My Personal Cancer Journey — Barbara & I, #2

The most obvious difference between the two of us, as far as our cancer is concerned, is that I have the EGFR mutation and she didn’t. I can remember that they had to do an additional biopsy on Barbara, since they didn’t get enough cells from the first one to do the test for this mutation. We were all rooting for her to be in the small percentage of humans who possess this mutation. Unfortunately,  she was not in that group. As a result she was required to undergo standard chemotherapy.

She never lost her hair which was an important thing to her. However, the chemo did not seem to make much of a difference in the tumors. There was a bit of shrinkage but she was still in tremendous pain. She was also exhausted for several days after each treatment and was subjected to frequent blood work to monitor her immune system. Chemotherapy proved to be an ordeal for Barbara.

Her chemotherapy treatment required three (3) sessions of approximately 2 hours each, every three (3) weeks. She only lived long enough to complete two of the three scheduled treatments.

Compare that regimen to mine, in which I take a pill every morning for the rest of my life, with only a controllable rash as a side effect.

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