The HER2 group at San Antonio 2012

[StephN]

Hello amazing group.

Here is a thread to post photos and impressions of this year's San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

I will open with a great photo of some (most) of our group with Dr. Denis Slamon. He had just moderated a great presentation on the birth, development and sequels to Herceptin. All I had to do was approach him saying we were "Joe's HER2 ladies" and his attention turned completely to us!

We were able to talk briefly and take all the photos we wished. Seems the world's top docs are all like that. Once they see that a patient is who is approaching, you get their attention. There are not that many patient advocates at this meeting, and our questions are met with thoughtful answers.

Group photo L to R: Melissa (Mel3), JoanM, AliceM, Dr. Slamon, StephN, PaulaO.
(We represented fairly closely the 4 corners of the lower 48!)

[KDR]

Very nice, photo, Steph. Can you name the women? (I know two).
Thanks,
Karen

[StephN]

Karen - You got ahead of me - I needed to do it in edit mode, so I got us in the right order ... chemo brain, you know!

[Paty]

Great Pic Ladies! And nice that you had Dr. Slamon in it!

[Soccermom]

Beautiful photo of our Her2 Rock Stars!

[michka]

I love this picture, thanks Steph and thanks Ladies for being our advocates.
Michka

[Bunty]

How lovely to see you all almost in real time! And how very special to meet Dr Slamon. Thanks for representing us all in San Antonio - I'm sure I'm not alone in saying how valuable I find this!
Cheers Marie

[Paula O]

I really liked the format of the Her2 presentation the evening that photo was taken: after a delicious dinner the panel of drs spoke. It was great hearing from one of our Her2 Heros, Dr Slamon. Nice guy. Then different scenereos of patient cases were presented and each table came up with their choice of treatment and voted thier answer on the ipad and you could see statistically how the entire room of people voted. I've learned so much here on this website and in my own journey through Cancerland,I was able to contribute to coming up with the right answers in the cases presented. :) It seemed that most of the folks at my table either knew nothing about Her2 positive breast cancer or most of them sure didn't want to express their opinion of what should be done in each patient case anyway even after learning from the presentation. Only three of us were willing to give our input each time although we tried to include everyone--oh well.

I was the sole woman at a table of 8 men. During dinner I had a very interesting conversation with a friendly, young breast surgeon from Brazil that was sitting to my right. A scientist from Germany sat to my left but I don't think he spoke a lot of english. An advocate told me about the "Bravia" reconstruction procedure and so I asked this breast surgeon about it. He likes the results of that method and personally knows the doc who developed it in Miami: http://www.miamibreastcenter.com/reconstruction/after-mastectomy-miami --it says no incisions, implants, or new scars and apparently most sensation is maintained--a transfer of your own fat via injection after your skin is loosened up. Anybody here do it this way or have input about it from the website? Here are some of the before and after photos:
http://www.miamibreastcenter.com/reconstruction/before-after-photos
It says no scars but the photos do look like there's a scar on their abdomens. Where did the mastectomy scar go in the first photo I wonder? It looks gone but i don't know how that can be. I have not had reconstruction. This method is of interest to me possibly. No more surgery and the pain that typically goes along with reconstruction sounds good to me.

From the site:


http://www.miamibreastcenter.com/images/benefits-procedure.gif

No Foreign Objects
No Cuts or Incisions
No Scars
Liposuction
(body sculpting)
Quick Recovery
Natural Breasts
Near Normal Sensation (reconstruction)


Paula

[DanaRT]

Nice pic of you all. Good report, Paula O. Thanks for sharing.

[sarah]

wow you alll look beautiful and radiant! thank you for going and being our advocates - so important. Nice to see our "hero" also!
Paula nice info about the new methods.
thanks
sarah

[caya]

Everyone looks great including Dr. Slamon! I met him a couple of years ago at a Breast Cancer Symposium here in Toronto at Princess Margaret Hospital - he patiently spoke with the many Her2 survivors who approached him after his talk.

all the best
caya

[sassy]

How many HER2 Sisters does it take to figure out a cell phone camera?

