Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Here we go...

 In Bold is the upcoming tests and days. For those of you that are interested in what all of it means ,the italicized descriptions are for your reading enjoyment :)

Wednesday~ Lupron & Faslodex injections
Lupron is a man-made form of a hormone that regulates many processes in the body. Leuprolide overstimulates the body's own production of certain hormones, which causes that production to shut down temporarily. It reduces the amount of testosterone in men or estrogen in women. 
Faslodex, is used to treat hormone receptor positive breast cancer (breast cancer that depends on hormones such as estrogen to grow) in women who have experienced menopause (change of life; end of monthly menstrual periods) and whose breast cancer has worsened after they were treated with antiestrogen medications such as tamoxifen (Nolvadex). Fulvestrant is in a class of medications called estrogen receptor antagonists. It works by blocking the action of estrogen on cancer cells. This can slow or stop the growth of some breast tumors that need estrogen to grow.

Friday~ Muga scan and labs
MUGA scans are also used to evaluate heart function prior to and while receiving certain chemotherapies (e.g. doxorubicin (Adriamycin)) or immunotherapy (specifically, herceptin) that have a known effect on heart function.
A tumor marker is a substance found in the blood, urine, or body tissues that can be elevated in cancer, among other tissue types. There are many different tumor markers, each indicative of a particular disease process, and they are used in oncology to help detect the presence of cancer. An elevated level of a tumor marker can indicate cancer; however, there can also be other causes of the elevation.

Monday~ PET scan and apt. with my oncologist to go over everything.
PET can help physicians effectively pinpoint the source of cancer. This is possible because many cancer cells are highly metabolic and therefore synthesize the radioactive glucose (sugar) that is injected in the patient prior to the exam. The areas of high glucose uptake are dramatically displayed in the scan imagery, as opposed to the anatomical imagery of CT or MRI, which cannot detect active, viable tumors.

Thank you in advance everyone for your thoughts and prayers.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

keep up the faith, you are a survivor
Heidi Asiaf

think positive sis and things will come out aok :)
Dana Renda

We are always praying for good results. We love you.
Barbara Minich

Fingers crossed.....
Susan Murphy-perrotti

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