[Hazel Joyce]

I saw the onc at 9 am yesterday. She said that I had 2 doses of Herceptin left. I have been getting Herceptin since April 2007, so it's been almost a year. After the onc, I went for my infusion. About 10 minutes into the infusion my face was warm and flushed and I had a tight knot in my upper abdomen. Then I got shaking chills. Then I got a hot sensation in my chest and was short of breath. My skin was red all over (no hives or itch) and my eyes were puffy and red. My blood pressure went up to 188/86. My pulse was 120. (Blood pressure usually drops below normal with allergic reaction.) The chemo nurse said that they haven't seen this reaction to Herceptin. They treated it immediately with IV steroid and IV Benadryl and it subsided.

I do have an allergy to a preservative in injectable anesthetic. Maybe it's related. Anyway, strange that it would happen at 49 weeks into the year. The onc nurse said that it was a "classic Taxol reaction" which makes me wonder if something went wrong in the pharmacy. The pharmacy automatically investigates all adverse reactions.

The onc said that if I needed Herceptin again down the road, she would give it to me with pre-medication (steroids, Benadryl).

Other than this peculiar episode, I stopped Herceptin for 4 weeks after 9 doses with Taxol because my EF dropped to 51%. I have had no further heart problems.

I'll update this post when I find out what caused the reaction.

The Herceptin literature says that some people may be allergic to a component (benzyl alcohol) in the liquid (Bacteriostatic Water for Injection) that is used to reconstitute the Herceptin powder before they put it in the IV bag. In that case, they would reconstitute it with Sterile Water. I don't think that this would cause nausea and abdominal pain, though.