Me.

On Memorial day 2009 I found a lump in my breast, and obviously it had to be cancer. What a drag. Stage 4 Metastatic Breast Cancer, HER2+.. And as that is not fun enough it has to be a fast growing aggressive one. So it is already in the lymph's, the left lung, the liver, the abdomen and on the spine at a couple of places. The Stage 4 was diagnosed on June 8th in the ER. I had massive pain in the lower rib area and my family doc sent me there after getting the blood results from an earlier test. They kept me in the hospital for a week. After lots of test, a port and my first Chemo/Herceptin treatment, they let me go home a changed person. How bad is it? How long will I live? Is there hope?? When I mentioned "prognosis" everyone just looked rather sad and concerned. "Let's get you through this first round of infusions and than we know more.." with a wary smile.

But THAT is not going to happen to me. It just can't. After a couple of treatments I got some more reassurance other than my own happy state of mind. You can't be seriously ill if you can still laugh at the little things and are mostly in a happy mood. (Ok, ok, sometimes with the help of a little yellow happy pill.. Did I mention there was a "no alcohol clause" with the whole Chemo thing??? So of course I responded pretty good to the Chemo (all my hair is gone which sucks - but I have two awesome wigs) and to the Herceptin (a new med, antibodies for my specific cancer). My Cancer marker went from 1550 in June down to 885,105 and it was 24 in November (Party!! <= 38 is considered "normal"). Also, my last CT scan showed that the cancer is shrinking. The lung is nearly completely free, the liver just has an area of 5x6cm left (it was completely saturated), there is no tumor at the ovary anymore, and there is a positive change on the spine as well.

I just had my 9th round of Chemo, Taxol, Paraplatin and the Herceptin yesterday. With the last three times I had a reaction just after the Para started... red hot head and nausea. However, the nurses are wonderful and the meds they gave me worked. Right now I still feel like a heater and my liver hurts a little bit. "Tiny little monsters are eating my cancer!!!" Other tumors also hurt from time to time. A little scary but the results keep me mostly in a good mood.

My Oncologist says it is still serious and I can just get rid of the cancer with Chemo and Herceptin. It is actually pretty unlikely that I can get rid of the cancer completely. More probable is that it will be kept under control with the meds. I will get the Herceptin indefinitely.

Despite all that has happened, we see everything pretty positive and hope for a complete recession instead of just controlling the cancer. Ha! Screw you, Cancer!!! You picked the wrong - Bitch!!! (Pardon my French)

Update..
After my 14th chemo my doc decided to take me off chemo and just go with Herceptin. That was in May and my first blood test from end of June showed that the cancer marker is still low at 16!!
I am soo happy and getting used to life without chemo again. Going to our fist floor is not taking all out of me anymore and I already went swimming a couple of times! This new Swimp3 player works well.
I love my new hair. Just added some red color and it looks much better than the Grey or dark blond it came out with.
The fund raiser www.brasforacausemichigan.com is going well, we still need some food, auction items and sponsors but we are on the right track.