Today I got the results of last week's PET scan and they were as expected, active cancer in the bones and liver. I'm sad that the Faslodex didn't work, but what can you do? Move on to the next treatment.
Dr G says I will get Navelbine weekly for two weeks, then have one week off. I start next Monday at the Swedish Cancer Institute.
Navelbine is an IV push, not an infusion, but is given with saline, so will take about an hour from start to finish (plus an hour or so waiting for the labs). It's not given with sedatives, so if the first treatment goes well, I should be able to drive myself to and from treatment each time. Rik will accompany me next week for the first treatment.
Navelbine is the chemo recently studied in the Journal of Clinical Oncology that is as effective for metastatic breast cancer and has fewer side effects.
This news is what I expected to hear and I am fine with starting chemo again. As I have said many times, life with mets is a merry-go-round; I move from one treatment to the next and have been doing so for the past eight-plus years. It can be easy to focus on how well I have looked and felt for much of that time, and ignore the fact that chemo is inevitable.
Dr G says he is proud of my ability to cope so well. Better living through chemistry, I say.
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