[Carina]

It has now been 9 weeks since my last incomplete Herceptin treatment. I only received 2/3 of the dose before it had to be stopped due to an anaphylactic reaction. It was my second treatment with Taxol. I have now completed Taxol yesterday (YEAH!) and will be going for allergy testing. It seems that my reaction is very rare, confirmed by the drug company and my oncologist. We are looking at ways to safely re-start Herceptin but this might mean being admitted to an ICU for a few days. Not fun news for my 6 and 9 year old girls.

It appears that I might have also had a reaction to Taxol and perhaps even Neulasta. I think that my body is just reacting to everything! Before BC, I rarely took anything other than the occasional ADVIL for a headache.

I asked my oncologist about lapatanib (Tykerb) on a compassionate basis but his initial discussions with colleagues indicated that it is not available on a compassionate basis in Canada. Does anyone have any other information? I am going to contact GlaxoSmithKline (the dist. in Canada) to hear what they have to say.

If anyone has has a severe reaction (tightness in throat and chest, all over hives, swelling of the tongue and lips) to herceptin and/or have been able to continue with herceptin, I would love to hear from you, if you're willing to share your experience (PM or post). Thanks.