PET Scan Results, Chemo Start Date, and Treatment Plans

Hey y'all, 

I'm just gonna come right out and say it: The PET scan was CLEAR!!!!  My doctor actually called us that afternoon to give me the good news.  You may be asking, "What does this mean?" Well, it means that, as far as they can tell, the cancer has not metastasized to any other organ.  That is great news.  So we feel like we know what we are dealing with and we will continue with the treatment that my oncologist has laid out for my breast cancer. We were SO relieved to hear this news.  We were honestly preparing ourselves for the worst because we did not feel prepared when we found out the news last time that my cancer was invasive in the first place. But now we can just be thankful and our hearts can rest a little bit.

The other news is that I start chemo this Thursday, September 18th. More info below.

Below are some of the questions that people may be have...

Where will you get your treatment? We decided on the Cleveland Clinic.  It is an amazing facility with amazing resources and it is only an hour and a half from where we live.  We are so thankful that one of the top cancer treating facilities is so close to us. We believe that I would have received excellent care at AGH in Pittsburgh as well, but Cleveland is a little bit easier logistically since my parents are near. 

What will your treatment look like? There are 5 main treatments for breast cancer: surgery, chemotherapy, targeted therapy, radiation therapy, and hormone therapy. And I will be getting all of them!  They are basically throwing everything they have at this cancer. The idea is that the surgery got out the whole cancerous mass.  However, there may be cancerous microorganisms floating through my body.  The chemo and other therapies are designed to kill any microorganisms, to prevent any from coming back. As for all the treatments, I already has my surgery, so that is done.  Over the next 5 months I will be getting chemotherapy and targeted therapy (16 rounds of chemotherapy in total). The first 4 rounds of chemo will be every other week.  The last 12 rounds of chemo will be weekly.  My plan is to have my chemo on Fridays so that I can recover on the weekends and return to work on Mondays. The targeted therapy is an IV drug that is similar to chemotherapy.  It is called Herceptin and will attack a special feature of my breast cancer called HER2. This drug has been called a 'miracle drug' by some because it is so effective at attacking that protein of the cancer cells.  We were actually very thankful to find out that I was HER2+ because that meant that I could take this drug! I will get the Herceptin with my chemo for the last 12 rounds, and then I will get it every 3 weeks for up to 1 year (until next November-ish). After my chemo is done, I will do a month of radiation therapy everyday.  From what I understand, the radiation is directed at my chest wall for just a few minutes every day, and it is designed to kill any lingering cancer cells in the chest wall. After I am done with radiation, then I will start the hormone therapy.  Hormone therapy will be a pill that I will take every day for 5-10 years. Another feature of my cancer is that it is estrogen+ and progesterone+, so it feeds on estrogen or progesterone.  The idea behind the hormone therapy is that it will block the estrogen in my body in order to prevent recurrence. These treatments will not be easy, but we are thankful to be at a place where we are now working on the solution.

How did the fertility treatments go?  They went great!  It was a lot of work to go through the process of freezing embryos, but we are not complaining because it was really important to us.  We are still floored by the fact that a foundation would pay the $12,000 for us.  We are beyond thankful.  After many appointments and nightly injections into my abdomen, we had the retrieval last Friday, the 12th. It was a relatively simple procedure for me (I mean, after a double mastectomy my standards have adjusted) and I had no pain afterward. They called to let us know that they were able to fertilize 12 eggs successfully and will be freezing the embryos for us to use at a later time. They usually shoot for about 10 good eggs, so 12 sounded good to us.  Plus, kids are cheaper by the dozen, aren't they?

In other news, I talked with my awesome boss today and we have planned for me to return to work part-time next Tuesday, September 23rd.  She has been very understanding and is willing to be flexible with my schedule as I go through chemotherapy these next few months.  Pray that blessings are heaped on her :)

Other than that, we are just preparing for me to start chemo on Thursday.  We are curious how I will react since chemo is so individualized.  We will let you know how everything goes once we lift our heads above water again! For now, here are some pictures from my past week...

My sister Eliz came to hang out and watch movies for a day :)

Natalie, my mom, and I had a blast trying on wigs over the weekend. I did find one that I liked, but we found this one to be particularly hilarious. Don't I look like Kat from 'Garth and Kat' of SNL? I could not stop laughing. (In case you have misunderstood, this is NOT the one that I chose.)

katie