It was another beautiful spring day with sunshine, green trees and crops growing in the fields. Mike drove us to Chicago as we were scheduled to hear Cathy's quarterly tests results.
According to Dr Block, Cathy's echocardiogram and bone scans were fine, along with her routine blood work. However, her CT Scan "reveals a subtle change moving in the wrong direction." There are several small hypodense nodules in the right lobe of her liver. Some were barely discernible on the previous scan in February but now they have grown. To quote from the report, "there has been a progression of left and right lobe hepatic metastatic disease compared with 2/01/2013."
Her tumor markers have also increased. In October her CA 27.29 was 64.6 now it is 269.3 and her
CA 15.3 was 50.3 now it is 283.4. (These numbers were originally at 7,748.7 and 7,153.0 respectively when Cathy first started treatment in January 2012.)
Dr Block has recommended a new drug therapy called Kadcyla. It combines Herceptin and a chemotherapy drug (DM1) that interferes with cancer cell growth. Kadcyla delivers Herceptin and DM1 directly to HER-2 positive cells and limits exposure of the rest of the body to the chemotherapy. This drug just became available on February 22, 2013. Cathy is the first patient to receive it at the Block Center. They began this new treatment today.
In addition, she will once again take Neulasta to maintain her blood cell count. This drug previously caused her side effects. Cathy has also discontinued the hormone therapy of Lupron and Femora.
Dr Block compared this to changing ball players during the early innings. Cathy accepted this news with grace and a determination to stay in the fight. Please pray that this new drug would deliver the "knock out punch" against her cancer cells and that she would not suffer from any serious side effects. Pray also for Cathy, Mike and their children as they make adjustments to this new course of action.
If you have any questions please call me at 459-0254.
Gratefully,
Lori
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