September 19, 2024
Hello friends and family! Welcome to fall (almost). The nights are getting cooler here and I’ve seen photos from others that the aspens are starting to change color in the mountains.
I write with good news. My PET scan of earlier this week shows that I’m stable. This is fantastic; it means that the cancer is not growing or spreading. The caveat is that lobular breast cancer sometimes doesn’t show up well on imaging. However, my blood tumor marker number dropped as well! The CA 27-29 gives an idea of how active the cancer is. A number of 38 or lower means the cancer is inactive. In mid-August it was 109. On September 11 it was 93! That was very welcome news!
The combination of the tumor marker dropping and my scan not showing progression means I can stay on the same treatment. I’m currently getting Enhertu every 3 weeks. I’ve got medications to deal with the side effects, overall I’m tolerating it very well.
I also spoke with my orthopedic surgeon this week. My recovery is going very well and he wished me a good time on my upcoming trip. He did mention several times how bad of shape my hip was in. I’m feeling grateful that I no longer have pain and hopefully I will be able to walk unaided soon. I still have some swelling and it’s hard getting used to walking since I’ve been using a cane for 2 years.
Tomorrow Maddy and I leave for Belgium. We are attending the International Lobular Breast Cancer Symposium! I received a travel grant from the Lobular Breast Cancer Association for which I am very grateful.
The symposium is 3 days long and the first day is focused on patient advocates. Maddy will come with me that day. The other 2 days are more research focused. We are excited to go and learn where research is headed for lobular breast cancer. My oncologist was not familiar with this conference and asked me to brief him on what I know. I’m more than happy to do that!
Not gonna lie – we are happy to go to Belgium as well. We should have one day where we can sight see. We will be in the city of Leuven which is east of Brussels. Watch for photos in the next blog post.
Life is good, right now for me life is great. I’m going to take it all in while also making sure I rest and don’t overdo it. Maddy may need to help me with that.
Onward!
Life As I Know It 