SubscribeAs I mentioned last week, the team running the Persephone trial have been good enough to answer some questions about Herceptin and the trial. Here they are. Even though I’m done with Herceptin, i found this really interesting. I hope you do too.
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-Why is Herceptin such a wonder drug?
Herceptin has proved to be [...]
Bah! to cancer
Breast cancer had a pop at Stephanie. It really wishes it hadn't.
Category: herceptin
All about Persephone
Trials and macaroons
I do always try to be fair on this blog: to report my experience on the cancer conveyer belt accurately , while trying to see the points of view of others. There are people I have praised to the skies, and people – St. George’s Oncology Department, I’m mostly looking at you – who I [...]
A day off
Of course I am glad to be alive. Of course I am grateful that I live in a time and a place and a society where breast cancer can be spotted and treated and gone. Of course I am mindful of all the people being danced closer and closer to an abyss by cancer, and [...]
All about Pilates
As part of my return to wellness (and retreat from not-being-ill-ness) I’ve started doing yoga again – and taken up Pilates for the first time. I’m taking lessons from my friend Diane, who is a brilliant teacher, and although I expected Pilates to help me to become strong again, I’ve been absolutely amazed by the [...]
Over
You’ll remember that, after a great deal of thought, I decided not to have any more herceptin.
There wasn’t really any hurry to let the hospital know, so I didn’t really hurry. Partly because we were away in the immediate aftermath of the decision; partly, I think – although I didn’t make a conscious decision about [...]
Call me Persephone
Yesterday, we had an intelligent, helpful meeting with an intelligent, helpful oncologist. (Credit where it’s due.)
The gist of what we learned was this:
The original herceptin trial had 3 arms: no herceptin, a year of herceptin, and 2 years of herceptin. The survival rates from the 1-year arm of the trial were so dramatic compared to [...]
The minutes of the meeting
Today, Alan and I did what we said we’d do, and revisited our holding decision not to have any more herceptin. We agreed that we still felt it was the right decision…. kinda. We agreed that we were doing the right thing… probably. It felt right…. almost certainly. It was all a bit unsatisfactory, really.
Cue [...]
Please try my shoes
Yesterday, travelling home from Manchester, I opened an email from someone who sent some information about herceptin. It was helpful, in that it added to the weight of information that says “no-one really knows”. And it included a comment, meant helpfully I am sure, that left me breathless and blind with tears in a second. [...]
Decision
Well, we’ve made a decision. Sort of.
We’ve thought about the facts that we have and, taking into account conversations, emails and comments on the blog, we’ve thought about how we feel and what our instincts are telling us. I’ve thought a lot about the being physically low and tired and fed up and afraid that, [...]
An admission
Cancer is like a brightly-lit, high-definition mirror. It shows you every little thing there is to know about yourself, good and bad. It shows you what you do well, what your strengths are, the good bits you didn’t know you had. It reflects the areas of your life that work, and makes it impossible to [...]
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- @bagelmouse @mpphillips Saw Roger Allam's Falstaff at the Globe recently. Fantastic.He was both twinkly and rough - winning combination!
- @bagelmouse @mpphillips Nothing wrong with an older man ;-)
- I am off for a driving lesson in a minute. In the rain. The last one was in the rain too. I'm going to be very good at driving in the rain.
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