Grammy...Herceptin

Diseases & Conditions Breast Cancer
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Hi Donna! Yes, I am on Herceptin. I take it weekly. The flu like symptoms, aches, etc are a side effect of the Herceptin. I take herceptin and navelbine weekly and had thought that those symptoms were from the navelbine. But, my onco gives me a break from the navelbine when the neuropathy is bad, and I discovered that I ached more after the herceptin than usual. Normally, a hot bath in w/ some bath salts and an ibuprofin 800 will help the aches.  I have a pretty high pain threshold, but there are times when my knees hurt so much that I have to take a tylenol 3. Don't hesitate to ask your onco for pain meds. My onco is a big believer that none of her patients need to suffer from pain. Do your chemo nurses give you ibuprofin before your treatment? I always have to take one. If they don't, then take one before you leave for treatment and then take one after you get home. Get a jump on it...just like you would if you had the flu. I have my treatments every Tues, and there are times that I think I just can't go anymore. I don't want to sit in that chair and be hooked up to those darn drugs. But, I know that it is keeping my cancer in check and it is worth it. I have to be honest and tell you that there have been a couple of times that I have called on Tues morning and told them that I wasn't coming in. I needed a "mental health break". They all laugh at me but know when I have reached my limit. Hang in there. How many more treatments do you have?
Let me know if there is anything that I can do to help you. Feel free to email me directly.
 
Gentle hugs....Deb

 

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Deb,
Thank you so much for the info. They kept saying that there was not any side effects to speak of but I sure was hurting. I was hurting in all the places that the taxol bothered. I still am bothered with the fingers and toes sometimes but each time now does not seem as bad so I really think this is starting to pass. I will have a treatment on Tuesday and then I will have 15 more to go. I am having a harder time going this time then I did when I did my chemo. I was a week off on my 7th treatment really long story. I even tryed to get my onc to do my last treatment a week early, he just laughed.
It must be so hard to go every week, I met a girl here in town where we live that is doing it weekly she is 32 years old. She has been doing well. She finished her treatment in Dec. so she is doing this like I am with a long pause after chemo. My onc. said that there were no studys with Herceptin doing it so long after chemo but he did feel it could not hurt to try. This girl I spoke with even got a second oppion from another onc. She said to grab it if she could get it. So she did and so did I. I am going to finish this, I guess I just need to grumble alittle while I'm doing it.
I may take you up on the e-mail if you don't mind.
Stay strong
Donna
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Donna: The taxol hits the weak points in your body. I had a slight hearing loss in my left ear before I ever started my first round of chemo. Now I have a 95% hearing loss in that ear thanks to the taxol. My onco is a strong believer in the herceptin. I was in the original clinical trial that had the A/C and herceptin. I didn't get in the arm that had the herceptin. When I was rediagnosed, the gal that was in charge of the clinical trials saw me in the chemo room and so sweetly told me that if I had been on the arm that had received the herceptin I probably wouldn't have been in the chemo room. She no longer works for my onco group. There are clinical trials now studying using herceptin after chemo has been finished for some time. Heck, I was almost 3 yrs out. My CEA, w/ the herceptin and navelbine dropped from 29 to 2-8-3.0. I am a very strong believer in the herceptin. Even w/ the aches. Don't give up. BTW..watch the neuropathy. If you would like the name of the new med that I am on, just let me know.

Hugs...Deb