Wow. Its been quite a while. I hit the ground running over here. School started last week and I can't believe how tired I got right away.
Well, as stated in the title, good news indeed. I will copy what my sister said on her email so you can read the good news yourself:
First piece of news -- the whole fiasco with the handicapped parking application ended up being a huge mistake by the doctor, and she apologized profusely. I never did bring it up to mom & dad, but talked to the doctor directly (she's also my family physician) who assured me that when she filled out the application she was thinking of a different couple who comes in together to see her -- and not of mom or dad, so no need for concern with dementia right now... thanks be to god.
Well, that's one large little mistake there. Anyhow, now about mom:
#1 --here's what I heard her say about the breast cancer: 1.5 cm in size (not really big)
type -- duct infiltrating
nodes were negative
no metastases
estrogen positive
progesterone positive
HER 2 negative
this all means that it is a stage one -- and her chances of recurrence are 20 to 25 percent after surgery -- doing hormone blocking therapy pills cut this percentage in half
here's another important part -- studies have shown than in women over the age of 70 whose surgery was a lumpectomy (partial masectomy) and who have hormone therapy, radiation and/or chemo seem to be of no more help in changing recurrence. BUT she first wants to do another test (where she sends mom's tumor to the pathology lab) to make sure this is the case (it's a new test, only been used in the last one or two years)
#2 -- about the lymphoma -- hers is called "follicular lymphoma" -- it's non-Hodgkins, low grade (slow growing)
chances are that it's not going to be a problem -- it's a non-curable, but you can live with it for 10 or 20 years
mom's CAT scan showed nothing on the lymph nodes in chest and neck, but she has some shadows in her abdomen
Doctor's suggestion is to do nothing for now, and repeat the scans in four months to see if anything has changed, grown etc.
#3 -- the bottom line even with both cancers -- is just to watch and see how mom does, if anything else develops -- and if this last test of her tumor affirms the doctor's view -- to give mom hormone blocking pills -- I HAVE NOT HEARD ANYTHING ABOUT THE RESULTS OF THIS TEST.
#4 -- our father is taking hormones that in effect make him a "woman" (hot flashes etc) and our mother is taking hormone blockers -- I find that kid of funny :-)
type -- duct infiltrating
nodes were negative
no metastases
estrogen positive
progesterone positive
HER 2 negative
this all means that it is a stage one -- and her chances of recurrence are 20 to 25 percent after surgery -- doing hormone blocking therapy pills cut this percentage in half
here's another important part -- studies have shown than in women over the age of 70 whose surgery was a lumpectomy (partial masectomy) and who have hormone therapy, radiation and/or chemo seem to be of no more help in changing recurrence. BUT she first wants to do another test (where she sends mom's tumor to the pathology lab) to make sure this is the case (it's a new test, only been used in the last one or two years)
#2 -- about the lymphoma -- hers is called "follicular lymphoma" -- it's non-Hodgkins, low grade (slow growing)
chances are that it's not going to be a problem -- it's a non-curable, but you can live with it for 10 or 20 years
mom's CAT scan showed nothing on the lymph nodes in chest and neck, but she has some shadows in her abdomen
Doctor's suggestion is to do nothing for now, and repeat the scans in four months to see if anything has changed, grown etc.
#3 -- the bottom line even with both cancers -- is just to watch and see how mom does, if anything else develops -- and if this last test of her tumor affirms the doctor's view -- to give mom hormone blocking pills -- I HAVE NOT HEARD ANYTHING ABOUT THE RESULTS OF THIS TEST.
#4 -- our father is taking hormones that in effect make him a "woman" (hot flashes etc) and our mother is taking hormone blockers -- I find that kid of funny :-)
I find that funny too. Quite the flip flop there.
And on those bit of news, I say
Bueno, bye.
