Ao, after all the scans and tests, I finally get the appointment with my main oncologist on the 3rd May 2024. Since I have got a lot of information from the previous appointment with the “intern” doctor, my oncologist spent most of the time of this appointment to answer all the question I had. I did prepare a list of questions, which I had partly found answers on my own from the Internet, but as many advised “Don’t rely on the Internet”, I wanted to hear the answer directly from my doctor.
The doctor was kind of impressed with my list of questions, many of them were every.. scientifically detailed 🤓 Well, I’m always a curious girl, read and watch a lot of documentaries about different things (but not much about cancer before 🤔). Besides, my profession requires me to always searching and digesting a large amount of information everyday. Then of course when it comes to my own diagnosis, I just want to understand how cancer “behaves” and how treatment works.
The oncologist examined my breast again with his… ruler. I don’t know if it’s the same elsewhere that oncologists use ruler to measure the size of tumor, but it’s obviously how they do it here in Norway 🥹 I find it kind of funny though 🤓 It’s also kind of weird and funny how comfortable I felt in front of the male oncologist. I told my friends that actually this was the first time I felt so “confident” standing topless in front of a man and told him if he could touch me here and there (to see if there were any other lumps, of course 😹)
The diagnosis
After examining, my oncologist told me that what he found from the examination was aligned with the results from the MRI scan. He then told me more details about what they found from all the tests and scans I took:
- There is a tumor in my left breast, size around 77x70x55mm 🙀 I was a little shocked as this was MUCH bigger than the size I was told (under 2cm) in the initial dialog with another doctor on the phone. When I went home, I dug into the journals and found out that the “hard lump” is under 2cm but the area with cancer cell is like above. Reading journal is a challenge as a lot of medical terms are written in latin 😹, but my curiosity pushes me to read and find information about every details in the journal.
- My cancer is HER2 positive, hormone negative, no special type. I won’t write a long article to explain different types of breast cancer here, but in short, my cancer lives of HER2 protein, not hormone.
- The greatest news is CT and bone scan shows no evidence of spreading 😍 I know, when you have cancer, you are suddenly showered with many worries. I’m the same, I’m worried that “no evidence” doesn’t mean “no spreading”. But I have to train my mind to ease worries.
- The genetic test also negative for all three genes. It means I don’t have the mutations that are higher risk for breast cancer.
- Under CT scan, they found something “suspicious” in my uterus so I was sent to gynecologist to check. I was nervous when they told me about that with the worst thought of it could be… another cancer (it’s totally possible!). But my oncologist assured me that it didn’t look like cancer at all. I was also relieved a little as I was doing IVF process at that moment, they have done ultrasound on me several times and they should have said it if they found any abnormal in my uterus. The appointment with gynecologist went very well, she examined me thoroughly but didn’t find anything at all. She concluded that the “unidentified object” could be just some… stool 💩 on the way to its final destination.
- I was also with cardiologist to check if my heart was healthy enough for treatment. “Very good heart functions” was the conclusion. I am so happy for that.
The treatment plan
My treatment plan is quite standard I think (I can say that after reading a lot about treatment plan for my type of breast cancer both in Norway and other countries). I would have:
- Chemotherapy over 6 months with two types of medicines:
- 4 courses of EC90, which is given every three weeks
- 12 courses of Taxol, which is given weekly. Together with Taxol, every three weeks I will receive a dose of Phesgo (a combination of Herceptin and Perjeta), which is an antibody that targets my type of cancer (HER2-positive).
- Then it will be operation. The initial plan is to remove the whole left breast (mastectomy). But the medical team will do another assessment when I’m done with 8 courses of Taxol. I’m totally OK with having my left breast removed. I just want to take all the evil cells away. Of course I’m scared but I try not to think about that right now, just take a step at a time.
- After operation I will have 25 radiation treatments. The standard here in Norway is 15, but since I’m under 40 years old, I get 10 more bonuses 😭 to minimalise the risk of recurrence.
- Since I don’t have the hormone sensitive cancer, I won’t have to take the hormone pills (often for years) after radiation. But depending on if there is still cancer cells in the tumor after operation, I will receive either Phesgo again or another stronger antibody for one year after radiation.
- Since chemotherapy has negative effects on fertility, I receive Zoladex injections every four weeks from before starting chemo til after operation. This is to “switch off” the gender hormone in my body in order to protect my ovary.
That’s summery of my treatment plan. At the writing moment of this post, I have been through the hardest part of chemotherapy, the EC90, and into my first Taxol courses. Generally I have been OK both physically and mentally. However, I can’t say this is an easy journey. This is not something I can do “more effectively” or “multitasking”. Everyone dies, yes, but I told myself everyday “not now, not of this” 🤞🤞🤞
Disclaimer: I’m not a doctor and I won’t give any medical advice. All I share on this blog is simply my personal experiences based on the treatment plan which was made specifically for me. However, if there is any topic you want me to share more about, please comment below 👇