Chemo-vacation continues!

So despite all my worrying and insomnia, my tumor markers dropped 5 points this month!  I was so relieved to hear they didn't increase.  It might be as a result of removing the ovaries, in which case they should continue to drop, but the doctor wasn't positive.  He said that even if the numbers climb slowly over months he wouldn't change therapy because I feel good and am tolerating this therapy so well.  So I guess he'd prefer mild progression over switching therapies to one that potentially doesn't work at all.  This is alittle hard to swallow but the scientist in me realizes that a few months isn't going to change whether a therapy is effective against my cancer.  And for all I know, there are already tumor cells in my liver and lungs- and my immune system plus the chemo cocktail is keeping them in check.

We talked about my anxiety over my tumor marker "scores", and he really wants me to divorce myself from it and judge my disease on how I feel.  He was very impressed that I have no pain and am jogging and biking again.  So he sees me as a victory already.  The only other woman I met with stage IV bone only metastases had significant pain which affected her quality of life.  We decided that as long as I continue to have no symptoms, we will move my appointments to every 6 weeks instead of every 3.  I will still go in for Herceptin every 3 weeks and continue to take the oral anti-hormonal and another oral therapy (Tykerb), but no blood tests to worry about and keep me up at night for SIX WEEKS.  It makes so much sense to me- I'd rather not know every little move the cancer makes, especially if he's not going to change therapy unless the cancer makes a big move.  He wants to keep TDM-1 and pertuzumab in our back pocket for things to try when our options become more limited.

In other news- Parker is just getting over croup and my sister welcomed a beautiful baby girl into the world.  I'm so thankful for all the prayers and well wishes and I feel so fortunate to have you all along on my journey.  I'm relieved to not have to face cancer alone.