Igor Has Left The Building

His remains are HISTORY !!
The pathology report shows no trace of him remaining. From this day forward, I feel I have joined the ranks of Cancer Survivor !!

Hopefully his demise was SO painful, humiliating and gut wrenching, he'll never have the nerve to show his disgusting, stinky, slimy self again. The doctors at Massachusetts General have a new one/two/three punch course of treatment in mind for me to ensure he stays away forever.

Starting next week I begin PT at the hospital, geared toward limbering my left arm, which right now is pretty stiff. Radiation begins the first week of June. I'll go once a day, Monday through Friday, for 7 weeks. Each treatment will take about 15 minutes. Both of my arms need to be flexible enough to stay overhead for this procedure, so I have some work to do between now and then.

I'll start chemotherapy in pill form at the same time, for 12 weeks. Hopefully side effects will be minimal.

Radiation/chemo together is the one/two punch. Here's the third: I'll be visiting the infusion floor again, once every 3 weeks for a year, to receive the drug Herceptin. Just when I thought I could say goodbye to the power port, it needs to stay a while longer. This protein based drug has an impressive cure rate for HER2 positive tumors like mine. According to my medical oncologist, I'm on the cutting edge of treatment with this drug combination. Though not a place I ever thought I'd be, I'm extremely grateful for the timing to be there now.

I thought I might be able to have a few of the radiation treatments at Cape Cod Hospital so I could spend more time down the Cape this summer. However, I've decided to stay with my team at the General. The hospital's just 8 blocks away, very close if I need to get there in a hurry, and a sure way of getting my daily exercise if I choose to walk.

I'm continuing to recover from surgery, a little slower than the first go round, but no complaints. I just thank my lucky stars I'm headed in the right direction, with an end in sight.

Every single day I'm grateful to you for making all things possible. Your caring notes, emails, thoughts and prayers are my support. Know you are special beyond words to me.