I saw my surgeon Dr. Tsuei last Thursday. He said I'm healing fine and to come back in six months. Two down.
Someone from Dr Rubin's office called and informed me I am not eligible to participate in the study. It is only for women who have not yet had any treatment. Since I've already had radiation it makes me ineligible. However, that doesn't really change anything regarding the results of the Oncotype test.
Yesterday I went for more tests. Surprise, Surprise. This time I had to drink two bottles of stuff, one at 6:30am and the other at 7:30am. Something to do with the contrast CT scan. Once I got there they also put in an IV and shot something in my vein. She said it would be really warm to hot and I would feel like I had wet myself. She was right. When that was over I had another injection for the full body bone scan. I had to wait 2 1/2 hours for it to go through my system so I left and ran some errands.
That's about it for now. I think I'll take my neighbor up on her offer to visit at her beach house for a couple of days as I have another open week coming up. Then on the 9th of July I'm meeting my mom in Chicago for a week long Illinois trip to celebrate her 80th birthday.
My next doctor appointment is on July 7th when I'll find out the results of the latest round of tests. I'll post again after I have that meeting. Let's all hope for good news.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Round two
Let's see, I went 12 days without seeing a doctor or having a test. That is the longest physician free period I've had since my first mammogram on April 2. Wow, it seemed like such a long time. I guess because most weeks I had more than one appointment of some sort. For someone that's rarely been sick it has been pretty overwhelming.
Last week I had a followup with the radiologist. I don't have to see him again until December. One down.
Tomorrow I see the surgeon again. This will be my second followup with him. Hopefully he will be finished with me or at least a six month followup.
Today was with the medical oncologist. Dr. Peter Rubin. Got some good information from this meeting, like the results of the pathology test. Old school would be I could take the maintenance drug Tamoxifen or Femara for five years and be done. However, there is a new test targeted for people with my type of breast cancer... early-stage, estrogen receptor-positive and lymph node-negative. The test will look at my tumor and based on the activity of 21 different genes determine the likelihood of recurrence for me specifically. I don't know, but it seems like a real no brainer to me to find out if I would benefit from chemo.
My decision is whether to participate in the trial study or not. It works like this. You have the test and are given a Recurrence Score (1-100) that falls into one of three groups. 10 or less, hormonal therapy only, 26 or greater hormonal therapy and chemo. The mid group of 11-25 is where the trial comes in. As the doctor explained this group is kind of a crap shoot. The benefit of chemo hasn't been determined yet, or just where is the point that chemo will help. If you're in this group it's 50/50 whether you'll get chemo or not. I'm leaning toward being in the trial even if it means I might have to go through the chemo. It's the only way science can advance, to have participants and the sooner they can get results the more people that can be helped in the future. I'll just hope that I fall in the 10 or less or draw the no chemo card!
Last week I had a followup with the radiologist. I don't have to see him again until December. One down.
Tomorrow I see the surgeon again. This will be my second followup with him. Hopefully he will be finished with me or at least a six month followup.
Today was with the medical oncologist. Dr. Peter Rubin. Got some good information from this meeting, like the results of the pathology test. Old school would be I could take the maintenance drug Tamoxifen or Femara for five years and be done. However, there is a new test targeted for people with my type of breast cancer... early-stage, estrogen receptor-positive and lymph node-negative. The test will look at my tumor and based on the activity of 21 different genes determine the likelihood of recurrence for me specifically. I don't know, but it seems like a real no brainer to me to find out if I would benefit from chemo.
My decision is whether to participate in the trial study or not. It works like this. You have the test and are given a Recurrence Score (1-100) that falls into one of three groups. 10 or less, hormonal therapy only, 26 or greater hormonal therapy and chemo. The mid group of 11-25 is where the trial comes in. As the doctor explained this group is kind of a crap shoot. The benefit of chemo hasn't been determined yet, or just where is the point that chemo will help. If you're in this group it's 50/50 whether you'll get chemo or not. I'm leaning toward being in the trial even if it means I might have to go through the chemo. It's the only way science can advance, to have participants and the sooner they can get results the more people that can be helped in the future. I'll just hope that I fall in the 10 or less or draw the no chemo card!
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