[harrie]

Farign,
It is not impossible, but improbable that you carry the breast cancer gene with the family history your wrote about.
I do have a strong family history of breast cancer and a history of it myself. I was NOT going to be tested because I thought I was being monitered close enough and I assumed that was sufficient enough for me. I have 2 sisters and they were interested in knowing if they had the gene and they have never had br ca. It made the most sense for me to be tested first because I had DCIS twice, so for their sake, I had myself tested. The reason for this is because if I am tested +, then for their testing, all they had to do was look for the defective part of my results and for my sisters it meant their testing would become much less extensive and more narrowed down, looking for the defect that I had (if that makes sense to you). (I will be glad to reword this for a better explanation if anyone is interested)
After genetic counselling, I discovered that if I am tested positive, my survellience would be different, it would consist of annual MRI's and annual mammograms.
So I was tested and it turned out to be positive for BRCA2. My sisters then were tested (50/50 chance they also carried the gene) and they were both tested neg. My daughter (50/50 chance also) tested negative.
My genetic testing ran about $3,000, although my insurance picked it all up, and my sisters and daughters test ran around $300.
I hope this information benefited you.
Remember, just because you test positive is not a guarantee you will get br ca and it also holds true that if you are not a carrier of the BRCA gene it is not an assurance that you will not get breast cancer.
Maryanne