Changing Course

First things first. I am Overwhelmed by all the love and support you, my friends, my fellow warriors and my tribe have graced upon me. My intention of making my journey public is not to seek pity, so thank you for not reading it that way. It is first and foremost to help inform others by opening myself up. (Yeah, I know. Both figuratively and literally, but hey, shit happens.) The byproduct of that has been an outpouring of public and personal notes validating my decision, as well as my bad-assery. (It’s a word, right?) So thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

After the initial shock of finding out I have cancer, and then absorbing that it is triple-negative breast cancer, or TNBC,  I did exactly what doctors warn against–reading everything I could find about it. Not that research in itself is a bad thing, but reading the wrong sources (WebMD and Other Things That Convince You That Your Ingrown Hair Is a Deadly and Incurable Tumor and You Have Exactly Three Weeks To Live…), can leave you not only scared shitless but utterly confused, as well.

I talked to fellow warriors, friends and an oncology surgeon who is a friend of a friend, and one thing I continued to hear was, basically, that for advanced stages of TNBC, large tumors or lymph-node involvement, Chemo before surgery is a strong treatment option with better long-term survival rates. (Shrinking the tumor prior to such an invasive surgery, lessening the necessity of radiation maybe, less lymph node removal and more).

Well, Hell’s Bells…Sign Me Up!!!!

So today Jeff and I met with Dr. Velasco, the oncology surgeon and Dra. Cuevas, the chemotherapy oncologist that we will be working with here in Puerto Vallarta.  After lots of questions, explanations, miscommunications and clarifications, we all agreed that neoadjuvant treatment (chemo before surgery) was, indeed, the best course of treatment for me.

We then changed course from prepping for a mastectomy next week to prepping for chemotherapy to begin next week.  I will still have surgery Tuesday, but it is to insert the port that will deliver the cocktail (oh, boy—did someone say cocktail??? Uh, not that kind, sorry!) of chemotherapy, anti-nausea drugs and white blood cell boosters into my body to, well, to rid me of both good and bad stuff. Mostly bad, I  hope. I will receive 6 rounds of chemo getting the chemo every 3 weeks over 3 & 1/2 months. THEN the tata goes bye-bye.

Yes, I will lose my hair.

No, I won’t lose my shit. I’m actually pretty relieved and ready to get this party started. The sooner we Git ‘Er Done the sooner Jeff and I can resume the myriad of adventures waiting for us.

If there is a takeaway from this, it is this. Yes, do your research. Jeff initially read Joan London’s TNBC survival story, and since Joan made her story public, neoadjuvant therapy was brought to our attention. Don’t accept everything just because your doctor says so. Advocate for yourself, Then advocate some more. If you are not “heard”, consider going somewhere else.We are relieved our doctors heard us collectively and agreed on this treatment. TNBC is still being explored, as it is relatively “new”. Protocols change. Know your options.

So there you have it. Same cancer, different course. If I were to draw an analogy to this with our sailing life, I would say…

There’s a sailing rally to a particular destination. Lots of boats are headed that way, most on the same, direct route. There is, however, a newer, less navigated course that seems especially well suited to our particular vessel. Same destination, different course. We’re going for it.

Until next time,

No Pasa Nada

(everything will be alright)