Treatment.

Just heard that the sister of a friend has had her breast cancer operation yesterday, they took 2 lymph nodes and at the moment she is in for 6 weeks radiotherapy, hope the lab results are good and she does not have to go through any other treatments.

I was told at the beginning that my tumour was grade 1 and as it was new I would only need a few weeks radiotherapy and that would be it. I was so shocked when the results came back from the lab showing that I not only had a grade 3 cancer, but it was fast growing and aggressive so that I would need radiotherapy and chemotherapy too, the treatment would be aggressive because the cancer was fast growing and I would definately loose my hair. Certainly not what I wanted to hear, my thick wavy hair was my pride and joy and the thought of loosing it was very difficult. I had it cut very short prior to it falling out, that was bad enough, but when it began to fall out in handfuls after the first session of chemotherapy I knew I could do nothing to stop it and so began to get a selection of scarves together to match my outfits. I had a wig, courtesy of the hospital, but I felt uncomfortable when wearing it, my head would feel itchy and in warm weather it was most irritating.

I got through the chemotherapy, it was not nice but I was very pleased when I reached the end, only to find out that my cancer was also HER2 positive and so I needed herceptin, another 12 months of iv drips and needles. At least my hair stayed where it was through the herceptin treatment, and apart from the first session, when I passed out while having the herceptin, it was a whole lot easier than the chemotherapy which had made me so sick, and which had me feeling as though I was on another planet for about ten days at a time! It was similar in that I had the treatment every 3 weeks and that the nurse had to put a needle into a vein in my hand (when she could find one) so that I was attached to a drip for an hour and a half while the drugs went slowly into my body at each treatment session, what people don`t realise is that chemotherapy treatment can be very time consuming! I still take cancer drugs, but it is much easier now in that I take one pill every day and have done so since my chemotherapy and herceptin all finished which was the start of 2007, I am on the femara for three years as far as I know, whether something else will be on offer at the end of the three years I have no idea at this stage, maybe something will be developed in the meantime. I am a bit nervous at the thought of not taking anything to prevent the return of the big C, but at the same time it will be nice not to have to side effects these drugs can cause. Thats all in the future, I shall have to wait and see what happens.