tell me about follow-ups after herceptin's done

[alicecallahan]

I have just finished my year of herceptin which was preceded by 4 AC 4 Taxotere and mastectomy, am on Arimidex, last scans clear, onc says come back in 4 months for more tests...
Can anyone tell me what their protocol is for check-ups? My chemo was neo-adjuvant for a very large tumor, nodes not tested prior, only after chemo, and were clear, however my tmor markers have fluctuated, and I am very fearful that now that I am off herceptin I am going to have a recurrence, because a dear friend did after only 3 months....

[Val Pfeiffer]

I decided to recommend to my oncologist that I continue with Herceptin indefinitely. I had one year post-treatment Herceptin (triple dose every three weeks). There isn't data out there that I know about, but I couldn't just stop treatments with such a risky case. So I am taking Herceptin every three months and am getting a brain MRI every 3-4 months. I didn't want to take Herceptin every three weeks, mostly because it was wearing me down, but that may not have been the best decision. If you can handle it and can convince your doc, you may want to stay on Herceptin as long as possible. I wish there was more data...

Please let me know what you decide :-)
Val