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It certainly is *not* a dumb question by any means. I know I *wanted* do continue and stay on herceptin past by one yr mark. I fought for it. My onc said no, & my 2nd opinion onc said no. Since the HERA trials had been pushed back they both used that as an excuse. (Sometimes I feel like its about *them* saving money.) JMHO Since I had positive nodes & could NOT have radiation...I thought it was very reasonable to continue on herceptin. I wanted to complete at least two years of it.
My ECHO's were great, so I was disappointed being denied. The long term herceptin patients seem to being doing great on it and most have remained NED...and I have to credit herceptin for it. If something is working...why go off it. To me this is serious business...we aren't just trying to ward off a cold. Joe said the results of the HERA trials are due out in December...I'm looking forward to that.
Chelee
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DX: 12-20-05 - Stage IIIA, Her2/Neu, 3+++,Er & Pr weakly positive, 5 of 16 pos nodes.
Rt. MRM on 1-3-06 -- No Rads due to compromised lungs.
Chemo started 2-7-06 -- TCH - - Finished 6-12-06
Finished yr of wkly herceptin 3-19-07
3-15-07 Lt side prophylactic simple mastectomy. -- Ooph 4-05-07
9-21-09 PET/CT "Recurrence" to Rt. axllia, Rt. femur, ilium. Possible Sacrum & liver? Now stage IV.
9-28-09 Loading dose of Herceptin & started Zometa
9-29-09 Power Port Placement
10-24-09 Mass 6.4 x 4.7 cm on Rt. femur head.
11-19-09 RT. Femur surgery - Rod placed
12-7-09 Navelbine added to Herceptin/Zometa.
3-23-10 Ten days of rads to RT femur. Completed.
4-05-10 Quit Navelbine--Herceptin/Zometa alone.
5-4-10 Appt. with Dr. Slamon to see what is next? Waiting on FISH results from femur biopsy.
Results to FISH was unsuccessful--this happens less then 2% of the time.
7-7-10 Recurrence to RT axilla again. Back to UCLA for options.
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