When faced with a BRCA positive diagnosis, you have two options — you can choose preventative surgeries or monitoring. I love talking about this topic. Normally, I am pro “do whatever you want with your body,” but for this topic, I’m so biased to my personal opinion that preventative is the answer; hence the “Prophylactic over Monitoring” title.

So with monitoring, regular women would get a yearly check up and check themselves regularly. If you’re in a certain age bracket, you would also get mammogram annual or biannually. If you’re under a certain age, you can have an ultrasound in place of the mammogram.

When you test BRCA positive, I believe everything doubles, and not only with your primary doctor, you now have an oncologist and a genetic counselor. I personally feel like doctor’s appointments are an inconvenience to my schedule. On top of that, I don’t understand the concept.

In my head, monitoring is basically waiting to get cancer to do something about it, and yes, I understand just because you’re BRCA positive doesn’t mean that you will develop cancer but what if you do…isn’t this what all this monitoring is for?

So, say you monitor for many years and at the age of 60 you find out you are positive for breast cancer. You would have to get the procedure anyway and trust me the procedure was HARDDDDD at 25, I really can’t imagine 60! ALSO, why spend all that time inconveniencing yourself being monitored when you can attack the problem straight on and you won’t have to worry about the issue but once a year.

I choose prophylactic surgery for three reasons:

• I was not fond of the several doctors’ appointments, including ultrasounds as, I have an extreme anxiety of being stuck in a machine, not being able to move.

• I don’t personally believe in monitoring until the inevitable, and it’s ok if you do. For me, if my tire is balding, then I should get a new tire before it pops. Whenever that tire decides to pop, I know it won’t be convenient. Not only will it not be inconvenient, but it could cause a crash. I feel the same way about breast cancer. Yes, you can monitor it, but is breast cancer ever convenient? No. Is it guaranteed to be a stage 0 or 1? NO. Is there a possibility you may create extra steps for yourself such as radiation and/or chemotherapy? Yes.

• Lastly, all the women in my family who have tested positive for BRCA, have developed breast cancer. I have seen the way it has directly affected my family emotionally, mentally, and financially. I don’t want to start a family and put my kids through the same thing my brother and I have been through.

Preventative is in no way easy, especially depending on your reconstruction option. I can tell you I’ve had one of the hardest reconstruction recoveries and not only is it doable, it’s worth it (with the right doctors).

BRCA is not all about breast cancer; ovarian cancer also plays a huge role. Ovarian cancer is a lot more complicated than breast Cancer in my eyes as it’s not as easily detectable and unlike breast cancer, you need your ovaries to reproduce.

I am currently 26 and I am without children. I do find it useless to get one preventative surgery and not the other. My partner and I are planning to have children within the next four years so that I can move forward in my process. I know the way I scrolled through my process may not be as easy for most and it wasn’t that easy for me either. But when you’re serious about your life, a different mindset tunes in and anything is possible.