Friday, November 12, 2010

No Mets!

What a day - PET scan in the morning, EKG in the afternoon. In between: a swim, a cry in the locker room listening to my PET scan results via voicemail, and more questions for the doctors.

Right now: a bowl of miso soup (with daikon radish, ginger, carrot, leeks, and a mysterious dried green sea vegetable I had in a jar in my cabinet. Delicious). In a few minutes I'll leave to meet some girlfriends for a "girls night in" - chick flicks and more good eats and drinks. It is so nice to be looking forward to something fun!

The PET scan showed "no distant metastasis." In other words, the cancer has not taken root beyond my breast and armpit. This is very very good news. The statistics for women with metastatic breast cancer are very poor. On the other hand, the PET scan also shows that the cancer is very active, that the activity in my armpit represents a "cluster" of nodes rather than just one or two. This has serious implications for my survival as well, of course, but the bottom line right now is that it could be worse and it's not.

All my doctors reiterate that they are comfortable with either plan. I could go straight to surgery on Monday, or I could enroll in the clinical trial at Dana Farber, which means I've got hoops to jump through (paper work, more blood tests, another biopsy) before treatment could begin. I am still very much on the fence.

8 comments:

Panamahat said...

I am SO thankful you are clear of mets. I'm thinking of you all the time, as you continue to face decisions that must be made more quickly than you'd like. Hoping all goes well for the next step, whatever you choose. x

Paula said...

I'm thankful for your good news. It must be a relief to have gotten those results so quickly.

You are on the path to getting rid of that cancer and resuming your life! Enjoy the girls' night out!

Tash said...

I did a HUGE "woot!" when I heard your news. I'm unbelievably pleased that it has not gone any further and now you know what you're dealing with, you can face it head on and kick in its backside! I can only imagine how wonderful you must feel to have that news. The rest you can do - I'm certain of it :)

Hope you had a nice girls night and got to put it all behind you for a few hours at least. You deserve a break :)

Anonymous said...

This brings me great relief for you, Amy; especially since I haven't spoken to you live. I'm sure you will make the best descision for you regarding surgery. Best of luck, love always-M-

Unknown said...

Stay positive Amy. I'm sure the most comfortable decision will come to you...maybe when you least expect it. Thinking of you with love,
Gayle F

Anonymous said...

SUCH good news!!!!!!!

Does this information at all inform the decision regarding Avastin?

I asked a friend of mine (a doc) who knows and has done work for Genentech but they did not know much about Avastin--pretty much what you wrote about in your blog. My friend wasn't very impressed with Genentech in general for what that's worth.

Glad you could experience a moment of relief and joy. You will beat this and so much easier to do so with it being contained to one area.

Anonymous said...

Yaaaaaaaaay!!!!! Happy news!

Anonymous said...

That is some good news in the midst of some heart wrenching choices. Actually, it's freakin' wonderful news.

Thoughts are with you during surgery tomorrow.