HER2 Support Group Forums - View Single Post - Mom's Mets Battle Continues...Brain Mets??

ellzmom · 08-31-2009, 08:41 AM

The saga continues. The 2.5yr BC battle for my mom wages on intensely:
- Initial dx: stage 1, grade 3, er-/pr-/her2 equiv(FISH 2.0).
- First chemo round (don’t recall drug) plus radiation cleared the left breast
- Started Herceptin
- Emergency room visit for SOB was a malignant pleura and subsequent pleural effusion
- Herceptin didn’t work – (Her Onc insistes mom’s HER2+ ; Herceptin requires at least a FISH 2.0 score)
- Started Navelbine
- Emergency room visit for second pleural effusion
- PET scan found nodules in pleura
- Started Tykerb/Xeloda
- Another ER visit for constant coughing and mid-section pain turned out to be left lung Mets – Tykerb/Xeloda didn’t work
- Started current round of Abraxane/Avastin (A/A) and remaining on Tykerb
- As of today (8/30/09), mom is in the hospital for sudden loss of memory, balance, disorientation, lethargy (lays in bed with eyes closed, maybe sleepiness). She doesn’t initiate conversations but responds to questions, incorrectly mostly (very poor memory recall). A brain CAT scan was clear but an MRI pointed to an ‘abnormality’ in the brain membrane/lining. No mass(tumor, etc) was found. Her doctors, including the Onc, ordered a spinal tap for this Monday, to break the tie or look for METS. A physical and psychological evaluation was also done but nothing else.
- The sudden change started last week (8/21/09), following an Avastin treatment, the last in her 3-on/1-off cycle. It started with headaches and dizziness which we thought were more side effects from the A/Avastin. But we rushed her to the ER when she started falling and being disoriented with a loss for words.
- So I ask, could her condition be ‘chemo-brain?’ Is it too much Tykerb (she’s been on the 1250mg Tykerb dosage a long time)? Does she just need a break from all this chemo? Or could it be brain/spinal fluid METS?
- Mom is currently not the person we knew just a week ago and it’s driving us crazy to see her in this somewhat vegetative state despite no paralysis anywhere. She’s just lying in the hospital with nothing being done – I guess waiting on the spinal tap.
- I can’t stop asking ‘What could it be?’

08-31-2009, 08:41 AM	#1
ellzmom Junior Member Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 4	Mom's Mets Battle Continues...Brain Mets?? The saga continues. The 2.5yr BC battle for my mom wages on intensely: - Initial dx: stage 1, grade 3, er-/pr-/her2 equiv(FISH 2.0). - First chemo round (don’t recall drug) plus radiation cleared the left breast - Started Herceptin - Emergency room visit for SOB was a malignant pleura and subsequent pleural effusion - Herceptin didn’t work – (Her Onc insistes mom’s HER2+ ; Herceptin requires at least a FISH 2.0 score) - Started Navelbine - Emergency room visit for second pleural effusion - PET scan found nodules in pleura - Started Tykerb/Xeloda - Another ER visit for constant coughing and mid-section pain turned out to be left lung Mets – Tykerb/Xeloda didn’t work - Started current round of Abraxane/Avastin (A/A) and remaining on Tykerb - As of today (8/30/09), mom is in the hospital for sudden loss of memory, balance, disorientation, lethargy (lays in bed with eyes closed, maybe sleepiness). She doesn’t initiate conversations but responds to questions, incorrectly mostly (very poor memory recall). A brain CAT scan was clear but an MRI pointed to an ‘abnormality’ in the brain membrane/lining. No mass(tumor, etc) was found. Her doctors, including the Onc, ordered a spinal tap for this Monday, to break the tie or look for METS. A physical and psychological evaluation was also done but nothing else. - The sudden change started last week (8/21/09), following an Avastin treatment, the last in her 3-on/1-off cycle. It started with headaches and dizziness which we thought were more side effects from the A/Avastin. But we rushed her to the ER when she started falling and being disoriented with a loss for words. - So I ask, could her condition be ‘chemo-brain?’ Is it too much Tykerb (she’s been on the 1250mg Tykerb dosage a long time)? Does she just need a break from all this chemo? Or could it be brain/spinal fluid METS? - Mom is currently not the person we knew just a week ago and it’s driving us crazy to see her in this somewhat vegetative state despite no paralysis anywhere. She’s just lying in the hospital with nothing being done – I guess waiting on the spinal tap. - I can’t stop asking ‘What could it be?’