Friday, May 4, 2007

Two big news items to report:

First, yesterday I drove for the first time since March 27th. It was rather strange! It is somewhat difficult making right hand turns so they are a little weird and I have to use my right arm to compensate, so that puts that arm straining a bit more! Right now, actions with my arms stretched forward or upward is slower and my strength (in those positions) is rather weakened due to the repositioning of my chest muscles. I think both arms will start to get stronger once I start some PT (this coming week).

Second, I just got a call from the oncologist this morning and she indicated the Oncotype DX test came back with very favorable results - I am in the low risk group (my score=9, see link "Oncotype DX Results" left margin) and will definitely not be receiving chemo. Even though I came to intuitively know and believe I would not be receiving chemo, it was great to have it confirmed through medical testing. Very, very good news. With taking Tamoxifen for 5 years, it puts my risk of recurrence in 10 years at 7%. I am told this is good, but it still looks weird to see me in classified in that percentage. I will learn next week what my recurrence % is if I do not take the Tamoxifen. One thing I learned through this experience is that if the cancer metastizes elsewhere in the body (liver, brain, etc), it is still consider breast cancer. Weird, huh?