[MJo]

Sue -- I was very shocked today at my appointment when my onc told me my muga had dropped 16 points since I began treatment. Since I've had nine months of herceptin and I was Stage 1, he was willing to stop the treatment. I told him I'd be willing to be retested and finish my year. So I am on hold for six weeks. My muga is still normal -- 54. But my four mugas have jumped from 70 to 59 to 62 to 54. The "protocol" is to stop with a 16 point decrease. I was really blindsided, because I feel pretty good. As I said in another post, I feel that any Herceptin treatment over 6 months was a gift. But i'd feel more secure if I could finish a year.

The oncologist says that NIH cancer research funding has been cut so much (he blames Iraq) that there are no objective studies in the U.S. on how much herceptin is effective. He said most of the studies are funded by pharma companies, and Genentech, for example, would like us all to take Herceptin for 2 year$.

I'm not happy about this. It was unexpected. But I know I have a lot of company on this board. MJO