Straight from the horse's mouth

[nightdog_barks]

OKAY SO.



Kittens, sometimes when it walks like a duck and talks like a duck ... it still ain't a duck. What I actually have is secondary breast cancer. This means that EIGHT YEARS AGO, some teensy-tiny microscopic fragment of my breast cancer hid out somewhere in my body until one day it said HEY THINK I'LL COME OUT AND SAY HI AGAIN. Why? Because that's just the way things work. The human body is a mysterious bundle of magical shit.

Anyway, my doc explained that the first-line treatment these days for secondary breast cancer is ... targeted therapy. A pill. So the next steps are going to be: a PET scan, to see just how much of this there is; a biopsy (from a spot in my liver); pull everything together for a plan of attack; attack.

I like this guy -- he was actually listening to me, and answered my questions honestly. :-)



So that was my Friday. :-)

Comments

[blackmare]

Re: the biopsy, I strongly advise getting them to sedate you. My team did that for me, at my request, and it really, really helped. They have to leave you alert enough to be responsive to instructions (alas) but YAY DRUGS.

[nightdog_barks]

Heh, sounds like a colonoscopy, where they give you Versed. You can respond to the medical staff, but you don't remember a thing.

[blackmare]

OH MAN I WISH I DIDN’T REMEMBER (it wasn’t really that bad). I think they may have given me a touch of ketamine? Or ... actually that is one part that’s pretty hazy. Was it ketamine, or versed, or something else? I recall that I recognized the name, in any case.

[silverjackal]

I had actually assumed it was breast cancer that had spread to the lung because cancer is pernicious that way and knowing you were a breast cancer survivor made it much more likely than having an unrelated cancer. It's great to hear that you're a candidate for targeted therapy, and that you like your oncologist.

[cuddyclothes]

That's great that you like your oncologist! It is so ultra-important to feel like your doctor is working with you.

This is going to sound weird, but what an interesting kind of cancer! Cancer: the gift that keeps on giving.

[warmdarkwoman]

Huzzah! (?) (I'm gathering from the tone of your post that this is a positive thing(?).)

I'm so happy that your oncologist is really listening to you! (Do you think he's a little like Wilson?)

[topaz_eyes]

I wondered if it might be secondary breast cancer. Those sneaky little shits can sometimes spread before the primary tumor's detected. Targeted therapy is still the way to go and I am so glad that it's an option.

Also, hoorah for having an oncologist who listens!

[nightdog_barks]

Jackal, that was my original suspicion too. It's just that this sneaky little bastard has done everything but jump up and down and wave a neon flag shouting I'M LUNG CANCER LOOK AT ME I'M LUNG CANCER. It's just ... a hard thing to wrap one's mind around.

[srsly_yes]

I'm with Silverjackel. Can't remember where I had learned about it, but the first type of cancer is considered the root cause of any cancer that follows. T

Targeted therapy with a pill sounds amazing and encouraging. Medical research has come a long way.

[nightdog_barks]

It is so ultra-important to feel like your doctor is working with you.

Yes, yes, a million times yes! CC, if I had known more of what I could do as a patient eight years ago, I would've fired my first oncologist. I should've fired him. When my medical doctor said "Well, we'll contact Dr. [redacted] and get the ball rolling," I said "NO." I was young(er) and scared, and thought I was supposed to trust him for everything.

AND YES. I agree -- it actually is interesting! I mean, WHAT SORCERY IS THIS?

[cuddyclothes]

I went to a doctor who disliked me (and vice versa) for years. When I finally changed to a new (female) doctor it was almost overwhelming to be taken SERIOUSLY! No more "you're somatizing" crap. Now it's "damn your brain is doing some shit" Much better.

[nightdog_barks]

Heh, it kind of is ... but it also isn't. It's a relief to me to know exactly what this is and that now we're working toward doing something about it. BUT. Cancers in the lung(s), no matter what their origin, are notoriously difficult to keep in check -- i.e., you can knock them down for substantial periods of time, but very often they find a way to come back.

He's like Wilson in that he listens and takes me seriously. And if Wilson were a bald Indian guy, he'd be exactly like Wilson. :DDD

[nightdog_barks]

Sneaky little shit is exactly the right name for this ridiculous crap. And omg yes hoorah for an onc who listens! It's a welcome change from eight years ago.

[nightdog_barks]

The idea that a PILL would be the first line of treatment against cancer is still almost science-fiction to me. A pill! Cancer! It's like we're all in that Star Trek movie where they go back in time to save the whales, and McCoy slips a pill to this old lady in a hospital, and in like 20 minutes she's cured of cancer. :D

[lovelythings]

That seems good! I mean, as good as it gets.

[illuminating_dragon]

The treatment for this has improved by leaps and bounds in recent years. I continue to be amazed.

[nightdog_barks]

I know, right? Sometimes as good as it gets is the best we can get, and that's what we live with. :-)

[nightdog_barks]

We're living in the future! Seriously, the advances made in just eight years are stunning.

[illuminating_dragon]

When my brother was diagnosed with melanoma six years ago he refused further treatment after his surgery (and the further surgery the oncologist was pushing for even though it was against protocols for melanoma). Understanding and treatment of melanoma has advanced so much since then that he now feels vindicated in his decision not to be butchered again. There was a very long period of time - decades - when I felt that we weren't getting anywhere with cancer treatments but... It's a different world now.

[nightdog_barks]

I know someone who met someone (ha) who had been diagnosed with Stage IV melanoma and told he had about three months to live -- the cancer was that advanced. He went to the Mayo Clinic, they started him on immunotherapy, and he is now cancer-free. A different world, indeed.

And yet. Not everyone is saved.

[illuminating_dragon]

We haven't come far at all with certain cancers, or with screening for/awareness of certain cancers. My brother's cancer should have been identified much sooner than it was. Even in this part of the world it would be a good idea to screen certain people annually even if a user fee (gasp!) were to be involved. His prognosis wasn't good but he's beaten the odds and feels that the rest is gravy.

It's very good that you have an oncologist whom you can work with.

[yarroway]

Thanks for including the link. That's one heck of a day you had. (((hugs)))

[taiga13]

Ah, I wondered if this was a new cancer or not. Whatever type of cancer can be treated with a a pill is the better option! Yay for bald Indian Wilson!

[flywoman]

One day we'll be saying that almost all current medical treatments sound like the goddamn Spanish Inquisition...