Herceptin to shrink tumor

[ginnyg898]

Hi All:

I had my first dose of Herceptin last week. My Oncologist is trying to shrink the tumor prior to surgery. My tumor is only 2.2cm and has never been painful. However, since my first dose I have noticed some slight 'pulling' and just some general feeling in the area of the my tumor. Has anyone had any experience with this? Could it actually be the Herceptin acting on the tumor this quickly? I plan to ask my Oncologist when I see him again, but I thought I would put it out there.

Many thanks...

[Jackie07]

No, I didn't experience that when I had my Herceptin/chemo. However, the 'visulization' guru will tell you that it is helpful to 'visulize' Herceptin battling the cancer cells. There's an illustration at the home page on how Herceptin 'turn off' the Her2 signals...

http://www.herceptin.com/metastatic/what-is/how-does-it-work.jsp

(Also, click on the 'How Herceptin Work' video)

[schoolteacher]

Ginny,

I did experience this. It was a wonderful feeling. I knew the Herceptin was working.

Amelia

[Jeanette]

I felt it too. My surgeon didn't want to do my surgery until my tumor had shrunk. It was a funny sensation, not painful, but i swear i could tell the tumor was shrinking.
Jeanette

[ginnyg898]

Thank you all for the great feedback!!!

[ginnyg898]

Just thought I would share with everyone that just 3 weeks after my first Herceptin dose my Oncologist says that my tumor has already started to shrink! Thank goodness for this amazing drug...

[schoolteacher]

Ginny,

Glad to hear your good news.

Amelia

[vlcarr]

Ginny,

I did herceptin/tykerb trial for newly diagnosed. As you can see from my signature, they could not even find the tumor when they did my surgery. I'll never know if it was the combo that did so well or if I would have gotten the results from just herceptin. I don't recall have any sensation at all while the tumor was shrinking. They could not even find the tumor at the time of my mastectomy.

Glad to hear your tumor is melting away. That's what my onc would tell when I would go every 2 weeks--it's just melting away!!!

[ginnyg898]

@vlcarr: Thank you so much for sharing! Thats exactly what my Oncologist said!