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HER2 NEGATIVE  🙂

Please don’t think this is a gloat, because it isn’t. It’s not even a jumpy up and down with fists flying in the air kind of celebration. It’s more of a nice nod, accompanied with a hug, a smile and a thank you. We’ve come into contact with some lovely people since Sam’s diagnosis and some of them haven’t had the pleasure of experiencing that smile. They’ve been fed the news that their treatment has now been extended by 12 months on top of everything that they’ve had to go through already. Luckily, Herceptin is available to treat NHS patients that are diagnosed HER2 +. Up until 8 years ago there was no treatment available on the NHS. Herceptin was deemed too expensive to be given free, therefore, you had to pay for it privately and at £5k a shot only the chosen few could afford it. It wasn’t until a brave woman took the NHS to the high court to fight for the right to be treated and won that it was then fast tracked onto the NHS. I do feel slightly guilty, but I can’t help but feel another weight has been lifted. Don’t get me wrong, there’s still loads of weight there but at least it’s one more nugget to add to the pile.

Sam had her bloods taken at the pre chemo check today and they came back fine, so the second session goes ahead as planned tomorrow morning. It was weird watching them take the blood from the PICC Line and not from a needle (that vein literally is on tap). We were called into the consultants room and Sam was asked what side effects she suffered from after the first session. She was then prescribed medicine for the headache, the mouth ulcers and the stomach cramps. They then checked the lump and noticed it was a lot smaller than before. This may not be because of the chemo, it could have been swollen before (because of the biopsy) and just simply returned to it’s original size, but they’re going to book an MRI so they can check anyway. Either way it’s a nice thing to hear when your being checked by the consultant.

So, 11am tomorrow morning Sam will go through the mill once more and then she will, once again, be a slave to the side effects. Let’s see what this one brings to the table shall we……….