[Sandy in Silicon Valley]

Hi, Sherry -

I've been on Herceptin for 4.5 years now, and will be on it until either my left ventricle ejaction fraction indicates weakening of an important heart muscle, due to a common Herceptin side effect, or until my oncologist and I come to believe that my bc mets have acquired resistence to the drug, and it appears no longer to be working.

Initially, when I was on Taxotere weekly, I also got my Herceptin infusions weekly. However, after 6 rounds of Taxotere, I switched to every-3-week infusions of Herceptin. It has not seemed to make a difference in what has been very, very slowwww progression of one lung met. Everything else, neck down, has been stable after two 6-month courses of Xeloda (plus ongoing Herceptin).

When I've gone on vacations, I've even put off getting my Herceptin infusion for an extra week or 10 days, without any noticeable change in my next torso CT scan!

Good luck and success making your decision. For me, it was easy - just didn't want to spend that much time tethered to an IV catheter/ tube/ pole/ room! But each time we have a say in switching any treatment, it's a weighty decision. And my feeling is that everything that happens with bc recurrence is pretty much a crap shoot, with the current state of the "science"/ art of deciding treatment protocols, combined with the fairly unpredictable behavior of cancer cells and our immune systems' recognition of them.

(((hugs)))
Sandy in Silicon Valley