The test results all came back spectacular. Echo cardiogram showed a reduction in fluid and an increasing EF as they call it in the cardiology world. So what does this mean? It means that they probably won't have to drain the fluid and we'll just watch it every couple of months to be sure it's still heading in the right direction. This is good news.
Next up. CT and PET scans. Results? No visible active cancer except for ONE tumor!!! YES we are thrilled but we are being cautiously optimistic because this was also what we were told in November which put a screeching halt on chemo treatments, live with the horrible side effects of Tamoxifen only to find out in April that it wasn't working and some of my tumors had gotten larger. Soooo, as good as this sounds, we will stay on track with chemo until there are literally no visible anythings that can get out of control and grow larger again.
Lastly, labs. My cancer markers are the lowest they've been since last year when I was really responding to the chemo. This is very good news.
Ok I lied. Lastly is the surgery that I will most likely have in the next few months to remove my ovaries. It was somewhat decided that this would be the best thing for me given the hard time I have with the synthetic drugs to replicate this. It will also prevent the cancer from spreading to my ovaries but of course the main reason would be to stop the estrogen which my tumors thrive on.
All in all, I would consider this news an A-. Pretty good I'd say and I'll take it.
So I will leave you with a quick lesson on metastatic cancer.
I know there's a lot of "You kicked it's ass"or "You'll beat it" going around. It's ok, and I get it and it keeps me motivated for sure.
Because metastatic cancer is the same cancer that you had in the primary site (in my case it was breast cancer in 2006) and the cells decided to spread to other distant areas in my body and take up shop, it is now considered incurable or STAGE 4. The problem is that once the cells take up shop elsewhere in your body, it's not about "beating it" or "Kicking ass" it's really just about containing the tumors where they are and killing them with chemo or whatever other alternative methods may work. But you will NEVER be cancer free. Scan. Treat. Repeat. This is the mantra for us folks with metastatic cancer. It's all about getting the tumors under control to be able to live as normal life as you can while not in active treatment.
This is my goal. I want to get to that place. I'm getting there.
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