The technical stuff
OK, so this is what they told me.
Surgery: I had a left Wide Local Excision: ie they took out the lump, and a fair bit of tissue from around it.
I also had Axillary Clearance. This is where they took out a load of lymph nodes from my armpit. (The actual scar is just under my armpit)
Type: Ductal (ie the cancer was growing in my milk duct)
Size: 19 mm : This is classed as small. The surgeon said I'd probably caught it as early as I could, though it could have been growing for a couple of years. Before this stage they are hard to detect. There was also about 6mm of DCIS (precancerous cells) around this which they also removed. The margins are clear: this means that they also removed some healthy tissue to make sure they'd got it all.
Grade: 3: This means that it's a nasty aggressive beastie. However, most women my age with breast cancer apparently are grade 3.
Lymph glands: 1 out of the 20 removed contained a tumour.
Hormones: Oestrogen and Progesterone -ve. Some cancers feed off some hormones, and if mine did, there would be various medications (like Tamoxifen)that I could take. However, mine doesn't so I won't.
HER2 status: Still waiting for this info. This basically would indicate whether Herceptin would be any use.
Chemotherapy: It is entirely possible that the surgery took out all the cancer cells, but there may well be some still slooshing around my system, so the chemo and radio are aiming at those. Without it there is a 40% chance that it would reoccur, with it there is a 20% chance. So (if I've got my statistics right!) There is a 60% chance that I'll go through chemo but not actually need to 'cos it's all already dealt with. And there's a 20% chance I'll go through it but still have problems in the future. But there is no way of telling which.
I will be having Epi-CMF, which is Epirubicin, Methotrexate,Cyclophosphamide & Flourouracil. This is 4 lots of the Epi bit followed by 4 lots of the CMF bit. They bung you full of the chemicals, wait a while for your own cells to recover a bit, then hit you with the chemicals again. I can't wait. The Epi bit is normally every 3 weeks so takes 3 months, the CMF bit is every 4 weeks so takes 4 months. However:
NEAT-A study is the name of the clinical trial that I should be participating in. Basically, they want to try to do the whole thing faster to give the cancer cells less chance. However, they need to give my white blood cells as much chance as possible, to prevent infection. This is why there is normally a 3 week rest period between getting the drugs. However, in this trial they give you a G-CSF drug called pegfilgrastim or Neulasta which encourages white blood cells to recover faster. The resting period would then be 2 weeks. So the whole lot will take 20 weeks rather than 28.
Side Effects of Chemo: loads. Possibility of infection, hair loss (we already own 3 wigs: Cleopatra, mad scientist and beatle), sore mouth, colic, diarrhoea, fertility problems, tiredness etc etc. We shall see which I come up with. When I know the date I'll be starting chemo, I intend to cut my hair short.. I think I've found an organisation who will buy hair to make into wigs for people with alopecia. Anyone want to join me in radical hairstyle change? E thinks I ought to cut my hair to look like Dad's. Hmmmm.
Surgery: I had a left Wide Local Excision: ie they took out the lump, and a fair bit of tissue from around it.
I also had Axillary Clearance. This is where they took out a load of lymph nodes from my armpit. (The actual scar is just under my armpit)
Type: Ductal (ie the cancer was growing in my milk duct)
Size: 19 mm : This is classed as small. The surgeon said I'd probably caught it as early as I could, though it could have been growing for a couple of years. Before this stage they are hard to detect. There was also about 6mm of DCIS (precancerous cells) around this which they also removed. The margins are clear: this means that they also removed some healthy tissue to make sure they'd got it all.
Grade: 3: This means that it's a nasty aggressive beastie. However, most women my age with breast cancer apparently are grade 3.
Lymph glands: 1 out of the 20 removed contained a tumour.
Hormones: Oestrogen and Progesterone -ve. Some cancers feed off some hormones, and if mine did, there would be various medications (like Tamoxifen)that I could take. However, mine doesn't so I won't.
HER2 status: Still waiting for this info. This basically would indicate whether Herceptin would be any use.
Chemotherapy: It is entirely possible that the surgery took out all the cancer cells, but there may well be some still slooshing around my system, so the chemo and radio are aiming at those. Without it there is a 40% chance that it would reoccur, with it there is a 20% chance. So (if I've got my statistics right!) There is a 60% chance that I'll go through chemo but not actually need to 'cos it's all already dealt with. And there's a 20% chance I'll go through it but still have problems in the future. But there is no way of telling which.
I will be having Epi-CMF, which is Epirubicin, Methotrexate,Cyclophosphamide & Flourouracil. This is 4 lots of the Epi bit followed by 4 lots of the CMF bit. They bung you full of the chemicals, wait a while for your own cells to recover a bit, then hit you with the chemicals again. I can't wait. The Epi bit is normally every 3 weeks so takes 3 months, the CMF bit is every 4 weeks so takes 4 months. However:
NEAT-A study is the name of the clinical trial that I should be participating in. Basically, they want to try to do the whole thing faster to give the cancer cells less chance. However, they need to give my white blood cells as much chance as possible, to prevent infection. This is why there is normally a 3 week rest period between getting the drugs. However, in this trial they give you a G-CSF drug called pegfilgrastim or Neulasta which encourages white blood cells to recover faster. The resting period would then be 2 weeks. So the whole lot will take 20 weeks rather than 28.
Side Effects of Chemo: loads. Possibility of infection, hair loss (we already own 3 wigs: Cleopatra, mad scientist and beatle), sore mouth, colic, diarrhoea, fertility problems, tiredness etc etc. We shall see which I come up with. When I know the date I'll be starting chemo, I intend to cut my hair short.. I think I've found an organisation who will buy hair to make into wigs for people with alopecia. Anyone want to join me in radical hairstyle change? E thinks I ought to cut my hair to look like Dad's. Hmmmm.
1 Comments:
Hi Lucy! Dianne here...We have been standing with you all in prayer through the ups and downs of this and will continue! You, Paul and Eleanor are first on our list during family prayers.
Chloe, our oldest is 11 ("and a half, Mom!", she reminds me) and has just cut her long hair very short to donate to Locks of Love, to make wigs for cancer patients. Anna, who is 6 (and quite happy to be "only 6"), joined her. I'm due to go short in 2 weeks' time. As Matthew (7) sagely observed, "Now we will all have short hair, but Daddy's is the shortest". (we have the U.S. Army to thank for that). Matthew's dream in life was to grow his hair as long as his sisters' previously was, but he has joined in and had his done quite short too so no longer looks like a Beatle.
So, in some way, we've joined you in an expression of solidarity!
Lots of love and gentle hugs,
Dianne
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