|
Patient
Testimonials
Jennifer’s story
Who knew it was going to be cancer? For about 1 1/2 years I had not really been feeling up to my normal self. Aches and pains in my legs and shoulders, tired and had a couple of bad dizzy spells which lasted anywhere from 3 -7 days.
I went to see an internist...but he never really could find anything wrong with me. This became a very sore subject with my husband. But the first time I visited Dr. M, my oncologist, I was diagnosed with stage IV metastatic breast cancer. I was going to have my ovaries removed, because my gynecologist decided to do an internal ultra sound, and she found a fluid surrounding my fallopian tubes and had a hard time finding my right ovary. Being 47 at the time, I was in no need of my ovaries. During the procedure, she found lots of spots in my abdomen...took a sample of that, took out the fluid surrounding the tubes, closed me up and that was where the cancer was found...my abdomen and in the fluid.
Dr. M wrote explicitly—word-for-word—everything she spoke to me the first visit. So it will be easy for me to just write here what she wrote. It was amazing.
You have Stage IV metastatic breast cancer. It was on the biopsy and in the fluid. It was estrogen receptor +. The progesterone receptor is pending and the Her 2 testing is not highly accurate at this point. It was lobular type.
She explained the x-ray studies and then she wrote what we need to do for some further testing. Then she wrote:
Two types of Therapy:
1. controlling cancer in breast with remission - radiate area 2. control disease elsewhere in the body...bone disease...treatment with drug A prevents fractures, helps bone heal.
Then she wrote:
To treat the whole body:
A. Hormonal Therapy –Drug B orally and Drug A, or
B. Chemotherapy: if Her 2-negative, Drug A TAC dose dense, AC – Drug C every 2 weeks, Drug D if Her 2 + (which it was not), another protocol.
Of course we went with chemo! We learned about DiaTech from A. K. and S. B., great friends in Palm Beach. She will also do chemo sensitivity testing.
Yes, Dr. M. explained what drug sensitivity testing was and she had a place where she usually goes to do drug sensitivity testing, but we had asked her to send the tissue up to DiaTech, and she had absolutely no problem. I think she was a bit impressed. She is so receptive to the patients, always.
That is where DiaTech came in: it showed after doing testing that drug E was the most potent drug and drug F was also effective. Both of these drugs showed the highest sensitivity.
So my first go around with chemo was changed to: Drug E (100mg/m2) Drug F(600 mg/m2) every two weeks for six treatments.
Then we will do Drug C and Drug I for six more treatments..
It was a "no-brainer" to change my protocol to the recommended drugs according to the testing DiaTech had done.
I learned that I had responded so incredibly well to the first treatment after just a couple of months, I think after 4 or 5 treatments, with scans and blood tests. My CA 125 went from 270 to 100 and continued to fall after that and is now at 20.
I feel good right now. I eventually had my ovaries and tubes removed by a gynecologic oncologist, Dr. H. G., another great doctor.
Glenn and I realized that our lives had changed so we, instead of going back to what we thought was the normal, found a new normal for all of us to live with. I deal with leg cramps, arthritis in my hands and neuropathy in my feet. But everyday I get up, see my family and say I am glad to be here with this wonderful life I have.
DiaTech was truly a life saver for me. Thanks.
Dr. M. said that in her 20 years of practicing oncology, she had never seen anyone who presented cancer like I did; it is usually a second or third go around. I had gotten a mammogram since I was 35, 13 years of films, never showed up on any of them!
I will do anything for you...YES I will recommend DiaTech to other patients.
JKS
Return To Top Of Page
Letter To DiaTech
This letter was sent to DiaTech Oncology on April 13, 2007 by one of our breast cancer patients. At the start of her DiaTech drug sensitivity test-guided chemotherapy, the size of her tumor exceeded 5 cm in diameter.
Hello,
Last September I had a lumpectomy and had part of my tumor sent to DiaTech for testing. The sample was so small that you were only able to test a few of chemo's, but found that two drugs worked well. At that time, I did not proceed with chemo, but by January I had a recurrence. I have had 3 rounds of the treatment with two drugs that you recommended and the cancer has had REMARKABLE response. Thank you so much!!!! I did find that many oncologists will not deviate from standard protocol of the Adriamycin, but found the Cancer Treatment Centers of America in Tulsa, who will. A couple of oncologists discounted your testing too, but not CTCA. I am planning to have a mastectomy the end of next week, probably the 19th, and if there is any sign of cancer in the tissue, I would like to have it tested again. Hopefully, there will be enough in the sample to test a few more drugs. The plan is to move to Abraxane next, but I would like to make sure the cancer will respond to it before going through more chemo. It has been pretty rough, but if it works, then it is worth it!
