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Juanita,
My experience has been that most oncs would be supportive of trials, but your local onc may not be aware of what's out there. And may or may not be participating in trials. If you are comfortable with your oncologist, definitely start there. He/she may not be participating but should have "contacts". It's definitely good to know what options are out there.
Are you seeing, maybe as a second opinion consultant, an oncologist at a major cancer center? This might give you more visibility of what's available. I don't know where Sheridan is, but if it is near Indianapolis or Chicago you should be able to hook in there, where they are doing the cutting edge research and trials.
In my case, my local oncologist hooked me up with a big research doctor at UCSF when I was first diagnosed with Stage IV, and because I was seeing her every few months just for follow up, when I had progression I already had access and was able to get into trials fairly quickly.
You can also research trials yourself via the search tools on the Clinical Trials page on this website, and it's also worth checking the clinical trials message board to see what other members are doing. To research trials in the NCI database, you should look for keywords like Her2.
There is a ton of research going in the the area of Her2 BC, there are many trial opportunities opening up for all "stages"
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Chris in Scotts Valley
June 2002 extensive hi grade DCIS (pre-cancer-stage 0, clean sentinal node) Mastectomy/implant - no chemo, rads. "cured?"
9/2004 Diag: Stage IV extensive liver mets (!) ER/PR- Her2+++
10/04-3/05 Weekly Taxol/Carboplatin/Herceptin , complete response!
04/05 - 4/07 Herception every 3 wks, Continue NED
04/07 - recurrence to liver - 2 spots, starting tykerb/avastin trial
06/07 8/07 10/07 Scans show stable, continue on Tykerb/Avastin
01/08 Progression in liver
02/08 Begin (TDM1) trial
08/08 NED! It's Working! Continue on TDM1
02/09 Continue NED
02/10 Continue NED. 5/10 9/10 Scans NED 10/10 Scans NED
12/10 Scans not clear....4/11 Scans suggest progression 6/11 progression confirmed in liver
07/11 - 11/11 Herceptin/Xeloda -not working:(
12/11 Begin MM302 Phase I trial - bust:(
03/12 3rd times the charm? AKT trial
5/12 Scan shows reduction! 7/12 More reduction!!!!
8/12 Whoops...progression...trying for Perjeta/Herceptin (plus some more nasty chemo!)
9/12 Start Perjeta/Herceptin, chemo on hold due to infection/wound in leg, added on cycle 2 &3
11/12 Poops! progression in liver, Stop Perjeta/Taxo/Herc
11/12 Navelbine/Herce[ptin - try for a 3 cycles, no go.
2/13 Gemzar/Carbo/Herceptin - no go.
3/13 TACE procedure
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