We interrupt this program...

I started the blog to share my little cancer journey in a public fashion, mainly to make it easier for friends and family to keep up with what was happening. Since all I normally do these days is pop a tamoxifen tablet, there's not usually much to discuss.

Until Friday.

Didn't mean to scare you. There's nothing going on.

However, on Friday, I accompanied my sister to the chemo room where we both received treatments. She was given her second dose of adriamycin and cytoxan and I received my first ever dose of Zometa.

Zometa is a drug for osteoporosis. It's an IV drug, given once a year for this purpose. It is also used on a more frequent basis for treating women with metastatic disease to their bones. I do not have this. What is exciting to me is a small study presented at ASCO, one of the big oncology conferences, back in May. A study looked at 1800 women who were premenopausal at diagnosis, with hormone receptor positive tumors (just like me). The women where then randomized to treatment. Half were given traditional hormonal treatment (such as tamoxifen or an aromatase inhibitor) plus ovarian suppression (this is not traditional.. yet!), the other half received the same PLUS Zometa infusions every 6 months for 3 years. There was a 36% DECREASE in the recurrence rate for those who received Zometa in just the first 5 years of this study. Dr. Susan Love's Research Foundation has a nice discussion on the study here.

I found this study extremely intriguing. And promising. I recognize that 1800 is a small number and that 3 years of treatment and 2 more years of follow up is a short time. But, it is not often that we see prospective studies specifically looking at women who were thoroughly premenopausal at diagnosis. As I have had the ultimate in ovarian suppression, a bilateral oophorectomy (no more ovaries), this study pertains directly to me. When I saw my oncologist in August, I mentioned that I wanted to discuss the study. Much to my surprise, he agreed to give me the medication, figuring that at the worst, it would help strengthen my bones, a very common problem for post-menopausal women. At the best, it is another tool in our armory to crush the beast which is breast cancer.

So.. I had the Zometa. I've been fairly open here about my side effects with various drugs (even if it did take me a few months to talk about what Arimidex did to me!), so I thought I might share once again. I had my IV on Friday morning. Went to lunch with my sister afterwards, picked Rachel up from school and headed home. All was good with the world. I did what I was told and stayed very well hydrated. Thought this might just be a breeze. Friday was a hot and sticky night here. Not for me. After I went to bed, I was overcome by shaking chills. My teeth were literally chattering! Definitely the "flu-like" symptoms mentioned as one of the most common side effects. Made it difficult to sleep. It did alterate a bit with feeling flushed, but the chills definitely predominated! The next day, Sept 6, was my birthday. Unfortunately, it turned into one of those days that just disappears from the calendar. I did nothing all day. Generalized malaise and fatigue would be the medical descriptors. Loss of appetite too (so much for going out to dinner)! I did what I was told and took Tylenol, but it did not seem to make a difference. Fortunately, I woke up on Sept 7 feeling like myself, headed off to work a half day (12 hrs) and did just fine. We finished celebrating on Sunday and now it's like nothing ever happened.

From those who've taken it for mutliple times for other reasons, I hear it gets easier each time. I am going to believe that. :)

A little postscript about my sister:
She's at that very rotten part of the journey where you lose your hair. It started just before chemo on Friday. She had her hair cut very short on Saturday and is now wearing wigs, etc. She seems to be handling this part with remarkable aplomb. But of course.. she's my sister!