[Jean]

Thanks Grace, always good to have a referral.
Dr. Slamon had referred me to an onc. that had worked on the Hera Trials
and he has been wonderful working along side Dr. Slamon during my chemo/herceptin treatment.

At the time of my dx. 4/05 the bible in NY at Sloan, Cornell and Mt. Sini was tumor size, grade, (my was 1) ...each time I mentioned about the Her2 portion of my dx. the dr. did not consider it was the most important part of my dx. esp. since I was ER postive...feeling that hormonal therapy
was my ticket along with radiation. But after reading and searching articles I just could not believe them. I kept hearing how many woman were node neg. and having recurrance. Which alerted me to search into the questions can a cell pass through and / or get through the blood system undetected? Can that happen more often than not. Please know that the dr. (onc's) that I saw are considered to be top men in their field. I discovered at that time 4/05 that the dr. in NY did not even recognize the Oncotype DX test (now it is used at Sloan) Timing is everything.
Early bc was and still is for the most a major controversy as far as treatment decisions, esp. when node negative along with the small tumor low grade. When I would mention information I would gather from our site one onc. answered "well it just is not the gold standard of treatment".
I began to wonder if they were more concerned about law suits regarding treatments outside the box. My tumor was 6mm after biopsey 3mm - the invasive portion was under 2mm and the margains were 25mm...but I still did not feel satisfied - considering the Her2. I would also like to share one onc. even told me how dangerous herceptin is to the heart and how dangerous it was, which upset my husband to a great degree. It was only after I insisted through my surgeon to have the Oncotype DX test performed - when that came back high risk the onc's then changed
their opinion. They wanted to give me A/C..at this point I made an appointment to see Dr. Slamon I had lost all trust. Now by this time there had been published articles from Dr. Slamon regarding TCH...but that was not mentioned either. Now when I saw Dr. Slamon he immediately said hemo/herceptin, even if I did not have the Oncotype DX test. He said my KI-67 level was enough to make the decision. So the grade, tumor size, etc. was not the only factor. I promote having more than one opinon (in my case I had three in NY) they all said the same, but later changed their dx. Goes to show and teach to be our own advocate. It was a learning experience for me, I was very innocent in the early days of dx. I thought or at best was under the silly impression that standard of care meant that the major hospital had the same treatment protacal for breast cancer. In those early days for the most part you are in a state of fear. Thank God for Joe and Christine and this site. I can not emphasize and praise enough the value of this site. The woman and men who share their knowledge and experiences always giving 200% of themselves. Christine
never gave up as we discussed my dx. and she insisted the dr. were wrong. At the time of my dx. it was timing and I think there was a shift in treatment here in NY. I just wish that more money was being spent on research for this dreaded disease. Trials take so long and many promising medicnes are not getting out of the lab. In the meantime we must do all we can to maintain a strong immune system, continue to study and learn all we can.


Jean