This post is for Sandra and anyone else who is interested. Sandra asked me to let her know about the Dr. visit.
Got the call from my Oncologist this am. Firstly, she gave me the great news that the cost of Ibrance/Faslodex would now be free of charge. Previously it was costing $852.00 per month. Yippee!
Not sure if Phizer or the Ontario government is absorbing the cost.
Also, she suggested that the nodules in my lung could have been caused by something other than Cancer. Not what the Scan report said.
In any case, they were small enough and slow growing so that it was safe to stay on Tamoxifen until the approval comes through for the combination in approx. 2 weeks time. I will be taking the lower dose of Ibrance, 100mg. As 125mg. wiped out my immune system and it took a month to get it back.
Good news and hopefully will keep any further progression away for a few years.
Cheers, June S.
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Thanks Sandra. She decided to leave the Zometa for 2 weeks time when hopefully I will get started on the new drugs and then have the infusion at that time. Saves a visit to the hospital.
Cheers, June S.
June, What great news! Thanks so much for sharing, it always brings a smile to my face when I read good updates from the wonderful women here!
Thanks very much. I am wishing all you ladies the same. Good treatment plans and great results. I do have a strong feeling that there is some good help on the way. Promises of new medicines coming.
Thanks so much Hannah. Dancing was one of my favourite things. I was so blown away by the news from my oncologist that I didn't ask how the cost of the meds got removed! I will ask her nurse.
Oh thank you Blu! (thought that was a nice nick name till I find out your name.) I love your blue hydrangeas. Did you grow them? So lovely. I grew up with a surrounded by flowers. My grandmother, (who we lived with) loved flowers and grew them big time. Her favourite were Gladiolas. She grew them to use in her patients rooms, (she had a small private nursing home) and for in our house and to give for gifts. Grew many different colours. She also had our front veranda curtained with Morning Glories. And of course a little side bed in the yard with marigolds.
Don't know why I felt compelled to tell you all that! Anyhow, nice to hear from you. I had a look back at your posts and liked the one with the question about what to do with our lives.
I ask myself that more often and try to find some great answer. Some people do great things to help others.
I would like to but never seem to find the right path to getting it done. I feel so strongly about the children in foster care. Unwanted, abused deserted children! And now with the health crisis, the state of our elderly care. Just dreadful. Here in Canada, elder care is privatized and companies are making big profits and neglecting the people under their care.
How can we allow this?? I will write to my government representatives but feel that is not enough. My daughter suggested joining with people who are already working on this problem. I think that is a good idea but I would like to start a movement of my own. I just don't have enough time. It takes all my time to look after myself and help my husband who is 6 yrs. older and getting feeble.
Oh dear, now I really have 'bent your ear'.
Thanks so much for the thought provoking post and have a good day.
Cheers, June S.
That is awesome news June. I’m so happy for you. There is even a 75 mg Ibrance if needed.
They turned out great. I am pleased with this recipe because it is so simple. Makes about 2 doz. I got it from a web site , thetravelbite.com/travel and food blog/nova-scotia-oatcakes/
2 cups oatmeal, 1 cup flour, 1/2tsp. salt, 1/2 cup vegetable oil or butter, 1/4 tsp. baking soda, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup boiling water.
Heat oven to 400 degrees and line a 14 x 10 baking sheet with parchment paper. (great for saving clean up.)
Dissolve the baking soda in the hot water. Cbal ombine dry ingredients with butter. (cut butter in with a knife till crumbly. ) Then add the dissolved baking soda. Mold into a ball and press it out onto the baking sheet. Use a rolling pin or I use a wine bottle. (can sprinkle a little flour over the dough to keep it from sticking to the pin.
Press to 1/4 inch thick.
Bake for 12-15 mins. until golden brown. They should be crisp and crunchy, not chewy. I did 15 mins they were golden. Cut in squares.
The recipe says: Enjoy with coffee or tea, or add them to your day pack for some quick energy on a hike or a long road trip.
I love Oat cakes too. They are so versatile. Just sweet enough but not a lot of calories. Nutritious. Can be used for a treat or as a savoury biscuit with cream cheese or peanut butter or whatever!
There are dozens of recipes for Oat cakes on the internet but I like this one now. I have another which makes a bigger batch and is slightly sweeter.
The increase in my pain meds has helped. Had my first round of chemo today and it went well. The nurse seemed to think I will feel better in general with the chemo than the Ibrance. I’m really really hoping she is right.
Yes indeed. I never thought I would hear anything like that with so many other issues going on. I was sure any help with funding for our meds would be put on the back burner. I was rendered speechless. (difficult to do with me.)
Yea! Cheers, June S.
Hi June,
Thank you for sharing your good news! You must be feeling so relived and happy. It is so easy to think the worst if we see a nodule or spot on a CT scan, but it is good to know there is nothing to worry about and your lungs are clear. I hope your treatment plan works for many more years to come until the cure comes.
You are so right. Relief was enormous as I was sure, because the scan results were delayed, that the results were bad. If you read my reply above to Sarah, I wrote about the relief.
Well one lung is clear but the left has a nodule growing to 5mm so there is some concern there but I hope the medicine will do it in.
Thanks for the good wishes. Much appreciated for sure. I send them right back to you and all the other wonderful women on this forum. I do think we are on the cusp, so to speak, of some good medicines for breast cancer. Just from all the things we read and there are always new trials and medicines. The lab people are so dedicated to finding cures for Cancer and Corona. Promising reports coming out.
I bet! Every time I receive good news it is welcome news, but it also feels like a reprieve. Even if the growing nodule is a tumour, let's hope the medicine will soon zap it and get rid of it.
I am hopeful, as you are, that a cure is on its way.
I did find several recipes using Steel Cut Oats. Most traditional Scottish Oat Cakes are made with them and no sugar added. Used savoury or sweet. I think they are amazingly simple and versatile.
Cheers, June S.
Great news ! Medication cost of the ibrance & faslodex & xgeva can be very costly in Canada ( not sure in other countries ) .
I am so happy that they found financial assistance for you .
Well, the way the oncologist spoke on the phone I thought it was a given, however, I spoke to her nurse and the application has been sent and she thinks we should get a reply in two-three days. They feel confident it will be approved because of changes that have come about due to the pandemic. Hope they are right.
It is expensive and prohibitive. I could not afford the $852.00 per month.
Oh hurrah! Got the call just now and I have been approved! What a relief.
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