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Nancy L · 05-14-2009, 03:19 PM

Sorry I didn't reply earlier. Your e-mail ended up in my spam folder which I was just reviewing today. Best of luck with your treatment program and let me know if you have any additional questions.

Nancy L

Here is a summary of my journey so far:

Age 57 at diagnosis---Nothing has happened per the book for me.

11/03 Annual mammo normal. Had mammos every yr age 40+..
9/04 Left Nipple Inverted--DX/High Grade BC-Stage IIIC 7x5x3cm tumor; 11 of 11 tested lymph nodes positive for metastatic ca with extranodal spread. ER/PR- Her2neu positive by FISH (HER217Z1ratio of 4.03).
10/04-4/05 Dose Dense---4 AC; 4 Taxotere/Herceptin; 35 rounds of radiation.

5/05-2/09 Herceptin every 3 wks; My hair never grew back---told this is rare and caused by Taxol drugs. After much mourning, selected hair replacement system (VirtualReality.com)—expensive but I have better hair than before ca.

7/08 Lost voice—DX paralyzed rt vocal cord. -. It took 7 mo for modern medicine to find the root cause. None of my doctors suspected malignancy because my BC was on the left side/paralyzed vocal cord was on the right side, and my tumor markers never changed. (Told rare place for breast cancer to reoccur and my tumor doesn’t produce the proteins measured by tumor markers---these markers don’t work for everyone---new news to me; all these years I have had a false sense of security).

2/09 Enlarged Neck lymph node finally detected on CT/PET. Surgery to remove tissue done to confirm tumor characteristics. Breast cancer metastatis was finally diagnosed at UCLA. Neck tumor was ER/PR -; Her2neu highly positive by Fish (her217Z1 ratio of 20.2).

3/10 Continuing Herceptin. Prescribed 4 Tykerb daily. After 6 days, massive hives all over body. Tykerb reduced to 3 tablets daily. So far so good. Will get cat/pet soon since tumor markers don’t work for me.

05-14-2009, 03:19 PM	#4
Nancy L Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: La Quinta, Ca Posts: 253	Sorry I didn't reply earlier. Your e-mail ended up in my spam folder which I was just reviewing today. Best of luck with your treatment program and let me know if you have any additional questions. Nancy L Here is a summary of my journey so far: Age 57 at diagnosis---Nothing has happened per the book for me. 11/03 Annual mammo normal. Had mammos every yr age 40+.. 9/04 Left Nipple Inverted--DX/High Grade BC-Stage IIIC 7x5x3cm tumor; 11 of 11 tested lymph nodes positive for metastatic ca with extranodal spread. ER/PR- Her2neu positive by FISH (HER217Z1ratio of 4.03). 10/04-4/05 Dose Dense---4 AC; 4 Taxotere/Herceptin; 35 rounds of radiation. 5/05-2/09 Herceptin every 3 wks; My hair never grew back---told this is rare and caused by Taxol drugs. After much mourning, selected hair replacement system (VirtualReality.com)—expensive but I have better hair than before ca. 7/08 Lost voice—DX paralyzed rt vocal cord. -. It took 7 mo for modern medicine to find the root cause. None of my doctors suspected malignancy because my BC was on the left side/paralyzed vocal cord was on the right side, and my tumor markers never changed. (Told rare place for breast cancer to reoccur and my tumor doesn’t produce the proteins measured by tumor markers---these markers don’t work for everyone---new news to me; all these years I have had a false sense of security). 2/09 Enlarged Neck lymph node finally detected on CT/PET. Surgery to remove tissue done to confirm tumor characteristics. Breast cancer metastatis was finally diagnosed at UCLA. Neck tumor was ER/PR -; Her2neu highly positive by Fish (her217Z1 ratio of 20.2). 3/10 Continuing Herceptin. Prescribed 4 Tykerb daily. After 6 days, massive hives all over body. Tykerb reduced to 3 tablets daily. So far so good. Will get cat/pet soon since tumor markers don’t work for me.