After some consideration and a couple of trips to various offices, we have determined that testing for the BRCA+ gene is not practical, at this point.
It’s wildly expensive. At one of the meetings, I was shown a paper that said the average person who opts for this testing pays about a hundred dollars. At the second meeting with out HMO, they estimated a figure much higher than that. We simply can’t afford it. It doesn’t help that Katie will undergo oral surgery in two weeks.
I also learned something surprising during those meetings: the BRCA gene is expressed in men as prostate cancer. My dad went through a round of radiation for prostate cancer a couple years ago. So maybe it is genetic. It probably isn’t, but it might be, That’s not good.
I know what this testing will tell me, but I don’t necessarily know what I would do with the information. There’s nothing I can do about it. I want Katie to be able to make decisions about her health, but is she chooses, she can get the testing later in life.
Jen's Cancer Blog 
I thought about getting testing too, I have three aunt (out of six ) on my father’s side who had breast cancer. Also one cousin on my father’s. That turns out to be a roughly 50 percent of females on my father’s side who got breast cancer. My mother had breast cancer , but none of her four sisters, so in her case it was probably not hereditary. I do have a four second cousins that are female and I worry about their chances.
I am a survivor. Surprisingly my HMO did pay for the testing. If you did take the test and you proved positive, They would suggest you remove your ovaries due to the high instance of ovarian cancer in people with this gene mutation. It was suggested to me that if I couldn’t get the HMO to pay for it, I could take a vacation to Europe and have the testing done there for next to nothing. In other words a trip to Europe with the testing costs just as much as the testing alone here in the U.S.
Wishing the best for you on your journey.
That is interesting about how it is expressed in men. Mom is a BC survivor and she had a paternal aunt with it. Wish they could bring down the cost in testing. Praying for you and for Katie’s oral surgery. Thanks for the updates!
To be quite honest, I’m just worried that mine’ll go as bad as my father’s did when he had to get his wisdoms out. Oh, guess what; I have five of them. O____O