Blog Ending

The blog will will be ending pretty soon. Thank you to all who have been watching and reading  and who have left comments. It has meant a lot to me in some very difficult and emotional times and  situations.
Once I am done, I am going to have the blog printed in to a book. Not that I want to remember this part of my life but as I was thinking today, I don't even remember the weather we had over the past summer.. oh yeah, I was on the sofa or in bed sleeping off and being sick from the chemo drugs. What kind of fall did we have? Not to sure. I was too busy making it to my radiation appointments. Has cancer took away a year of my life? I want to think so. But than I thought, no, it hasn't . I spent the last year taking the time to heal and to get rid of the cancer that was in me.Taking the time to do what the Dr's said to do. It wasn't a waste of time. Tough at many times, but now that my mammogram came back clean, I have to keep focused on how to keep the mammogram clean.

At the six month radiation Dr appointment with Dr. Kim, he made mention of a drug, a pill that I would be on daily for five years. I will be asking Dr. Richert Boe about this on Thursday when I see her. They say if your tests come back clean for five years, that's when you are considered cancer free. I know that's the answer, the results I want to have.

The reason for the medicine medicine Herceptin that I have been taking every three weeks  is because when they did my surgery and took out my cancer and lymph nodes, they tested positive for the HER2 gene. What is this? I have tried to describe in the past, but just found a breast cancer dictionary in with all my papers, bill and cards. This is what it has to say:
The HER2/neu gene: this oncoprotein is present in very small amounts on the outer surface of the normal breast cell. HER stimulates cell growth, and breast cancers that produce too much of this protein tend to be more aggressive. A monoclonal antibody that attaches to the HER2 protein slows the growth of breast cancer cells and may also stimulate the immune system to more effectively attack the cancer.

Along with the fact that this gene tested positive for the HER 2 protein, they say its HER 2 positive. Meaning that a medicine for example the drug Tamoxifen, blocks the effects of the estrogen on the tumors. Antiestrogens are used to treat breast cancers that depend on estrogen for growth. For this estrogen part is where the drug for five years will come into play. Dr. Kim, the radiologist said I would most likely be taking a drug like Tamoxifen. It has many cousins and I would be taking something similar to it.
I guess a pill a day cant be so bad, but will be asking more questions about it.

Again thank you to all who have been reading, following asking questions and leaving comments.