Cancer is Back

Here I am writing to you on Caring Bridge because I learned in late December 2023, that my breast cancer is back, and it is Stage IV this time.  Some of you may remember that at the end of 2018, I was diagnosed with Stage 0 (DCIS) breast cancer, and I underwent a preventative mastectomy to try and guard against any return.  The doctors do not know if that 2018 cancer had spread further than they realized or if I developed a separate cancer in the small remaining breast tissue left after a mastectomy, but it has currently spread to the liver and bones.  Fortunately, it is “triple positive” breast cancer which is the most treatable type.

I started to experience back pain in the late summer which kept getting worse despite doctor’s visits and weekly PT visits.  I had an x-ray in late November which seemed to show that I might have a compression fracture in one of the vertebrae in my thoracic (mid) spine.  An MRI was ordered but we couldn’t get it scheduled until early January due to the holidays.  Around Christmas I started to get nauseous and constipated which culminated in a trip to the ER on December 28th where I was concerned about a bowel blockage.  They did a CT scan of my abdomen, and while there was not a bowel blockage, they found several cancerous lesions on my liver and bones.  It was a huge shock to say the least & my family & I were totally flabbergasted.  While I worked to establish care with an oncologist, I had the MRI of my back and received a call on a Saturday morning urging me to head straight to the ER because I had 4 fractured vertebrae which were pushing on my spinal column and I was at risk of paralysis.  I had to have emergency surgery on January 9th to shave back the vertebrae to relieve pressure on the spine and I also had a spinal fusion of the fractured vertebrae to the healthy ones to stabilize the spine.  The surgery was a success but requires 6-12 weeks to heal.  I was in the hospital for 10 days and continue to recover at home.  I have my 6 week check up on Valentine’s Day where I’m hopeful they’ll lift some of the bending, twisting, and lifting restrictions.  I’m down to the lowest dose of narcotic pain reliever which I cannot wait to be off altogether because it seems to really be impacting my ability to sleep through the night.

OK, back to the cancer treatment.  I started chemotherapy on January 25th.  I have traditional chemotherapy weekly and every 3 weeks I also have targeted therapy to block progesterone and what’s called HER2 which is a protein fueling my cancer.  My cancer is also estrogen positive, so I have a consult next week about getting my remaining ovary removed (my other ovary was removed in 2021 due to endometriosis).  The first chemotherapy didn’t go great – I was allergic to 2 of the 3 medications and the next day I developed a fever which sent me to the ER/hospital because they wanted to monitor me for infections. I was in the ER waiting room for 9 hours before I was admitted, it was horrible.  I stayed at the hospital for 3 nights (bringing my grand total for January to 13 nights in the hospital) but no infection was found.  My next chemo went much better and I’ve had minimal side effects.  Now I have chemo every Thursday for the next 3-4 months.  I also have 5 sessions of radiation on my spine which take place the week of 2/12.

I’ve got my ups and downs but I’m doing well overall and working hard to stay positive/optimistic.  I’ve had help at home and getting to appointments so far from my friend Andrew from college, my sister, my mom, my co-workers, and my in-laws. I’m on Short Term Disability from work (everyone at work have been so amazingly supportive) and I am focused on finding fulfilling activities during the weekdays.  That will be much easier once I can drive when I’m off the painkillers when I’m planning to go to the gym and in-person support groups.  My wife and daughter are doing as well as can be expected; the primary caregiver’s burden is no joke and Rachael’s doing her best to not burn out as we know this is a long haul.

My thanks to everyone who has shared well wishes and my thanks in advance for those who do so after reading this post.  I’ll try to update this Caring Bridge on a fairly regular basis.