I hear you, Debet. My mom had breast cancer at 40, so it's something that kinda freaks me out. But I think I am generally pretty good at denial, and at assuming that even though I have not had a baby before 30 or breastfed or whatever else is supposed to be helpful, I la la la la la not going to happen to me!

I hope everything works out great for your mom! (Mine is fine, 25 years later--and her cancer treatment was 25 years ago, imagine the strides they've made!)

Not a great reason to have a baby, I will offer. Unless you name it something like Improved Odds. Imp would be cute though.

Still not a good idea, what with the whole "grad school" thing, the "no money" thing, etc, etc.

I think your cat is comfort eating carbs.

I'm choosing to blame the butter on the toast and the salt on the chips. Cats Iz Strange.

Debet, that is a really sucky situation, both to be worried about your mom and to be worried about your own health. I don't think it's selfish at all to be thinking about what this might mean for you in the future; it's a natural and sensible response. I am 100% sure that it will not stop you from being supportive of your mom when she needs it.

Thanks, guys.

Ginger, that's what I was going off of (like I said, not-healthy googling. Access to the medical literature through school may not be super-helpful, either.). The "both sides of the family" thing freaks me out, largely because there's not much literature that I can find about it. I want data, people.

Still not a good idea, what with the whole "grad school" thing, the "no money" thing, etc, etc.

Poor Imp.

Hypothetical Imp, who would totally have a name that was less literal and more metaphorical (I do love a good literary reference).

Debet, do NOT think that this is any less of a situation than any of the rest of us are going through.

I wish there was something that I could tell you that would help, but (at least for me) knowing b.org peeps were around to listen and support me was (and is) more than comforting.

Once grad school is over and you are financially comfortable and if you get pregnant, I really hope the preg's nickname on the board will be Hypothetical Imp.

Man, I doubt my commitment to sparkle motion and caffeine. I just realized that ALL of the tea I've been drinking today has been decaf. Sort of meant for the first two to be actual tea. Dammit.

Maria, definitely no less of a situation, though, hopefully, less [insert relevant adjective] of one.

Cass, so noted.

Caffeine is so non-optional.

I am you in the wanting data, debet. I've spent a lot of time looking at risk assessment, because nuclear power is all about quantifying risks, and then I got stage 3b breast cancer and became a statistics fiend. I spent a lot of time muttering, "It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data." My most comforting thought was the knowledge that all five-year statistics are more than five years old.

Aside from the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, which account for about 4 percent of cases, the family connection is fuzzy because it's thought that a combination of genes can increase your susceptibility to breast cancer and even with family members on both sides, the genetic deck gets reshuffled unpredictably.

I do hope your mother's cancer stays simple. Without lymph note involvement, the survival stats are excellent. And I don't think you'd be human if you didn't sometimes think, "But what does this mean for me?"

Let me know if there's anything I can do.