We went back to meet with the medical oncologist, Dr. Goldschmidt today. He has the result of my Oncotype test. That test sent a sample of my tumor to a lab in California to study the DNA of it. That will verify the DNA of the tumor before we start treatments so that we don't treat it with one drug when it needs to be treated with another drug regimen.
The previous test results showed that I was hormone negative but HER-2 positive. The Oncotype test showed that I was both hormone and HER-2 negative. Dr. Goldschmidt did another test, a "fish" test or something like that, that verified that I have Triple Negative Breast Cancer. It is more aggressive and has a higher rate of reoccurance than the other types of breast cancer. Thankfully, it is still responsive to treatment so we will continue with chemo and radiation plans.
He said I would need to have a port put in to access my veins for the chemo and it would be left in for a year. The chemo treatments would be every three weeks, and I would have 4-6 cycles of TAC or TC. He gave me the option of a clinical trial and went over the paperwork with me. I'm not sure how I feel about the clinical trial because of the randomization, you wouldn't know until you start which drug treatment you would be in - TAC, TC, or the trial drug cocktail. He was very unbiased in his talk though so it makes a harder decision.
Dr. Goldschmidt briefly went over the chemo side effects, most of which I was fairly aware of by now through the reading I'd been doing. I'll loose my hair 2-4 weeks into treatment, nausea, low blood count, menopause, numbness in hands and feet, heart problems, etc. Although, now that we know it's triple negative, I really don't have a choice. I have to fight it.
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