Am i to believe

[carolm]

Hello again
I am a little confused, am i to believe the outcome for early stage breast cancer her2 will have a better outcome on herceptin ,than ladies like me withspread to lung ,liver and bones. I thought it works the same way ? i am a little worried , i read the threads on how long it works for and came to the conclusion that my prognosis looks far worse. Has anyone had good results even though they have spread? i feel so well and have no symptoms (yet) . Take care carolmx

[Sherryg683]

I asked my Oncologist if Herceptin cut down reoccurance rate by up to 50% for early stage breast cancer, did it not do the same for me (stage IV, 2 lung mets). He said that no, it was different. Sorry to say, for us the horse has gotten out of the barn, so to say. But that is not to say that it doesn't work and your mets can't be gotten under control or even sent into remission. I have been in remission for 10 months now with my lung mets, all my scans since April have been clean. I get scans every 3 months and am due for one this month. Once the cancer has left the site of orgin, you are always at risk of reoccurance. My Oncologist told me the goal was to keep it away as long as possible, if it comes back, attack it again. He said that there are always new drugs being found every day that they are working on and the goal is to keep it away till they find that one that might one day keep it away for good. Don't lose hope, it's hard..I know. But every case is individual, we are all different and what doesn't work for someone else, could be your magic bullet..sherryg683

[carolm]

Thank you for replying ,Its very hard to put your trust in doctors sometimes , they never have the time to explain things . I have had more useful imformation on this sight. I must try to be more positive ,the Herceptin is working for me and if things start to progress whilst im on it , my oncologist will add some chemo i suppose. Any way take care best wishes to you carolm x

[Sheila]

Carol
There are many of us on this board that are receiving Herceptin as stage IV, and have a great quality of life...everyone is different, some things work for some of us and not for others. If you are symtomless, is sounds as though your mets were caught early, and with chemo and Herceptin, you will have a very positive outcome. Steph on this board had battled liver, and brain mets and is still doing well.