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!