Hi:

I am a Stage 2B patient on Herceptin. MY gallbladder has almost stopped functioning and I have been referred for surgery. Have any of you ladies had surgery while on Herceptin? Did you have any anesthesia or healing problems associated with Herceptin? Thanks for any help?

Barbara

I am currently on Herceptin every three weeks. I just got my ovaries out and I was under General anesthesia. My doctor said that I healed quickly. I was wondering if the Herceptin actually helped the healing. Sally

I would also like to know any responses to this question. I had a heart attack a year ago, and in preparing for heart surgery, a CT scan found stage IV Her-2 positive, estrogen receptive BC mets in my lungs. The heart attack probably saved my life! The heart surgery was indefinitely postponed because of the cancer. I had 6 months of navelbine and herceptin plus femara, and have been on just femara and herceptin since. The cancer is under control and I am feeling very good, yet when I ask either my heart doctor or the oncologist about doing the heart surgery I get a run-around. It is obvious that neither of them believe the heart surery should be done , although there is quite a bit of damage to the heart from the heart attack. When I ask why both just say the surgery would be very hard on me under the circumstances. I almost get the impression that they think I am not going to make it anyhow so why do the surgery! I would be grateful for any comments or experiences from anyone about surgery being possible and being successful. Thank you so much for all the help and encouragement I get from this site. Tricia

I had a mastectomy of my remaining breast while on 3 weekly Herceptin, after finishing Navelbine/Herceptin for Stage IV. I healed just fine, no complications.

<3,
Lolly

I had reconstructive surgery last month, a week before my last herceptin. It was a 9 hour surgery with 3 surgeons (proph mastectomy and bilateral SGAP). Not only no complications, but I think it made me feel more "safe" to still be on herceptin during surgery. Good luck.

I am on Herceptin every 3 weeks. I had 14 months of chemo for liver mets. Once my liver showed NED, I opted for recon. I had the expander surgery without a problem. But for the exchange surgery, I now have a staph infection in the incision on my left side, and it has been trying to heal for almost 2 months. The reason for the slow healing is apparently because of my weakened immune system from all of the chemo that I had. And there is also slower healing since I had rads on that side.
But none of my Doctors indicated that Herceptin was a problem as long as my blood counts were okay.
Denise