For those of you following and wondering what's ahead of me...after my discussions with my oncologists and thinking outside the box, we have decided and agreed on a very intense treatment plan. I said it before but my unique situation should not be thought of as treating me with a standard protocol treatment.
You all know by now I am a researcher. I need to know all the why's before I can make decisions. This is something that started when I was a little girl and I was definitely the "why? why? why? why? child. I know God is walking in front of me leading me and the decisions we are making are from his guidance and my strength. Our minds are so powerful, so in the end it's about me choosing a treatment plan that will give me the hope and keep me positive to fight and stay strong and live as long as possible, comfortably.
I have chosen to stay with my oncologist Dr. Sorcinelli at Yale. She's been by my side, with so much hope and strength from the 1st day she spoke to me, even after hearing another oncologist lose all hope for me. My nurses at Yale are also wonderful, take great care of me and love me. Dr. Sanford will continue to be a part of my team and stay in contact with me when I need her. She will be monitoring my progress as well. Dr. Noe is my integrative oncologist who uses naturopathic medicine to keep my body strong where treatment is making it weak. She picks me right back up with strength, fists up, fighting hard!
Here's my treatment plan:
Step 1 - I will have a full hysterectomy surgery. This procedure is to stop the production of estrogen in my body. I will also take arimidex daily. Arimedex works to stop estrogen producing in my tissue. The goal here is to stop my body from producing any estrogen at all. It is believed that estrogen to cancer is like throwing gasoline on a fire.
Along with Step 1 - I will start creating a plan with Dr. Noe what we need to start with and then monitor me as we come along adding whatever necessary to keep me fighting like a beast!
Step 2 - I will have 24 weeks of chemo. Because I am triple positive, the cocktail we have chosen is taxol, herceptin and projeta. I responded very well to this cocktail my 1st round and we believe I will respond well again. Taxol will be given to me weekly while herceptin and projeta every 3 weeks. Taking taxol every week for 24 weeks is intense but we chose taxol versus taxotere becasue taxol is proving to be just as effective as taxotere while be more gentle on the body than taxotere.
So in between Step 2 and 3, we have a decision point. Depending on how I am responding to my cocktail will determine how we proceed. As long as I am responding well, as we believe I will, we will continue on with plan A.
Step 3 for Plan A - after chemo is complete, we will radiate my sternum bone being very careful to keep my lungs and heart out of the field as best we can so we do not damage them.
Step 4 - after radiation is complete I will resume herceptin and projeta every 3 weeks, indefinitely. Yes, you read that word correctly, indefinitely. Or until my body stops responding well to it, I decide I need a break or I just can't anymore and decide that's enough. We won't worry about this yet though. Hercepton and perjeta are immunotherapy treatments which I will discuss later to help you understand this new type of treatment if you don't already know.
So after Step 2 we had a decision to make and the plan changed to Plan B. Because I responded so well to treatment and my petscan didn't light up, we have chosen surgery rather than radiation. After meeting with my surgeon, he was amazed with my results and was not so optimistic in the beginning but after seeing my results he was ready to get on board with TeamLisa and fight aggressively. It took him a couple months but he eventually saw the fighter I am. I am happy about his decision. So we will be removing my manubrium. I can''t believe I just typed that, lol.
You're probably wondering what is Plan b if step 2 isn't going as planned. We can change my cocktail and see how that works or we can also consider Sternotomy surgery which is the removal of the sternum bone. You may be wondering why don't you just do that to start? This surgery is so very very complicated. Our sternum protects our heart and it also helps in the movement of our upper arms and shoulders. Sternum removals are successful but there are risks. I will be meeting a surgeon to further discuss it in a couple weeks so I can ask all my questions. A surgeon may not even approve me for the surgery.
So let's get this started so we can get this over and I can move on with my life. I still have a lot of life to live and dreams and goals I haven't accomplished.
We can't stop and we won't stop!! GO TEAM LISA!! ♥
You all know by now I am a researcher. I need to know all the why's before I can make decisions. This is something that started when I was a little girl and I was definitely the "why? why? why? why? child. I know God is walking in front of me leading me and the decisions we are making are from his guidance and my strength. Our minds are so powerful, so in the end it's about me choosing a treatment plan that will give me the hope and keep me positive to fight and stay strong and live as long as possible, comfortably.
I have chosen to stay with my oncologist Dr. Sorcinelli at Yale. She's been by my side, with so much hope and strength from the 1st day she spoke to me, even after hearing another oncologist lose all hope for me. My nurses at Yale are also wonderful, take great care of me and love me. Dr. Sanford will continue to be a part of my team and stay in contact with me when I need her. She will be monitoring my progress as well. Dr. Noe is my integrative oncologist who uses naturopathic medicine to keep my body strong where treatment is making it weak. She picks me right back up with strength, fists up, fighting hard!
Here's my treatment plan:
Step 1 - I will have a full hysterectomy surgery. This procedure is to stop the production of estrogen in my body. I will also take arimidex daily. Arimedex works to stop estrogen producing in my tissue. The goal here is to stop my body from producing any estrogen at all. It is believed that estrogen to cancer is like throwing gasoline on a fire.
Along with Step 1 - I will start creating a plan with Dr. Noe what we need to start with and then monitor me as we come along adding whatever necessary to keep me fighting like a beast!
Step 2 - I will have 24 weeks of chemo. Because I am triple positive, the cocktail we have chosen is taxol, herceptin and projeta. I responded very well to this cocktail my 1st round and we believe I will respond well again. Taxol will be given to me weekly while herceptin and projeta every 3 weeks. Taking taxol every week for 24 weeks is intense but we chose taxol versus taxotere becasue taxol is proving to be just as effective as taxotere while be more gentle on the body than taxotere.
So in between Step 2 and 3, we have a decision point. Depending on how I am responding to my cocktail will determine how we proceed. As long as I am responding well, as we believe I will, we will continue on with plan A.
Step 3 for Plan A - after chemo is complete, we will radiate my sternum bone being very careful to keep my lungs and heart out of the field as best we can so we do not damage them.
Step 4 - after radiation is complete I will resume herceptin and projeta every 3 weeks, indefinitely. Yes, you read that word correctly, indefinitely. Or until my body stops responding well to it, I decide I need a break or I just can't anymore and decide that's enough. We won't worry about this yet though. Hercepton and perjeta are immunotherapy treatments which I will discuss later to help you understand this new type of treatment if you don't already know.
So after Step 2 we had a decision to make and the plan changed to Plan B. Because I responded so well to treatment and my petscan didn't light up, we have chosen surgery rather than radiation. After meeting with my surgeon, he was amazed with my results and was not so optimistic in the beginning but after seeing my results he was ready to get on board with TeamLisa and fight aggressively. It took him a couple months but he eventually saw the fighter I am. I am happy about his decision. So we will be removing my manubrium. I can''t believe I just typed that, lol.
You're probably wondering what is Plan b if step 2 isn't going as planned. We can change my cocktail and see how that works or we can also consider Sternotomy surgery which is the removal of the sternum bone. You may be wondering why don't you just do that to start? This surgery is so very very complicated. Our sternum protects our heart and it also helps in the movement of our upper arms and shoulders. Sternum removals are successful but there are risks. I will be meeting a surgeon to further discuss it in a couple weeks so I can ask all my questions. A surgeon may not even approve me for the surgery.
So let's get this started so we can get this over and I can move on with my life. I still have a lot of life to live and dreams and goals I haven't accomplished.
We can't stop and we won't stop!! GO TEAM LISA!! ♥