2 years of poison....starting, NOW.

 

Next stop on the Cancerland Railroad...abemaciclib! 

Tomorrow I will start 2 years of this incredibly expensive, less-toxic-than-regular-chemo drug called a CDK4/6 inhibitor (cyclin-dependent kinase 4 and 6, for those that speak cell biology). Some recent trials have demonstrated a significant disease-free survival interval for early hormone + breast cancer patients taking this along with antiestrogen therapy. 

Disease free. 

No evidence of Disease. 

The absolute best and happiest state you can hope for as an early cancer patient. 1 in 8 women in the US will develop breast cancer. Of those that do, 20-30% will progress to metastatic cancer - with chemo, surgery, radiation, ten years of meds. With doing all the things they told you would 'kill' your cancer. Your cancer will still kill you. 

Who is in that 20-30%? How can you prevent yourself from being there? Well unfortunately we don't know, and you can't. You can live your best life, increase your chances of survival with things like meds and exercise and not drinking, but at the end of the day, biology is a random bitch and I might end up there. 

Enter abemaciclib. 

The idea is that this might prevent a recurrence by blocking cell replication in any lurking cancer cells. So that they don't turn into metastatic cancer. So I don't die of breast cancer. This is a newer class of drug, and a more targeted therapy than traditional chemo, and I appreciate the trials and researchers that brought it to patients. 

Exciting side effects to anticipate: nausea. diarrhea. profound fatigue. low white blood cell counts and easier infections. hair loss. anemia. Horror stories of needing adult diapers and imodium to prevent diarrhea explosions in public. This should be interesting in 3 weeks when I'm supposed to race a half-ironman...

But I know this increases the chances if me staying in the 70-80% of women who outlive breast cancer, so it's a worthy sacrifice now for longer life later. I appreciate the hell I've put my body through to survive, and I hope it can manage this next phase without too much more collateral damage. 

2 years starting now....