Friday, August 31, 2007

I have "petite" red blood cells!

There is something on me that's small!! I'm so excited.

I also have a ejection fraction of 66%. Now this may be surprising to some, but it turns out a normal EF is 45%, and so Dr. Pierce said I get an "A" for having such a good EF. This means my heart is doing well enough that I can take some pretty caustic stuff.

Next week, just about no matter what, we start war. The bad news is that I really do have this very weird HER2 response. In fact it's so weird, that I'm probably going to have a second biopsy next week, and some very accomplished chemotherapists are chatting back and forth about my particular case.

Dr. Pierce met with Jenny and I today and really talked out chemo strategy for my particular set of circumstances. I have an aggressive kind of cancer so we want to treat it aggressively. Dr. Pierce (onco) and Dr. Steinhaus (surgeon) are going to plot together and I'll be scheduled for the second biopsy and for the chemo next week. The infusion of chemo can take up to FOUR HOURS!!!! I had no idea! I thought it would be 30 minutes in and out like an oil change for the truck!

Something is going to happen. I still don't know exactly what, but I do have confidence in Dr. Pierce and his decision(s) about how to best treat the enemy in me.

1 comment:

Calypso said...

Hi Ann. I have been reading your blog every day. You are a very brave soul. I wish you well, and will be sending positive rays your way.
Take care!
Meta from Cartersville GA. (from the caregivers forum)