The news from my oncology visit on Friday wasn’t great. There are two new ‘nodules’ (aka tumors) on my lungs; I believe he said there was one on each of the bottom lobes (but to be honest, I'm a little fuzzy).
The good news is that we’re not rushing back into chemo. I have no symptoms (coughing, shortness of breath) so my onc suggested we wait a few months and have another scan to see how aggressively (or hopefully non-aggressively) the cancer is progressing.
While it’s disappointing, (OK, it sucks), it didn’t come as a huge shock. The doctor reminded me that this is a chronic illness that needs to be managed. A particular treatment will work for awhile and then things will ‘flair up’, which indicates the need to consider a new drug.
The worst part is having to tell my family when the news isn't good. I talked to my sister and mom yesterday, and I just got off the phone with Adam in Holland. That's the part that makes me want to scream!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Note to self: Don’t get test results on Friday the 13th again
No apologies for the dark cartoon; it's my way of coping. I'm picturing myself as the person in the mask, not the chicken.
Anka dropped off some homemade soup and rice pudding so I'm going to go self-medicate with food.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
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4 comments:
Crudola and on Friday the 13th too!
cheers,
ros
Hi Chris, I'm sorry to hear about these three lung mets. I have three smalish ones in my left lung. I went back on Tykerb (like Herceptin) and then I was on Xeloda for awhile (fairly mild for a traditional chemo and you can adjust your dose since it's in pill form). I went off of Xeloda and started Femara (keeps your body from turning aromasin into estrogen). I *think* Femara is working - one of my markers went down. Are you already on Femara?
I was on Femara when the cancer first returned so they switched me to Arimidex. That didn't work either so I started having Faslodex injections. Now that Faslodex isn't working, Xeloda may be an option for me.
I was on Femara and it didn't work for me ... now on Xeloda ... starting cycle 2 tomorrow.
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