4 months into Her2+ and struggling!

[Aussie Girl]

Hang in there, Arlyce.

It is a struggle. I found eating cold things helped with the old taste buds. Sweet things and soft meaty things I could taste. Carbohydrate was all cardboard - Yuck! Mints for any metallic taste.

Cancer leaves this great question mark over your life. You get told a lot of statistics but there is nothing to tell you what is going to happen to you as an individual. Where I live ( and this is the general medical consensus), follow up of early breast cancer consists of (at ever increasing intervals) an examination by a surgeon, later a general practitioner (family physician), a mammogram/US scan, and basic blood tests (FBC and ELFTs). No tumor markers or PET scans as they are not reliable in this setting. In the future, special tests monitoring breast cancer through DNA circulating in the blood will likely be used. Otherwise, you get investigated if you get symptoms like ongoing bone pain, headaches etc.

It'd be so good just to know........Oh well.

I am a year out now and almost finished my Herceptin infusions. Life does improve after the heavy chemo finishes, again after Herceptin finishes and again, I'm told, after the first anniversary of the heavy chemo stopping.

Although a natural pessimist, I've trained myself to think of myself as being in the group of women that are long term survivors. I am pragmatic. It is pointless worrying now that I might "die young". I know the chemo markedly improves outcome. I've done everything I can for myself and I am just going to keep enjoying the journey.

Let us know a little more about yourself and feel free to vent your feelings on this forum. It helps.
Warm wishes

Aussie Girl