- By Tara Namey, MS, LCGC
- Posted July 28, 2016
What to Expect Regarding Your Health Care Following the Identification of a BRCA1 or BRCA2 Gene Mutation
When you learn that you have a BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutation, there are naturally questions as to what this will mean for your ongoing medical care and what you will need to do differently. The initial conversation with your healthcare provider will likely include a discussion about the options available to more carefully screen…
- By Deepti Babu, MS, CGC
- Posted June 30, 2016
What Healthcare Providers Learn from Their Patients
When you go to an appointment with your healthcare provider, what do you expect? Information. Discussion. Compassion. Maybe a plan. And for good measure, a joke or two? That’s what I expect, anyway, when things are going well. That combination definitely shifts if things aren’t going well with my health. Then I expect to learn facts, offered…
- By Georgia Hurst
- Posted June 6, 2016
The Importance of Genetic Counseling With Genetic Testing
As I sit in the hereditary cancer trenches, I see the negative effects of genetic testing sans certified genetic counseling every single day – and it is an enormous problem. Many of the fears and concerns that people discuss with me could be addressed and ameliorated simply if they spoke with a certified genetic counselor before and…
- By Kory Jasperson, MS,CGC
- Posted May 18, 2016
How Expert Care Teams Can Help You
My name is Kory Jasperson. If you asked my friends or family to tell you something about me, they’d probably tell you I’m an adrenaline junkie. They all know how much I love jumping out of perfectly good airplanes, off the tops of buildings, and even off the peaks of mountains or cliffs. Although some of my colleagues may reiterate the same…
- By Jessica Profato, MS, CGC
- Posted February 4, 2016
Coping with Cancer: 5 Lessons from my Patients
As a clinical genetic counselor, a big part of my job was educating my patients about the basics of genetics and hereditarycancer. Another equally, if not more, important part of my job was to talk to them about how a diagnosis of cancer, a positive genetic test result, or a combination of the two was impacting their life and those of their family…
- By Deepti Babu, MS, CGC
- Posted January 21, 2016
Advocacy groups: I got more out of it than they did
Several years ago when I was a new genetic counselor, doe-eyed and fresh out of grad school, I made sure certain topics came up in every session I had with a family. I covered the facts: the family history I’d collected, a review of genetic patterns, and any genetic testing options the family needed to consider. I’d usually write down notes…