There is nothing palpable in the breast right now, so I am hoping and praying that it is totally gone, but I just want to be ready in case. What do you suggest?
By the way, you were amazing in your service last time! I thank you so very much!
Sincerely, J.S.
Return To Top Of Page
Story told by Laura and her husband.
August 2, 2005
Hello Everyone,
This is to update all of you on Laura. As I said last week, the surgeon took biopsies of the lymph nodes around the esophagus and under the left lung. He found that the cancer had spread to the lymph nodes under the lung but not to the lymph nodes in the esophagus at this time. He also installed a port-a-cath for her chemo treatments.
What I did not let everyone in on at that time was that the PET scan from last Friday and the subsequent MRI done in the hospital on Thursday showed that there were several other areas that the cancer is in her body. It showed activity in the tissue around her ovaries, in the bone of the pelvic region and at the base of her neck, just at the top of her spine. They are performing additional tests to try and find out where the source of her cancer is located. They think of lung cancer but it is very unusual for lung cancer to spread to these other areas, but it is very likely that if the source is elsewhere for it to spread to the lung area. Laura has a horrible cough, she almost can’t speak.
Below are Laura's words of what part of the process that we will follow:
My art friend, Wendy, has come to the rescue. Her husband is a partner with a doctor in Nashville who invented a technology that determines exactly what chemo the specific cancer will respond to. They founded a company, DiaTech Oncology, to give patients and doctors access to this technology. There are 2 or 3 other cancer research centers in the US that do the opposite. They tell you which three or four drugs will not work.
Last Wednesday, DiaTech picked up the biopsies to do their test on my cancer. They called my oncologist yesterday telling that the laboratory had a match. They have found two drugs to which my tumor will respond!!!!!
So, I'm not sure how the oncologist will react to this. He has worked with them one other time and it was a complete success. But utilizing new technology over his patient and giving him the dosage lay out to use is going to be another thing. Please pray that he will open his mind to this.
Can you tell the excitement in her words? Praise God for placing people in the right places for each of us!!
We went to the oncologist this morning (Tuesday) and to say it went completely smooth would be an over statement. There were some uncomfortable moments going through the things Laura described above, however we believed strongly in the DiaTech’s technology. I believe the biggest difference between doctors was their opinions of the Laura’s cancer source. The final diagnosis that came from pathologists was melanoma, not lung cancer as her oncologist originally thought. The drugs recommended by DiaTech were very unusual for treatment of melanoma. Laura’s oncologist did however agree to administer the treatments recommended by DiaTech under the other doctors' guidance. Yeah God!! Laura is to start treatments on Monday, 08/08/05. The first treatment is set to last 6 to 8 hours and then they will proceed every 3 weeks thereafter.
October 6, 2005
Laura had her scans and the first part of her chemo treatment yesterday and finished up this morning. We did get the results back from the scans and although they were not everything that we had prayed for, we did get positive signs. YEAH GOD!!! The scans of the head, spine and pelvis area did not reveal any signs of new growth or spreading. That is good. The treatments have stopped the progress. PRAISE GOD!!! The scan of the chest area had some of the same news except for one of the tumors in her left lung. Originally the largest tumor had measurements of 6cm x 5cm or 30 sq cm, now that particular tumor measures 5cm x 3cm or 15 sq cm, a reduction in mass area of 50%. Her cough has almost gone!!! PRAISE GOD!!!!
This is not totally what the doctor was looking for, but he believes that we are headed in the right direction. So we are holding the course and continuing the treatments without any changes. Thank you for your prayers and we see their results daily. Laura is feeling better and is excited with the scan results. OUR GOD IS AN AWESOME GOD! He knows just what we need at just the right time. After last week he knew that this news is just what Laura needed to hear. We sometimes want instant results, just because of the world we live in. However, things WILL BE TAKEN CARE OF according to HIS PLAN not ours.
October 29, 2005
I went to the doctor yesterday and had the 4th chemo treatment. The doctor said that I was in REMISSION!!!!! Yeah God!!!! Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers, Laura.
Return To Top Of Page
Return
To Homepage | SiteMap |
