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Do the Chemo!
Susan,
I beg you to do the chemotherapy along with the Herceptin. I don't want to scare you but I feel I must tell you my story because I don't want you to end up like me.
I was first diagnosed with DCIS stage "0" in March of 2004. I underwent a lumpectomy and radiation treatments. They even went back in a second time to recheck the margins. I was assured that I was now cancer free. I went for regular checkups and mammograms every six weeks and everything was going great, my life was starting to return to normal. I felt so blessed to have caught it early. Then in December of 2005 I started with a terrible pain in my right side just above my waist. I knew it wasn't my appendix as I had it removed as a child. I went to my doctor to have it checked out and they determined that it was my gall bladder. I went in to have the gall bladder removed by my oncologist surgeon, the same surgeon who did my lumpectomy. When he opened me up to remove the gall bladder he was shocked to find cancer spread extensively throughout my liver. I am now stage "4" and have mets to the spine as well as to the liver. All it takes is for one stray cell to enter into the blood stream or into the lymphatic system.
I wish to God that when I was first diagnosed as stage "0" that I had been put on Herceptin and given chemotherapy treatments. If I had I may not be stage "4" right now.
Being HER2 positive and ER PR negative means you have a very aggressive fast growing cancer. I beg you to take the advice of your oncologist and the women on this site and treat your cancer as aggressively as you possibly can NOW so that you have a better chance of not progressing in the future.
I too have had a history of UTI infections and even had a problem with them when I first started chemo. I even went to a urologist and had several tests done. I am on medication that helps to prevent UTI's, frequent urination and discomfort. The benefits of chemotherapy far out weigh the risks of infection. Infections can be treated and cured, cancer can't.
Like you I was terrified when I went for my first chemo treatment but it was nothing like I had feared. Everything went smoothly and the side effects have been mild to moderate and very tolerable. Like someone else already said if it gets to be too much and you just can't handle it (which I doubt very seriously will happen) you can always stop or have the doses lowered.
I truly hope you will decide to be aggressive in your treatments. If I could do things all over again and had the options that are being offered to you I would jump all over them.
I wish you all the best. My thoughts and prayers are with you.
Big Hugs,
Nicola
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