Thursday, September 11, 2014

Life after TNBC & a pCR

Sometimes I think I'm rockin' it as a Cancer Survivor and have full confidence that I'll be around to raise Elise and nag love my husband for many many more years to come.

Then sometimes I get an ache or pain and I'll spiral into fear and worry that cancer is back as stage IV. I know that despite my strong faith it's human to worry. Luckily each pain has gone away and I thank God every day for that.

But when I'm in the midst of worry I try to look for reasons I should be optimistic. The biggest one for me is that even though Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC) has the worst prognosis of all breast cancer types, having a pCR (pathological complete response) after chemo yields an excellent prognosis. Like, look that this chart:

Source
Now that I'm one year out from surgery what's even more encouraging to me is that all "dips" in the graph for pCR/TNBC are before one year, which means that if I was going to have a reoccurrence I'd likely have it by now. Not 100%, but likely according to studies.

I know that statistics are just statistics and ultimately I'm an individual here by the grace of God. But sometimes that graph reassures me a little.  

And now, for fun, look how good my hair looks now...
Yay for a "Mom-Bob"!

7 comments:

  1. Kirsten, you are an amazing woman. No matter how atrong our faith is, sometimes we need something more "touchable" to reassure us that everything is going to be alright, even if it is a graph.

    Your hair looks great and Elise is so cute... and those cheeks are so precious. She has way more hair than Heloisa has now : )

    Big hugs to you

    Fabiola

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  2. You look amazing!! So happy and proud of you! Such an awesome attitude! Great example for Elise. :)

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  3. Okay, I know there are WAY more important things in your post than your hair, but, WOW! Your hair looks awesome!!! And I'm thrilled for your improving prognosis...have been praying for you for a long time.

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  4. Your hair looks great! All the best to you and your family!

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  5. I got married to my lovely husband for the past 7 years without conceiving and fibroid was the issue, i took different prescribed medication but could not cure it but my husband was so confident in me and kept encouraging me that one day someone would call me mother, we did not rest searching for solution from different Doctors all they could say was surgery and i was afraid of that then a friend in my office introduced me to Dr. Davismartin who sent his product to me which i took and it really worked perfectly, and my Dr. confirm me pregnant after 2 months of taken his product. i gave birth to a BABY GIRL February this year and i will named her TESTIMONY. contact him also at drdavismartin62@gmail.com.

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