Answered prayers

Got a call from the oncologist's office last Tuesday- amazing news actually. Dr. dug up my lymph node samples from last Feb. and requested that they be tested for estrogen receptors. Unknown to me, the lymph nodes were never tested for receptors, only for the presence of cancer and I had 4/12+ lymph nodes. The only tissue that was tested for receptors was the original biopsies of the breast tumor itself. And surprise surprise the cancer in the lymph nodes was over 90% positive for the estrogen receptor. Whether this was a different cancer altogether, or whether the original cancer mutated to be ER+, I will never know. And a final possibility is that the original testing was incorrect due to human or technical error. At first I was hugely excited and felt overjoyed at the idea of starting anti-estrogen therapy if it would buy me some more time.

Then the reality set in that in order to kick this cancer, I have to sacrifice my ability to ever have children again. This may seam like a trivial thing to most, obviously I want to live and beat this, but I always had the hope that one day I could be cancer free and have more children. Not to mention I will be sent into permanent menopause, complete with hot flashes and all the other ailments women complain of. As a woman, this is a big price and I really hope that this price fits the bill and sends the cancer into remission.

We talked about saving eggs, but the process would induce alot of female hormones, including estrogen- so sadly, that option is out. So tomorrow morning I will be starting my anti-hormonal therapy along with herceptin, tykerb and xgeva. The anti-hormonal therapy includes oral Femara and then a subcutaneous shot of Zoladex. If this therapy works, I will probably look into having my ovaries removed which has alot fewer risks in the long run. Wish me luck, and thanks for all the continued prayers! Pray that this is the one!