Valentine Shine

 

It’s been a while, and there has been a lot going on. I guess we’ll start with Signatera. 

This company recently acquired another. Their profits last quarter were $8.4 million. With the new company, they’ll be performing something like 13 million tests per year. They pushed hard and heavy to escalate their testing numbers prior to this, but they suddenly stopped promoting their breast cancer “residual disease” test in early December. They still offer it, but they’ve stopped talking about it on all social media, etc. The wording on their website has subtly changed several times since my first test. This seems… odd?  It is pretty clear that they don’t have the answers that they claimed, and that they were financially motivated to get their testing numbers up, with no regard for the harm it would cause cancer patients. The positives of all of this are that the science has been quite useful, and anti-cancer drugs are becoming more tailored to address the unique mutations that individual cancer patients have.

Since I’ve had this genomic sequencing based test, you might wonder if there is a specific med I could take based on my own mutations that would reduce my risk of recurrence. I wondered that, too. Unfortunately, even though they’ve done my genomic sequencing and know what my mutations are, they haven’t told me or documented them anywhere that I or my docs have access to.

If you haven’t already guessed… those answers come from signing up for their new Altera test! So, yeah, I’m going to go ahead and pass on that…🖕🖕🖕

As for the clinical trial, I have decided not to do it unless my oncologist feels that I SHOULD do it. I was planning to discuss it with him after my lymph node ultrasound and annual check-up with my surgical oncologist. Unfortunately, she canceled the appointment that I was supposed to have 1/20, and then I had to cancel the rescheduled one because we (finally) all got Covid. 🫤 Now, she says it would be best to wait 4-6 weeks before checking my lymph nodes because the Covid will likely change their appearance. That won’t be until 3/13, so I still won’t have answers for a while.

Getting Covid really sucked. Patton was fine. He had a minor sniffle. Brant and I were both sick. We tested when we first had symptoms but were negative. I was supposed to have my second trip away from Patton in 18 years, but the day before I was supposed to leave, Patton’s nurse messaged thar her test was positive. We all tested and were all positive. 

I was supposed to go to Chattanooga with my friend Jim for a surprise birthday party for our friend Chris. We were going to spend a couple of days down there, then I was going to visit my friend Tabitha on the way home. Alllll of that was canceled. I’m still mad about it, honestly, but yesterday I finally got the hotel to refund my money, so at least there’s that!

I finally tested negative last Thursday, which was excellent timing because I got to be in the honorary starting 5 that night with the #2 ranked IUWBB, and I was paired with one of the most talented college basketball players in the country. 

I’m not gonna lie, that experience did help soften the blow a little after the huge disappointment over my canceled trip/visit with friends. 😊

Today, I met with my plastic surgeon, got my port flushed for the last time, and had a nice brunch with my family. Patton’s nurse is still dealing with positive tests, so he’s been unable to go to school. He’s been bored, but he did like the car ride and the brunch today. 😁

I (finally) have my exchange surgery in less than 2 weeks. My port will also be removed, and I’m definitely happy about that, too. The port is a hard device with tubing that runs up into my neck, and I sometimes think it’s more uncomfortable than the tissue expanders! (They’re basically the equivalent of wearing a coconut shell bra under my skin, though, so they’re no picnic, either…) I’ve been hearing in online groups that a new implant (approved last summer) is getting great reviews from other breast cancer patients, and my plastic surgeon has agreed to let me try that kind. They are called the Mentor Memory Gel Boost implant, which is hilarious and sounds like a fancy shoe insert… 

People who have breast augmentation still have tissue, but people who have had mastectomies don’t, so often there is visible implant wrinkling or other issues that are not aesthetically ideal. Because of this, people typically do additional surgeries, such as fat-grafting, to get a better result. This is a possibility for me, but if I can get by without additional surgeries and still like the outcome, that would be the best case scenario. This particular implant holds its shape better, according to other patients online, so I’m hopeful I will be able to just do this surgery and be done with it. My surgeon has not used this exact implant before since it’s so new, but he has used other ones from the same company and was fine with ordering them for me.

He will order a few different sizes. He really won’t know until surgery what my body can handle after all of the radiation therapy. He will do the best he can. I will not have to have drains unless something unexpected happens. He will go in through the previous incisions, but with smaller cuts than the originals. It should be a fairly quick procedure, and he said I’d be probably even be fine to go out to dinner that night if I want. He said the pain should be minimal and recovery will be pretty easy as long as all goes as planned.

He said I will have lifting/exercise restrictions for 6 weeks. 

🫤

I showed him this-

and he said wellll… maybe we can revisit at 4 weeks, and if I’m doing ok then he might let me return to exercise early. 😁

So yeah, I’m waiting on more information to find out if we should be taking any additional steps to prevent recurrence. A new drug has just been approved for metastatic breast cancer that is extremely promising, so that’s some hopeful news in the event that I do have recurrence. I also found an article detailing the use of exemestane (that’s the hormone suppression drug I’m on) after cancer treatment, and in studying this drug they saw people go from having positive Signatera tests to negative tests. My numbers were awfully low, and I’m on this exact drug, so I’ve basically chosen to believe that it will do it’s job and, if for some reason it doesn’t, there is a very good new drug available for stage 4. I’m trying to focus on that when I get scared. I have decided not to take the test anymore. My oncologist would order it, but he is morally opposed to it and after this experience, so am I. I just have to have faith that the medicine is doing and will keep doing exactly what it’s supposed to do.

In the meantime, I am actually looking forward to surgery for once, and can’t wait to get all of these hard, uncomfortable objects out of my body. I am cautiously optimistic that the results will be great. My surgeon is the kind of guy who wants perfection. That’s probably not good for *his* overall well-being, but I think it will pay off for me!

I had a very dark few weeks, but I’m feeling a lot better about things, and I feel like having the port out and this surgery behind me will be even BETTER! I am not done with all of this- I’ll never really be *done*, but this does feel like entering a new phase, and I’m ready for it!