Results ... or lack of them
I spent entire day (8:00 am - 6:30 pm) at MD Anderson and it really drained me! Someone made a costly mistake of not scheduling my CT scan and while I inquired about it 2 days beforehand it still didn't get done, so this ordeal resulted in me being scheduled for a 9 pm scan - I had to beg the staff to take me in as early as possible as I could not eat anything before the scan so I was getting light headed... I am still tired, honestly, and I don't know if my pneumonia is gone -- hope to know results next week, I guess.
I also saw OBGYN about fertility preservation -- apparently, there is a trial study with 2 hormone shots but no one knew about it! I am sensitive about this issue as I feel this is such an important subject for all going through SCT; yet they seam to be so preoccupied with saving a patients life they forget about anything else - like quality life with kids and family!
And on the good side, I met the radiation oncologist - a young doctor of Indian descent who was incredibly informed. In my case, with my disease being refractory (meaning stubborn) they all want radiation -- question is what kind? My 3 options are: 1) standard radiation 2) IMRT radiation 3) new proton therapy. At the moment they are researching what's best for me but it looks like the choice will be 1 or 3. Apparently, IMRT would do more damage to the breast tissue (it touches more tissue from different directions) and thus increase my chances of secondary breast cancer. And the proton is so new, no one knows for sure ... but again, it shoots from the front only and would probably pick up extra tissue too... And to top it off, who knows if the insurance would approve the proton therapy... So in the meantime I wait for CT results on pneumonia and plan on about 3-4 weeks of radiation thereafter .... Oh, decisions, decisions but the end of treatments is near!
I also saw OBGYN about fertility preservation -- apparently, there is a trial study with 2 hormone shots but no one knew about it! I am sensitive about this issue as I feel this is such an important subject for all going through SCT; yet they seam to be so preoccupied with saving a patients life they forget about anything else - like quality life with kids and family!
And on the good side, I met the radiation oncologist - a young doctor of Indian descent who was incredibly informed. In my case, with my disease being refractory (meaning stubborn) they all want radiation -- question is what kind? My 3 options are: 1) standard radiation 2) IMRT radiation 3) new proton therapy. At the moment they are researching what's best for me but it looks like the choice will be 1 or 3. Apparently, IMRT would do more damage to the breast tissue (it touches more tissue from different directions) and thus increase my chances of secondary breast cancer. And the proton is so new, no one knows for sure ... but again, it shoots from the front only and would probably pick up extra tissue too... And to top it off, who knows if the insurance would approve the proton therapy... So in the meantime I wait for CT results on pneumonia and plan on about 3-4 weeks of radiation thereafter .... Oh, decisions, decisions but the end of treatments is near!
posted by Natalia @ 4:58 PM
2 Comments:
At 5:21 PM,
Anonymous said…
I can say this about proton therapy - the energy of the beam is calculated that it stops (and affects the most) the target area. In other words, unlike the usual therapy, the effect is not the same along the entire path of the proton beam. Therefore, the impact on the afore-laying tissue is much-much-much smaller than on the cancerous region.
And unfortunately, there is not win-win treatment yet... Unfortunately.
But human body has remarkable capability to bounce back - as you had shown us so many times already! Keep up positive outlook!
At 11:15 PM,
A said…
Good luck to you Natalia!! I completed low dose radiation on December 26, 2006 and it was not too bad except for some throat discomfort. Watch out for false positives on xrays and scans, which in my case was mistaken for pneumonia, but it turned out to be radiation inflammation which has pretty much dissappeared. Whatever your decision is regarding radiation, I wish you the best. I know IMRT was ruled out in my case for the same reasons you posted and I was told that proton radiation was described as being hit by a semi-truck according to my radiation oncologist. It's a hard decision I had to make last month and I know how you're feeling. Take good care Natalia! Sending lots of positive vibes and prayers your way. I'll be going on vacation soon and taking a break from everything related to cancer. Best wishes to you and your family.
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