Okay so now I've had my mastectomy and I'm healing well -- I have one drain left in still and cleared for biking -- which I would have done today had the ride not been canceled. I napped, but only because there was no ride --then I walked Pinky 4 miles, and I did fine. SOmetimes I even held her with my right hand. I just had to hold her so that if she pulled I pulled back rather than having my arm yanked out of its socket right at the surgery site. She's pretty predictable, so I could do it. (Joan's stronger, but Pinky took Joan by surprise a lot last weekend -- that's harder to do to me, since I've been with her for 2 years.)
Anyway the tumor response to the chemo was mixed. I went through this two posts ago, but this is more detailed. One tumor shrank from 6 to 3 cm, and then half of the 3cm was still alive. The other tumor, which was a little under 2cm to start with, didn't respond much to the chemo at all. That's okay if that's all there was -- and the good thing is, the smaller tumor had cells that were grade 1 (the closest to normal. Grades are 1-3.) The larger tumor had grade 2 cells. It is possible that the larger tumor responded better to chemo because chemo targets rapidly growing cells (like hair! and red and white blood cells) and the smaller tumor didn't grow that fast. That should be hopeful, right? (I do hear about lots of people with much smaller breast cancers than mine which are much more aggressive. They respond better to chemo but there is always the worry that they might come back because if they do they will grow fast.)
ANyway the worry about the live tumor left, which responded only partially -- and the other one which didn't respond much at all, is that if they sent tentacles out into the rest of my body it's a bit scary, because maybe those micro tumors are still there. (They didn't show up on the pre-chemo scan.) SO my mayo onc suggests more chemo, a combo of taxol, which I just took in 12 weekly (small) doses, and carboplatin, in 4 big doses, starting in 2 weeks, 3 weeks apart. Pluses will be unknown, since there's no tumor left by which to measure its progress. Insurance should pay, because it's an approved therapy for other cancers (lung, ovarian, and metastatic breast cancer.) Mine's not metastatic -- the point is to nip it in the bud, because it's at high risk of that happening. The minuses are, it delays the radiation (not a problem according to the rad onc at the Mayo because the closest margin was 2mm) and the tamoxifen, which is the hormone therapy. That should be okay as long as I keep having hot flashes (I ought to be able to manage that for two more weeks.... and after that the chemo ought to keep them I would think) and keep avoiding soy and beef...... I'm not worried about side effects -- I mean I won't enjoy them, but I should be able to handle them; I've handled this whole chemo thing pretty well I think. ALan does have one more scientific worry about what if there are cancer cells in my body which partially respond but which learn how to fight off the chemo..... There is no way of knowing and I still think that the plusses of whopping them in the ass NOW have to be worth the risk.
NO, I think the hardest part will be, will my G-town onc go for it or will I have to get on a plane every time I want to get the darned chemo and get it in minnesota......? I will try to think positive, since I'm seeing her in the morning. She's a good onc, but I'm afraid she will see the question in terms of which is safer for HER, and that is going to come up on the side of the tried and true therapy. WHich is better for ME is a more interesting question -- really hard to know the answer to. I hope she will help me with it. Alan thinks I should go in with that question on the table, assuming that it is my choice (as it should be) and jsut ask her help with it. I will try to do that; it's a good approach, I think. Then if she actually says she will not prescribe it I will ask her to please reconsider as I am seriously considering doing it.....
Meanwhile I signed up to lead the bike ride on Friday -- and tomorrow I'll bike to Georgetown. OH and the surgeon was right about the fevers I think -- they never returned. Obviously biking cures more ailments than they think. (Do I hear breast cancer??) :-D
Course my drain's not cooperating with my appointment schedule. Drain #2 is supposed to come out tomorrow. Well it put out under 30ccs on Monday and will do that again today, easily, but YESterday it put out 40. I'm supposed to have it pulled if it puts out under 30 for 2 consecutive days..... I called to change my surgical appt to Friday afternoon (Alan's here so it's okay about the kids) but no one answered -- all afternoon! My appt is tomorrow at 9am, so I just have to go to it and ask, and probably have hustled for nothing and have to make another appointment for Friday afternoon. I will let her pull it if she thinks the extra it put out might have had something to do with drain #1 having been pulled that day -- she had said that it might put out less, and the site where drain #1 was pulled from might leak a lot. Well it didn't leak at all, and drain #2 put out more that day. I am sure she will know if this is a common thing that is about the removed drain.....
It was wierd that I couldn't reach anyone about the surgical question -- or even get a voicemail! When I met her (yesterday) the surgeon had bristled at the fact that I'd had my surgery done out of state by a non famous surgeon. But see, the Mayo would never just not be available like that -- there would always be a way to find them. And there was no pre-surgery sedative needed at the mayo, either ..... they are just that nice, and warm -- and they come hang out with the patients before surgery -- I bet the patients are all relaxed! I know I was, and that's not something I do from the inside out, but with help from others. Hard to explain that I went for the whole place rather than for one particular person........
