Last weeks Dr.'s visits!

I have been thinking about this post for a while. I have been trying to figure out how to tell all the information I received last week from both of my Doctor visits. I finally decided if I didn't just start typing and say something I wouldn't say anything.

Lets start with some great news. The cancer is gone!!!!! There is a questionable spot on my C5 (a vertebra in my neck) which Mitra thinks is a structural thing not a cancer thing. I have an MRI tomorrow to make sure it isn't a cancer thing. I am sure it is NOTHING! I have felt for some time now that the cancer is gone.

Mitra's point of view: She made it clear that they didn't think that the cancer would ever be gone. But that she was so excited for me to have it gone. There is a very big chance it will be back in the next year and that they are just waiting for that to happen. I was shocked to hear this and this is not what I was thinking or what I wanted to hear. So I was very upset when I left the appointment. As I will go into more detail latter Mitra says they are going to try some things. But that they are going to allow the cancer to come back and then figure out how to treat it. So not to keep it gone but to treat it once it comes back.

Dr. Kris: He is going to do everything he can to keep the cancer from coming back. He believes that is possible. There is always a risk it can come back but he is doing everything to keep it gone.

The first thing we talked about is that the cancer is gone. She is going to have them do an MRI on my C5 to make sure that the questionable spot is not cancer. She also said everything else looks so good. She wasn't happy that Dr. Kris already gave me the results to the PET scan. Oh, well I wasn't going to wait 3 weeks to hear from them.

The second thing she talked to me about was menopause. There was so much information so I will try to do my best to go over what she said briefly. They want to put me on Tamoxifen (I think that is how you spell it). Tamoxifen from what I understands I will still produce estrogen but that it wont go into my body. I will still have a cycle but the estrogen wont be put out into my body. I think this is the jest of it. This is something they are going to wait a year to do. Then do the tamoxifen for a couple of years then take out my ovaries after that. Then something else after that. I was still trying to process all the information. We talked about that the HER2 Neu is 86 percent of my cancer and that the Herceptin I am taking is reducing that 86% of the cancer from coming back. But the cancer in my body was also 14% estrogen based. She said anything above 10% has to be treated. She said for the next year we will stay on the Herceptin to make sure the cancer doesn't come back while I am on that. Then when it does they will biopsy it and figure out weather it is estrogen based or HER2 Neu based. If is estrogen based they will treat that or if it is HER2 Neu based they will treat that. Then after a year they will take me off the Herceptin and put me on the tamoxifen and see if the cancer comes back then and treat it. If it doesn't then they want to take a break from everything for three months. They want to see if the cancer will come back while I am not on anything. Then if not they will put me back on treatment. I don't know about you but it seems wrong. Don't you think they should be doing everything for me to make sure it stays gone. Not to wait to see which way it will come back. I think that is why I left the Dr. so upset.

We also went over that I need to have an eye exam. My eyes have been a little blurry lately.

She also scheduled an echo cardiogram(sp) an exam to watch my heart. Some of the medicine I am on can cause heart problems. So they just want a base line and they will check it once in a while.

The flu like systems I have been having are from the Zometa. Which she said should go away after a few times.

I have been having headaches for about 1 1/2 weeks and she said they were going to do the MRI and see what that said before they tried anything for the headaches.

She said I will have blood test every month to watch the cancer. I will stay with monthly visits for the next couple of months then I will go to every other month and then at the year mark take a 3 month break from everything. Then she said we will see.


Dr. Kris like I said, said that he is going to change my meds a little and treat so the cancer wont come back. That makes me feel so much better. I feel like he wants me to stay healthy not wait for it to come back and then treat the systems.

He did a lot of adjusting which is why I was having the really bad headaches. They have been so much better. No headaches. The headaches were also tension headaches from my Dr's visit with Mitra. I guess I didn't like what she had to say about waiting for the cancer to come back and that it probably would.

He also changed some of my meds. Still on 22 pills twice a day.

Oh, I almost forgot my CA2729 is back up to 38. Mitra was not concerned. She said it can bounce around for a bit after chemo.

Sorry it was so long.