A good day in cancer land

我的丈夫,我和吉姆,livi后搬到休斯顿ng in Philadelphia for 35 years. We love Houston because our children settled here and we have family and friends in the area. But the main reason we’re grateful to live in Houston is that we’re only 20 minutes away from MD Anderson.

For us, 2014 began with a jolt. After having a clear mammogram in June, in January I was diagnosed with ‘high risk, aggressive, potentially curable’ stage III triple-negativebreast cancer（TNBC）。我从来不问，“为什么是我？”考虑到与癌症击中了数以百万计，更合适的问题似乎是，“为什么不是我？”

我希望面对疾病，信心，优雅，积极的态度和幽默感。祈祷的力量，上帝，家人和朋友，MD安德森医学奇迹的爱帮助我实现这个目标。

Because I was being treated at a world-class institution, I felt confident I could rely on the expertise of my medical team led bySharon Giordano(chair,卫生服务研究188bet体育网址-Clinical), Beth Mittendorf (associate professor, Surgical Oncology), Melissa Crosby (associate professor,整形外科) andEric Strom(professor,Radiation Oncology), with my beloved niece詹妮弗·利顿(associate professor,乳房Medical Oncology）作为辅助构件。我的依赖已经占尽天时地利。

In a 2013 TNBC study, 54% of women who added carboplatin to their chemotherapy regimen had a complete therapeutic response compared with only 40% without carboplatin. Carboplatin, however, wreaks havoc on blood counts and has potential long-term adverse effects, so MD Anderson hasn’t added it to its standard TNBC regimen. In addition, some women in the study couldn’t tolerate carboplatin and had to end treatment early. Nonetheless, given my daunting diagnosis, my team offered me that option, which I readily embraced.

Here’s the wonder of MD Anderson medicine: My team elegantly tweaked the study’s approach, providing me the proverbial ‘win-win’ by reversing the standard order of the drugs. By administering carboplatin last, if I hadn’t been able to tolerate it, I could’ve dropped it while still completing the entire regimen. I felt I couldn’t lose, and I didn’t. After only two doses of chemotherapy, my tumors had shrunk 90% in the lymph nodes and 70% in the breast. After completing the full course with carboplatin, my lymph nodes were clear and a mere 2% viable tumor remained in the breast.

正如我的侄女珍妮说，我强烈的治疗反应是‘good day in cancer land.’I’ve had many good days because angels doing God’s work abound at MD Anderson. In addition to the gifted doctors and nurses, they include experienced therapists, able technicians, cheerful receptionists and the wonderful cook in the Waterfall Café.

In October, I completed my final辐射，所以我积极治疗有
ended. I hoped cancer would make me a better person. I’m not sure that happened, but I know it’s forged in me a stronger faith in God and
stronger relationships with my family and friends. Thanks to the love of God, family and friends and the wonder of MD Anderson medicine, I’m optimistic about my future and supremely grateful.