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I have somewhat similar stats. I was diagnosed as a late Stage 1 (or stage I(c) ) but I had vascular invasion. I, too, had a double mastectomy. I then had 6 months of chemo. See below for my treatment history and stats. Herceptin has been around for about 10 years but it has only been used in early stage HER2 positive cancers since 2006. I think the drug has a good safetly profile. You do need to monitor your heart while you're taking it. I found it very easy to tolerate. I don't think you should feel like a guinea pig due to taking Herceptin. There are girls on this board who were the true guinea pigs as they started taking it 10 years ago....and there still here to tell their story. Check out the Lifetime movie on October 18 called "Living Proof". It is about the making and marketing of Herceptin.
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Janelle
Diagnosed October 2006 at age 37 wtih grade 3 IDC and high grade DCIS
Stage 1c triple positive, no node involvement but
vascular invasion
multifocal disease
Lumpectomy November, 2006
A/C every 3 weeks (started Jan., 2007 and finished March 2007); followed weekly Taxol (finished June 2007) concurrent with Herceptin (finished March 2008);
Bilateral Mast with immediate recon in Sept 2007; finished recon Dec. 2007
Started 5 years of tamoxifen Nov. 2007; started peptide vaccine clinical trial at MD Anderson October 2008 and finished active part of trial in April 2009 (monthly injections of AE37 peptitde (HLA type specific) with GM-CSF or GM-CSF alone depending on if I was in experimental or control group); started Zometa infusions June 25, 2009- 4mg every 6 months for 3 years (taking it "off-label" to try to prevent mets)
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