The details

The numbers are unchanged from July. Unchanged means the drug is working!!!!!

The protein markers in my blood are what started this whole shebang in May. The numbers were at 29 in December, and went up to 46 ish in May and June. They are not incredibly accurate in their information. Some oncologists don't even use them because they can give false positive results. In my case, the positive results were positive. Irritating, but good to know a simple blood test will tell us where we're at. After surgery the number was 38, Monday the number was 45. They can vary some depending on diet and stress. I'm guessing my anxiety ridden Monday created some extra stuff, but who knows if that's accurate.

The drug that I take (Arimidex) is considered to be successful if it does one of three things: eliminates cancer altogether, drops the numbers, or leaves the numbers unchanged. My numbers are unchanged, hence success!! It's still early to tell, it's only been 2 months of taking the drug, and it will take a while to really get going. I would love it if the numbers start dropping, but I can have numbers at 45 forever and be just fine with that too!! The next blood draw is in another 2 months. If all is normal at that point, we go another 2 months and have a CT scan. (That puts us into March). The CT scan at this point would be pointless because it's so close to the last one there would be little change.

I was hoping today that the numbers would be smaller, so I was initially a little disappointed. By the time I left Dr. Lee's office though, I was a bit peppy. The drugs are working, working, working, whee!! Dr. Lee was also pointing out that there are tons of options out there for treating this stuff. Breast cancer is the one to have because there is so much stuff out there and new things happening every day. If this drug doesn't work, she listed at least three others that we could try next if need be.

Dr. Lee's reasoning: At least you're not diabetic! Those poor people have to inject themselves 2-3 times a day! You just have to take a pill and you're fine! We will work together to make sure I'm fine for a very long time.

She was surprised I didn't have more menopausal side effects. She said she expected to walk in to see me red faced and sweating and angry. I have some, but they are minimal and totally do-able. I have the headache thing to figure out, but I'm working on it.

Overall, things are looking good, and I'm thrilled!!!!!

Thank you for your support and thoughts and kind words today. I have beautiful flowers on my desk and messages of love and support all over the place. Everything is rosy. :)