Great doctor appointment yesterday, not so fun "infusion" however.
Patrick and I sort of thought the tumor marker would level off and become stable, based off a rough graph Patrick put together at home- but (as a biologist would expect), biology does not follow a mathematical formula, and the marker increased from 308 to 330 in 3 weeks. So it was time for a change.In previous conversations with my oncologist- we'd planned on starting TDM-1 next, but sadly it is still in the FDA approval process. And it looks like its release date won't be until Feb. With a sense of peace, maybe from my mother's spirit being present or acceptance of God's will, I didn't panic when I got the tumor marker number- and calmly listened to my doctor's next move. He was happy that I hadn't had any new problems, my lungs sounded good, no pain (other than my achy bones & joints), no headaches- and he thought we could try a different anti-hormone therapy until TDM-1 made its way to me. I was pretty happy with that idea, as I feared he'd suggest a new cytotoxic (hair loosing) chemo combo. Then he hit me with the bad news, it was going to be a pain in the ass..... literally. This drug "faslodex" is exactly that, 5 ml shot in each buttocks every 2, and then every 4 weeks. It really wasn't too bad, like a really drawn out flu shot on each side. Butt....the really great part about this drug is that it isn't supposed to cause the joint aches & stiffness that have been killing me for almost the past year. The aches and pains respond well to motrin, but I've had to take it around the clock, and the pain would still wake me up at night. It felt like I had to do 5 min of stretching for every 20 min of sitting- and even then I still had pain. Granted I would/will put up with all of that to live, I am super excited that this Christmas I might be limber and light footed!
It has been a day since the faslodex shots, and I'm still pretty achy plus the injection sites are a bit sore now (bruised). I am excited nonetheless about this therapy and looking forward to putting cancer out of my mind this holiday season. We will still continue my other drugs, intravenous herceptin (every 3 weeks) and oral tykerb at home- but now I have one less pill to take at night.
I was pretty proud of myself for not getting all worked up over the news- maybe I am learning/growing, I'm trying very hard to view this as God's battle not mine, and doing my best to be patient while he figures out my next step. This Christmas is certain to be better than the last, being that it is further from Mom's passing- and everyone is moving on with their lives. We will be in Wisconsin for a weekend and then in Newton for another and for the first time ever we will wake up Christmas morning in our own home just the three of us! What a treat!We feel so very blessed and wish you the same,
Merry Christmas
