Osteoporosis and Breast Cancer

03 Apr 2016 Leave a comment

by Val Penny in Breast Cancer Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Osteoporosis literally means porous bones. The result is that the bones can become thin or snap. Osteoporosis cannot be cured and often is not found until after bones break. It affects half of women over 50 and one in five men in that age range and some people who receive treatment for breast cancer are at an increased risk of ostoeporosis, however, treatments are available to try to keep bones strong and less likely to break.

Women who have not gone through the menopause before they are treated for breast cancer have an increased risk of osteoporosis. Indeed, chemotherapy can cause an early menopause and a rapid, significant reduction in bone density and result in osteoporosis.Even women who have been through the menopause may be at increased risk of osteoporosis because of the hormone therapies they take for breast cancer.

balanced her 2.jpgI am being treated with letrozole for my breast cancer. My tumour was of the fast growing HER2 positive variety. The letrozole is one of the drugs that reduces the amount of oestrogen circulating in my body and this could result in osteoporosis. I have my bone density checked with a bone density scan and, so far, I do not show signs of osteoporosis. Generally speaking, people with a good bone density before getting treatment for breast cancer are less likely to develop osteoporosis while taking an aromatase inhibitor such as letrozole.

I have been careful to put some simple lifestyle choices to help keep my bones strong and healthy. I ensure that, although I am vegetarian, I have a well-balanced diet. Although dietbalanced-diet changes will not cure bone defects, it may stop them osteoporosis getting worse. Eating meals that incorporate a wide variety of foods including fruit and vegetables, carbohydrates, milk and dairy products and proteins help achieve this. As a general rule it is recommended that we eat at least five portions of fruit and vegetables a day. You would be amazed how many people, including vegetarians, do not manage this! I have also significantly reduced my alcohol intake and the amount of fizzy drinks I take.

Calcium is a vital mineral for teeth and bones. It gives them strength and rigidity. Most of the calcium found in our bodies is in our bones. Dairy produce is our main source of calcium. People  can usually get enough calium through a healthy diet that includes dairy products. If your diet did not include dairy produce you would need to ensure you got calium from another source such as a calcium supplement.

I also have to bear in mind that vitamin D is needed to help my body absorb calcium. The best source of vitamin D is sunlight. Human bodies use the sunshine to make vitamin D in the skin. The vitamin D is fat-soluble and the body stores it for use in the winter months. balanced sunWe only need to be out in the sun for about quarter of an hour a day during the summer months to give most people enough vitamin D for the whole year. So a walk, some gardening or a round of golf should make sure we get enough vitamin D. In addition to that, margarine, egg yolks and oily fish also contain vitamin D.

Regular weight-bearing exercise is also important to put force through the bones. This helps stimulate growth and strength and keep bones strong and healthy. Such exercise includes skipping, aerobics, tennis, and dancing are good bone building activities, even a brisk walk can be of benefit to bones. I try to do some exercise at least three times a week in order to combat the cancer-related fatigue I suffer and the potential for weight gain that my medication induces. I really try very hard to make sure that I do not add osteoporosis to my list of worries.

Valerie Penny

 

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Breast Cancer and Herceptin (Trastuzumab)

04 Mar 2016 Leave a comment

by Val Penny in Breast Cancer Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

During my treatment for breast cancer, I was part of a medical trial in relation to the effecacy of the drug Herceotin (Trastuzumab). Herceptin is a drug that belongs to the group of drug treatments called targetted or biological therapies. It stops specific ways that breat cancer cells divide and grow. I was treated with Herceptin because my cancer cells were found to have a higher than normal level of the protein Human Epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) on their surfaces. That stimulates the cancer cells to breast-cancer-s10-photo-of-her-2-genegrow. Herceptin works by attaching itself to the HER2 receptors so that the cancer cells no longer grow. it also stimulates the body’s immune system to fight the cancer cells.

I am one of the 20% of breast cancer patients to benefit from Herceptin as my tumours were the fast growing ones that are HER2 positive. I was given the Herceptin along with chemotherapy after my surgery in order to reduce the chance of the tumours spreading or returning. If your breast cancer is not HER2 positive or, indeed, HER2 negative, Herceptin will not be effective to you.

