Autologous Bone Marrow Transplant as a Treatment for Breast Cancer


Follow up

May 28th 1995
Susanne has some fever and we noticed that there seemed to be some infection where the Hickman catheter entered the skin. It was removed the following day, again under local anesthetic.

June 8th 1995
Uneventful checkup at the hospital. This however seemed to be a turning point; Susanne finally started to gain some weight.

Susanne is scheduled for an ultrasound scan in the beginning of September.

June 21st 1995
Today Susanne was able to do 30 min. of horseback riding, for the first time this year. Hair growth seems to be back to normal.

July 10th 1995
Noticed loss of all hair in armpits. This must be due to the radiation treatment. Still some shortness of breath, and some coughing in the morning.

September 1st 1995
Went for a blood test and an ultrasound scan. All lumps in the left armpit was gone, however two was still left in the right side. We have to wait until the 7th, before we can talk to the doctor.

September 7th 1995
We were told that is was a good sign, that the lumps in the right side has decreased in size and that the continued treatment with Taxomifen would reduce them further.
Still some shortness of breath, and some coughing in the mornings.

November 30th 1995
Went for a blood test, X-ray of the lungs and an ultrasound scan. All lumps seems to have disappeared! Great news at last.
Still some shortness of breath, and increase in coughing.

December 8th 1995
Talked with the doctor today. All appears to be well, except the lungs. A lung test is scheduled for next week. Extra blood samples were to be taken, and analyzed for rare types of pneumonia.

April 9th 1996
Went for a blood test, X-ray of the lungs and an ultrasound scan. No lumps were found. Our only worry is that this and the last ultrasound scan took about like 3 minutes, whereas all the others took at least 15 minutes.
Still some shortness of breath, and some coughing.

April 19th 1996
Scheduled for a talked with the doctor.

July 11th 1996
Went for a blood test, X-ray of the lungs and an ultrasound scan. The ultrasound appeared to be thorough, and the breasts were also scanned. A cyst was found in the right breast. We decided not to go ahead with a biopsy.
Still some shortness of breath, but the coughing seems to become less frequent.

July 18th 1996
Talked with the doctor today. We agreed on a new ultrasound scan in two months, to see if there is any change in the cyst. We have not yet decided to go ahead with a biopsy.

Sep 13th 1996
Went for a blood test and an ultrasound scan. The ultrasound was done by the same person as on April 9th 1996. It tool less than 5 minutes, and there was anything abnormal this time. We talked about maybe contacting a private clinic, to get a second opinion.

Sep 19th 1996
Talked with the doctor today. The weight is almost back to normal, and coughing is seldom.
We mentioned our concern about the ultra fast ultrasound. Apparently the ultrasound results were co-signed by the ultrasound department "top notch". As we never saw this person, this info made us even more unsure of the quality of their work.
Scheduled for a new checkup in three months.

Dec 11th 1996
Went for a blood test, an ultrasound scan, X-ray of the lungs and a hart / lung capacity test.

Dec 19th 1996
Talked with the doctor today. All is well, although the X-rays show some permanent damage of the lungs. This is also confirmed by the lung capacity test.

The doctor mentioned, that maybe Susanne should continue to take Tamoxifen for a total of 5 years, and not two, as originally agreed upon.

Mar 12th 1997
Went for a blood test, an ultrasound scan and X-ray of the lungs. For the first time there was not the usual 30 - 60 minutes delay in getting the ultrasound done. It was a new guy, who did the scan. He even took time out to explain the pictures. All in all, a pleasant experience.

Mar 20th 1997
Talked with the doctor today. All is well. From now on check ups will be every 6 months.

Sep 11th 1997
Went for a blood test, an ultrasound scan, lung capacity test and X-ray of the lungs.

Sep 18th 1997
Talked with the doctor today. Only problem, he wasn't there, so we had to talk to a stand in. All is well.

Mar 9 1998
Went for a blood test, an ultrasound scan, lung capacity test and X-ray of the lungs.

Mar 19th 1998
Talked with the doctor today. All is well. We learned today, that the experiment Susanne had participated in was canceled shortly after her treatment. Roughly 10 persons were treated.

Sep 11th 1998
Went for a blood test, an ultrasound scan and X-ray of the lungs.

Sep 17th 1998
Talked with the doctor today. All is well.

Mar 12th 1999
Went for a blood test, an ultrasound scan and X-ray of the lungs.

Mar 25th 1999
Talked with the doctor today. All is well, apart from the blood test that showed a high level of enzymes. A later ultrasound revealed nothing.

Oct 7th 1999
Went for a blood test and an ultrasound scan.

Oct 14th 1999
Talked with the doctor today. All is well.

Apr 14th 2000
Talked with the doctor today. All is well. After taking Tamoxifen for 5 years, the doctor and Susanne decided to stop.

Oct 23th 2000
Talked with the doctor today. Again a blood test showed a high level of enzymes. We also talked about Susanne's shoulder, that has been acting up lately. Scheduled for an X-ray. Next checkup is a year from now.

Dec 20th 2001
Talked with the doctor today. Again a blood test showed a high level of enzymes. There was some talk about permanent liver damage. Apart from that, all is fine. Next checkup is a year from now.

Dec 19th 2002
Talked with the doctor today. No change from last year. Next checkup is a year from now.

Dec 19th 2003
Talked with the doctor today. No change from last year. Next checkup is a year from now.

Jan 17th 2005
Talked with the doctor today. No change from last year. Next checkup is a year from now.

Jan 30th 2006
Talked with the doctor today. No change from last year. This was the last scheduled checkup at the hospital.

Aug 14th 2010
Until two years ago lung problems (coughing, shortness of breath) wore isolated to the winter time and working in dusty environments.
During the autumn of 2007 this problem became chronic and a 10% weight loss was observed. Our GP referred us to Slagelse Hospital after a few misdiagnosis. At the hospital the lung capacity is measured to be less than 50 percent. X-rays show that one lung is collapsed and damages to the other, as a result of the intensive x-ray treatments in 1995. By April 2010 the capacity is reduced to 31%. After some Googling which leads to requests for specific medication, Berodual is prescribed, which gives a 7 percent increase in lung capacity. A later CT scan shows no return of cancer.

Jan 30th 2012
My wife Susanne passed away today after having been ill for a long time. Lung capacity kept decreasing and complications kept adding up.


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