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    <title>Z80 - The Diagnosis Is Not Consistent With The Gender of the Patient: FINALLY more info (and action)</title>
    <link>http://www.balrog.org/articles/2006/10/13/finally-more-info-and-action</link>
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    <description>Experiences with male breast cancer</description>
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      <title>FINALLY more info (and action)</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;Yesterday I met with my new oncologist and got a bunch of info and a plan for action-  there&amp;#8217;s a lot that&amp;#8217;s going to be going on in the next week.  I just got back from a CT scan this morning where they took pictures of my chest and liver.  I&amp;#8217;ve got another followup appointment with my surgeon in an hour and a half or so where we will also discuss putting my port in (I&amp;#8217;ll explain that in a bit) on wednesday and then a bone scan at 11:30.  I have another test on Tuesday- a MUGGA (sp?) test which is a baseline on my heart function.  Then Thursday is the first chemo treatment.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#8217;ll be receiving chemo for about 16 weeks, getting a treatment every other week (so it&amp;#8217;s a &amp;#8216;compressed&amp;#8217; schedule).  The first four are one set of medicines, the nastier apparently.  Another set will cover the remainder.  When I&amp;#8217;m done with the chemo the other treatments start- I&amp;#8217;ll get radiation, though I&amp;#8217;m not sure of the length or schedule.  I&amp;#8217;ll get the Herceptin for about a year, and then the hormone therapy for around five.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;This is all the very surface of all the info I got yesterday- I haven&amp;#8217;t really gotten to sit down, make notes, and distill it all.  I should have a chance to do that this afternoon and then I&amp;#8217;ll write again with more details with the port, the medicines, and what I&amp;#8217;ve got ahead.  I just wanted to get a little bit out as soon as I could!&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Matt also got in safe last night- apparently he got spun around a bit in the airport trying to get on the right highway (most of the signs are for I-5, and it&amp;#8217;s a bit hard to get to our place from there), but after that it was all OK.  I missed Martin last weekend however- it turns out he was spending his time in Tacoma and a couple days on the Olympic Peninsula, so still quite a ways away.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#8217;s going to be a busy week next week- particularly since I&amp;#8217;m also driven to get a scuba dive in before all of this starts up as I won&amp;#8217;t be able to go during chemo.  It feels good to have direction and movement in all of this- the last couple weeks of not knowing anything have been a bit difficult.&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 13 Oct 2006 09:02:00 +0000</pubDate>
      <guid isPermaLink="false">urn:uuid:b48b9a40-0886-4541-9894-f8781efde937</guid>
      <author>David Poncelow</author>
      <link>http://www.balrog.org/articles/2006/10/13/finally-more-info-and-action</link>
      <category>Cancer</category>
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