Dr Fran Boyle

We went to our first appointment with Dr Fran Boyle, my oncologist for chemo, this morning. She is brilliant, I am so lucky to be seeing her. I really liked the fact that she is not only is she right at the forefront of the field, but she is such a nice person, easy to talk to. Top chick. She is interested to get to know more about us, who we are and what we do, not just the clinical conditions. That really fits in with how I see things - I am still me, I still do what I do, I just happen to have a few diseased cells that we are getting rid of. My disease is not me, I don't want it to take over.

Dr Boyle explained things so clearly. I probably won't be quite so clear, but here goes. My particular type of cancer is 'her2 positive'. This means that it responds to a drug called herceptin which I'll receive after a first set of chemo treatments. It is caused by a fault in the genes, but not an inherited one. No one knows yet what starts it, but we do know that this type of cancer is not hormone receptive ie nothing to do with the pill. One gene to do with epidermal growth suddenly decides to start reproducing itself and causing trouble. Her2 knocks that one the head. Only 15% of breast cancers are her2 positive, so I'm feeling special! It's good news, because it's something very effective that can be done to stop this coming back.

There is also another drug called lapatinib currently being trialled across the world which stops the rogue gene in a different way, cutting off how it communicates from the inside of the cell. I'm going to try to get on the trial, and so I'm having a heart test at some point soon to check that I'm all good to go.

How amazing, don't you think? All these brilliant minds and incredible research, all to get the best outcome for little people like me. Apparently some countries don't fund herceptin (and at $60,000 for a year, you can see why) so I'm pretty happy to be living where I'm living, with all these top specialists and facilities just down the street. I love where we live, but I never thought it would bless me like this.

So, the plan is this: if further surgery needed (ie another 5 star trip to the Mater - however will I cope?! ;-)) Dr Boyle recommends doing that first. Then we start on a first round of chemo, with a session every 3 weeks for 12 weeks. Then I start on a second round of chemo, with 12 weekly sessions with smaller doses, for 12 weeks. That's when I will be truly grateful to be living and working 2 minutes away from 'chemo cottage' I think. That is also when the herceptin starts. After the second set of chemo, hercpetin carries on through radio therapy auntil 12 months. Also the trial, if I'm lucky enough to get on it, will involve tablets at this time.

I am VERY keen to get on with it. A little impatient, but perfectly happy for everyone to be completely sure they are getting this right before we start. Watch this space!

xxx Kathy