If anyone is still reading this, I thought I would do a quick update on what has happened in the last (almost) year. A quick definition, as best as I can explain it with my limited understanding is this. There are measurements of ctdna which means circulating tumor dna. From my understanding, ctdna is tumor dna in the blood that comes from an actual tumor. There are also measurements of cfdna, which stands for cell free dna. Cfdna are tumor mutations that circulate in the blood that don't necessarily come from a tumor, but they are mutations that can create tumors. When I originally started with liquid biopsies before my mastectomy, my cell free dna number of the main mutation was 1.6%. This was on October of 2020. After my surgery, on November of 2021, this number rose to 1.7%. There have always been other mutations, but they come and go and none of them seem to be concerning because my body seems to be getting rid of them on it's own.
The next time I tested in March of 2022, the number had risen to 2.2% Then in January of 2023, the number was 2.4% At this point I could have retested in March, but I told my practitioner that seeing the number continue to rise felt like I was just slowly watching for my cancer to return. We decided to wait until June. I wasn't excited about retesting and just seeing the number increase again, but went ahead with the blood draw. Yesterday, I saw the practitioner and got the results that the numbers are back at 1.8%! I cannot tell you how excited this makes me.
One question I've had this whole time, and one in which the doctors cannot even answer is where does cfdna come from if there is no tumor. Why were those cells replicating? The one thing that I've done within the last 6 months is to begin an intermittent fasting diet. This is what my practitioner believes has made the difference. I finish my dinner between 5-7pm and then don't eat again until 10 am the next morning. I do this Monday through Friday, and take the weekends off. I'm not sure when the next blood draw will happen, but I go back in 6 months for a followup.
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