Some asked for a recap of this year. Here you go.
In January of this year, just over a year after finishing chemo, I started having one problem after another. Pain, infections, cognitive trouble. I was still seeing both my allopathic oncologist and my integrative oncologist regularly, every other month if not more, but every lab, every scan, they ALL came back showing I was NED (no evidence of disease).
In January of this year, just over a year after finishing chemo, I started having one problem after another. Pain, infections, cognitive trouble. I was still seeing both my allopathic oncologist and my integrative oncologist regularly, every other month if not more, but every lab, every scan, they ALL came back showing I was NED (no evidence of disease).
My CTC (circulating tumor cells) results came back ZERO each time. My CA 15-3
My CA 15-3 tumor marker test had been steady for 2 years between 11-13 (<35 is considered normal)
My CA 15-3 tumor marker test had been steady for 2 years between 11-13 (<35 is considered normal)
My MRIs, CT scans, and x-rays ALL showed everything was normal.
EVERYTHING was "normal" but I was still in pain. I got pink eye 5 times in 3 months. I would randomly spike a fever and then it would be gone within hours. My doctors continued to monitor me and check everything they could think of, but nothing came up and I was starting to think it was in my head.
By June, I had come to the conclusion that my body just wasn't working properly and maybe THAT was my new normal. Late July, my oncologist gave me the "all clear" to not have to see her til next year. In August, I spent 2 weeks serving at a camp that is spread out...that meant a lot of walking...but I needed help and was driven around in a golf cart almost everywhere I needed to go. The pain in my hips, back, and shoulder were awful. When I got back from camp, I was due for labs again with my integrative oncologist. (I had decided that since I was still not convinced there wasn't something wrong I would continue seeing my integrative oncologist for monitoring. Thank God I did... That's when my CA 15-3 came back slightly elevated at 36. Only one point higher than what is considered normal, but 20+ higher than it had been. My integrative oncologist sent me back to double check (2 weeks later) and this time it was in the 60s. She was going to send me for another MRI but I asked for a PET scan. It lit up. A bone biopsy confirmed that the breast cancer had spread to my bones.
Stage IV metastatic breast cancer.
Stage IV metastatic breast cancer.
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