Wondering

[Janice]

I have been fnished my treatment (surgery, chemo - CEF, rads)since before Xmas. During the time since treatment, I have had 7 different skin cancers (squamous & basal) and I keep wondering if my strong HER2 factor has anything to do with this. Both my onc and surgeon say not, but in trying to understand what HER2 has to do with my breast cancer outcome, I understand that it is not limited to breast cancer alone, but other cancers as well. My squamous tumors can grow quite large within two months which seems rapid.
Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.

I was stage 3 at diagnosis and am currently going through biopsy for recurrence in the same breast.

[KathySC]

Janice I had the same issue during my chemotherapy. I thought it was due to the fact my immune system wasn't strong. Once I was past the treatments, they never returned.
Kathy

[lauren]

if that were indeed true, what could you do about it anyway? in my opinion, the best course of action is to let it go. i understand your need to analyze, but analyzing it is not going to lead to anything productive, and you are not going to arrive at any answers, in my opinion, the best thing you could do is to move on and stop thinking about what is unknowable and for the most part, irrelevant to your outcome.

best,

lauren

[Steph N]

If you have a good doc for skin problems, s/he should be doing just what is happening - taking care of those cancerous places that pop up. These are not insignificant cancers and need to be kept on top of and not allowed to spread.
You may have some other factors that contribute to this number that docs can tell you about. I have not heard of Her2 status in connection with skin cancers, but ANY cancer is reason to be more vigilant for the possibility of other types of cancers - at least get screened for them.

[Janice]

Thank you all for your responces. I am not really dwelling on it but it just seems a strange coincedence.

[STeph N]

Both my mother and grandmother (maternal) had and have skin cancers that have had to be dealt with. They lived in Florida or other hot sunny area all their lives. They also did not have the benefit of the sun screens we have had for the past few years. Knowing family history, I have tried to protect myself from the sun as much as possible the past few years, even prior to my bc. Just trying to stave off more problems if possible!

[Linda in Calif]

Hi Janice: I have struggled with skin cancers both superficial and basal cell. I am blonde/blue eyed with freckle skin and lived in Florida the first 20 years of my life then moved to Calif. Needless to say, my skin has been exposed to a lot of sun damage. I have tried many different treatments: surgery, freezing, chemical ointments, interferon injections, etc.to get rid of the cancers but new ones keep popping up and even some of the old ones return. The latest treatment being offered here in Southern Calif. is something called Aldara. It is a cream (you have to go to your dermatologist to get it perscribed) that you apply to the individual cancers. It is good to use on places like your face, chest, tops of ears that you don't want disfigured from surgery.
From the research I've done there IS somekind of link between getting skin cancers at a young age and developing other more serious cancers at a future point. It's kind of like a "red flag" but they don't know what kind of cancer you might get...it isn't linked directly to just breast cancer.
I don't know if this has helped you any but feel free to e-mail me if you have any questions. Take Care, Linda