[chrisy]

I was not stage 4 at diagnosis, (was stage 0!) but my case is similar in that my first chemo regimen was in response to my stage 4 dx of extensive liver mets.

My chemo combo was similar, taxol/carbo/herceptin for 6 cycles, then maintain on herceptin alone. I'd already had the mastectomy...
And of courses didn't get the wedding in Jamaica, but that's ok!
In my case, the Chemo put the liver tumors into complete remission, and I was able to maintain on every 3week herceptin for 2 years before things woke up, as they tend to do unfortunately.

I should mention tho, that it was always that plan to stop after no more than 6 months. (or one more cycle after "best response"). This was the shared opinion of both my Stanford associated local oncologist and my UCSF breast oncology guru. The thinking here is, you want maximum efficacy with minimal toxicity. TCH was hitting it hard - and worked - but it was important to conserve my body's resources for the future. The disease can be managed, sometimes for a long time, but there will likely be many more battles to be fought and won along the way as you are aware.

It seems your wife's treatment has been reasonablly aggressive - I like that they've gone after the recurrence surgically backing it up with chemo. I agree with becky, you might consider adding herceptin back into the mix. Sometimes the cancer finds a way to "escape" the herceptin alone, but there is abundant data that there can be continued synergy, with chemo as well as with tykerb. You always want to have a her2 targeting agent in the mix.

Take care,
Chris