1st treatment - an adventure

[Angela]

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. I read all the responses before I left for treatment and I must say I felt so strong and so much love.

They gave me the benadryl and it made my fell really weird so they are going to give more slowly next time. They did the decadron and the heart burn meds then came taxol. I got less then 1 oz of the medicine in me and my heart started racing, I couldn't breath, and they say I was fire red. The nurses were wonderful. The surrounded me and immediately, stopped the meds and start the counter action meds. It got so bad they had to give me pain meds. But after an hours I was myself again and they decided to start the 2nd medicine...carboplatin. I did ok on that one. The 3rd and the most important medicine to me was herceptin. Unfortunately I had another reaction but not as bad. They stopped it, gave me more steroids, waited 30 minutes and started it again. Again I had a reaction. They decided it was time for me to go home. They are planing to try the herceptin again next Friday and they are going to change taxol to Taxotere. I think I dread next Friday more then I did this past Friday. I really need to be able to take herceptin. I am her2+++. What happens if I can't take herceptin? Has anyone else not been able to take it?

I am doing ok today just really tired. I'm surprised. 3 years ago after my first treatment I didn't feel any different. I didn't have problems until after the 2nd treatment. This one just seems to have hit me a little harder.

Thank you for being here and spending some of your time to help support others. You are each a gift from God.

Love you all,
Angela

[MGordon]

In Lisa's case, the first Herceptin dose was problematic as well. The first infusion is called a loading dose and is a significantly larger dose of Herceptin than you'll be recieving with future infusions. I will not get into details of what happened with Lisa, but just know that future treatments WILL be easier on you - physically, mentally, and spiritually!

Lisa also disliked Benadyrl, and after a few weeks - she asked and the onc agreed - to initally reduce and eventually eliminate all Benadryl as a pre-treatment for infusion.

Hang in there - there are tons of prayers floating to heaven in your name...

[Hopeful]

Angela,

I am so sorry you had such an ordeal. I hope that you can feel positive about giving Herceptin another try on Friday. Here is a link to a recent thread on this Board which discusses infusion reactions and the different dilution mediums for Herceptin: http://her2support.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=26461&referrerid=1173
. Perhaps you were reacting to the dilution medium, and not the Herceptin? I hope this is helpful to you and wish you good luck with your treatments.

Hopeful

[chrisy]

Dear Angela,

Wow, what an ordeal! So sorry to hear that, but the love and prayers still surround you.

True the first dose is a loading dose and is higher. Sounds like your chemo team was on it and responded appropriately to the reactions you experienced. I'm always amazed at how they all spring into action - I've seen this at my onc's office and it maked me feel safe to see how professional and caring everyone is.

I don't blame you for dreading next week! But I expect they will be able to figure out what combination of premeds/dosing speed will work for you. I had the same combo as you and was fortunate to have minimal problems, but I did have a slight reaction to the benadryl I think and had that reduced. I also had vein irritation from the Taxol which my doctor "fixed" by running the infusion along with a saline solution, in effect diluting it. I had to take more "bio breaks" this way but it worked for me.

I guess what I'm saying is, now that they are aware of the reactions you had the first time, there are many adjustments that can be made which will make things better.

Hope next week is easier for you.

Keeping you in my prayers,
Chris

[rinaina]

So sorry your body had such a difficult time with treatment. I am hoping that as stated, due to the larger loading dose the first time with herceptin this will not happen with subsequent herceptin treatments. Please don't be even more frightened for next time. You have to believe the worst is behind you, I am praying for that to be the case.