StephN, KarenZ, Rhonda(Sassy), Melissa(Mel3)

[karen z]

OMG- these are all great !
Do we have anything from the boat ride the last night?
I will see if someone can help me upload some pictures from the coffee on the river morning.
kz

[Mandamoo]

Lovely to see pictures of you all and hear your reports. :-)


I am wondering what talk of dealing with herceptin resistance their was? I spoke with my surgeon who is just back from San Antonio and he was all talk of Perjeta - especially in heavily pretreated women (though it is not available for us).
Any thoughts?
Amanda

[NEDenise]

Great pictures ladies! So sorry to have missed it...again.
Steph, as soon as we have a date for next year, please let me know...I'd love to try to finally get there! I don't care if I have to take the time unpaid...I want to be part of this wonderful experience next year...and collect some hugs in person!
Denise
ps - I just had what Sister Antoinette Marie used to call a "Revelation Moment"...I realized that I would be more excited to meet Dr. Slamon than to meet Paul McCartney! Now that's saying something! ;)

[StephN]

Manda -
Glad your onc could attend. There is work on Herceptin resistance. But do not have details top of mind.

One interesting tidbit regarding Tykerb resistance is that drug can elevate ER - causing an effect that women who were hormone negative would not expect to have. Something like 4 posters on that very bugaboo!

Denise - (Take note of above paragraph)
I can tell you that the dates for SABCS next year are Dec. 10 - 14. What I do not know, and is a question for many months down the line, is whether there will be any budget for some of us to participate with the HER2 site. That is not my department.

I also will not be able to go in any event as it is too late in the month for those of us in retail (unless we sell our store?!?).

[karen z]

One last time,
Please note budget concerns/issues above and please consider making a small donation to our site. Even with the holidays, most folks (perhaps not all) can donate at least five dollars. If we ALL did that, it would help a LOT. We CAN make a difference with a bunch of small donations we can afford.
KZ

[SoCalGal]

Funny cell phone photo - gave me a good laugh, thanks for sharing pix, ladies!

RE budget for our site, Karen's point is well taken, and I hope that we are as generous with our own site as we are when sending disaster relief to the red cross for Sandy et al. Cancer is another natural disaster of sorts and perhaps we need to start raising some dough (pun intended) for HER2support.org.
To whom it may concern--I would love to be involved in that task!! -A SoCalGal

[Ellie F]

Brilliant pics. Lovely to see you all with Dr Slamon. May he and the other researchers find our cure real soon.
Ellie

[BonnieR]

Loved seeing photos of you all in "real life". And how great to have met our rock star and hero!
Keep the faith.

[suzan w]

The photos are great!!!!! I think T-shirts are in order...Joe's HER2 Girls/Boys!!!!!

[mamacze]

SASSY - GREAT cell phone picture - our own Her2 rock STARS!! You all look terrific and seem to be having such fun!! Love Kim from CT

[StephN]

Here are a couple more photos from the conference.

First the famous and much sought after Genentech COOKIES. They are a flat shortbread with a layer of chocolate embossed with the company name. There is a cookie jar in the Genentech booth and if you happen to pass by when it is being filled you can get some.

Second is the whole group (except Alice must have taken this shot) after the first afternoon of presentations. We did not have anything official that evening so had a chance to find a quiet cafe and get to know each other.

L to R: PaulaO, KarenZ, Rhondalea, Rhonda/Sassy, Melissa, StephN

[Paula O]

Genentech sure knows how to attract people to their booth with those cookies! Yummers.

Our very nice waiter took that photo. Unfortunately Joan and Debbie couldn't make that dinner and I think that was the night Alice hadn't arrived yet because of illness.

Goofy photos near the statues at the Convention center would have been a hoot. :)

Paula

[StephN]

Right you are, Paula. Alice did arrive the next day. That waiter was SO nice. He even gave us each a chilled bottle of water.

Are you speaking of the statues of the famous native sons and daughters in the gallery on the way to the Hot Topics ballroom? I think those are left over from the Hemisphere Expo a few years back. Don't know why they hide them in that out-of-the-way place!

