HER2 Support Group Forums - View Single Post - Finding Little Comfort in the Statistics of Survival

Andrea Barnett Budin · 10-21-2011, 02:08 PM

WHAT'S SO COOL is that if you reread a book years later, you find things you missed, see things you saw before in fresh light.

We are meant to keep evolving. Continue exploring, growing and expanding.

I would never have volunteered to get breast canser, but I am richer for the experience. I am so much more than I was. I am on a path I would never have considered, had the bc not enveloped me.

The sky is bluer. The trees are more alive. I have found that I am a Spirit, with a mind and a body. Never figured that out before...

10-21-2011, 02:08 PM	#9
Andrea Barnett Budin Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: LAND OF YES! w/home in Boca Raton, Florida Orig from L.I., N.Y. Ever hovering IN THE NOW... Posts: 1,904	Re: Finding Little Comfort in the Statistics of Survival WHAT'S SO COOL is that if you reread a book years later, you find things you missed, see things you saw before in fresh light. We are meant to keep evolving. Continue exploring, growing and expanding. I would never have volunteered to get breast canser, but I am richer for the experience. I am so much more than I was. I am on a path I would never have considered, had the bc not enveloped me. The sky is bluer. The trees are more alive. I have found that I am a Spirit, with a mind and a body. Never figured that out before... __________________ Andi BB '95 post-meno dx Invasive LOBULAR w/9cm tumor! YIKES + 2/21 nodes. Clear mammo 10 mnths earlier. Mastec/tram flap reconst/PORT/8 mnths chemo (4Adria/8CMF). Borderline ER/PR. Tamoxifen 2 yrs. Felt BLESSED. I could walk and talk, feed and bathe myself! I KNEW I would survive... '98 -- multiple mets to liver. HER2+ 80%. ER/PR- Raging, highly aggressive tumors spreading fast. New PORT. 9 mnths Taxotere Fought fire w/fire! Pronounced in cautious remission 5/99. Taxotere weekly for 6 wks, 2 wks off -- for 9 mnths. TALK ABOUT GRUELING! (I believe they've altered that protocol since those days -- sure hope so!!) + good old Vit H wkly for 1st 3 yrs, then triple dosage ev 3 wks for 7 yrs more... The "easy" chemo, right?! Not a walk in the park, but not a freight train coming at 'ya either... Added Herceptin Nov '98 (6 wks after FDA fast-tracked it for met bc). Stayed w/Vit H till July '08! Now I AM FREE! Humbly and eternally grateful for this life-saving drug! NED since '99 and planning on keeping it that way. To hell w/poor prognosis and nasty stats! STOPPED VIT H JULY '08...! REMAIN STABLE... Eternally grateful...Yes is a world & in this world of yes live (skillfully curled) all worlds ... (e e cummings) EVERY DAY I BEAT MY PREVIOUS RECORD FOR # OF CONSECUTIVE DAYS I'VE STAYED ALIVE. Smile KNOWING you too can be a miracle. Up to me and God now...