Caught a Break

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The oncologist just called with a piece of good news. One of the tests that had indicated a marker/receptor for Karen's tumor was a false positive. He didn't want to wait until her next appointment to share the results.

The initial test for Her2/neu (a human growth hormone) indicated the tumor was activated by it. There were three levels to the initial test, 1 indicating no receptor, 2 indicating a weak receptor, 3 indicating strong receptor. Karen came up at a 2. With that, there is a more definitive but more expensive test (the FISH test) that they routinely send out for with a 2 or 3 on the initial test. That was what came back negative.

That means one chemo drug in the second round gets eliminated and the second round may go to every other week injections versus every week.

Her2/neu generally means the cancer is more aggressive, so this coming back negative is GREAT news.

WooHoo!

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