Can't Biopsy it if They Can't Find it!

So, I made it to work yesterday and then hustled off after my last class to have an ultrasound guided biopsy, a blood draw and a CT Scan. All these things were for the trial (all participants have them done on the same day of the same cycle). They don't do much for me, but they're important in the big scheme of things.

The department in charge of mammograms, ultrasounds and breast biopsies at UCSF is always a cluster fuck. I dont' know why I was surprised to wait almost two hours before the ultrasound was started. After a LOT of ultrasounding (not at all painful for those who haven't had any experience) it was declared that they couldn't find anything in the region they identified in November. They managed to find one tiny spot in the original area and took a core biopsy of that area. This biopsy experience wasn't anywhere near as traumatizing as the one I had the first time. More evidence that getting yourself to a big teaching hospital is a good thing.


So, that's the big news, they can't see much of anything on the ultrasound!! That and the fact that I've made it through this most recent round without any big incidents. I've made a decision that I just can't work on days 2 & 5 of treatment (which happens to be Friday and Monday). I just get too tired to be of much use at work (plus there is the nausea and vomiting thing - I really don't want to puke in front of one of my classes!).

Double Whammy

On day two of my last round of Tykerb I noticed I had a fever. Nothing crazy high, but definitely a fever. I called the doctor, she said continue with Tykerb but add an antibiotic in case of infection. This became the perfect storm of sickness for me. I puked my guts out over and over and couldn't (and didn't want) to eat or drink. After a couple of days of no eating or drinking I was in bad shape- light headed, fatigued beyond belief, etc. After another call to the doctor, she tells me to skip my last dose of Tykerb and she got me an appointment to go in for fluids on Tuesday. I headed in for fluids and I still had a fever. The nurse called my doctor and they decided to do blood cultures to make sure I don't have some weird bacterial infection. On Wednesday I was still feeling ridiculously fatigued (I needed a nap after walking Red around the block - I usually walk him 3 miles) and emailed the doctor. She emailed back (at 11pm?!?) to say my blood cultures were negative and I probably had a virus. So, long story short, I've been home from work all week, napping, learning how to eat again (it was tricky at first - no joke, but now I'm back to my old self!) and trying to get back into shape. I still have a low fever off and on, but my fatigue is getting better (I managed 2 miles worth of dog walks today and a trip to the grocery store).

I'm scheduled to go in and see my doctor on Tuesday morning to get the all clear to start up round 3 next Thursday. I'm going to eat healthy and rest up in an effort to get back into fighting shape as fast as possible!!

It Is Amazing How Responsive You Are...

Went in for my checkup before the next round, and after some poking and a review of her notes from two weeks ago my oncologist says, "it's amazing how responsive you are". The skin is less red and the tumor seems to have shrunk measurably. This is after round one!! This is especially heartening because my body has "seen" Tykerb before and you'd expect whatever cancer that was left to be relatively resistant to the Tykerb (it survived it before...). Not much else to report. My EKG was normal and my blood work wasn't back yet (I'll get a call if there's a problem).

Back to work tomorrow and back on the sauce on Thursday. Wish me luck trying to work during this next round...

Re-Ported

We had a great trip to Michigan. The first round back on Tykerb went pretty well. I definitely had some downtime when I felt crappy, but nothing scary. The house we rented was great and I especially liked having a window seat and a wood burning stove. The weather wasn't as snowy as I was hoping for, but I still feel like I got my winter on. We got back last night and this morning I went and got my new port. I was relieved to have the same doctor putting the new port in that took my old one out. It just makes things easier when the person you're dealing with knows the story. We got there around 8:15 and were out of there by 11:15. Not bad really. Now we're back home and I'm resting comfortably. Once the numbing meds wear off I'll be sore, but hopefully it won't be too bad. The doctor recommended Advil, so clearly he isn't expecting terrible pain. Fingers crossed!

Relief.

I had my scan yesterday and my oncologist called me today at 11:30 (she's great!) with the news that there is nothing showing up in my chest or abdomen (my liver and lungs are still clean!). Yipppee! What a great thing to hear on my first day of the holiday vacation. Merry Christmas to me!!

This doesn't mean I'm cancer free of course. There is most definitely some cancer in my breast and it is growing, so (and I can't believe I'm saying this) I'm looking forward to getting back on treatment.

OK TO GO

I passed my tests and everything looks good except for low white blood cell counts (stay away from me if you're sick). I am good to go ahead, get my CT scan tomorrow and start treatment up again next week.

Port Free and All Scheduled

I went in on Thursday to have my port removed. I was a little nervous about them doing it with just local anesthetic, but it ended up being pretty easy. It was really surreal to have someone cutting into me and pulling that thing out while I was wide awake (no, I couldn't see anything). I was really happy to be leaving with a clear head, not the weird fuzziness you feel after more significant sedation. It is a little sore and pretty bruised, but otherwise I'm feeling pretty good. Now I just need to wait and heal up before I head in for my new one on the 29th.

In the meantime I've gotten scheduled to start back on the trial, finally! Unfortunately, it didn't turn out the way I wanted it to- The drag is that I start back on Tykerb on December 22. Since it is a 5 day on, 9 day off kind of thing, I'll be on treatment over Christmas while Keith and I are up in the UP. Urgh. This was not how I wanted it to go. I was hoping to start the week before, but no such luck. I went around and around with the trial coordinator (who is wonderful) trying to figure out another option, but there just isn't anything to be done unless I want to delay getting started by 2 more weeks (NO THANKS). I'm just going to suck it up. I'm hoping that maybe it will be slightly easier than I remember it since I have had a nice break from treatment (and I don't have a brain tumor!). We'll see...

So this week, I've got a bunch of appointments on Tuesday to make sure I'm still eligible for the trial. Really they're just checking out my heart and liver. All the HER2 targeted drugs are hard on the heart muscle, so they need to make sure mine is still going strong before I start the trial. I'm not too worried, but it'll be nice to hear that things are a definite go! If things are good, then on Thursday I'll go in for a CT Scan to get a baseline of what things look like before I get started (please cross your fingers and toes and send good vibes for a good clean, or close to clean, scan).



Red and Keith and I got out for a nice hike today in Marin County. It was brisk and windy but it sure felt good to get out.