  I & nbsp; received a copy of the pathology report on the tumor. nbsp;  This is one time when receiving the news " positive"  is good. nbsp; nbsp;  In analyzing the tumor,  the pathologist will look for certain markers to determine the tumor's "
personality.
nbsp;
 Beyond knowing if something is cancer or not,  we'd like to know if the tumor is aggressive,  what type of treatment it will respond to,  etc.
nbsp; nbsp;
 There are three things that are reviewed:
nbsp;
 estrogen receptors,  progesterone receptors,  and HER2.
nbsp;
 My results were the best possible combination:
nbsp;
 urlLink estrogen and progesterone receptor POSITIVE and urlLink HER2/ neu NEGATIVE .
nbsp;
 What the heck does that mean?
nbsp;
 Well,  based on my understanding,  estrogen/
progesterone receptor positive means that this type of cancer will respond well to estrogen reducing drugs like urlLink tamoxifen .
nbsp;
 This is good news.
nbsp;
 The HER2/ neu relates to the growth of the cancer.
nbsp;
 Based on my understanding ( I can't state that enough)  my cancer has a good personality:
nbsp;
 not so aggressive and responds well to therapy.
nbsp;
 Too bad that didn't describe my last boyfriend!
