Blood test required. Volunteers?

Well what have I been doing lately? One week post chemo and the side effects have been mostly the same as the previous two cycles.

I went to work today but felt very tired by the afternoon. I also notice myself getting lightheaded and breathless which is what happened before when I became anaemic and needed the blood transfusion. Rang the ward for advice given that I don't have any further blood tests lined up at the moment and if I get to pre assessment for my next surgery with haemoglobin as low as it went before my last transfusion then I rather suspect that I will fail the pre assessment. 

The nurse told me to go to my GP surgery on Monday and get a blood test and a cross match done in case I do need further blood. I'm sure the GP receptionist will give me a suitably warm and welcoming response when I ring up trying to get them to simply do all that stuff there and then on my say so, I can't see myself getting within a 50 metre radius of a practice nurse for a same day appointment, especially what with flu injection shenanigans going on at the moment too. I may be pleasantly surprised. We shall see.

Saw the Genetics lady for my follow up appointment on Thursday. She is lovely, very enthusiastic about the research she is involved in. She confirmed that the BRCA 2 gene does not skip a generation, so what that means here is that if I have it then at least one of my parents must have it too. The testing process for my relatives is much quicker now they have my results as they know exactly what they are looking for in the DNA. Seriously, it has like numbers and grid reference codes and everything. She showed me mine on the results letter. Pretty clever stuff. 

She invited me to attend the support group in Exeter for people who have the BRCA genes. Now I'm all for helping each other and yes upon reflection I can see how I could be helpful and reassuring to someone considering a double mastectomy because yes I have had that same operation. However, other than that, what would we talk about?? I can see boundless foot in mouth opportunities occurring at a group populated by both ends of the spectrum. I'm envisaging one circle of attendees evangelising about the benefits of preventative mastectomies and timely GP referrals for BRCA testing whilst another group of actual cancer sufferers huddle around congratulating themselves on "taking one for the team" by being the one to get cancer thereby selflessly alerting their relatives to the existence of the BRCA gene in their family. Awkward...