Scanxiety

I am pretty excited to breathe a sigh of relief.  My prayers were answered and I am able to head into the Holidays with ... Finally some good news to share.

I had my very first PET after starting treatment.  Holy cow....They sure are right about "Scanxiety."

Those 24 hours of waiting felt like an eternity.  I hoped and prayed things were better.  I cannot feel my tumor anymore (was the size of a walnut), so of course my treatment was working.....but there was still that terrifying thought that it had spread elsewhere.  Here is a summary of my PET Scan:

1.  Interval resolution of the soft tissue mass at the inferior medial right breast with no residual FDG uptake within the lesion.  Also, there has been interval resolution of the FDG uptake that was seen throughout the spine and pelvis on prior exam.  Multiple sclerotic lesions are now seen scattered throughout the spin and pelvis consistent with treated osseous metastatic disease.  This is favorable progress compared to prior study.

2.  No lymphadenopathy identified.  No solid organ abnormality identified.

My soon to be Sister In Law Erin so graciously offered to be late to class to be there when I got my results.  She was there with me to hold my hand the afternoon I heard the horrific words Breast Cancer and she was there to hear the "Fabulous" news from my oncologist last Thursday.  There were definitely tears this day, but only ones of relief and happiness.

As I have described to friends and family, my cancer is not gone.  I am heading into remission and we can just hope that my cells remain dormant.  I will continue with the same treatment:  Menopause (brought on by a medication called Zoladex) and Tamoxifen.  Everyone differs, some stage 4 women only get a couple months out of Tamoxifen, some can get a couple years before their cancer becomes resistant.  We will just wait and see what mine decides to do.  Fingers crossed I have "stupid" cancer cells.  Hopefully they just cannot figure out how to survive without those hormones.  I will have my next scan in March.  She also draws "tumor markers" at my monthly visits, but that is not entirely accurate when it comes to resistance to medications.

I have learned a whole heck of a lot about Breast Cancer in these past few months.  I have joined many support groups where other young, vibrant, beautiful women are going through the same crap. Women in their 20's who aren't ever able to have babies of their own, Women who have young children just like me, Women who are very sick, women who are thriving with Stage 4.  In this short period of time I have already witnessed some of these beautiful woman lose their lives to this beast.  It makes me so so angry.  It only fuels my passion to kick cancer's ass and to advocate for those who cannot.  Who knows....maybe I will travel the world one day and scream from the mountain tops that STAGE 4 Breast Cancer NEEDS MORE!

I am once again, so incredibly thankful for each of you.  Thank you for all of the love.  We are so blessed.  The power of prayer is definitely a real thing, Thank you to everyone who prayed so very hard.  God blessed me with "stupid" cancer cells :)

love to all....Erin