The Herceptin treatment I was given for my breast cancer was given to me intravenously through my Hickman line on the same days as my other chemotherapy. I was treated every three weeks as an out patient. However, the days were long, as the Herceptin was given over 90 minutes with additional time taken to give me saline solutions and my chemotherapy. I had to stay in hospital for several hours in case I was allergic to the treatment. Luckily I was not. However, like all drugs, Herceptin has side effects.

The common side effects of Herceptin include: feeling like you have flu, nausea and diarrhoea. I had all of these. I felt pain in my muscles and joints and often felt breast-cancer-s2-breast-cancer-illustrationlike I had a temperature so I swung between feeling hot and cold. I also had to have treatment with anit-sickness drugs for the servere nausea I suffered. I also got medecine from the hospital to counter the diarrhoea that I suffered.

The trial I was part of was looking into reducing the period of time that women are treated with herceptin, to see if it makes a difference to the efficacy. The usual period for getting Herceptin is about a year. I was treated with it for 9 weeks. I found the hospital visits and the side effects very draining, so, although I had initially felt diappointed that I was only receiving the treatment for a shorter period, in the end I was quite glad to get to the end of the course of Herceptin.

Valerie Penny

 

 

Risk of Recurrence of Breast Cancer

13 Feb 2015 2 Comments

by Val Penny in Blog, Breast Cancer Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

herceptin_drugMy body has endured surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. As a result of this I have lost my hair and my energy. Still, that tumour the size of a baked bean is perceived as a threat. Its return must be further discouraged. My oncologist therefore insists on mammograms every six months and prescribes Letrozole. I must take one 2.5mg tablet each day for 5 years.

Breast cancer is often discussed as a general condition, but there are several different types that require different treatments. One way to distinguish breast cancer cells is through your genes. When you are diagnosed with breast cancer, your doctor will test the cancerous cells to determine their genetic makeup. My tumour had more of the HER2 protein in it than it should have had. HER2 is a protein that stimulates the growth of breast cancer cells. It can be found in your blood and urine. Sometimes it is referred to as a tumour marker. Tumor markers like HER2 cannot be used for cancer diagnosis, but they can provide other important information and the presence of HER2 helps the doctor predict how likely the breast cancer is to respond to treatment.

It is estimated that about 20 percent of breast cancers are HER2-positive. Younger women are more likely to be her_2_geneHER2-positive than older women. HER2-positive breast cancer tends to be more aggressive and to spread more quickly than other cancers. That is why it is important to find out if the cancer cells in your body contain this protein. If your breast cancer is HER2-positive, you have a much better chance of successful treatment with methods that target the HER2 protein specifically. Results show that those who tested positive for HER2 at an early stage of the condition (with tumours 1 centimeter or smaller) had a higher risk of recurrence. Researchers have also found that HER2-positive patients had a 77.1 percent five-year survival rate, with no recurrence. However, they also are
around five times more likely to suffer recurrence than those who were HER-2 negative and have close to three times the risk of recurrence of those who tested negative for HER2. So I am absolutely sure I want to discourage recurrence.

Tumours that are HER2-positive are more often associated with factors that increase recurrence rates. For example, HER2 tumours are more likely to occur in younger women and have higher nuclear grade. Generally, the higher the nuclear grade, the more aggressive the tumour. HER2 tumours are also more likely to show positive margins during breast surgery. Positive margins occur when cancer cells extend beyond the edge of tissue that is removed. HER2 tumours also have a higher likelihood of residual disease being found when additional tissue is removed. Up to 70 percent of patients with HER2-positive breast cancer respond to treatment. However, total remission for the condition occurs only in around 7 to 8 percent of patients. Targeted treatments (medicines that target the HER2 protein, like the Herceptin I was treated with) have improved the prognosis for HER2-positive patients. Remissions can also be lengthy, offering another bright spot in prognosis and reports show that remission can last more than 15 years for some patients.

tabletI was diagnosed HER2-positive and this brings special challenges in my recovery from breast cancer. The HER2 protein can make the breast cancer more aggressive. It can also make it harder to treat with hormone treatments used for other types of breast cancer. However, drugs like trastuzumab (Herceptin) target HER2 directly and effectively. This drug, when used in combination with other drugs, shows some very promising results for improving prognosis and survival rates for patients with HER2 cancer. However, there is a small but real risk of heart damage and possible lung damage. Scientists are still studying how long women should take Herceptin for the greatest benefit. I am not ashamed to tell you that I hope their studies are successfully concluded soonest. I have a vested interest in this, as my tumour was HER-2 positive.

