August 25, 2012

The plan

So what are your plans for the future? Well I'll be fighting cancer. I've had my appointment with the surgeon and it was another long and confronting talk.

Let's start with the good news: after more research the sentinel lymph node was again negative for cancer. The tumor was 1.8 cm and was removed completely. So goodbye to you little fucker. The wounds/scars are healing and I do feel somewhat better. 

The bad news is that it was a grade 3 cancer. Obviously a high grade aggressive cancer that grows faster and is more likely to spread. This means lots and lots of treatment. Not only was my tumor hormone-receptor positive but it was also found her2-positive (a protein thing).

So in short this is the plan:

1) Within 4-6 weeks I will start radiation therapy. About 25-30 times. Probably 5 times a week.
2) My chemo will start about two weeks after finishing radiation therapy (hopefully about 6-8 times).
3) During the chemo my herceptin will start and will continue after finishing chemo (not sure yet how many times but probably a lot). Herceptin has far fewer immediate side effects than chemotherapy. For example, there is usually no nausea or hair loss. However, there is a small but real risk of heart damage and possible lung damage.
4) Last but not least: hormone blocking therapy for five years.

So yeah.. that's a lot. To handle. For one person. I'm pretty scared of how my body is going to cope with all of this. Not to mention the mind. But it's not like I have a choice. So crazy medical roller coaster... here I come.

3 comments:

  1. It is all so much to take in for one person for sure. I know how you are feeling right now... it's very overwhelming. And the road seems so long and hard. You will get through it though. It is amazing how tough we are when we really have to be.

    Grade 3 is very common for us young folk. They dont know why exactly but younger women tend to have the more aggressive faster growing tumours. And estrogen receptors seem to be high too in us.

    It is interesting that you will do radiation first before chemotherapy.

    Either way, I hope you are recovering ok from surgery and everything is healing up nicely with not too much discomfort.

    Sending you positive thoughts! xxoo

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    1. Thank you so much Ashley, your comments mean a lot to me!

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