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I was taken off Herceptin in April because of congestive heart failure. I had a dose dense schedule of adriamycin and cytoxan and then taxol and herceptin. While I was taking Taxol every 2 weeks I had Herceptin every week. When I finished with the Taxol I went to Herceptin every 3 weeks.
After 11 months of my year of Herceptin I ended up in the hospital with congestive heart failure. My oncologist said it should not have happened so late in the herceptin treatment or gone down so much so fast. But how would he know I am only his third case of congestive heart failure after Herceptin. The respiratory infection that I had had for 3 weeks may have contributed.
On March my Muga scan showed a left ventricle ejection fraction of 49. On April 29 it was between 15-20 by echocardiogram.
My heart is getting better. My echocardiogram was at 25-30 a couple of weeks ago and I continue to feel like I am improving.
That was the big problem I had with Herceptin. After I had been off of it for a while my fingernails and hair were much better. I can actually grow fingernails again and my hair is getting thicker.
I have less energy but who knows whether that is from my heart, the chemo or herceptin.
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