We went to see Dr. Simone today. The discussion was a little different from what we expected, however, in retrospect, still was extremely helpful to us. Dr. Simone strongly advised us to consider taking Tamoxifen. According to his studies and the data he has gathered, it will buy us a 25% insurance policy. But what does that mean? Well, given Ann's kind of breast cancer (Grade III, ER-/PR-), which is on the more aggressive side, the risk of local reoccurrence is 35% if she chose not do undergo any conventional breast cancer treatment (radiation, chemotherapy). He suggested, though, to go on Tamoxifen for 2 years, one pill a day. Ann asked him about the stories she had heard about the significant side-effects that were reported, such as bone pain, for instance. Dr. Simone stated, that only 2 out of 1000 women (0.2%) reportedly suffered from any kind of side-effects. So a rather small number. And, according to his belief, the risk of recurrence could be further reduced down to 26% (which is a relative reduction of approx. 25%). However, not part of equation is anything related to change in nutrition, lifestyle and alternative breast cancer treatments, which he is convinced of, plays a significant role in breast cancer (recurrence-) prevention, yet, no sufficient data is available at this point to throw around numbers.
He said we should go back and reconsider the option of taking Tamoxifen. But I knew right away that Ann, even though she might think about it, will not go for that option.
After the meeting, I went back to work with mixed feelings. Then Ann sent me an email from the American Cancer association, clearly stating that Tamoxifen is not effective in breast cancers with ER-/PR-. The effect is ZERO. My own online queries all came back with the same result. So where is the point? I guess and in fairness to Dr. Simone, the "25% insurance policy" as he calls it, is based on his own studies which supposedly show the effectiveness in both ER-/PR- and ER+/PR+ breast cancers.

Well, I guess we both have our doubts. But anyway, what also became very clear, that either chemotherapy and/or radiation, are not an option for us. Not because we don't "like" them, but the data (and this is consistent with all data we received, regardless of the source) clearly proves that neither treatment will give us any benefit. And at this point let me make something very clear: I am talking about Ann's particular situation, not every breast cancer in general. What might or might not work for us, might be very different for somebody else!

So long story short, here is our math: we know that there is a 35% chance of local breast cancer reoccurrence, which also means, that we have a 65% shot that it doesn't come back locally within the next 2-5 years (the more time passes by, the less likely a reoccurrence becomes!) According to the most recent data gathered and published by the super conservative cancer institutions, exercise and change in lifestyle account for a phenomenal 42% recurrence risk reduction! This is big time news, especially given, that it comes from the conservative camp. So this together with Ann's intravenous Vitamin C drips and the Laetrile, gives us enough comfort that we will be fine. Even though it's hard to use the term "comfort" when talking about breast-cancer reoccurrence risk

We shall see.....

And there is more news: since four days I have blood in my urine and it gets progressively worse, even though it is not associated with any pain or burn. Oh well, I'm going to see an Urologist tomorrow. Maybe I have bladder-cancer? I'd be curious to see our insurance when we present them with another pathology report confirming that there is another family member with cancer. Sarcasm? Nahh, but weird sense of humor? YES. That's what happens when you got to deal with shit like that. And believe it or not, but laughing over the things like a mastectomy, excruciating pain or even death, does help a lot.

And crying does too, sometimes.