What is considered family history?

The only thing I can tell you, is I had my Breast Cancer in the Dark Ages before x-ray, mammograms', etc. 1966. I felt a small lump in my left breast, saw the doctor the next day (I had worked for him for 7 years). He arranged an appointment for me within a month. with a Vascular Surgeon. He looked at it, said it probably was nothing but that we probably should remove the lump just to make sure. If it was cancer, surgery would be done right then and I would wake up after surgery either with or without a breast. You guessed it, it was cancer and I did wake up without a breast. That was 52 years ago, and I am 92 now. I am sorry to say, I think we concentrate too much on beauty, and not enough on what will save a life. Cancer needs to go as soon as possible, and sometimes it is difficult to know whether it is or is not cancer. If we make a mistake, I would think it is better to make a mistake in a little to much concern, than not being concerned enough. Each of us makes our own decisions since it is our life we are gambling with. Do what make you comfortable.

I do so agree with you. For myself, I was diagnosed young and since I carry a genetic predisposition and had an aggressive cancer, I agreed to do everything I could to stop it and I don’t regret a thing.
Thanks for spending time here with us❣️

Usually “family history” is limited to parents, siblings, and grandparents, but I know for my nieces they count my breast cancer as family history too. So I think that your question is “In genetics, what is family history”? For that, I believe the women on your mom’s side would be important part of your family history. But I’m not a geneticist, so…
Your case sounds very similar to how my cancer was found. My sister was diagnosed at 28 so I’d been getting screened every 6 months since I was 26. I moved and went to a new facility and had my mammogram where they saw a mass so they did an US. On US, they didn’t see that mass but did see another mass. The radiologist said that it didn’t look like cancer because it didn’t have the spider-like appearance and he didn’t see any calcifications. He measured it at 1.1 cm. He recommended we check it again at my next visit.
I told him no way. I wanted it biopsied — now. My sister had also been told not to worry that it was probably nothing (thankfully, she spoke up for herself and is NED). I had the biopsy and the radiologist assured me that all of the samples he took out looked very normal. Four days later I got a call at work that I had cancer. I wasn’t surprised — I already knew that it would be. And I honestly felt like now I could quit living in fear of getting breast cancer and could deal with it and move on. I was lucky to be working at UCSF (I had my biopsy at a private practice clinic) and had an “in” with the surgeons and oncologists, so I transferred my records and got appointments set up quickly. When they did pathology on what remained of the tumor, it had grown to 1.9 cm in a really short time.
Advocate for yourself. I agree that you need either to have a different radiologist’s review of the mammogram and US or ask your PCP to go to bat for you to get the biopsy without new scans. Obviously it’s up to you — if you’re ok waiting 6 months, don’t be scared by my or other people’s stories (I’m 13 years NED, btw).

Thank you for your reply. It is very helpful to me. I just am very quiet and don’t speak up so all of these answers have helped me be able to do this. I do have an appt with my dr next week to go over everything❤️

Best wishes! I know it can be hard to speak up, but if you’re not comfortable with your health care, please always speak up! Doctors are just people and the good ones will be grateful that you shared your concerns. They can either reassure you about their recommendation with more information or the two of you can come up with a different approach to your situation. In the end, they’ll want to know that you understand and are comfortable with your healthcare.
If you find one who bristles and doesn’t appreciate your questions, run, don’t walk, to a new doctor.

Thank you so much for the helpful response! I appreciate it. I will definitely have to speak up. I go next week to my dr to go over everything. Again, I appreciate your response. It helped me.

So glad things turned out right for you. Unfortunately, there was no report as to what type of tumor I had, only cancer approximately 1 1/2 cm. I had very little to say with regard to treatment. It was all decided for me. I was aware, the woman who sat in the same seat as I did for 1 year, also had breast cancer and died. I do not know what type of breast cancer she had. I have been tested for the clotting Gene because of having had a lung embolism, but I never have had the Gene for cancer done.
Gina5009