Susan,
I think that you would be wise at this time to get a second AND third opinion from an oncologist rather than relying upon us. Don't get me wrong, the women here I have found are intelligent and extremely well informed. That being said, I don't know how many of us are MD's. As I have researched Herceptin, I realize that a lot has happened in the last 2 years since you were diagnosed. It wasn't until
November 2006 that the FDA approved the drug for women with
early stage breast cancer with Positive nodes that were Her2+++. It wasn't until
January 2008 that it was approved for women with
early stage breast cancer with Negative nodes. The clinical trials and studies had not been done to support it any earlier. Your oncologist might have given you sound advice, based on what was known in 2006, but it might not be sound advice now. I looked for earlier posts and found the following:
how many started out with DCIS with or without microinvasion
You might find the second post by VaMoonRise interesting. Her case sounds similar to yours, having had just the lumpectomy in 2004, but 2 years and 9 months later, cancer was found in her liver during gall bladder surgery. I am not trying to scare you, because you very well might be one of the lucky ones where it really was caught early enough. The side effects of Herceptin are very few. If you could even get just Herceptin, without the chemo, that might be a good option.
You can read my signature for details of my situation. I am Stage 1, triple positive with a tumor of 2 cm - (at its largest dimension the path report said). I don't think 2 cm is necessarily considered small, even though it is about 3/4". I asked my oncologist what my odds were if I did nothing more. He told me I had a 34% chance of a distant recurrence (i.e Stage IV) of cancer. Technically, the odds are in my favor by 2-1 of
not having cancer return. I did not like those odds however, so I opted for the chemo/herceptin treatment. I feel that I was fortunate in that my mastectomy surgeon strongly recommended that I have the Oncotype DX test - it came back with a score of 60 - and it confirmed the odds of a 34% recurrence. At the very least, you should see if your oncologist would recommend you have this test. If you score above a 30, then you are at a high risk of a distant recurrence, and the chemo and herceptin should be something you should consider. I know there are risks to chemo, but when I weigh those risks against the risk of a distant recurrence, it was an easy decision for me to make.
I am keeping you in my prayers and hope that the answers become clear for you. The last thing you want is to constantly be looking over your shoulder and worrying, or having something happen and regretting that you didn't do all you could do.
Sending you warm hugs,
Alice