Originally emailed on 4/8/09
Hello all,
The day after my doc appt I have had a chance to soak it all in. Its amazing the difference in feelings of forward progress and the thoughts of thinking you are just wasting away. I saw the doctor after getting vitals done and my blood pressure was thru the roof. I told the nurse, I only slept 3 hours last nite.. the anticipation gave me a migrain. I finally caught some zzz's from 6-9am. Some is better than none. Anyways, I really liked this doctor although I still have a choice between her an another I am seeing in a months time. She listed 3 positive things about my cancer. 1. Its ER positive which means that I have an option for hormone treatments on top of chemo which ER negative only has a choice of chemo 2. Most of the places throughout my body, the cancer is in my bones, which the doct swears is good because its not in my organs. My bones can be rebuilt... with alot of hard work. 3. I can rebuild my muscles still, which in turn has positive affects on the rest of me.. all the way around. I do not qualify for clinical trials due to the fact that its not a pronounced measurable area that they can get to easily to see if the trial meds are having an affect. She said right off the bat, that there are 10-15 treatments that she could think of off the top of her head. The thing is I have to decide what I want to put myself through. Chemo of course makes your hair fall out, and is very hard on all other organs. She advised me that if we use all the options up, and there is none left, well Im not any better off am I? The pills I take are the same for now. I have to get another mammogram, another CT Scan, a bone scan, and a Zomeda treatment this Friday for my bones. And the best news of all at the end, my port flushed!!! The doctor sent in the nurse and she said we are going to try to draw blood from the port and if it doesnt come out then you have to go to radiology and get a dye injected so they can see where the clog was... So the doc left, and the nurse came in a few minutes later. Myself, my mom, and Lisa, were calling all the angels of ports, of plumbing, of good nurses.. heck I dont care. I will call the angel of bedpans if I have to to get some kind of good news...lol.. So I am looking down and she was able to draw blood from my port. Which means still good! Which means not starting all over or having to have another surgery! I take whatever I can get, and after doing a few disco moves when I saw the tube, I told her that we were going to sing the Rocky theme music as we went down the hall to leave... It was a turning point. Forward steps, not backward steps. YAY! So all the tests and scans over the next month takes me to my next appt the beginning of May when they will decide if they want to change the medicine or not. They will have a clearer picture by being able to compare scans. ok, another wait, another month... but forward progress... fingers crossed people!!!!
More updates to come when I get it, you will too!
About Renee and my blog!
- Renee Bravo
- Dallas, TEXAS, United States
- I was diagnosed with Stage 4 Metastatic Breast Cancer at the age of 29 years old. I am a work in progress. I am learning, growing, and trying to raise awareness for Early Detection. I believe in Girl Power and the power of Prayer. I am a mother, a wife, a strong woman in the 30th century. I have zero history in my family, and I have tested negative for the BRCA gene. I should not be facing this right now, but I am. I figure its for a reason. I decided to share my experiences more for awareness but also a place for my family to get updates. I do not send out email updates to anyone, I post it here. Here I am, I hold nothing back. If I ask anything, its to learn something from what I have been through, and make your life better because of it, treat someone better because of it, love someone more genuinely because of it. And most important of all, make sure all the women in your life have regular mammograms or MRI's. No choice. I believe 40 is too long to wait. Women today need to start early. I would love to hear or talk to any of you. God Bless.
