An Old Warrior faces new battles

[TriciaK]

Hello all of you dear family and friends on the Her2 support group forums. As most of you know, I am 80 years old and have been fighting BC for 25 years, since 1985. The first cancer was in situ in both breasts and I was treated with a bilateral mastectomy and reconstruction. My husband and I kept on working together in our psychology practice, and had a wonderful 5 more years. Then the BC showed up again in 1990,this time in my thoracic vertebras. I again did no chemo, just worked with hypnotherapy, diet and psychonueroimmunology. I did take tamoxifen for 5 years. At the end of the 5 years my last MRI report said "Healed metastatic breast cancer" so I promptly forgot about cancer and kept busy with life, my children and the joy of working with my husband. We moved out of the city of Mesa, Arizona and to northern Arizona, in the beautiful White mountains. Then on June 30, 2004, I had a heart attack and was flown to the big city for heart surgery. A CT scan showed that the cancer was back! This time it was in my lungs and was her2. My oncologist said the heart attack saved my life, because we probably wouldn't have found the her2cancer otherwise and it was advanced enough that I wouldn't have lived more than a few months without treatment. I figured the Lord needed me around awhile longer so we set out to fight the battle.The heart surgery was set aside while I went on herceptin for 15 months with navelbine also for the first 6 months. My ejection fraction dropped to 30, so my oncologist took me off herceptin. I kept treatment with diovan (160 mg) and coreg cr, (40 mg.) plus coQ10 and krill oil and a good healthy diet.I had triple bypass heart surgery in 2006, and we moved to beautiful St George, Utah that fall. (Lots of help from our kids and grandkids).
I have been doing quite well in the last 6 years, not as strong as I'd like to be, but no cancer showing up in the 6 month PET/CT scans and tumor marker tests until the tests began rising steadily this past year. I have suffered with scoliosis as a result of the cancer in my spine, but do Physical Therapy twice a week and we have a NuStep cross trainer at home that we both use daily and really enjoy.I have had extra PET/CT scans also and the last one last week showed more nodules in both lungs and cancer markers up to 131. I just had an Echo cardiogram yesterday that showed my heart is not strong enough to start herceptin again, as I wanted to do, so my oncologist just called me and suggested I start navelbine alone next week. I would appreciate any comments from any of you who have used navelbine alone. My husband and I and oldest son and his wife had been planning a trip to Hawaii and an island cruise from August 23rd to September 4th. I am determined to go so hope to be able to stay as healthy as possible for the trip. I have been very weak and dizzy for about a year, so will probably have to have oxygen and a wheel chair but I still plan to go! I value any comments or suggestions and of course encouragement. I'm not ready to give up yet! I love you all. Tricia K.