MM121 done...now on to the next

It has been a while since I last posted, so I decided to update everyone on things. The past two Friday's have been spent sitting in a reclining chair in a chemo suite as they call it. This is a room of four rows of chairs lined up with people getting chemo at the same time.

The first visit on 2/17 was a little nerve racking. My port was placed on that Tuesday on my left side near my collar bone. The part I was dreading most was them using the port for this process as I didn't know what to expect. I really didn't feel the needle poke through as my skin was still kind of numb from the surgery that Tuesday and the nurse used some freeze spray to numb it too. They drew blood from my port as they will do before every chemo session from now on. After drawing blood we had to wait 15 minutes before starting the MM121 which is the chemo study drug I was getting. Since it is a study drug it has to be timed and one a certain way in order to make sure that the study goes correctly. After finally getting started we were done by 3pm.

My next session of MM121 was last Friday 2/24 and it wasn't quite as scary as I knew little bit more of what to do. This time when they were trying to draw blood my port was clogged as my body was trying to fight off this foreign object. So no blood would come out. They had to inject me with some type of enzyme and wait 20 minutes to clear it out. It worked and hopefully we will not have to do that again next time.

So the two starter doses of MM121 are done and there hasn't been too many side effects. I have been able to work and have visitors. I did have another study biopsy today 2/27 since the MM121 starter doses are done.

Thank you to those of you have brought over food for us and for my friends at Odyssey who pitched in for the house cleaning on Friday! We really appreciate everything you all are doing!

This week I will be starting the "fun" stuff. I will still take the study drug M121, but will also be adding the normal Paclitaxel ("Taxol" for short) to it as well. This drug has some more harsh side effects that I am not looking forward to, but it is the next step in beating this disease....so bring it on!

Busy week

I went yesterday to have my port installed, I guess you could say, and to have a biopsy of the lymph nodes. I had to be there at 7am and my husband was a little grumpy with no coffee or food to eat. The procedure didn't take too long and I was on my way home by 12:30pm. I was in some pain and slept most of the day. The port is near my neck muscle and I think that is why it is so sore. I was very nervous to get this port put in because I didn't know what to expect. Afterall, this thing is attached to one of my main arteries and that scares the crap out of me.

Today I had to have an echocardiogram (excuse my spelling) and an EKG. The Echo as they call it is a sonogram of my heart. The second part of my chemo the drug called AC can be very harsh on your heart and they wanted to see how my heart is working before the drug. After that appointment I went to have another biopsy of my tumor for the study drug that I may be a part of. My doctor informed me while I was there that the biopsy of my lymph node they did yesterday was negative, meaning it has not spread to the lymph nodes. Thanks to God that all of these test results have come out good. I am very sore still from the port that was put in yesterday and I am assuming that I will be for a few days.

I went and had my hair cut today as well. First we cut off my long hair to have a hat wig made of my hair. Then the hairstylist cut my hair really short as there was not much hair left. I am not a big fan of my short hair, but I guess it is all going to fall out in a few weeks anyways. I was so upset about it I started crying at the salon. I did, however, pick up my synthetic wig to use in the meantime. I guess I can cover my boy haircut with my new wig.

I finally have a day off tomorrow from all of the tests and other things. I am hoping to get some rest and have some down time before the fun begins on Friday. I should find out tomorrow whether or not I am going to be using the study drug or if I will be just using the normal stuff. I will update you as soon as I know. I will be starting chemotherapy on Friday morning. Please pray that everything goes well and that I don't feel too horrible after.

See you after chemo on Friday!

The Results

First I would like to say Thank you to everyone for the words of encouragement and most of all for the prayers. I am very happy to know that there is so many of you out there praying for me! I would also like for my husband to know that I am blessed to have him in my life and he is the greatest husband ever!

Now to the results....I just spoke with my Dr. and the PET scan came back clear. It has not spread anywhere else in my body and we are clear to move on. I will be getting a port/biopsy done on Tuesday, 2/14...yes on Valentines day....and then start Chemo maybe Thursday or Friday. The Chemo has not been scheduled yet, but that is when they are hoping to start.

We have a busy weekend ahead with both girls in soccer and then next week we will start to fight this disease head on! Keep praying that I am tough enough to handle all that is ahead!

See you next week....

