Friday, October 3, 2008

MELARIS

I was doing a little research today and came across this test that can help to determine your risk of developing melanoma. Part of me would like to look into getting and part of me doesn't. I worry A LOT about getting melanoma, espcially now that it seems have such a strong genetic presence is our family. Sometimes I look at my children and wonder how much of their lives I will live to see. Knowing my odds won't change them, but maybe make my doctors and myself more vigilant in keeping my healthy. But can I live with that knowledge if the test does come back positive? Just curious what your thoughts are on this Tate and Dorius family. Here is a website about the test.
http://www.myriad.com/products/melaris.php

2 comments:

Dawn said...

I had a doctor recommend doing this. I was a go until I learned that it may make getting health insurance difficult - pre-existing condition. Some say it is not a "pre-existing condition" and some say it is. Annabelle Bitter didn't think it would cause problems with insurance.
Regardless, I think we all MUST be diligent with our doctor appointments and stay ahead of the game - without living in a state of panic.
Melanoma is such an ugly disease. I hate it!!
We have made it to ten weeks. Some of us are feeling like we are making progress and some of us aren't. It seems "time" is making reality set in and that is worse than the first few weeks of missing her.
I hope you are all doing well. We still think about you often.

The Brannon Family said...

Like Dawn and the rest of us, I HATE MELANOMA. My thought is this, I already know that I have some sort of genetic link to melanoma. I don’t know that I have the actual gene or not, but I know that I need to be vigilant in my check-ups. If I had someone tell me I actually had the gene, I think I would spend my life waiting for the other shoe to fall. Am I going to get it when I am 40, 50 or 60? I don’t think it would make me any more vigilant in my check-ups and sunscreen, just more paranoid.

I think about the book Tuesdays with Morrie, and Mitch asks Morrie if he is scared of dying. He replies to Mitch that all of us dying. He proceeds to tell him that if we all realized that, we would live much differently. I think about Steph, Kathy, Colleen and Sylvia and I think the lesson I learned is that you don’t know what will happen in the future, so it is important to live life to the fullest now. All of these amazing women did that, and although their lives were cut all too short, I think they could all look back and be proud of what they had done and how they lived their lives. That is my goal.