[nsebesta]

Great pics ladies. Wondering if anything was said about long time users of Herceptin? Or when/if to come off if NED? I've been on it since 2005.

[Paula O]

I didn't hear the answer to that , Nsebesta. Sorry.

Stephanie, thems the statues alright. :)

Paula

[ElaineM]

Wonderful photos. Thanks for sharing them !!
It must be amazing to be able to attend SABCS !!

[tricia keegan]

Wonderful pic Steph, I just turned on the TV yesterday morning as I had my breakfast and imagine my surprise to see Dr Slamon giving an interview, it was wonderful and gave me hope now I'm approaching eight years out!

[karen z]

Hi everyone,

Here are three lovely ladies (Rhonda L, Melissa, and Rhonda [Sassy]) enjoying coffee one morning at SABCS 2012 (on the Riverwalk). What a beautiful morning that was !!!

[karen z]

One more picture of the gals enjoying coffee ! ! !

[karen z]

And this was their view........

[rhondalea]

Oh, and don't I wish we were all back there right about now.

[karen z]

Yes ! I can't begin to tell you.
K

[sassy]

From the OMG collection....

[sassy]

Another from the OMG collection....

[sassy]

Steph, our connoisseur

[sassy]

I miss you guys!!!!!

[karen z]

OMG is right!
That night time boat ride................there were visions above us, to the left of us and to the right. We were hypnotized!!!!!!!!!
Nice shot of Steph.
I miss you guys too (a lot!). Can we go back yet?

[sassy]

And who are these two hot chicks?

[karen z]

Your guess is as good as mine but ...........yet...........those chickies look strangely familiar (and may have good luck beads from Peru in their pockets- probably why they got the caricature guy they got). And I believe the experience was further captured by on-lookers, which means there are more pictures out there that could surface at any time!
We do look surprisingly hot. That caricature guy was pretty good.

[Mel3]

I have a couple of photos, but don't know how to post them! I should have asked for a tutorial while we were together in San Antonio. Perhaps my husband will help me tomorrow:)

I thoroughly enjoyed every minute with y'all!

[StephN]

AW - sorry I had to miss that boat ride on the canal. My poor leg was done in by that time ...
So, our secret is out - the conference was NOT all work!

[karen z]

I got a MAJOR lesson this weekend on how to post. I hope I remember the tutorial!

Steph's right...........not all work but a lot of work. Really there is so much to see and do that we MUST blow off some steam. That boat ride was something. Honestly the number of lights and the location of them (everywhere one looked) was mesmerizing- we were all in a state of shock and blliss. Love that pic of you Steph.

[mamacze]

Such wonderful pictures and such a good time! Work is not work when you are chatting it up among friends! Almost as good as a true blue girls weekend!!
XO
Kim (from CT)

[karen z]

I go to a lot of psychology conferences and they are significantly less intense and less long (and the talks are generally easier for me to understand!). SABCS is a TON of work. I think everyone would crack if it wasn't for some early a.m coffees and a few dinners/and walking or riding the Riverwalk at night. We are truly talking about 12-14 hour days .......day after day (talk about OMG). Thank God SABCS is at the Convention Center, which is close to the Riverwalk. It is really necessary to take a few breaks with good friends and have a few laughs. There is a lot to take in and some release is necessary for the mind and body.

[rhondalea]

SABCS is a TON of work. I think everyone would crack if it wasn't for some early a.m coffees and a few dinners/and walking or riding the Riverwalk at night.

Especially anyone who might be dumb enough to wear high heels the entire time. ;)

[StephN]

Rhondalea - as a newcomer to the San Antonio conference, you did not seem to take to heart the message about wearing comfortable shoes.

I guess those shoes ARE comfortable when you are not walking on concrete sidewalks and floors for hours on end!

The sport shoes just did not work with the "office pants" no matter how much easier on the feet that would have been! So, there WERE other sacrifices made to represent this group as the ladies we are ...

