Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Two Bottles Down- Ibrance (Palbociclib)

We finished the second bottle of the Ibrance. We did a CAT scan to mainly to look at the liver. Dr Laudi said the bone mets are stable, but the liver tumors are bigger. There are also 100+ small to medium size tumors in the lungs. I'm not sure if they get to a certain number and stop counting. Dr Laudi talked about things we could do for the liver tumors.  I asked to do a biopsy of the liver tumors because they are not responding to treatment. I know Cancer is smart and changes over time. Here is a look at my liver:


Left is April. Middle is February. Right is November. 
The largest tumor is on the top left of the liver. 

We talked about an internal radiation treatment, freezing the tumors and radioembolization. Dr Laudi felt the radioembolization would be best choice, because tiny radioactive beads are placed within the tumors targeting the tumor cells meaning better results.

We talked to the surgeon that would perform the radioembolization. We discussed the good the bad and the ugly. The good: if successful, it could buy me 6 to 11 months. The bad: only 11 months or less or none, if not successful. The ugly: multiple surgical procedures before beads are placed and only one lobe of the liver can be done at a time. 

Procedures:
1. Biopsy of the liver tumors.
2. Angiogram of liver to map the blood vessels and tumor blood supplies.
3. Place the beads.
4. CT scan to see if it's working.
5. Repeat on left lobe of the liver.

If all goes well, I may be given more time. It may seem like a lot to go through for a small gain, but I remind myself that every chemo or new drug I have tried has allowed me to live with Stage IV Breast Cancer for nearly 6 years! 

Six months... I would see Mark turn 37, Olivia turn 5 and start Kindergarten, Natalie start 10th grade, Larissa turn 11 and start 5th grade. We could take the Paris trip that has been on hold. There would be sunny days at beach, drippy ice cream, camping, fishing, teaching Natalie to drive, Natalie starting another soccer season... I will fill those months with laughter and memories and JOY. I will give my time to all of the above. I will deal with frustration and pain... if only to have one more summer...

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