Hope everyone is doing well. I finished chemo the end of last Sept. and rads the middle of Dec. I was a stage 2 w/ 1 node involved.I was her2nu +++ and hormone + . I do take armidex. I was not able to get into the trial for the herceptin. I saw my onc. today for a 3 month check and we spoke alot about the herceptin. He said that in the study there was 45% fewer reacurences. My onc. said that even though there have been no studys with herceptin after this length of time that he would not have a problem with giving it to me for a year ( providing my insurance would pay)I was wondering what all of you thought, I guess I feel that I would be doing everything I could to prevent a reacurence. Can anyone tell your experience with herceptin. ( Am I out of my head? )
Thank you
Donna
Donna, if it were me, I would go for it. I personally have no experience with Herceptin...but wish I had the option for it back in 2000. I was either 3+ or 2+, I can't recall, and he said it was borderline positive, so not sure if I could have gotten it today anyway. But 45% fewer recurrances is a gigantic number and it would sure give me peace of mind.....
Lori
Lori
Hi Donna! I am currently on herceptin along w/ navelbine. I have been getting weekly treatments since Nov, 2003. It has done a great job so far for me. I was in one of the original clinical trials in 2001 but I didn't get into the arm that had the herceptin. If I were you, I would talk w/ my onco again and ask him to see how he could word it so that your insurance would cover the cost. It would be well worth it. The side effects of the herceptin are very minimal. No real hair loss as with the a/c. No neuropathy as far as I can tell. (the navelbine has that wonderful side effect) about the only bad side effect would be muscle spasms. In other words, it is an "easy" chemo! You will have to have mugga tests for your heart every 3 or 4 months as some of the past side effects from the clinical trial were heart damage. My tests have all been fine.
If I can answer any other questions, please feel free to ask.
Deb
Deb,
Thank you for the info, my onc. talked with my ins. co. and it should not be a problem. Hope they know what they are talking about. There is also a program where the drug company is helping out when insurance will not pay. I am glad to hear that the side effects are not to bad. I will be able to get 2 treatments in before I go back to work in Sept. I will be having a Muga scan on Mon. and my first treatment on Tues. I spoke with a girl yesterday who is doing once a week, she finished her chemo at the end of Dec. so she also had a pause like I did. She also spoke with another onc. who felt that doing the Herceptin even though she has been fininshed with chemo for a while was a very good idea. I am for doing every thing that I can to make sure this does not return. This girl I spoke with is only 34 when she was dx. I read that the risk of heart issues is greater if you are doing Herceptin when you also do A/C. So hopefully that will not be an issue for me.
The road seems like such a long one sometimes but we do what we need to do. I also have crohns and am hoping that the herceptin and the crohns get along. I'm not seeing a problem though.
I hope all is going well for you. Take care and thank you very much for your help.
Donna
Thank you for the info, my onc. talked with my ins. co. and it should not be a problem. Hope they know what they are talking about. There is also a program where the drug company is helping out when insurance will not pay. I am glad to hear that the side effects are not to bad. I will be able to get 2 treatments in before I go back to work in Sept. I will be having a Muga scan on Mon. and my first treatment on Tues. I spoke with a girl yesterday who is doing once a week, she finished her chemo at the end of Dec. so she also had a pause like I did. She also spoke with another onc. who felt that doing the Herceptin even though she has been fininshed with chemo for a while was a very good idea. I am for doing every thing that I can to make sure this does not return. This girl I spoke with is only 34 when she was dx. I read that the risk of heart issues is greater if you are doing Herceptin when you also do A/C. So hopefully that will not be an issue for me.
The road seems like such a long one sometimes but we do what we need to do. I also have crohns and am hoping that the herceptin and the crohns get along. I'm not seeing a problem though.
I hope all is going well for you. Take care and thank you very much for your help.
Donna