Moffit Appointment

Wow...God has got me! We went to Moffit Cancer Center in Tampa today to get a 2nd opinion on my treatment. What a beautiful facility and great experience we had there. I loved the oncologist, she was warm, compassion and very smart! She was "hip" on all the very latest and updated treatment options available.  I felt like I was very prepared for this appointment....I have now learned a lot about my condition, the terminology, the treatment, the drugs used...so I felt like I could ask more intelligent questions and she was sure able to answer everything.  Just what I needed! She helped me understand the "why chemo?" in all of this better then I had before...so let me share "the why chemo" with you too.

If you've been following my blog you know my breast cancer is "Her2nu positive" and that has been the big deal with my particular situation. Only 20% of breast cancer's are Her2nu positive, 80% are negative! I didn't realize it was so rare! My tumor cells have too much "her2" protein on their surface. This protein makes the tumor able to grow and spread quickly and can make them less likely to respond to some cancer treatments and more likely to recur after treatment! If it reoccurs it comes back in the blood, bone, liver or lungs... so praise GOD for a drug called "herceptin". Herceptin is the antibody for her2nu and has only been used for about 5 years now and has "revolutionized" breast cancer treatment for the her2nu positive cancers. It's the "magic bullet". Before then a her2nu positive cancer prognosis was pretty glum. Scary.

Not only do I have her2nu positive cancer, but I just got some tests results back last week that I'd been waiting on. It was called the Oncotype Dx test. For this test they took the tumor I had removed and ran it through a series of tests to see how likely it was reoccur in my body. My test came back off the chart as "high probability" for recurrence! She told me every year that goes by my risk would go up and up, in 30 years my percentage for this kind of cancer reoccurring in my body was 69-72% if I didn't do herceptin!!!! WOW!  So do I need treatment???? The answer is a resounding YES I DO! Thank you Jesus for making that so clear to me....that is what I'd been praying for. I just wasn't putting 2 and 2 together, but now it's all beginning to make sense.

The unfortunate news is that herceptin has only been tested with chemotherapy....trials are currently underway for it's use alone.  Five years from now, women may not need the chemotherapy with it's use, but the research is just not there yet. However, 5 years ago if I would have got this diagnosis, herceptin would have still be in clinical trials! So I have to look at the positive and thank God for the research and work that produced herceptin in time for me and all the women who are facing her2nu positive breast cancer. My doctor said the research for breast cancer is moving very fast; they have found that their are many different kinds of breast cancer and each type requires different treatment...no longer can or should they treat breast cancer all the same.

Now here's the good news about my "type". I am also estrogen and progesterone receptor positive. Which means my cancer is hormone driven. So the estrogen and progesterone in my body causes my cancer to grow. I guess this is good news in my case because they can also treat that part of my cancer with a drug called Tamoxifen which is an anti-estrogen therapy and thus taking away what my cancer needs to grow. The unfortunate part of taking that drug is I could go into early menopause...thank you Jesus for my new baby Brooke! I will take that drug for 5 years...yuck, but hey it's saving my life! My cancer is considered a "triple" positive cancer.

In other GREAT news....and this made my day by far....she told me she feels comfortable with giving me only 4 rounds of chemo as oppossed to the standard 6!!!! YES! YES! YES! I was so happy to hear that! I will get 1 treatment every 3 weeks, so I will be done with chemo in 3 months! Now the herceptin will continue for a full year, I get 14 treatments of herceptin. But my hair will start growing back after the chemo part is over! Yeah...and I've heard my hair will grow in thicker when it comes back...YES LORD!

So when will this all begin. Well with Moffit it takes about 2 weeks before they can get me scheduled to get my "port" put in. 2 weeks? and then a week after the port they will begin treatment. 3 weeks?  I'm ready to start now and get this over with....now that I know what I have to do.  Enter Jesus....got a call this morning Moffit had a cancellation and I will get my port on Friday!!! 2 days instead of 2 weeks.....JESUS. Every step, every step, He hasn't missed a beat! Not one! AWESOME IS OUR GOD!!!!! Can I just share another beautiful thing the Lord did for me?

Most of you know (if you've been reading my blog) how financially hard this has been on us. So some of my "wants" are pretty far down the list! I got some "maternity" pictures taken before Brooke was born and I really wanted to go back to Krystle (the lady who took our pictures) and get some pictures of Brooke and "new" completed family.  I didn't even think to pray about this because again it was so far down our list. But God knew it was the desire of my heart. So low and behold...what does the Lord do? Krystle contacts me out of the blue (she's on maternity leave herself none the less!) and says "God put you on my heart this morning and I would like to do a set of pictures for you as a gift."  I had no words, just tears. God loves us so much, he cares about every thought, every desire, every detail of our lives more then I think we can possible understand this side of heaven! What good father wouldn't give their children good gifts? We had them taken on Sunday, thank you so very much Krystle Sommers!

Tomorrow morning I go up to Moffit to get my port put in as I mentioned, Tuesday I go back up there for a "Mugga scan" of my heart and "Chemo teaching".  Then Tuesday, August 2nd I go for my 1st treatment. My stomach gets butterflies just thinking about it....I'm scared, I am....I don't know how I would do this without my Lord and savior Jesus Christ. He truly is my rock, my fortress, my healer. My sister is coming into town to be with me for my birthday (July 30th) and my 1st treatment. There is something very special about sisters, a bond that is unexplainable. Thank you Jesus, for all you have done, are doing and plan to do to see me through this triumphantly!

Psalm 55:22 Cast your cares on the Lord and He will sustain you; He will never let the righteous fall.