All in all, having made the decision to stay alive long enough to thoroughly embarrass my children, when the oncologist tells me that I must take one 2.5mg tablet of Letrozole each day for the next five years, I will do just that. Letrozole has side effects but I have decided that whatever they are, they have to be better than allowing the tumour to return.

Valerie Penny

Hard Truths about Cancer

01 Jul 2012 Leave a comment

by Val Penny in Blog, Breast Cancer Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Over the next few days I had an appointment about my breast cancer with my consultant, Mr Osman. He explained to me that the  tumour he had removed was slightly bigger than anticipated. It was about 8mm long. He had expected it to be about 5mm. It still did not sound big to me, but I knew bigger, in this case, did not equate to better.

Mr Osman also explained to me in some detail that the tumour was HER2 positive and that I would benefit from treatment with the drug Herceptin. HER2 is a receptor found on the surface of certain cancer cells.  It is made by a specific gene called the HER2/neu gene. HER2 is a receptor for a particular growth factor called human epidermal growth factor, which occurs naturally in the body. When human epidermal growth factor attaches itself to HER2 receptors on breast cancer cells, it can stimulate the cells to divide and grow.

He told me that some breast cancer cells have a lot more HER2 receptors than others. In my case, the tumour is described as being HER2-positive and that it is thought that about 1 in 5 women with breast cancer will have HER2-positive tumours.  HER2 is a gene that sends control signals to the cells, telling them to grow, divide, and make repairs. A healthy breast cell has 2 copies of the HER2 gene. Some kinds of breast cancer get started when a breast cell has more than 2 copies of that gene, and those copies start over-producing the HER2 protein. As a result, the affected cells grow and divide much too quickly.

This genetic problem is not inherited from your parents. The most likely cause of this problem is aging, and wear and tear on the body. It is not yet known if environmental factors (pollution, smoke, fumes) are part of the cause of this problem.  If your breast cancer is tested for HER2 status, the results will be graded as positive or negative. As my results were graded as HER2 positive that meant that my HER2 genes were over-producing the HER2 protein, and that those cells are growing rapidly and creating the cancer. Mr Osman thought that he had removed all the cancer from my body with the surgery but in order to be sure of this and to minimise the risk of return, he recommended that the oncologist discuss with me the benefit chemotherapy would offer me.  

The oncologist, Dr Lumsden, recommended that I should have three lots of three weekly cycles of chemotherapy. The first 3 would be Herceptin and then docetaxel in a liquid that I would get through a drip (infusion) into a vein (intravenously). Each infusion of herceptin takes about 90 minutes, the docetaxyl takes about an hour and I would have one treatent every 3 weeks for 9 weeks. He recommended that I would then have chemotherapy as a course of 3 cycles of FEC (fluorouracil, epirubicin and cyclophosphamide) for a further 9 weeks.

Docetaxel can cause an allergic reaction. To try to prevent this, Mr Lumsden explained I would be given steroid tablets to take, usually for 3 days, starting the day before each treatment. He went on to tell me that FEC treatment would be given to me as a day patient. Before I started treatment, I would need to have a blood test a day beforehand. He also told me that I would be seen by a doctor or specialist nurse. If the results of my blood test were normal, the pharmacy would prepare my chemotherapy drugs. All of this might take 2-3 hours.

A nurse would insert a thin, flexible tube (cannula) into a vein in my hand. Dr Lumsden told me also that some people need to have their chemotherapy given through a thin, plastic tube that is inserted under the skin and into a vein near the collarbone (hickman line). He did not know if this would be necessary for me. I was also to be given some anti-sickness drugs as tablets, or more usually by injection through the cannula, which is often connected to a drip.

The chemotherapy drugs are then given separately after this.

It was so much to take in. The disease had been found so early that I had had no symptoms that I was aware of. Looking back, the extreme tiredness and exhaustion caused by any degree of physical effort, so typical of cancer, had already started to show. I just did not know to consider it. Still, it sounded like the cure was going to be worse than the disease. All of a sudden it was emphasised to me that my condition was serious and needed to be fully eradicated.  I was forced to face some hard truths that, until then, I had preferred to try to ignore.

Valerie Penny

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