[karen z]

Ever notice that high heels work well for damsels in distress in the movies (even in jungles)? But, alas, in the concrete jungle of the Convention Center ..........not so well. Every year somebody breaks down and buys shoes at Macy's (of course, the buyer's motives may be mixed)! I bought two years ago and Sassy bought this year.........comfortable clogs and flats seem to work well. Some folks took part in a program this year in which they logged in their walking steps in order to donate. Can't believe how much we walk on an average day. The Convention Center is huge and talks are always on the opposite side of the Center- wherever we are. The booth is like an oasis as we can sit and discuss the site.

[karen z]

o.k., - have to get this in.
(1) I got a Macy's card (critical for the convention and beyond).
(2) I have mostly (not kidding) worn my Steph sweaters this winter (thank you).

[StephN]

What "Steph sweaters" means is that I helped her buy them with my Macy's card at a further discount so they would be even more affordable.

I am so glad they have worked out so well! Karen got one and wore it getting tons of compliments. So, when we next passed through the store and she got a couple more in different colors.

Sassy did her Christmas shopping there one year, having the boxes sent to her home in Virginia. Took her all of about 2 hours to do the whole thing! Just a little side bennie of having the hotel across the street from the mall that is staying open late!

[karen z]

I am wearing the "first" sweater as I write this and washing others.
Thanks again Steph.
Love,
K

[sassy]

I would like to report that I am getting closer and closer to a "normal walk" after my foray into the world of exemestane, closely followed by a stress fracture in my left foot, which led to the purchase of the walking clogs 3 days out of a boot! (How is that for a clause laden sentence!)

Still have a bit of the rolling walk when tired, but getting there! 50 lbs lighter would probably clear up my walk completely!

[karen z]

Rhonda,
This is super good news. Macy's (and your hard work) come through again!
Love,
K

[Jackie07]

Ever heard of 'San Antonio Shoes'? (SAS)

They are the most comfortable shoes around. Not cheap, but is worth every dollar!

[karen z]

o.k., Jackie............ are you kidding us?

[Jackie07]

Course not. Check it out! http://sasshoes.com/

[karen z]

Thanks Jackie. Will do !

[rhondalea]

Okay...first the shoes: I got exactly what I deserved for wearing them, but I lived, so it's all good. We walked at least 5 miles a day, not counting a late night stroll (ha, ha) around the Riverwalk. (For that, I was wearing sneakers, I think, or I'd still be whining about the pain.)

I did look for shoes at Macy's, but the ones I liked did not come in my size. Those SAS shoes look exactly like what I'd like to have, so even though I'm the world's worst shopper, it's time to bite the bullet. Thank you, Jackie.

I thought I was set up here for a long post with a few recollections, blah, blah, blah, but I'm tired. My oncologist did not warn me what chemo would do to my bones, so I was surprised to become a candidate for periodontal surgery. I had no pain until several days afterward, and then the stitches nailed me. I don't know what it is about stitches in my upper jaw, but they given me a headache and incredible sinus pressure. The stitches came out today, but now that I can sleep, I really need a nap.

One thing...something really funny happened in the boat, and I can't remember what it was...only that I laughed so hard I couldn't breathe. Does someone remember? (It was my favorite moment, and it really bugs me that I don't know why.)

[StephN]

Christine beat you to the punch, Jackie! SAS is the brand she would buy. But, thanks for the reminder for those who did not know about them.

There is a special store here that carries most of the styles, and some styles can be found at most major department stores.

Was NOT on the boat ride (snif, snif) so was not in on the joke, Rhondalea. Hope your mouth gets to feeling better fast.

[karen z]

Rhondalea,
So sorry to hear about your surgery and the stitches. Now you need to seriously rest up. The whole boat ride was nonstop laughing (or being mesmerized by all the lights) so my memories during the ride are not very distinctive. I think my brain just coded the whole ride as "this is amazing". I do remember seeing some of the photos as they were happening and they struck me as unbelievably hysterical. So, I don't have very many specific or distinctive memories (after waiting in line- that I remember). I will add the SAS shoes to the list I started at the conference ! SABCS is like the "Angie's List" of health and nutrition related sites............and now shoes!!!