I know I didn’t know what the word “metastatic” meant a couple years ago. Also known as “mets”, it is easily misunderstood. I think there is much hype out there on the advancements of breast cancer, which is fabulous, but it may be hurting the fact that we still have a long way to go. Mets is the spread of cancer cells through the lymphatic system or blood stream. Metastatic breast cancer (MBC) is commonly found in the liver, brain, bones, or lungs. When breast cancer spreads, you go to an automatic stage 4 terminal illness. Yes, that’s right...terminal. We have come a long ways but there are still far too many people that will be taken by this disease...in fact, 40,000 lives will be taken this year.
Treatment is never ending. It may change when it stops working, but I and many others will be treated until our last days. For me, I will take 2 oral chemo drugs. I’m already taking Tamoxifen daily. Because my cancer is what they call estrogen positive, the Tamoxifen shuts down my estrogen and starves my cancer. In February, I will begin Ibrance, a super expensive drug that seems promising and basically is used to stop the division of cancer cells. Every 3 months, I will also receive a pellet injected into my belly called Zoladex. This is used to shut down hormone production. Lastly, I receive Zometa once a month via IV which works to slow down bone breakdown. That’s the protocol until it stops working and then we have to hope to find something else that will work.
Despite what you hear, there is NO cure for breast cancer. Advancements have been made and fortunately many go on after their original diagnosis to live long healthy lives but the threat of recurrence is always there. Catching breast cancer early is great but does not mean all will escape metastasis. I don’t say that to scare anybody but as someone who had breast cancer 2 years ago, I thought the return of my early-caught, non-aggressive, stage 1 cancer was unlikely.
I hope this helps people to see that there is much work to still be done. I’m so happy for the advancements helping men and women to live longer with breast cancer, but I can’t help to want more. I will never give up hope that eventually we will have more.
