Global Mission

Global Mission
A Heart for His People

Monday, March 6, 2017

You Win Some, You Lose Some!


Last Wednesday, March 1, 2017, I went into the Wexford Health and Wellness Pavilion Cancer Center to receive my third of 11 Herceptin treatments. Before going in for my infusion I always go and get my labs drawn to check for any elevated blood counts. I have been dealing with elevated liver enzymes for the last few months.  I've been working on cleansing my liver, but its been a little nerve wracking.  This time around two of the three levels were in normal range while my Alkaline Phosphatase was still a little elevated.  The doctors at this time do not seem to be concerned but are watching it.  I so badly just want everything to fall into the "normal" range.



On the plus side though, my wonderful oncologist came to talk with me and said to me...No Radiation!   Oh my word, I couldn't even believe that I actually heard those words and that that was FINAL!   The doctors have been going back and forth on my case for months!  They settled on me needing radiation back in November. I went in for my surgery in December, got my pathology results, and then met with my radiation oncologist in the beginning of February. When the doctor came into the room, he just shook his head and said that he wasn't convinced that I really needed radiation. He went over every scan and test and pathology result with me and said I didn't really fit into the category of radiation based on all of my results. To be sure he was going to present my case before other radiation oncologists to confirm what he was thinking. I waited a whole month before finding out and was really hoping that I wouldn't need it, but was also prayerful that if I did need it, that the doctors would make that decision.  The final result was confirmed that since I did not have any positive lymph nodes or mammary nodes and since my original Pet Scan did not identify the one question mark Intramammary node, and since the rest of my cancer had melted away from the chemo, that this in fact was a prominent node and not cancerous.

The circled "After Chemo" nodes remained unchanged after chemo.
After my Double Mastectomy the Intramammary node was biopsied and came back negative for cancer.
The question was regarding the internal node that was behind my chest wall and could not be biopsied. It remained unchanged and did not light up in my Pet Scan to be cancerous. This little guy was the big question mark. We feel confident that it is noncancerous.


While I had 3 seconds to be excited about the no radiation, I was quickly brought back to reality of this serious fight that I am in.  The next punch! Boom!  So my doctor then began to explain the next step in the process.  She said that since my breast cancer was hormone driven I was going to need to continue Hormone suppressant drugs for the next 10 years. BAM!  Here were my options.. I was given the choice to take Tamoxifen, which has all sorts of side effects such as fatigue, hot flashes, nausea, brain fog, weight gain, possible ovarian cysts that could lead to ovarian cancer if not watched, depression and the list goes on and on... or I could put myself into menopause through a Lupron Shot and then take a drug called Arimidex.  Arimidex can also have some of those lovely side effects but can also cause osteoporosis.  The reason for these drugs is that my body has cells that estrogen would normally attach itself to.  These drugs hook onto the cells and block the estrogen from being able to attach itself to my cells.  This then gives me a greater chance of not having a recurrence. I have now spent the whole weekend talking to my doctors, friends, cancer survivors, family, my husband and doing Internet research to try and decide which option is the best for me.  I thought that once I finished Herceptin in August that I would be on my merry little way off of this cancer train and back to my normal life, but I have since been reminded that this process is forever ongoing and isn't always going to be easy.  For now, through my research, I have decided to to take the Tamoxifen.  I have read that their are many different manufacturers of this drug and one of the manufacturers seems to be more tolerable than the others based on the fillers that are used in the pill.  I specially ordered this brand and will start tomorrow.  I am hoping and praying that I am very minimally impacted by the side effects.
I have decided to take the Tamoxifen but have researched that the Mylan brand is less tolerable so I have switched to the MaynePharma/Teva formula that has been said to have much less side effects.  We'll see :)


So for now that is where things are at in my life.  I am recovering and I have so so much to be thankful for, but the fight is not over.  Their is no "EASY" part. Even if it appears easy from an outside perspective, it is inwardly still a fight.   Thank you for your prayers and support and meals.  It means the world to our family!

Love,
Amanda

6 comments:

  1. So sorry honey that you are going through this. Stay strong!!

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  2. Hi Amanda. I'm on the same medication. There are side effects. :S I am thinking of having my ovaries removed down the road and Uterus when I have gone in menopause. There is a facebook group for Women taking Tamoxofin that you may want to look into. It has lots of good information & support for challenges with this medication / treatment.

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    1. I am a part of a Tamoxifen group on Facebook. Many women have said that the Teva manufacturer has had the least amount of side effects and have switched to other brands like Activista and Mylan and have been extremely effected. Once I read that and saw I had the Mylan brand and was about to start I called my pharmacy and had them special order the Teva brand for me. It will be in tomorrow and that is what I will start with. Which one are you on?

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  3. Amanda, Why didn't they offer you Femara? The cancer I had was also HER2Nu+ estrogen fed and I took the Femara for 5 years over the other 2. Ask.

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    1. Hi Gigi,
      I have not asked about Femara. I'm on the Tamoxifen and so far the side effects have been mild. I will certainly keep that option in mind though. Thanks :)

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