Visit to Duke Hospital, Durham, NC

Monday, Nov 30 - 12:00 lab work, 1:00 appointment with Dr. Erica Hamilton

First, lab work was done, then my weight, blood pressure, etc. then we waited. We got there at 10:00 a.m. because we were not sure where we were going and it gave us time to eat. Around 1:30, we got in the back and Dr. Hamilton came in. She's very young, new and graduate
of UNC. She went over my file with me, asked some questions, then stated that her and her team leader would go and look at my CD's that I had brought and then come back in to discuss. About an hour later, Dr. Hamilton and Dr. Blackwell, came into the room. Dr. Blackwell is a graduate of Mayo and her internship was at Duke. She advised that some of the breast cancer cells were left in the tissue from my lumpectomy and had returned. Over the years, I have been on a cancer drug called Arimidex which has held off the cancer and had done a very good job. She told me I should not be concerned about the cancer cells being left, as that could have also happened at Duke. She also advised that the largest tumor had been
in my lymph nodes, size 3.5 cm and 10 out of the 17 lymph nodes were cancerous. I did not know that the largest tumor was in the lymph nodes, I did know about the # of lymph nodes involved. She also wanted to proceed ahead with the liver biopsy as that would show what the tumor markers were and the type of cancer in the liver. A bone biopsy would not show this as there are too many layers in the bone. Dr. Blackwell advised that she was
a medical oncologist with her specialty being breast cancer and that a team would be meeting to treat my entire body, not just the breast cancer. They wanted to move right away based on my decision whether I wanted to be totally treated at Duke or work thru MCV. The treatment she would recommend is to receive treatment from a cousin drug to the Arimidex which would be via a shot that I would receive every two weeks. She does not recommend chemotherapy at this time. Based on the results of my ultrasound guided liver biopsy, will determine how they will treat the liver and bone cancer. I could also be considered for some trial drug treatments if I become a good candidate based on my tests. She wanted to redo the bone scan and a cat scan to the abdomen and pelvic areas. During my treatment, I will be retested and have scans at 8 and 16 weeks. I felt a calm come over me since I would not be taking chemotherapy - no sickness, no hair loss, no port needed and I would be going every 2 weeks
for the shot. I decided to go with this treatment as Duke is a Cancer Center - there are only 10 in the United States and I will have a team that will treat the entire body not just the breast cancer. Yes, there is a chance that the cancer in my liver and bone is the same as the breast cancer, but in order to treat those 2 areas, you have to know for sure so a biopsy was needed. MCV did not want to do a biopsy as they were pretty sure it was breast cancer related. But suppose it does not have the same tumor markers as the previous breast cancer which was Her2 negative? Then if I become Her2 positive, I would need to change from Arimidex to Herceptin. There is a difference in the treatment. Sorry, this is so long but wanted everyone
to understand. Danny, Stacy and Joy were with me and we returned home Monday evening by 8:00 p.m. awaiting a call for the tests to be set up. Tuesday morning I got up and at 10:15 they called, and said that my liver biopsy was scheduled for 2:00 p.m. that day and I needed to get there by 1:30. Angela decided to take me and the trip takes 2 hours, so we arrived at Duke North Hospital at 1:35 p.m. But guess what? They called about 10 minutes
before we got there and said my cat scan and bone scan were scheduled for the next day at 8:00 a.m., so we decided to stay the night. Good thing because my biopsy took 1 hour and 2 hours in recovery room. We got out of the hospital at 5:45 p.m. and went straight to the hotel that Angela had booked. I had my CT scan at 9:00 a.m. and my bone scan at 10:30 and we left from Duke at 11:05 p.m. We stopped and ate and got home around 2:30 p.m. yesterday.
Needless to say, I'm very tired but I know that I have made the right decision. All of the doctors, nurses, assistants at Duke are wonderful and I have to go back on Monday for the test results and my first treatment. So, I'll try to keep everyone posted on my blog or via separate emails. It's very odd that because I had no chemotherapy treatments that I'm able to have this treatment at Duke. I was wondering why it had taken me almost 5 weeks to
find someone that would move forward with no second thoughts or changes. Dr. Blackwell said that if I had started chemo that she would not have been able to help me......God works in such mysterious ways! I'm so glad he is on this path with me. Jesus Is The Reason for The Season!