Results from Baseline Scans Done on 4/13

Well, the results from the new set of baseline ct scans I mentioned in a previous post have finally showed up on the my.MDAnderson.org website.  The scans were done to establish a new baseline set of scans to compare to another set I will do in June. The goal is to show that my disease is stable, rather than progressing, so I can qualify for the immunotherapy vaccine trial that I was previously disqualified from.

Joined Cancer Support Community

Recently, I found a cancer support non-profit group called Cancer Support Community online that had a lot of great resources.  They offer support groups, activities, and workshops with experts who come in and give hands on talks and give out free information and items.  They have family activities, care giver support groups, and some of them have children and teen groups.  The also offer some rather unique items I have not seen in other places like the Open to Options resource below.  I also posted a link the other day showing some free books you could order.

Annual Conference for Women Living With Metastatic Breast Cancer

Jesse and I are going to the Annual Conference for Women Living With Metastatic Breast Cancer in Philadelphia this weekend.  We qualified for a travel grant which provides us with reimbursement for airfare and hotel costs.  I'm looking forward to the workshops, speakers, vendors, and most importantly, the new friendships.  Here is some information on the conference and the types of topics covered: 

http://www.lbbc.org/Events/Metastatic-Breast-Cancer-Conference/2014-04-26-Metastatic-Breast-Cancer-Conference

Second Chances

I was down in Houston at MD Anderson Friday and I got some good news.  I was told that I would have a second chance to meet the qualifications of the vaccine trial I was interested in previously.  My oncologist at MD Anderson managed to argue that the original baseline scans were not done at MD Anderson, therefore; they did not count.  So a new set of scans will need to be taken as a base line and then 3 months later a second set of scans will be taken to see if the disease has progressed.

They currently have me on the Lupron, the Femera, and XGeva (I believe they are going to approve it, but will find out for sure tomorrow).  This is an attempt to starve my estrogen fed tumors.  I like being off the chemo and am hoping this works for a while.  I did get about 4 years out of Tamoxifen, so maybe I'll get a few out of this one.  When they do the trial, they will just add the vaccine on top of these drugs.