Good News!!!

Just home from seeing the oncologist and the news from the CT scan I had before Christmas is amazing. They cannot clearly see any cancer in my lungs on the scan. They only can see where the ‘remnants’ (my word) of the bigger tumors are by comparing the December scan to the previous scan.

Tomorrow will be my last Taxotere treatment and I will be switched to Fulvestrant, a less invasive drug that will be administered by intramuscular injection. The common side effects include loss of appetite. I say, bring it on! Maybe I can lose some of this Taxotere weight. Hair loss is NOT one of the side effects. Bonus!

According to my oncologist, my situation is not typical (I’m not one to follow the pack). Usually they expect to see the tumors shrink and then stabilize; they don’t often disappear completely. Keep in mind, this scan was from even before my last treatment. Both doctors seemed really happy with my progress. I said: “I wonder if it has anything to do with what I’ve been taking from my naturopath or the weird energy treatment I had in Nova Scotia”. The answer was: “No, it was the chemo”. I laughed and said: “Somehow I knew you were going to say that”. :-)

They cautioned me that, while this is great news, the cancer cells are still there. There is no cure. The aim is to treat it like a chronic illness and manage the symptoms. The cancer will eventually become immune to a particular drug. That’s why they don’t want to continue with the Taxotere; because I’ve done so well on it, they want to reserve it for possible use down the road when I may need it more.

I’m not looking too far ahead. I’m just happy about receiving great news. I asked about a possible trip to Holland to be with family and he said to go ahead and plan it.

Steriods and good news is a dangerous combination. I might sustain an injury from doing cartwheels in my living room. Life is good!