This morning I saw my oncologist to get the results of the CT scan I had last Friday. Everything is stable! I will admit that I really liked the CTs I had during chemo that showed my liver tumours shrinking dramatically. OK, I wish I was NED (no evidence of disease). But I am happy to be sable, Stable Mabel.
This was my first CT scan since I began Tamoxifen treatment. I had thought of this drug only for its value in preventing the recurrence of breast cancer; I hadn't realized it was used for metastatic disease as well. I thought I was going to have to do chemo for the rest of my life. [Yes, there is SO much I don't know!] My bone marrow is glad for the chemo break, not that Tamoxifen is completely benign. I have had increased joint pain, significant nausea and, most recently, hot flashes. It's almost as bad as my chemo, Taxol. But it isn't as toxic. Knowing that my doctor has so many drugs to use against my cancer (triple positive ductal breast cancer) is comforting. In fact, the doctor mentioned that it appears that cancer cells are forgetful. They lose their resistance to particular chemo drugs after about a year. That allows the oncologists to retry a drug that stopped working. It gives me hope that I will be around for a while.
I swear, I cry almost as much after good news as bad. My Sweetheart and I admitted some of our fears to my oncologist. My doctor is, and always has been very optimistic about his ability to treat my cancer as a chronic condition, rather than a life-threatening one. The truth is that right now my cancer is not threatening my life. i really should relax a little. Both the doc and my Sweetie would like it if I stayed off the Internet and forgot about median survival rates. They have a good point, but it would be hard. I feel a great deal of comfort and support from the breast cancer blogging community. Plus, I want to use my blog to keep my loved ones up to date and to, I hope, be of comfort and support to others.
[My title was inspired by Jen at Learning to Live Lengendary and her post "Missing Mabel.")
Oh yeah! I'm so happy to read this Kate! I hope you are Stable Mabel for a very long long time. I find that same comfort from the community, and in writing. Hope you stick around the internet, a little bit anyway. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm hooked on my iPad, so the best I can do is focus on reading the most informative and uplifting pieces ... Best I can, anyway.
DeleteIt's good to read what other's with this are going through. The hot flashes I have from the Tamoxifen drive me nuts especially living in Florida. I too have the joint pain and nausea. I also have been asked to stay off the internet and not to compare myself to others when it comes to this disease. I hope that you do stay Stable for a very long time. And I, like you, feel like it helps me to read what others are going through. Stay strong!
ReplyDeleteI wish you all the best, Vickie. I hope the reading always helps.
DeleteHi Kate,
ReplyDeleteSo glad to read this. Stable Mabel. That does have a nice ring to it! And I understand why your Sweetie and doc might want you to to limit your internet time, but I completely agree about the online community support. It's a wonderful thing. Thanks for being part of it when you can.
Thank you, Nancy. I really appreciate what you do for the community.
DeleteHooray for good scans! Stable is good. I hope you can breathe a little easier for a while.
ReplyDeleteAlso, have you read this? I re-read whenever I get worked up by stats. http://www.cancerguide.org/median_not_msg.html
Thank you, Laurie. I love statistical analysis, I'm weird that way. The explanation of the skew was brilliant. Yes, I aim to live in the right hand tail. I've always loved that quote: It doesn't hurt to be optimistic. You can always cry later. (Lucimar Santos De Lima)
DeleteThank you for giving information on cancer treatment.It is really good and helpful for the people.Keep giving such a valuable information.
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Nice post!!!
ReplyDelete