Grrrr.......
Today was supposed to provide clarity. Psyche! No clarity, only more confusion.
Some background for those who don't know: on Thursday, we sought a third opinion from an oncologist in Fort Collins. She had the Her2Neu results, and recommended hormonal therapy accompanied by Herceptin. Today, we had a follow up appointment with Dr. Tang at the CU Cancer Center, during which he told us of the recommendation from the Tumor Board which had met that morning. His recommendation changed from last Tuesday (which was hormonal therapy). Today he said he would recommend Taxol--a chemo drug--with Herceptin, rather than the hormonal therapy with Herceptin. Oh, and by the way, he said, there's a clinical trial that you qualify for which you can enroll in that would include this recommendation. Clark got quite agitated and began to ask if this sort of clinical trial was hard to fill--meaning, did Tang's recommendation for treatment change because of the availability of a clinical trial? To be fair, a research hospital has objectives beyond just me--they're researching. And, he continued to say that it doesn't' matter if we start chemo now or later--the outcomes are th same. this is in fairly direct contrast to what the Fort Collins oncologist told us--that if you don't start with hormonal therapy, you basically throw it out as a viable treatment altogether. We asked Tang about this, and he disagreed--he indicated that he would most certainly do a treatment of hormonal therapy after the trial ended. So, which is it, exactly?
Sitting for over three hours in one room has a really depressing effect on me. I went into this week with high hopes of finding a protocol that seemed to fit. I feel no closer to clarity now than when I was first diagnosed. Getting away from the hospital made the cloud of confusion lift somewhat, and Clark and I enjoyed pizza and beer with Megan and Eliza after we picked them up from Angie's. (Thanks so much, Ang!)
We're going to go ahead with the fourth opinion on Friday--why not add to the confusion? I'll keep you updated. Right now, I'm so exhausted I don't have enough energy to cry.
Some background for those who don't know: on Thursday, we sought a third opinion from an oncologist in Fort Collins. She had the Her2Neu results, and recommended hormonal therapy accompanied by Herceptin. Today, we had a follow up appointment with Dr. Tang at the CU Cancer Center, during which he told us of the recommendation from the Tumor Board which had met that morning. His recommendation changed from last Tuesday (which was hormonal therapy). Today he said he would recommend Taxol--a chemo drug--with Herceptin, rather than the hormonal therapy with Herceptin. Oh, and by the way, he said, there's a clinical trial that you qualify for which you can enroll in that would include this recommendation. Clark got quite agitated and began to ask if this sort of clinical trial was hard to fill--meaning, did Tang's recommendation for treatment change because of the availability of a clinical trial? To be fair, a research hospital has objectives beyond just me--they're researching. And, he continued to say that it doesn't' matter if we start chemo now or later--the outcomes are th same. this is in fairly direct contrast to what the Fort Collins oncologist told us--that if you don't start with hormonal therapy, you basically throw it out as a viable treatment altogether. We asked Tang about this, and he disagreed--he indicated that he would most certainly do a treatment of hormonal therapy after the trial ended. So, which is it, exactly?
Sitting for over three hours in one room has a really depressing effect on me. I went into this week with high hopes of finding a protocol that seemed to fit. I feel no closer to clarity now than when I was first diagnosed. Getting away from the hospital made the cloud of confusion lift somewhat, and Clark and I enjoyed pizza and beer with Megan and Eliza after we picked them up from Angie's. (Thanks so much, Ang!)
We're going to go ahead with the fourth opinion on Friday--why not add to the confusion? I'll keep you updated. Right now, I'm so exhausted I don't have enough energy to cry.
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