If you do a google search of triple negative breast cancer, the words "rare and aggressive" almost always pop up. It surprises me that seeing those words in relation to the particular type of cancer that I have does not send me into a tailspin, but thankfully it does not. I think I don't panic over those words because I am of the mind that any cancer is "rare and aggressive." That is the nature of cancer. Cancer is made up of fast-growing/out of control cells growing in the body that should not be there and are certainly not welcome. Sure, within the world of breast cancer, triple negative is "rare and aggressive," but none of them are a picnic.
There is actually a large TNBC community (unfortunately) who are wading through this disease with me and who are also trying to demand more from their doctors and the research community. I had a good phone conversation with my oncologist yesterday regarding my to-research list, and he is working with me to find answers to my questions. I am specifically interested in this trial and whether I will be eligible for it when (if) it does open later this year (the article is somewhat sensationalized..be warned). All of the information that I have found on it says that it will be for early stage TNBC cases who have completed traditional treatment and who test positive for the folate receptor alpha protein. Could work for me, but I have no idea about the folate receptor alpha protein testing and whether it can be done on preserved tumor samples or has to happen on fresh tissue so I am on a call back list from the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville to find out more information. They should call in 5-10 days and will hopefully be able to provide more direction. I just don't want to lose the opportunity to be tested for that protein because it seems to be the key factor for the vaccine trial.
In the meantime, I will stay the course in my treatment because it is proven to work with this rare and aggressive cancer that I have. I have been/am thinking about post-treatment options and am glad that I am making some traction. I've got plenty of time until I am "post-treatment," but I don't think that anything in the medical field, especially research and clinical trials, moves at a very fast pace.
The internet is both a blessing and a curse during this time in my life. There is SO much information out there on TNBC, and I feel fortunate to be able to access that information at any time. It's also sometimes hard to read some of the information on the internet so I have to exercise caution in what I read and what I seek. It's an exercise in self-control and self-protection.
My witching hour held true for this morning. Awake right around 3:00am, but I was able to almost immediately fall back asleep which was a nice change. The bone pain seems to have lessened as well so it looks like I am on the mend in time to enjoy the rest of the week and the weekend before chemo round 3 rolls around next week. It's so foreboding.
I had lunch with a friend from high school today. We had not seen each other in about 16 years, and we both happen to be living in Charleston now. It was so fun to see her, and we shared some good laughs and memories. It's funny how things come rushing back when seeing an old friend.
I managed to convince Henry to let me rock him in his rocking chair tonight before he got in bed. I had not done that in a while, and he was perfectly content to snuggle with me and let me rock him for a nice long time tonight. It was the perfect way to end the day, and I hope that he loved it as much as I did.
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