My father-in-law, himself a cancer survivor, sent me a terrific article from the New York Times:
“Cancer as a Disease, Not a Death Sentence”
That about sums it up, for me.
I particularly enjoyed the following anecdote, so reflective of my own experience (the drugs are different, except for the Herceptin):
”Dr. Esteva described a breast cancer patient first treated with a mastectomy and the antiestrogen tamoxifen in 1995. Five years later, cancer had spread to her lungs, prompting treatment with a newer anticancer drug, an aromatase inhibitor. When that no longer worked, her cancer was found to possess a molecular factor, HER-2, and she began treatment with Herceptin, a designer drug tailor made to attack HER-2-positive breast cancer.Herceptin therapy was able to stabilize her metastases for years, “something we had not seen before,” Dr. Esteva said.
The patient now receives a combination of Herceptin and another drug and enjoys a relatively normal quality of life, the doctor reported.”
The article describes beautifully the approach of my oncologist. First treatment A is tried until that stops working, then treatment B and so on. Ideally, treatment would continue in this way until a cure is found . For the time, being, though many of us are living longer than anyone thought we would and with a pretty good quality of life.
Cross-posted to Not Just About Cancer.
Good article.
The goal is to stay one step behind the newest drug…. Herceptin was approved by my health care provider just six months before I was diagnosed. I hope it will keep working at least until its replacement drug is approved….