not have swollen, sore, and ever growing boobies. I am loving this, but with this little perk brings the understanding that there will be no nourishment from Mommy for my new little one. I am sure you can understand all of the thoughts flooding my mind with this to think about. From all of the health questions to the thoughts of bonding there are alot of things I feel this baby might miss out on. Here is the deal though... God has made this pregnancy happen so I don't need to focus on all of the possible negatives. He decided that I was going to have another baby after all of my preventative surgeries from last year. Betsey does not need to worry about all of the things that might or might not happen, God will take care of each and every one of them for me.

So here's to Praying for a healthy baby!!

Unexpected Blessings!

Well I guess it is safe to let everyone in on our unexpected blessing for 2011. Back in early February we found out that we are expecting baby #3. Cody and I had both decided before this that we were content with our little family of four and were ready to take steps towards ovary removal or having my tubes tied. So to say the very least this was a huge surprise.

Over the last 15 months I have read so many message boards about "Baby after PBM," needless to say I never thought that I would one day be in that position. So far things have gone very well. If you were around for my two previous pregnancies you know that I am not a very good pregnant woman. I tend to spend a great deal of my 9 months hugging a toilet or pan of sorts with extreme nausea and vomiting. I had sworn off the thought of having any more babies because of this. Up to this point I have religiously taken my zofran, and had good and bad days. As of Monday we have crossed the 12 weeks mark and seem to be doing very well. I will not say the nausea is gone completely, but seems to be much better. We are still taking things day to day and pray fervently each night for another good day in the morning.

JB & Taylor are both very excited about having a baby, so excited that they have already moved in together and given up one of their bedrooms for the baby.

Other than that things are well in the Timmons household!! I am sure that I will continue to update everyone on the progress, and also have some posts devoted to "Baby after PBM."

Mid January Update

Well I had a few minutes of down time so I decided to give everyone an update on where I am right now.

I met with a personal trainer the first week of January and we decided to start me on some weight machines. I have been working on getting settled in to a routine as to when is the best time for me to go to the gym. The week of the 10th was not all that successful so I decided to try a different time this week, and I am proud to say that I have been to the gym 3 days!!

I had thought about going when the kids were both at school, but that took up the majority of my time to run errands when they are not with me. So I changed my thinking and have been going right after I pick JB up from school on MWF. This works out really well because the kids are entertained in the nursery and I have Mommy alone time while focusing on me. I have been trying to avoid the scale because I am lifting weights, and I have not perfected my routine yet. My mindset of gym time has already started changing. It is becoming more about enjoying my alone time and less about an inconvenience of taking time out of my day. Why did I not start this sooner?

I am feeling pretty successful so far about getting into a routine and schedule, and I am loving it!!


School started this week, and I am enjoying it. I decided back in November to limit myself to just one class, especially since my class is Anatomy and Physiology I. My other reason being it has been 7 years since I graduated with my first degree, and nearly 5 years since I have been out in the work force. So far I am very happy that I decided to start taking my Medical Terminology course back in October. If I had not done this I believe I might have been overwhelmed. Things are going well, and I still feel like I am making the right decision here.


Taylor and JB are both back in school after the Holiday's and we are for the most part healthy (apart from the occasional sniffle and sneeze). Things are going well, and we have been able to enjoy some much needed home time after all of our traveling before Christmas.

Hope everyone is well!!