MRI and Surgery and Infusions, Oh My

How are you all doing out there in isolation? We are OK here. I admit that I would LOVE a vanilla latte from Peet’s and a solo trip to wander Target aimlessly…but we all know that won’t be happening for a while.

I thought I’d give an update on the cancer front. As many of you know, I had an MRI last week to check the progress of my treatment. The MRI itself went fine…I took an Ativan and very glad I did. It only took about 20/25 minutes but because of the positioning (laying on my belly with my arms up) it was not very comfortable and my hands fell asleep and my shoulders got sore.

I got the results of the MRI the next day. There was some very good and some possibly not-as-good news. The good news, is that Carl is GONE GONE GONE! There was nothing seen on the MRI near the marker in there. In addition, my lymph nodes all looked GOOD!!!

That giant tumor is GONE.

CARL.IS.GONE!!

The possible not-as-good news…is that there were 3 very small areas in another part of my breast that were “suspicious” for cancer. All three were in the same general area and were quite small.

When I read the report and the message from my doctor, I cried. It was the first time I had cried in a very long time. And to be honest- it was long overdue and I felt MUCH better after.

It’s been such a hard year for us and I needed that cry.

I did some research and then I spoke to my oncologist on the phone about these results, and the bottom line is that it *could* be cancer left or it *could* be scar tissue or other non-cancer things.

What exactly does this mean, anyway? Well, if there is any residual cancer left after chemo is finished, my treatment for the next many months will change. As you may remember, I will receive targeted therapy infusions of two drugs (the H and the P from my TCHP treatment) up to the year mark of when I started (which would be December). These two drugs have little side effects (mostly diarrhea) which is a huge positive. However if I have residual cancer, my infusions will change to a drug that is the combo of the H and a mild chemo drug.

So…more chemo.

I have been told that it is usually a very tolerable treatment and it works really well to help get rid of the last little bit of disease….but it’s a different medication and it’s chemo and I really was hoping to stick to my HP infusions.

So how do I know for sure? They will take samples of the areas when they are removed during my surgery and send them to pathology- which is scheduled for April 30th. So the good news is- those pesky spots will be removed no matter WHAT they are! And S-so far- despite this Covid stuff, my surgery is still on.

Back to the topic of infusions…I had my first targeted therapy infusion (HP) today! It went well and I’m home now drinking lots of water and gatorade to flush out as much as I can while I *hope* to have little to no side effects over the next few days.

It wasn’t very fun wearing an N95 mask for almost 2 hours straight. My infusion center is asking us all to bring our own masks because they do not have enough for the patients. I am SO THANKFUL to the people who dropped off these for our family so we (Justin and I) can stay protected when we have to leave the house.

Leaving the house….the only reason I leave is to go to cancer related appointments. In the last week I left for my MRI (Justin drove me- what a hot date, haha), blood work, and then my infusion. Justin only leaves the house to go to the store once a week and when he gets home we wipe down all our groceries and he takes a shower and then we do it all over again the next week! Justin has been working from home full time for over a month now and I have been continuing to home school the kids (though we did take two weeks off for a much needed spring break). We play outside on our zip line daily, watch movies, and of course eat and eat and eat, hahaha.

I think that is about it for today. We hope you all are hanging in there and trying too find the good in these scary times.