It's the whole darn shootin' match.

[thereyougothen]

well, you knew this was coming, didn't you?

chemo for 6 months - that's a session every 3 weeks for 8 sessions

then herceptin for a year - again every 3 weeks

and once i start the herceptin i also start a 5 year course of tamoxifen.

i have a very good to excellent chance of not dying from breast cancer.

statistics:

(but statistics being what they are these will be +/-)

• do nothing and have an 85-90% chance.

• have hormone suppressing treatment (tamoxifen plus something else i forget) and have a 90-95%

• have chemo followed by herceptin & tamoxifen and have a 95-98% chance.

th oncologist said that he considered the extra ~3% benefit from the chemo to be significant enough to think it was worth while.

it is all my choice of course, but he seems nice, so i'll go with his judgement.

first treatment in about 10 days.

my mum is going to extend her trip to stay beyond the first treatment.

and we are going to get an au pair to help us out for 6-8 months. i have never wanted an au pair - we value our space and our privacy so much, but we think this is the right decision. it will hopefully let me go back to work at least between treatments, it will let Bill spend most of his time at work and it will mean that he can always come wiht me to treatments and appointments without having to worry about shcool runs and the like.

more details when i can stand it. but i am feeling psitive about the way forward and know that we just have to grin and bear it.

anyone who fancies knitting me this (in a variety of colours to suit my complexion of course, and perhaps not in scratchy acrylic) would be most welcome to make the attempt....

Comments

[tin_kitten.livejournal.com]

aaaw, that sucks! I know we've only just "met" but let me know if there is anything I can do to help. Kid watching at the weekend to give you some peace or whatever.

Also, I have been considering knitting that for some time now :-)