2012 Begins

2012 began with a big bang! It all started with a routine annual exam and it unraveled from there.

On 12/20/11 I went in for my routine annual exam and my doctor felt a lump on my breast, but didn't seem too concerned about it. She said let's get some imaging of it just in case.

We went on our Christmas Vacation to Disney World and had a blast....except for the road trip!

Upon returning I had to go have my first ever Mammogram on 1/5/12...as I am only 32 years old I was hoping to put that off another 8 years. After the Radiologist reviewed my x-ray's they decided to do a sonogram to see if they could tell more of what the lump was. After further reviewing she decided to have me schedule a biopsy...again just in case because she couldn't tell exactly what it was from the x-ray or the sonogram.

The following week on 1/12/12 I went in to have a biopsy done. This procedure was really weird as I was on the table with one person doing a sonogram as the other was putting a needle in my breast to take a piece of it to test it. The radiologist got what she needed and said that the pathologist should have the results back by Friday or Monday.

As I was driving home from picking up Amaya from school on Friday 1/13/12, my phone rang and it was the Radiologist who had just done my biopsy the day before. I immediately became nervous and anxious to hear my results. As I was pulling into my garage she gave me the news, unfortunately this was cancerous. I have Amaya pulling at me to give her the keys and I have this doctor on the phone giving me all of this information that I needed to write down. I gave Amaya the keys to go in the house and I just stayed in my car talking. She gave me the name to a surgeon, oncologist, and reconstructive surgeon. Most important she told me what this dreaded lump was called...Invasive Ductal Carcinoma. She explained that is the most common form of breast cancer and that it is very treatable. I was in complete shock, this Dr. is telling me that I have breast cancer over the phone while I am sitting in my garage. I was told my next step is to have an MRI and then call the surgeon. Our conversation lasted maybe 30 mintues and I don't think that I could even tell you all of the information she gave me in that short period of time. Now what am I supposed to do? I immediately called Ruben and blurted out the news to him while balling my eyes out...still in the garage in the care with Amaya in the house. He headed straight home. I then called my mom and had to tell her, but my dad answered and so I told him first who then put my mom on the phone. She couldn't contain herself either. We were just both blubbering messes trying to hold a conversation.

I am on my journey to fighting this horrible thing called breast cancer!
My first step was to get an MRI done. I had my MRI scheduled for 1/19/12 a whole week after finding out the news and it was killing me not knowing anything as I was not scheduled to meet the surgeon until the following Tuesday. I ended up meeting with the surgeon on 1/18/12 to get more information before doing my MRI. She gave us options on chemo and surgery. Many things to have to think about. Do I want a masectomy or a lumpectomy? Will we do chemo first to shrink the tumor or after surgery? She also said I need to have a bone scan and a CT scan before meeting the Oncologist. My bone scan was done on 1/26 and my CT scan was done on 1/27. After many prayers all of my scans came back showing no signs of the cancer spreading to other parts of my body!

I met with the Oncologist on 2/2 to find out what the next step was. The surgeon thought it would be best to meet with the Oncologist and start chemo right away rather than waiting until after surgery. The Oncologist explained that I have stage 2 Invasive Ductal Carcinoma. I am in stage 2 since my tumor is more than 2mm as it is measuring 2.8mm and that my cancer is very aggressive. He wanted to get started right away. I have to have one more scan called a PET scan to check again whether or not this tumor has spread anwhere else in my body. I am doing this today 2/8. Please pray that this stays put and hasn't traveled anywhere in this month span. Next step is a port/biopsy. I will be participating in a study of a new chemo drug which requires another biopsy to get started. After that I will begin chemo....Taxol once a week for twelve weeks with a possiblity of receiving the test drug MM-121 for two of those weeks and then a mixture of two drugs they call AC once every two weeks 4 times. After adding all of that up it is 5 months of chemotherapy.

The hardest part so far has been telling my girls. Amaya really doesn't understand and hasn't asked many questions except can we get a pink wig. Karina on the other hand keeps to herself and is scared to ask me anything. My family is fighting with me and I love every one of them!

The picture in this post was taken on 2/4 as I wanted a family picture to cherish while I had hair and before this disease takes its tole on my body. I am ready to fight this disease and win! With God's help I will be this before-cancer person again and then be a Breast Cancer Survivor!

My Journey to be continued.....