I hadn't written about my cancer in my blog because this was a space I wanted to keep intact, until now.Yesterday, after another chemo session, as I came into my living-room I found a wonderful package sent by Andressa by mail. Andressa has just lost her mom who died of cancer and had asked me if she could send me some books she had bought for her mom, which I felt very honoured to receive. Now, if you've ever had a chemo, you know that you don't feel so well immediately after that. When I opened this wonderful box she sent me, my eyes filled w/ tears. I could literally feel her love for her mom in every little gift she put into this magical box.
I discovered a cancer in my right breast in May 2009, had it removed and was recommended 8 chemo sessions as an adjuvant treatment. Thank God, there seems to be no apparent metastasis but there's a risk of recurrence. Due to negative limph nodes found under my arm (which indicates no metastasis) I've been denied a treatment (by my Health Assistance Plan - Unimed) which could increase my survival rate and diminish the risk of recurrence. In Brazil , the drug Taxotere is only indicated to metastatic patients although research has proved node-negative patients could also benefit from that. I don't think I and other node-negative patients have to wait until a recurrence happens to have the right to the drug, am I wrong? After receiving the denial to the drug, I recorded a video (in Portuguese) so that other people would know what's happening and we have been in contact with lawyers to see what we can do. Now, the lawyers are fighting for us.
