Before we get to that, I'd love to give a big THANK YOU to everyone who has contributed to "Mary's Mammories" fund in some way. Neil and I both feel so blessed to have you all in our lives! It's so great to know we have such a strong and awesome community that is just as dedicated as we are to kicking cancer's ass! We can never thank you all enough, but please know that we appreciate everything!
On to some news...
Being in a study affords me a lot of benefits that most cancer fighters don't get (weekly doctor's visits, a nationally recognized care team right down the road from my house, etc). I'm involved in a trial called: I-SPY2 (http://www.ispy2.org/). It's a national, longitudinal study investigating treatment before surgery. If you go to the link and watch the video in the corner--that's my Oncologist, Dr. Yee.
This study takes a multitude of different measurements throughout the trial.
Before I started treatment, I received a number of baseline tests: Echocardiogram, PET scan, MRI and a biopsy (to name a few). The PET was to rule out any other tumors in my body (commonly referred to as "mets", short for metastasized tumors). The Echo was to make sure that my heart was healthy enough for chemo and the biopsy was for bio-marking purposes. The MRI was to gauge the size of the mass.
I had a repeat MRI and biopsy done today. The radiologist struggled to find enough "mass" to get a decent biopsy. She pulled up the last records to see where the original biopsies had been performed because there was such a change in the mass. Another radiologist came in, looked at my previous MRI and the one from today and informed us that my tumor is smaller and starting to break apart.
My tumor is smaller and is starting to break apart.
After 3 treatments.
Let's all let this sink in for a minute, shall we?
Are you done jumping up and down? This is kind of a big deal. I don't know if you recognize that yet. Maybe you do now. I'll wait while you fist-pump the air...
Yeah, we're definitely on our way to kicking this thing's ass!
Once again, we couldn't do it without all of you! Knowing that we have our family and friend's support eases so much of the day-to-day stress that we have in dealing with this. The phone calls, texts, cards, cookies, dinners, flowers--all of it helps to brighten our day and lessen our load! I'm positive that these positive results are just as much our badass, cancer-fighting community as it is being in this really awesome investigative trial!
<3,
Mary, Neil & the boys
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