7/16 update on my battle against breast cancer

Hi everyone,

Well, let’s see…there is so much new information to tell you that I don’t know where to begin. I decided to get a second opinion about the Herceptin treatment. I met with a medical oncologist named Dr. Kato at the Virginia Piper Cancer Center at the Scottsdale Healthcare Center on Shea. I really liked him and his office staff. I liked him so much, I decided to start seeing him instead of my old medical oncologist. I felt extremely comfortable with the treatment plan he would like me to be on.

Believe it or not, Dr. Kato believes that I am not allergic to Herceptin, but to the chemo, Taxol! Now, both my old oncologist and Dr. Kato believe there is no way I can go without treatment for the HER2 protein. In fact, Dr. Kato said that if I go without any treatment to kill the protein, my recurrence rate jumps up 50%! And my survival rate drops considerably as well. However, the doctors differed drastically in their approach to treating the HER2.

There is a newly FDA approved drug called Tykerb that treats HER2 positive cancer as well, but it is usually given to only stage 4 patients whose cancer has spread to other major organs. That’s not me. I have stage 3 cancer and my cancer has only spread to my lymph nodes (even though there is a possibility it may be in the lungs). Dr. Kato’s plan was outside the box. He said, if by the off chance I’m really allergic to the Herceptin, he’d like to try the Tykerb even if I don’t fit the mold of the typical cancer patient who takes the drug. I’m all for that, since my old oncologist wanted to give me Herceptin even if I was allergic to it and then give me steroids for a year to counteract the allergic reactions. Needless to say, I wasn’t at all thrilled with the idea of steroids for a year! Hence, the second opinion!

Well, Monday I had my first Herceptin treatment at Dr. Kato’s office. I wasn’t given any chemo, just the Herceptin. He would like to see how I react to the Herceptin alone before introducing a new and different chemo called Taxotere. He has stopped the chemo Taxol altogether. He really believes that I have been reacting to the Taxol the whole time. And guess what! So far, no reaction to the Herceptin! Ain’t God awesome!?!?!

So, the plan is to meet with Dr. Kato next week to follow up and then get another Herceptin treatment. He may or may not start my new chemo next week….it all depends on how it goes with the Herceptin this week. I’m also getting a PET Scan and a follow pathology test to confirm the HER2 since the original test took 2 months to come back. He would like to double check the pathology because the lab doesn’t usually take that long for results. The PET scan was never originally done because of my sarcoidosis. Sarcoid apparently causes a lot of false positives on the results, but Dr. Kato believes having a baseline regardless of the “hot spots” would be beneficial. I agree and look forward to seeing the results of that test. I’d like to see if my lungs are a “hot spot”. I’m praying they don’t light up!

I’d like to take this moment now to express some thoughts that have been heavy on my heart:

Kim, Sue, Ames, and Melinda….your friendship and love have kept me grounded and I am blessed to have each of you in my life. Debs….you are an incredible gift straight from God. Lindsey, Hannah, and Julie….Jesus radiates through each one of you and the movie Rat Race RULES! Tim, Amy, and handsome little man Paul....thank you so much for the timely and beautiful email! Jeff….we keep missing each other, but I look forward to getting together for that lunch. Marylois….you are wisdom and comfort for me, thank you. Ana, thank you so much for your friendship throughout the years. Barbara Repan….I know you have your hands full yourself, but your thoughtfulness and cards have been so kind and I’m praying for you my friend. Rene’….your wisdom and anointing have helped keep me sane, praise God for you! To my family….you are my heart and you have been such a blessing to me and I wouldn’t be here without you, thank you. To ALL of my friends and family who have prayed and have been so generous to me….I thank you and my heart overflows with gratitude! There have been so many people who have been a blessing to me, I wouldn’t be able to remember everyone, so please forgive me if I did not mention you by name.

God bless all of you.


Blessings,Noëlle