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Thanks for sharing the link and tape. It is very encouraging.
April to June 06 - I was in a trial with Femara (for sure) and Lapatinib (50 / 50 chance). Within a few weeks the skin mets were gone, my markers went down and the visible lumps on my chest were gone. We took this as an excellent response. Upon scanning 3 months later while I had an excellent response in the chest-wall and skin, it was discovered that I had 7 tiny spots on my liver. We switched immediately to Gemzar and Herceptin (5 months) and the liver is almost clear (3 tiny spots too small to tell without biopsy) and the rest remains clear. (Maybe Herceptin would have worked alone...who knows?).
About a month ago we switched to Faslodex and Herceptin (Zometa monthly for bone mets). Scans in 2 more months.
We are still waiting to learn if I was on Lapatinib or not. I think that the plan is to add it once approved. For my specific case I feel that my doctor has always seemed to be more interested in the combo of Herceptin and Lapatinib than Lapatinib alone. The early thought and the reason I entered the trial was that I might respond to hormonal alone. The idea was that Laptanib would be an added bonus if I got it.
Background: I am 50 years old. I was first diagnosed in 1989 in my early 30's treated with mastectomy and 6 months CAF. In 1999 (with a 5 month old baby boy) I was found to have breast cancer in the other breast and was treated with a mastectomy, no lymph node involvement and no further treatement. In 2002 I had an elective hysterectomy. March 2006 - Stage 4 - nodes, chest / chest-wall (two lumps above implant), skin and bones. I had never been treated with hormonals.
I will post once I find out for sure if I was on Lapatinib.
Thanks, Carolyns
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