Hello and please excuse the lengthy post as I have a lot bouncing around in my head. I want to review my treatment path so far:
I was diagnosed denovo in September 2019. Mets to lungs and bones. Started with Ibrance and Letrozole and lungs cleared immediately bones were fairly stable and CA15 dropped.
After about a year CA15 began to rise and bones were worse so I have five round of radiation to my hip. This brought number back down briefly but we decided to switch to Fasoldex in 2021. This only worked for 2 months. Added Xgeva around this time for bones.
In March 2021 we switched to Xeloda/Capcetabine oral chemo. Aside from the hand foot struggles, which were helped by lots of your input, it was fairly tolerable and worked for a year. As with all of these chemo meds I'm finding that at the end of their usefulness (just my experience) they begin to mess with my digestive system more than as expected.
In February 2022 I had a port installed and we switched to IV Taxol. Again side effects were manageable with your advice and my numbers CA15 (which is important for me) dropped from 8000 to normal range very quickly. After a year I had pretty significant spread to my liver and number went back up to around 1000.
Switched to Carboplatin in Feb 2023 for two months and my cancer got significantly worse in my liver. We changed to Trodelvy in May 2023 as it was recently approved for my type of cancer. It brought numbers and liver spread down immediately to almost normal.
OK so now its May 2024 and my one year typical treatment run may be coming to and end, CA's rising incrementally so I am asking for patience and more testing because options even with new approved meds are diminishing. I will have a CAT scan and we will see. I feel good except for med side effects which are starting to effect my digestive system again seriously. I think the next drug on the menu is Enhertu.
So no real question just and update as there has been a lot of discussion on CA15 - it is important for me but in retrospect maybe too important? Maybe should have held on longer to previous treatments? What would that has bought me? A few more months? I'm praying that more new meds are approved and for another year as I turn 60 next month. But, it is in God's hands not mine.
Have a great day ladies.