Ibrance (Palbociclib)

I know I’m blathering on and on, but I wanted to say I admire you for going home from work the day you got all flustered. You were listening to yourself and knew that the best thing to do was to remove yourself from the stressful situation and come back fresh the next day. I think it was actually a smart move on your part. Who hasn’t had those kinds of meltdowns? It’s times like those where we can especially practice kindness towards ourselves.

Snowdrop and Sunshine99 - hope you are both feeling better and got rid of the infections.

Katyblu, thank you for your service to our country! you have earned the retirement and I agree with your plan to work for 18 more months. It's ok to work at 80% now and I am so relieved that your management is supportive.

Chicagoan and Divine, i appreciated reading your perspectives, too. Retirement ....when....how long do I have to live.....all of these are monthly questions on my mind .....I honestly assess this every scan. I don't want to work until I am too sick to work, you know what I mean?

My situation: I have been a real estate agent for 11 years now. I worked hard to establish this career and love it. I am self employed which means no long term or short term disability. I do pay in to social security and also paid in when I was working before I had kids and was a stay at home parent. I can go on social security disability but the $ is significantly less than what I make. If I continue on Ibrance/fulvestrant without progression I will retire by choice in 2024 when I am 60.

When I was dx with stage IV in Nov of 2019, I didn't feel great. I had cancer filled lymph nodes in my neck paralyzing my vocal cord (lost my voice) and cancer filled lymph nodes in my chest putting pressure on my windpipe so I had to sleep upright. These symptoms went away within weeks/months of starting treatment started and I began to feel a lot better ....better energy and started to have a little hope that I could survive MBC for more than 2 years. April, 2020 5 months on I/F my voice came back as the lymph nodes were no longer pressing on the laryngeal nerve. Between cancer and Covid, I had less pressure at work and socially. Covid restrictions were started in March of 2020 in Seattle and the month prior most people were pretty worried about Covid here (large outbreak in Kirkland at a care facility in Feb.2020). This gave me more space to navigate my health without calling attention to it and let me get used to my "new surreal normal".

My husband and I have been able to slow down our lives a bit while continuing to work and look forward to retirement. If I get there. We have the usual worries of medical coverage if he retires early so I doubt that will happen. He is 59 and I am 58. We also have a 23 year old son with "high functioning" autism. Our son is doing well but not done with school. He has a job but isn't making enough to be self supporting so most of my commissions go towards savings and perhaps helping our son by buying him a condo in the future. Our daughter is 25 and doing great but we would love to help her buy a home as well since everything is so expensive. These are the reasons I am still working full time. My husband and I are working with an atty to set up trusts and wills and all of that.

2024 is my goal! However, if I have a progression, I will stop working sooner. I would love to spend time with family while I still feel good. My husband has a flexible job so we could travel if there is decent wifi so he can work for 7 hours and then we can sight see.

Sorry this is so long!

My new oncologist appt went well, she is young but smart from what I can tell:) She said I can start having less frequent scans since I have been stable/NEAD for 2 years. I want to have a scan in December so in 3 months and then starting 2023 we can go to 4 months. Baby steps!