Decisions
I woke up yesterday morning realizing that I am definitely going to have the additional chemo. Even if there's no way to know if I need it or to measure whether it's helping, it will give me the peace of mind that I've done everything I can to ensure that the cancer is completely gone. I never want to have to wonder later if I should have done it now. Frankly, I'd rather do it and not need it than not do it and wish I had.
I'm still going to do some additional research into my chemo drug options and see if I can track down any ibc experts (that's proving much harder than I originally anticipated). However, my plan is to go forward with the chemo.
I just thought you'd want to know.
posted by Tonua @ 11:07 AM
3 Comments:
confused question:
so no new ones from the bone scan etc, (yay!!)
what about the active ones they found in your lymph nodes after chemo and masectomy, radiation killed those off right?
They found the active cancer in the breast tissue and lymph nodes that were removed during my surgery. There's no way to know if there was still active cancer in the remaining lymph nodes.
However, if there was any active cancer in the tissue or lymph nodes that were treated during radiation, the radiation should have killed them.
Here is where the distinction between not having cancer and not having any evidence of cancer becomes important. I no longer have anything to measure against, so now we can only assume that radiation did it's job and that there is no cancer in those areas either.
That's why the decision to have more chemo is so tricky. There's no way to know if any cancer remains in my body, and there's nothing to measure how effective if is when I do have it. This is where we have to start "reading between the lines" and trusting that everything is working the way it's supposed to work. Because, from this point on, we only have assumptions. We don't have proof.
I am glad you are going for the chemo. Yes, it may be debilitating and difficult but knowing that you have done everything you possibly could have I think is a huge reassurance rather than thinking..well, maybe if I had done more....
Good luck from someone who is out the other side....
Minerva
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