Mutations

Mutate is such a loaded word, is it not? It has a fairly simple technical definition but somehow mutate carries a heavier, more loaded connotation than the word "change." And if that is the case, then you could definitely say that my life has...mutated. It seems that I am the winner of a very specific type of genetic lottery and let's just say the prize isn't a good one. A month or so after my mother's death, my Dad received a notification from my mom's oncologist, stating that one of her biopsies came back with a gene mutation that may have led to her death and it is inheritable. They recommended testing for any children, and you know it's bad when Kaiser recommends genetic testing. So, I go to get the testing done and lo and behold, I hold the golden ticket. Now, it isn't the BCRA gene, thank goodness, which is much more aggressive and would have a much bigger impact. However, this gene apparently can have it's hand in multiple organs, not j...