A big thank you to everyone

[Emelie B]

for all your encouragement and support. Have had 2 Herceptin/Taxol treatments, first one with Zometa, and I am doing pretty good. Also got my brain MRI results on Thur. and it is clean!! We were glad about that one.
I have to ask though, was it the Zometa that made my knees and shins hurt so bad, or just the loading dose of everything?
Will start reduced work schedule on March 1st so I can focus on me and not on work.
Best to everyone, and thank you again for reminding me there are lots of options and hopefully my next PET scan will reveal lots of good news.
Stay warm everyone,
Emelie

[chrisy]

Hi Emelie,
Always nice to get good news!

Who the heck knows on the knees and shins...each of the medications we take to defeat this cancer has it's own side effects...and when you combine them it muddies the waters even more.

From my personal experience, I know that Herceptin has caused me to have joint pain, and the loading dose gave me just general aches and pains. But it could be the Zometa, too!

Whatever, hopefully your system will get used to it...but definitely ask your doctor about it, especially if you have continued problems.

Take care
Chris

[Gerri]

Hi Emelie,

My first infusion of Zometa caused me knee pain and swelling. I have had a total of 4 infusions and have not have any side effects since the first dose.

Great news on your brain MRI; hoping to hear more good news from you as you continue treatment.

Take good care,

[SoCalGal]

Zometa tends to cause mild, random aches and pains for me each time. Nothing that tylenol can't handle, but each time I wind up thinking, "what the heck did I do to my knee?" Or "Jeez, what did I do to my shoulder?" I've been on this for quite some time, so I am better at realizing it's the zometa. The first infusion I had with zometa gave me very mild flu-like aches. Well, maybe not that mild, but tylenol took the edge off. I have mine every six weeks - so every other herceptin/avastin infusion they add in zometa. If it's really bad, you can always ask the doc for some pre-meds like decadron/steroid. Good luck! Flori