.png) |
| Rocking my BTBC shirt, holding the jar of positive notes/thoughts LG, Ashley, Sarah, & Freddie made for me! |
Sooo...the results! Well, they actually knew during my surgery that it was metastasis breast cancer. They pretty much told me that when they scheduled the surgery but you know me..always the one to be optimistic!
OK..i'll slow down for everyone and give you a minute to digest. Yes, it's official; my breast cancer has come back in my lungs. It is considered metastasis breast cancer, not lung cancer. Commonly referred to as stage four breast cancer. BTW I refuse to even use a capital letter when referring to it.
I will say this now, GOOGLE IS YOUR ENEMY! Lol, do not google stage four or even metastasis breast cancer. It will only give you death and gloom. I, however, am special! Not only am I special, we live in a time of amazing medical breakthroughs. So much, so that the FDA just approved a new drug last week that works wonders on my type of cancer. Did you read that! Just last week a new drug was approved that has amazing results!
So the basics! We were mainly waiting on the pathology to confirm that my cancer was still ER+ HER-. What that means is my cancer grows from estrogen. So the first step is to shut my estrogen off. We've been doing that with Tamoxifen, but that was obviously not enough. This is a lesson in being careful what you pray for! haha..my whole goal has been to get off the Tamoxifen so we could get ready to get pregnant. Well..my prayers were answered! Ha, I'm off the Tamoxifen! ;)
I'll stop for a second and remind people that are new to this blog or still taking it in..I make jokes! A lot of them at my expense. Know that any statement, like the one above, is for a laugh! Sometimes the truth really is the funniest antidote.
Ok..back to the basics! The good news is the course of action for my type of cancer is hormone therapy, not chemotherapy. Everyone knows I am not a fan of chemo and feel it does more harm than help. Especially for my type of cancer. I'm not knocking it. It has worked for several of my friends. I'm also not saying that if I needed another option I would absolutely do chemo! What I am saying is I know mentally, physically, and medically it's not the right move for me. What is the right move is shutting my ovaries off and fighting this thing that way!
So remember earlier that I mentioned what amazing times we live in! Well, just last week the FDA approved a drug specifically to fight my kind of cancer! I'm the first patient my oncologist has put on it. It's called IBRANCE and is used in conjunction with Letrozole and Lupron. I received my first shot of Lupron today. Lupron is the drug that will shut off my ovaries. At this point, there is no reason to discuss a hysterectomy. As I've frozen eggs, I'm totally open to any and all options.
Up until a week ago the course of action for my type of cancer was a combination of Lupron (shot once a month) and a daily pill of Letrozole. Now we can add Ibrance. Below is the press release of the new drug.
http://www.fda.gov/newsevents/newsroom/pressannouncements/ucm432871.htm
Ok, I'm still educating myself and getting second, third, and fourth opinions! However, I wanted to let everyone know what was going on.
As you can imagine it's been a lot to bite off but Andre is being amazing as always! Words can not describe how blessed I am to have him as my rock, my partner, my support, my love, my everything! You know me I'm more concerned with how he is dealing with everything. I'll be honest it is a bit of a roller coaster but that is to be expected.
How am I doing you ask!?! I'm actually ok! I'm sure I'll have some bad days. It's not an easy diagnosis to hear. I have chosen to think of it as a chronic disease diagnosis. Meaning this is something that I will have to keep in check for the rest of my life. I expect that life to be long and happy!
I will admit this surgery was a bitch to get over! I'm hoping to get the pain under control way before they take the stitches out next Friday. As of now I'm still watching the clock for my next Oxy! At least they gave me the good stuff.
I can not put into words how amazing everyone is! I am truly blessed to have each and every one of you in my life. I apologize if I'm a bit slow getting back to everyone but as you can imagine I'm a bit inundated! Keep all of your prayers, meditation, love, light, chants, energy, you name it coming! I'm on so many prayer lists I official have a Jewish name! I truly believe every thought, intention, and energy counts. Together we will beat this!
I will leave you with deep thoughts from Lady Gaga! Ha! My amazing tour family took the time to write a ton of little positive notes and placed them in a jar. Anytime I feel sad I'm supposed to pull a note from the jar. They gave me this jar on Wednesday and today was the first day I pulled a note! Not really because I was sad, I just wanted a little encouragement before I met with my doctor. It did the trick!
Love and Light to you all! In the words of Andre "WE GOT THIS"
