The Adriamycin and Cytoxan chemo routine did not agree with my body and my doctor cancelled the last round of treatment. I was so excited to be done as I have never felt that sick before. That stuff will take you down and I had reached my personal breaking point. I took a month vacation from chemo and started the weekly low dose Taxol last week. It felt amazing to be off of chemo for awhile and feel normal again. On chemo one’s new normal is not feeling well every day, like you are coming down with the flu or a cold, so to feel well again is like being on a happy drug. I am counting the days until September 8th when I’ll be done with chemo!!
When you are diagnosed with cancer the doctors speak to you in statistics lingo and for a right-brained person like me that can be frustrating. I think without any treatment and only having the mastectomy my recurrence stat is 50%. Now with chemo it drops to 20-30% and with the herceptin and tamoxifen drugs I’ll be down to 10%. 10% is the general public risk for getting cancer. However, in speaking with a Radiation Oncologist today he stated a 20-30% risk of recurrence without radiation which is very confusing when figuring in the othet stats? I see it as I have 80% chance it will not come back. Though he was not figuring in the herceptin and tamoxifen drugs and did not want to talk about how lifestyle changes like diet/excercise will improve the stats. Just to note I am in a big gray area for needing to receive radiation and I am not doing it. So I am going to move on from this experience and mentally plan that it was my one and only bout with cancer. My hope is changing my diet, exercising more, combining Western and Eastern medicine, and a new mental outlook on life will aid in me living a long and prosperous life!
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