Photo shoot - it was a flop

My last post was about the impending photo shoot in the radiology department to check out my insides.  The proofs came back and it has taken a few weeks for me to digest the results.

I have been so fortunate that Afinator, the drug I have been taking to control tumor growth, worked for so much longer than  it has for many other patients. I have also had far fewer side effects than many. 

However, all drugs come with risks and side effects, and I have reached a point where the effects of the drug are no linger acceptable. Afinator can cause (blah blah medical speak) a crystalizatoin of the lungs. I cannot recall the correct term, but it doesn't matter. It means I am off Afinator. The silver lining: I am so relieved that there is a good reason I can't walk into the building at work without severely loosing my breath and not being able to recover for several minutes. #so embracing. 

I have waited for the insurance to approve the new protocol :(   or   :)   -not sure which. And, now I am just waiting for the pharm to ship it. 

For now I am going to be able to stick with an oral medication that won't require going to the chemo pharm.  mucho good! I will start taking Xeloda.  I am pretty anxious about what it might be like, and worried about how to manage the demands of my life with this change. But, only time will tell what happens, and the only thing I can rely on is faith in Jesus Christ to carry me through this next 

phase of extraordinary demands.

Just tonight I found a blog telling about another patient's experience with Xeloda, it is encouraging. Very minimal side effects. She also said something I relate to very well. She decided to cut back her hours at work because she was feeling good.  She did not want to let that time go by without acknowledging that she was well enough to enjoy living.  I understand that choice, wanting to give your best self to the people and things you love, not knowing you good you will be in the future. 

Maybe if I had a husband who could support me financially I could take time off work and celebrate living.  

Ah- well.  Nothing I can do about this wish.  Unless...

SWF seeks SWM. I have a chronic, potentially fatal disease and young tax deductions.  Seeking health benefits and money so we can enjoy more free time, vacations, and some luxury.

How is that sales pitch? LOL

Cancer Treatment and Family Time

Tomorrow is another visit to the Oncologist.  I will find out how my blood markers fared last month and have blood drawn to test how it is doing now.  If everything is like it has been, I will also get a shot of Xgeva (read about my experience with Xgeva here) and will continue taking Afinitor and Aromaisin.  So, I imagine I will be a little achey and my bones will scream- which I claim is a sign the medicine is changing the weak chemical structure of my bones.

I have to do everything I can this week to get my body comfortable and to feel my best, because on Saturday we want to go to the State Fair.
It is strange, living life with cancer.  We are all trying to accomplish the same things.  We want success in our professional life and balance that against the more important family life.  But, when you are living with cancer you are just juggling those things against different pressures.  While many are stocking away retirement and investment funds cancer patients are chipping away at the medical bills.  We are all still trying to provide our family with great opportunities to laugh and play together- things we hope they will look back on one day and remember how much they were loved. 
What about you?  How are you making family memories in spite of the stress of everyday life?

The Name of the Game... Wait & Hope

After discovering that the old regimen Faslode and Xgeva aren't working the doctors office has been working with my insurance, special prescription program for the insurance, etc to get a new protocol approved and in place.

They are trying to arrange for me to take Armasin, another hormone blocker (technically it is a aromatase inhibitor, which is commonly used as a second line of defense when the patient builds up a resistance to Faslodex. But the magic bullet is the addition of Afinitor, a medicine used in the treatment of other cancers, but was very recently tested in treatment of metastatic  breast cancer.  You can read about the success of the study here. Women in the study were found to go 2x longer without the advance of the disease, but that 2x is the difference between 3 and 7 months.  I wish that it was years and years.

So, why this treatment?  Why not something more aggressive?

Metastatic Breast Cancer is at least a chronic condition, but it is generally a terminal diagnosis.  I have been hopeful that somehow a miracle would take the cancer into a non-advancing and undetectable state.  That isn't happening yet.  The reality is that the use of Afinitor and Armasin (The Double A's) is a less toxic choice.  If it can treat the cancer for now, then I don't have to use chemo again yet.

Chemo is a poison that kills more than just the cancer cells.  Treatments like AA are targeted therapies and do not do the damage to the rest of the body that chemo does.  So, when the time comes, which it likely will, when I have to use chemo again my body will be less beat-up.  At some point, patients who have to take chemo after chemo find their body can't tolerate it any more, and possibly that the cancer won't respond to it any longer.  Using AA will allow me more options in the future.

And what is the cost of this magic drug showing such promise?  Right now the insurance company is still reviewing the request for approval, but if they approve it they will help pay for it, great idea considering the cost, you can see that here, although these are Canadian drug sellers, American pharmacy costs are about the same.

But, here is where the Canadian CED says that the cost is so high the the value of doubling the length of time a patient has advancement of their disease isn't worth it, and here you see other countries agree.  So, the doctors office begins working on financial assistance at the same time they are working on approval with insurance.

Anyway, no matter the cost and choice that is made it is time for this process to get moving along. This week would be my week for the next treatment of the old regimen, so the drugs will be out of my system for the introduction of the new regimen.

I have been looking for new ways to help my body fight through whole foods and supplements again.  Today I went to Whole Foods and purchased Flax Oil for a new smoothie have learned about.  I also bought Shitake mushrooms ($14.99/lb.) because I read about their power in "Waking the Warrior Goddess" book.  I went to Costco for more CoQ10.  I bought fruit and veggies and $$$ later I came home too tired to care if I eat or not.  I went for a couple fists full of chips - quick and easy. I think I will have a smoothie for dinner now and go to bed.

Keep close to hear about the shitake mushrooms and other new foods I am going to try.