Having met with both my breast surgeon and oncologist this week, I now have a good (ish) understanding of what's going on.
First up, there were no active cancer cells in my breast by the time I had surgery, all that was left was scar tissue. Even better, there were no signs of any cancer at all in the lymph node that was removed. This is all fantastic news and to this extent I guess I can be considered cancer free. The breast surgeon doesn’t need to see me again until this time next year as I now move into annual check ups and mammograms with him.
The oncologist however has to persevere with my random text messages for a while longer yet. Given the large scale of the original cancer and the fact it was both HER+ and Oestrogen+ I need further treatment to reduce the likelihood of recurrence. This involves continuing the Phesgo injections (11 more of these every 3 weeks) as well as radiotherapy and hormone tablets. Sounds simple? I thought so, but it's back to needing a project manager again!
Before radiotherapy I need a CT Planning Scan. Then they will plan 1 week radiotherapy on the full breast followed by 1 week on the area of the lump. That was the easy bit. Well, it will be easy unless the seroma (swelling near the wound) is too big or changing size, but that's a problem for another day.
The hormone treatment (literally a tablet a day, no issue I thought) has an impact on bones. So I need a bone density (dexa) scan before this can start, to measure my bone density baseline. Then, twice a year for 3 years I will need a bisphosphonate infusion. A what-now? So this is some kind of intravenous drug that helps prevent osteoporosis. But hang on, the bisphosphonate thing can do something to the jaw, so I need a dental check up before I get that. See what I mean….not simple, but all perfectly do-able!
The good news is however, with these preventative treatments in place, alongside the fantastic response to the chemo poison, I am in a much better place and the likelihood of recurrence is low. This is of course the best news and is the best outcome that we could have hoped for, but the journey isn't over yet.
