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Writer's pictureJulia Heck

It FINALLY sunk in and I'm ready to share the excitement!

We had a great trip to LA this past week. We worked the whole time, but always seemed to find something fun to do in the evenings. On Tuesday, 3/10 Mom and I met with Dr Link of Breast Link. We discussed lots of different approaches that we could take for the duration of my... life *rolls eyes*, and what the short and long term plans would be. It was helpful to finally meet him in person and have that connection, versus only having telephone calls. There is something about that true face-to-face interaction that creates the real relationship!

 

Things went really well. I had just finished my last treatment of Abraxane from round 1 and was feeling good! I still have experienced very minimal side effects from this chemotherapy, which I am beyond thankful for! I was hopeful that I could stay on the same treatment because then I would know what to expect.

 

As we have all come to realize with COVID-19, the worst part of anything, is the unknown.

 

After an hour of discussion of PARP inhibitors, hormone therapy, chemotherapy, radiation, etc. we decided that the best approach would be to continue on Abraxane (the chemo I've been on) and Lupron (the shot that is a temporary shut down for my ovaries) for as long as it will continue working!

I'm super happy about that because I know what to expect for the most part!


My hot flashes have gotten way worse, but I just keep thinking that it is okay because that just means it's working!

 

I've had a hell of a time with the wigs lately... I looked at a picture of myself with my blonde wig a while back and thought it looked so fake that I haven't worn it since. It's sad, really, but kind of funny that I am worried about that looking fake but don't give a shit about being bald?


Maybe it's because I've never been a good liar (throwback to when I used to flush allergy meds down the toilet and lie to Kim and my Dad and tell them I took it) and I feel like everyone knows that I'm "lying" about having hair. But I want to try to embrace the wig look again soon (we'll talk about hair growth eventually). They just suck and are so uncomfortable! AND are super hard to travel with!


Note to anyone going through a cancer diagnosis/knowing you're going to lose your hair-buy a cheaper trial wig to see if you like it before going all out and buying the real deal wigs!

 

On 2/26/20, I got a measure of my Cancer Antigen 27.29 and it had gone from 70 to 7. 7 is considered "normal" so I was so happy! I couldn't believe it, literally I was so skeptical... It was TOO big of a drop to be real. But since then I had gotten my scans and realized how much my cancer has decreased so I didn't focus too much on the tumor markers.

 

JUDGING BY MY SCANS (the best measure of cancer in the body) MY CANCER HAS DECREASED BY 70%!!!!

 

This past week 3/18/20, I got another measure of that same tumor marker. It went up to 69.7 (still down from 70!). Mom has been super supportive and has had my Oncologist explain to me that just because it's up again, doesn't mean that the cancer is more aggressive, something could've been wrong with the test that occurred on 2/26. However, it's hard not to overthink. I've taken time to realize that it is okay, this doesn't mean it's the END of me. I've also realized that if I acknowledge my feelings and truly feel them in the moment, it's way easier to accept them and then move on.

 

Healing is NOT linear.

 

Here's to making time for your family during this time of stress and still finding time to do/discover the things that you love, even if you can't go out!



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