We met with my oncologist the other day. The high points of my final pathology report from my surgery show that my tumor cells are very affected by certain hormones in my body and the cells grow on the aggressive end of the scale.
Because the pathology of my mastectomy 3 years ago showed only DCIS (cancer cells trapped inside the ductal walls) with no infiltration into the actual breast tissue – he believes this tumor was a new primary that came from the microscopic breast cells left behind in the skin.
And even though all 14 lymph nodes that were just removed were “clear”, the pathologist and my oncologist believe that there has probably been the beginnings of the cancer spreading into the lymphatic system, but just not large enough to detect yet. The treatment recommendation for me is:
Taxotere and Carboplatin (the chemo "cocktail") for 18 weeks at 3 week intervals.
Herceptin weekly while getting chemo treatments, then down to every 3 weeks until we’ve completed 1 year of treatment.
Since the Herceptin has potential cardiac side effects, I will get a screening before treatments begin, then again at 3 months, 6 months, 12 months and 18 months. If they suspect any issues with my heart, they stop the Herceptin treatments temporarily, do some more testing, then try to start them again.
After all of that is finished, I will have some radiation treatments to the under arm area on the right side.
After chemo and radiation treatments, it is suggested that I need to either get monthly shots to shut down my ovaries and end the estrogen in my system – or just get them removed (my choice). However, before we schedule the surgery, my Dr. thinks I should get the genetic testing done to see where I fall in the BRCA rankings – so we know whether to also remove the uterus. (Boy the fun just doesn’t stop, does it?)
On Feb. 4th, we will meet with my sister's oncologist in NY. I really hope that he will agree that this is the correct course of action. If he doesn’t I’m really going to be sad, frustrated, confused, etc…
****** If you are interested in reading further about the drugs they are about to start pumping into my body - check out these 3 links. They aren't too long, not overly technical and have an interesting section at the bottom that explains how the drugs work in the body.
http://www.chemocare.com/bio/taxotere.asphttp://www.chemocare.com/bio/carboplatin.asphttp://www.chemocare.com/bio/herceptin.asp
No comments:
Post a Comment