Several folks have asked how my appointment with the breast cancer specialist went on Monday so I better give a quick update.
There's really not much to share though...
The doctor is in agreement with my current line of treatment though he feels that closer monitoring of my side effects is in order. (If I'm still experiencing severe GI distress in 6 weeks, he wants me off the Lupron.) He also says we should not wait 6 months again to see if this current treatment is working. (He did say he wouldn't have put me on tamoxifen, my first line of treatment, in the first place.) He was kind and thorough, explaining everything quite well. He did discuss chemo's place in this. It's not totally ruled out but he wants to see if Lupron is effective first. He agreed that it's not enough to fight the cancer if my quality of life is severely compromised. He will watch for clinical trials that look promising for me.
I'm writing this as I wait to see my regular oncologist for this month's recheck and labs. My hope is that my tumor markers are starting to come down from the last test. Same for the calcium in my blood. My understanding is that she'll start me on the next 2 drugs today. Please pray that I'll tolerate these well.
One thing I asked the specialist about was my prognosis. My other doctors have refused to discuss this with me until we find an effective treatment. He elaborated on that... he said that finding an effective treatment means we're talking "years". Please pray we'll find one soon. Stastically speaking, 3-5 years is the average for my type of cancer...but the statistics don't specify if that's with an effective treatment or not. I'll assume not since without it...it ends with death. *sigh* It is hard to have these discussions...with my doctors, with my loved ones, and with God.
There've been a few recent conversations that have got me thinking...questioning... digging deeper. Why would a so called "loving God" allow this? If he's all powerful, why doesn't he just heal you? These aren't my questions but ones a few friends shared recently and it really got me thinking. (I absolutely love and honor these friends who are brave enough to have these discussions and share their true feelings with me.) As a parent myself, I know there's little I wouldn't do to protect my children, spare them the heartache and pain...so why would my Heavenly Father, my Creator allow repeated pain and suffering to the very children he claims to love and promises to protect?
I have more to say on this but I'd like to hear from some of you first. (You don't have to share publicly if you'd prefer not to. Just email me instead tikaweeks @ gmail'dot'com)
