Just when I was getting ready to finally start my career as a physician assistant after working so hard to get to this point for over a decade, I was diagnosed with DCIS grade 3 during a mammogram to monitor a hematoma from a major car accident. I am currently still rehabbing a broken ankle from my car accident while all of this is going on. 😢 I never could have anticipated any of this happening to me at this time in my life that is supposed to be filled with joy and the *good* stress of beginning this new career. My mother had ovarian cancer when I was a teenager and after 5 years she passed away due to complications from it. I watched her and cared for her throughout her treatment and it had a major impact on my life and who I have become as a person. I lived with my maternal grandmother through her ovarian and second breast cancer diagnoses, surgeries, and treatments. I have known that I was BRCA2+ since I was 22 and had always planned on a prophylactic mastectomy and reconstruction but wasn’t ready for a few more years but the universe said “No ma’am”. I will be having a bilateral mastectomy with reconstructive surgery and depending on the surgical pathology report, I may need to have chemo therapy if it is shown to be more invasive than initially thought. My husband has no healthcare or caregiving experience so I want to make sure that he is also sufficiently supported to not feel overwhelmed. Thank you so much for taking the time to read my abbreviated story.