A New Hope

 Yes, that’s a Star Wars reference. You’re welcome, Matty… (And it’s St. Patrick’s Day, not May the 4th)

Happy St. Patty’s Day!

Flashing my bangs even though the 

rest of my hair is rapidly falling out. 

More on that in a minute.

I had an appointment with my oncologist this morning (Dr. Jones), and he got some really useful information from the genetic testing they did on me a couple of weeks ago. 

I’ll see if I can give you a comprehensible recap of the conversation. 

It appears that the cancer DNA has mutated and no longer possesses HER-2, but it does show signs of BRCA-1, which is interesting, since I wasn't born with that particular gene. The good news is, it shows two mutations: BRCA-1 and PICC-3CA and the same treatment hits both. And it's in pill form, not chemo. 

I’m pretty sure this is exactly what my cancer cells are doing.

I'll stay on Eribulin for 3-6 months, depending on 3 month scan, but here's feeling really good about future options. 

This is the picture Dr. Jones drew for me. It's a picture of the cancer cell with 3 possible receptors: Estrogen, Progesterone, and the GF is Growth Factor, which in my case is HER-2.

The center of the cell is the cancer DNA, which replicates itself and grows fast (tumor growth. Those are represented by the bubbles at the bottom (and the GIF above). 

My current regimen (Eribulin) is destroying the cancer DNA, regardless of mutations. 

There’s a war going on inside me at the cellular level.

Eribulin = Death Star

They've had me on Herceptin for ages, because of its track record in wiping out HER-2. (proven!) They’ll keep me on it just in case of microscopic traces of HER-2, and because once they take you off a chemo regimen, they don’t restart it.

Once the cancer outsmarts Eribulin- (expected in the next 3-6 months), I will start on a pill (not chemo) called Olaparib will target the genetic mutations they found in my blood test. 

I’m tolerating the Eribulin really well. It’s two weeks on, one week off, and it only takes 5 minutes to administer. I have felt so well, I was sceptical that it was doing anything… and then my hair started falling out. (This will be the THIRD time I’ve gone bald, for those of you keeping track at home. *sigh*)

It’s ok. It’s very temporary, and last time my hair grew back it curly, so fingers crossed. Meanwhile, I have an appointment at the Avera Wig Salon on Tuesday. Losing my hair still sucks, but not as much as the first time. Time to start searching for sassy salt & pepper wigs.