The Second Opinion

November 30, 2011 - Went to Dr. F's office today - no waiting, I walked in gave my name and DOB, the receptionist made a copy of my health insurance card, gave me a form to fill out and put me in an exam room. In about 3 minutes, Nurse Nancy came in - she did the preliminary intake interview, any past surgeries, hospitalizations, weight was down to 197 (passed the 200 marker- yay). She was very nice it was an easy chat, she told me to continue filling out the form and the Dr. would be in in a few minutes. About 4 minutes later Dr. F came in. Sat chatted about my responses to Nancy, when was the thrombosis, did they know the cause? What was the treatment, etc. We chatted about Fallon and Simon. He looked at my breasts and asked me to get dressed and come into his office at the end of the hall when I was ready. We called Simon on Dr. F's office phone - Simon is in Illinois at his company headquarters and they had very nicely reserved a conference room for him so he could phone meet Dr. F with me for the Second Opinion. He confirmed what Dr. B had said re: Invasive Ductal Carcinoma - he added a Stage to it - Stage II. He had the extra information from the FISH test on the HER2 - that I was positive for HER2 which meant that the therapy regimen would also include a drug called Herceptin, which would continue past the chemo and radiation for a full years worth. HER2 is an enzyme associated with a protein that is usually indicative of a more aggressive form of breast cancer. Supposedly Herceptin is easier on the body, not as toxic and doesn't cause hair loss - so once the chemo is done and the herceptin regimen continues on its own - hair can grow back, there is little if any nausea and fatigue should lessen. He also brought up the possibility that I could do Neo adjuvency therapy, which is where I take the chemo upfront and then do surgery after. The benefit being that they can actually measure the efficacy of the chemo since they can monitor if the tumor stays the same, shrinks or (hopefully not) continues growing. Dr. F told me should we decide to use him and the facilities there he had a number of oncologists we can pick from - gave me a list with their names and phone number (they are basically across the hall). I told him that I planned to do a liver cleanse and would be using herbs and other healing modalities during the process. He got very excited and said - well in that case you'll want to read this article in REIKI magazine - he hands me an article about him where he uses a reiki master on his patients pre - during and post operation. He also gave me the book "After Shock" by Puja Thompson - she writes about the journey of breast cancer and navigating the system while being true to your own beliefs and the healing modalities you wish to pursue. He thought the liver cleanse was a great idea and then took me down the hall to meet a patient navigator - Nancy. Nancy wasn't around but in the library I met Jenny and Angela. Angela put together a package with pamphlets, a book - "Be a Survivor" by Vladimir Lange, M.D., pink eye shades (I guess for use during chemo infusion), a journal and a pen. Both were extremely sweet - both had Breast Cancer, had been HER2 positive but they had both been Stage IV. They chatted with me for about 1/2 hour answering any questions, basically ready to make me feel safe and secure, which they accomplished. Upon leaving I felt really taken care of and listened to. I need to see what Simon's impression is but I feel good about Dr. F.