POWERLESS

June 27

OH, YES I AM!!  (Keep Reading)

The blessings I've received so far on this journey are simply unbelievable. Today, I met my oncologist for the first time.  Blessing One:  My sister and son, Ryan, went with me.  Blessing Two:  Dr. G rocks!!  Three fabulous doctors for one disease.  I'm in awe and so, so grateful.

There was bad news today, but I was ready because I'd already done my research and read my path reports.  I knew that I was her2 neu positive AND estrogen receptor positive.  I also knew that the Ki-67 gene was highly positive.  My path reports hadn't been pretty, but still, I wasn't sure if these genes were bad enough for chemo.

Dr. G gave me the good news and the bad news about my reports. On the good side: My tumor was a little less than 1cm (very small), there was no lymph node involvement, and I was estrogen positive.  Hormone positive is very receptive to treatment, so that's why it's good.

On the bad side:  My cancer was a Grade 3, meaning it was more aggressive; it was very fast-growing, and my Her2 neu was positive.  Ugh. This part scared me a lot.  Dr. G said there would be a tie-breaker to determine if I'd have chemo or not.  The tie-breaker would be another test: the Oncotype test done at a lab in California, the only lab in the US that performs this specific test.  It would take two weeks at least to get it back and it would rate my cure/recurrence rate.  Ok.  I was fine with that EXCEPT I had to wait another two weeks at least before I knew my treatment plan.
Here's a site that explains the oncotype test.

This is when I knew for a fact that I had no control.  I would be waiting again and I was POWERLESS. I'm a control freak ... just ask my children!! No control?  Two things I don't do well: waiting AND having to admit that I'm POWERLESS.  The next two weeks were not pretty for me.

Ask, Ask, Ask!

June 15

Now this is important info, so listen up.  I'm serious.  I.M.P.O.R.T.A.N.T.

Get copies of every report of every procedure you have.  They're your reports and you need to have them and keep them.  No one had told me about genes such as Her2 Neu, estrogen and progesterone receptors , or Ki-67.  These are very important genes in your breast cancer.  If I hadn't done my research, I wouldn't have known about these genes BEFORE I saw my oncologist.  The path reports done locally told me a little about my tumor, but two national labs also did tests on my tumor and it took over two weeks to get those reports back.

So if you are newly diagnosed, do your research, but do it responsibly. There are many sites that are inaccurate or sites that have very old information. Do NOT read horror stories about breast cancer and/or its treatments.  If something on a site begins to report gloom and doom, back outta there pronto!  You do not need to read that stuff.  You can find my favorite website HERE.

Read up on Her2 neu and estrogene/progesterone receptors.  Your path reports about those important genes willl likely come from an out-of-state lab.  Ask your doctor to send you a copy as soon as s/he receives them.  You'll be so much better prepared to take part in you treatment regime.  End of lecture.  Take what you want and leave the rest!!

And NEVER take your adult son with you to an antique mall.  This is my son, Ryan, who thoroughly enjoyed the trip!!  He always makes me laugh.