Sherry Osborne found a lump in her breast during the first week of August 2023. I was on a work trip in California so she waited until the weekend to tell me about it. We both agreed that it would be best to start with a visit to our family practice doctor. That visit resulted in an appointment to get an ultrasound and mammogram within the next few days. That all led to a recommendation for Sherry to have a biopsy procedure on August 29, 2023.
Three days later on September 1, as we were headed into the Labor Day weekend following a tropical storm that had passed through since the biopsy, Sherry received a call from the doctor who performed the biopsy. I was working from home so Sherry brought the phone to my office. The doctor pretty quickly dropped the big C word. She made it clear that the tissue removed from Sherry’s breast was cancer. We were told that the sample had been sent to a lab for more testing that would provide “marker” results to give more specific information that would narrow the diagnosis and inform treatment options. The doctor said that the different types of breast cancer can be fed with one of two hormones (estrogen or progesterone) or a protein called HER2 or they can be fed by none of these. Being positive or negative for one or more of these three things is a marker. Sherry asked her which one was the worst and the doctor said that you don’t want to hear “Triple-Negative” which means the cancer is not fed by any of the three.
Sherry did not seem as upset or surprised as I was feeling. She shared with me that the Lord had revealed to her that our family was about to go through something. She had no specifics, but was confident in the revelation that had been given to her.
We are by no means strangers to the medical profession having spent nearly 19 years in and around the Medical University of SC with our second child Caden dealing with open heart surgeries, back surgeries, pulmonology, and many others including procedures to try to get Caden off of the feeding tube that has sustained him for his entire life. I wrote a blog called Caden’s Page about the first eight years of that journey if you are not familiar.
The Detailed Diagnosis
The following Thursday, September 7, 2023, we finally got to meet with an oncologist that shared the details of the marker tests. This doctor did a great job of explaining in detail what the biopsy doctor had told us to expect about the hormones and HER2 protein etc, Eventually the oncologist got to the punchline and told Sherry that she was diagnosed with Triple-Negative breast cancer with a tumor measuring approximately 2.6 cm…based on the test done so far.
The recommended treatment plan was to begin with a six month regiment of chemo immediately (1st dose on September 19th) along with immunotherapy. Chemo will be weekly for the first 12 weeks, then the types of meds, doses, and frequency will change for the balance of the first six months (12 weeks). The type of surgery and amount of radiation will be determined at the end of the initial six months of chemo. After surgery and healing there will be another six months of treatment (primarily immunotherapy) will continue with diagnostic tests to ensure the cancer is gone.
Within the week after the initial oncologist and surgeon visit (prior to Tues 9/19), Sherry got a “port” surgically implanted into her chest that allows for the delivery of the chemo. She also got an MRI to try to determine if the cancer had spread. Initial indications from physical exams and an ultrasound showed no signs of spreading. The MRI is also intended to be a measure to compare against in six months when another MRI will be done to measure how effective the chemo has been at reducing the tumor prior to surgery.
The need for chemo so soon is twofold. Since the tumor is above a size threshold of 2cm, and the type of cancer is not fed by any normal female hormones like estrogen and progestogen or the HER2 protein, the chemo is intended to (1) reduce the size of the tumor, and (2) catch any cells that might have spread without detection. The doctors said the likelihood of a few cancer cells spreading is higher with this size and type of tumor even if tests do not immediately show spreading to have taken place. The doctor said to think of it like a dandelion (single visible tumor) in the middle of a healthy lawn (body). There is no way to know if a few seeds (cells) have been spread when you pluck the weed, so chemo is like the total lawn preventative treatment to ensure no other weeds will pop up.
We have also learned from the breatcaener.org web site that this form of breast cancer accounts for only about 10% of all breast cancers. The majority of those diagnosed with Triple-Negative are under 40, black woman, and/or test positive for the BRCA1 genetic mutation. Sherry does not match any of those categories. The genetic testing performed on Sherry indicated that she has none of the breast caner related genetic mutations.