Butcha my brother. I know what you're going through my friend. Many years ago, my own mom had cancer. Mom recovered, and it's been about 35 years now.
My brother's wife lost a breast to cancer, then my brother lost his life to cancer. His second eldest daughter had a huge tumor removed while he was hospitilized just after his surgery.
My brother, we are with you through Jesus Christ.
We will pray for you, your family, and most importantly for you dear Mom. What's Mom's name my friend?
Bronzesnake
Breast Cancer — New treatments, new hope
Breast cancer has long been one of the most feared diseases a woman can face. And until recently, news that the disease had metastatized, or spread to distant parts of the body, seemed a certain death sentence. But new therapies are now available to extend the lives of women with metastatic disease. In 1998, after trials involving more than 1,000 women with metastatic or widespread breast cancer, trastuzumab (Herceptin®) was approved for clinical use. Trastuzumab is a monoclonal antibody, the first of its kind to be approved for breast cancer, and a unique and exciting new tool in the treatment of this dread disease.
Antibodies are substances produced by our immune system that bind to specific proteins, such as those found on the surfaces of bacteria. Some women with breast cancer carry a unique protein labeled HER2/neu in their cancer cells. Trastuzumab has a special affinity for HER2/neu; after binding there, it can prevent further growth of a tumor, and in some cases, even cause it to regress.
In one of trastuzumab's earliest trials, 222 women with advanced breast cancer were treated with weekly infusions. Fourteen percent of them experienced at least partial remission. Results were best in those with the greatest number of HER2/neu proteins on the surfaces of their cancer cells. Studies underway now are combining trastuzumab with other potent chemotherapeutic drugs.
Taxanes, a new class of chemotherapeutic agents including taxotere and paclitaxel, have proven useful in earlier stage breast cancers. The preliminary results from a study of 469 women treated with trastuzumab/taxane combinations show their effects are synergistic; i.e., they produce better results together than either could have alone. Though only some women with metastatic breast cancer will respond to trastuzumab, with or without a taxane, these new therapies offer new hope where only a few years ago there was none.
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