[chrisy]

Hi Therese,

Yep, I know you must be feeling angry, frustrated, cheated by this recurrence. It does make it hard to "keep the faith" as you say.

Interesting that it is now Her2++ when the original tumor was negative. Her2 positivity CAN change, so it could be a recurrence or possibly a new primary. Not that that would make it any better...

The good news is that with Her2+ cancer, the prognosis is actually now better than for Her2- in some settings. And there was just data released from a trial of Abraxane and Herceptin that is very encouraging.

As you know, chemo is no picnic, but Herceptin is such a great drug that has really changed the picture for that type of cancer. You can, and should, find out as much as you can about the type of cancer you are dealing with - but be very aware that the situation has changed - like 180 degrees - with Herceptin, and much of what is "out there" is old news.

I guess I'm trying to say, don't be discouraged by doom and gloom stats about Her2+ disease because it's different now.

Her2+++ means that the cancer you have has too many copies of a protein called Her2neu. This is called "overexpression". Her2neu is a growth factor which is present at base levels in healthy cells, and signals when the cell is to reproduce. But in cancer cells where Her2 is overexpressed, it basically is signalling the cells to go reproduce like crazy. Herceptin interferes with this signaling by locking onto the Her2 receptor and in effect, turning it off.

Hang in there, you will do well on the Abraxane and Herceptin, and assuming you continue on Herceptin alone you will find THAT very tolerable (and you're hair will grow back!)