Night before second chemo - Good News at last. If you think you can, you can!

If you think you can, you can!


Today I went to the Gym for the first time and managed to complete a 45 minute workout which nearly killed me. But I haven't been for 8 weeks so can't blame my "bastard cancer!"
Jo my sister has arrived to support me on my visit to the oncologist.

So it's just a short educational one tonight at the oncologis'st todayI received my first bit of good news: Hooray! 

What was my good news?

About 75% of all breast cancers are “ER positive.” They grow in response to the hormone estrogen. estrogen then the cancer is considered hormone-receptor positive and likely to respond to endocrine therapies.

Breast cancer tumors that are ER positive are 60% likely to respond to endocrine therapy. Tumors that are ER negative are only 5% to 10% likely to respond to endocrine therapy.

Endocrine therapies for breast cancer are treatments usually taken after surgery, chemotherapy, and/or radiation are finished. They are designed to help prevent recurrence of the disease by blocking the effects of estrogen. They do this in one of several ways.

• The drug tamoxifen, taken by some women for up to five years after initial treatment for breast cancer, helps prevent recurrence by blocking the estrogen receptors on breast cancer cells and preventing estrogen from binding to them.

• A class of drugs called aromatase inhibitors actually stops estrogen production in post-menopausal women. These drugs cannot be taken by women who have not yet gone through menopause.

The alternative would have been

• HER2-Positive Breast Cancer

  In about 20% to 25% of breast cancers, the cancer cells make too much of a protein known as HER2/neu. These breast cancers tend to be much more aggressive and fast-growing. 

I already have a fast growing cancer in Inflammatory cancer so this was the best news I cold have recieved at this point.

And so tomorrow I have my second chemo and in a funny way I am looking forward to it.  The quicker I get through this part of the process, the quicker I return to normal health.

We ate 1,000 grapes tonight in preparation for tomorrow (don't ask why they were recommended as a super food that hates cancer.  I will keep trying everything of course!



 

I can beat this.
Love Wendy xx