26/35 rounds of HERA Herceptin....

[Alice/Vienna, Austria]

.... and I am starting to hate it!!!!
Yes, I was glad to get into the 2yrs. arm but by now I am soooo tired of going back to treatment every 3 weeks!

Sorry, I need to vent...
Had 6 rounds of Epirubicin and Taxotere, 36 bouts of rads before I started Herceptin.... tried to do Tam and Zoladex but quit after a year of suffering...
,... I am 33 yrs. old, my marriage is @#%@ and I am sick of being sick!!!

alice, vienna, austria

[lauren]

hey...someday you will be glad you did this treatment. i did herceptin for 15 months. the first three months were with taxotere. then 12 months of just herceptin. it sucked bigtime. but hey, i have no regrets....

[Linda in Calif]

Hi Alice: It DOES get to be stressful spending what seems to be your whole life at the Drs. I was in a trial where I recieved Herceptin every week. I constantly felt like I had a mild case of flu...I wasn't the most pleasant person to be around. It really strained my relationship with my "significant other". He was used to being taken care of and that just wasn't happening anymore...what little energy I had I devoted to my daughter and trying to keep my business going. He and I had a long talk along the lines of, "if you aren't part of the solution then you are part of the problem" which seemed to help. But I have to admit there were many times I was ready to throw in the towel. A friend of mine cautioned me to maintain the relationship until after I was done doing "drugs" and was more my usual self and then make my decisions. This was good advice because now it has been a year off all medications and I realize that he's not such a bad guy after all...the "situation" was a bad one. Sometimes it seems like there is no end in sight but for many of us there will come a time when life settles down and we can live a relatively normal existences. Are you taking any kind of anti-depressant or anti-anxiety medication? I know Ativan really helped my moods a lot. I hope you are feeling better soon.
Take Care, Linda

[lauren]

i just want to say brava to your post, linda. it was so much more sensitive than mine. sometimes i need to soften it down a bit....sorry guys.....and hang in there everyone...lauren

[Lolly]

Hi Alice,
Linda's post pretty much says it all, you just have to keep things in perspective. Easier said than done, I know, but try to keep in mind that this trial may well save your life. So considering the alternative, you can do this!
Anti-depressants are a huge help in getting through this, my husband even took them for about a year after my initial dx, as he was just as shell shocked as I was. He's now able to maintain his equalibrium without them, but it really helps that he has a wonderful group of people he works with, several of them have spouses who have been thoroug treatment, and they are ever supportive, so he doesn't feel like he's living a "double life". I think that can be very stressful for our partners, does your husband have anyone at work he can talk to?
And how about you, do you work and have a support system there? That can really help. Also remember, we're here 24/7!

Love, Lolly