Anyway the tumor response to the chemo was mixed. I went through this two posts ago, but this is more detailed. One tumor shrank from 6 to 3 cm, and then half of the 3cm was still alive. The other tumor, which was a little under 2cm to start with, didn't respond much to the chemo at all. That's okay if that's all there was -- and the good thing is, the smaller tumor had cells that were grade 1 (the closest to normal. Grades are 1-3.) The larger tumor had grade 2 cells. It is possible that the larger tumor responded better to chemo because chemo targets rapidly growing cells (like hair! and red and white blood cells) and the smaller tumor didn't grow that fast. That should be hopeful, right? (I do hear about lots of people with much smaller breast cancers than mine which are much more aggressive. They respond better to chemo but there is always the worry that they might come back because if they do they will grow fast.)
ANyway the worry about the live tumor left, which responded only partially -- and the other one which didn't respond much at all, is that if they sent tentacles out into the rest of my body it's a bit scary, because maybe those micro tumors are still there. (They didn't show up on the pre-chemo scan.) SO my mayo onc suggests more chemo, a combo of taxol, which I just took in 12 weekly (small) doses, and carboplatin, in 4 big doses, starting in 2 weeks, 3 weeks apart. Pluses will be unknown, since there's no tumor left by which to measure its progress. Insurance should pay, because it's an approved therapy for other cancers (lung, ovarian, and metastatic breast cancer.) Mine's not metastatic -- the point is to nip it in the bud, because it's at high risk of that happening. The minuses are, it delays the radiation (not a problem according to the rad onc at the Mayo because the closest margin was 2mm) and the tamoxifen, which is the hormone therapy. That should be okay as long as I keep having hot flashes (I ought to be able to manage that for two more weeks.... and after that the chemo ought to keep them I would think) and keep avoiding soy and beef...... I'm not worried about side effects -- I mean I won't enjoy them, but I should be able to handle them; I've handled this whole chemo thing pretty well I think. ALan does have one more scientific worry about what if there are cancer cells in my body which partially respond but which learn how to fight off the chemo..... There is no way of knowing and I still think that the plusses of whopping them in the ass NOW have to be worth the risk.
NO, I think the hardest part will be, will my G-town onc go for it or will I have to get on a plane every time I want to get the darned chemo and get it in minnesota......? I will try to think positive, since I'm seeing her in the morning. She's a good onc, but I'm afraid she will see the question in terms of which is safer for HER, and that is going to come up on the side of the tried and true therapy. WHich is better for ME is a more interesting question -- really hard to know the answer to. I hope she will help me with it. Alan thinks I should go in with that question on the table, assuming that it is my choice (as it should be) and jsut ask her help with it. I will try to do that; it's a good approach, I think. Then if she actually says she will not prescribe it I will ask her to please reconsider as I am seriously considering doing it.....
Meanwhile I signed up to lead the bike ride on Friday -- and tomorrow I'll bike to Georgetown. OH and the surgeon was right about the fevers I think -- they never returned. Obviously biking cures more ailments than they think. (Do I hear breast cancer??) :-D
Course my drain's not cooperating with my appointment schedule. Drain #2 is supposed to come out tomorrow. Well it put out under 30ccs on Monday and will do that again today, easily, but YESterday it put out 40. I'm supposed to have it pulled if it puts out under 30 for 2 consecutive days..... I called to change my surgical appt to Friday afternoon (Alan's here so it's okay about the kids) but no one answered -- all afternoon! My appt is tomorrow at 9am, so I just have to go to it and ask, and probably have hustled for nothing and have to make another appointment for Friday afternoon. I will let her pull it if she thinks the extra it put out might have had something to do with drain #1 having been pulled that day -- she had said that it might put out less, and the site where drain #1 was pulled from might leak a lot. Well it didn't leak at all, and drain #2 put out more that day. I am sure she will know if this is a common thing that is about the removed drain.....
It was wierd that I couldn't reach anyone about the surgical question -- or even get a voicemail! When I met her (yesterday) the surgeon had bristled at the fact that I'd had my surgery done out of state by a non famous surgeon. But see, the Mayo would never just not be available like that -- there would always be a way to find them. And there was no pre-surgery sedative needed at the mayo, either ..... they are just that nice, and warm -- and they come hang out with the patients before surgery -- I bet the patients are all relaxed! I know I was, and that's not something I do from the inside out, but with help from others. Hard to explain that I went for the whole place rather than for one particular person........
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