[ellen]

Hello All,

I am posting for the first time although I have responded a few times. I am an almost four- year survivor (Dec) of inflammatory breast cancer and am her2 positive, er negative. I have had two separate mastectomies and been on nine different chemos. I am on tykerb/avastin which I started the beginning of July. I take 6 tykerb pills a day. I had a right pleural effustion which stopped responding to chemo.

I have been doing great in the trial, doctors are very happy, me too. Ca 15.3 down to 15, cea 1.6 , ca 125 32. The big problem are my liver enzymes. They have gone from 48 to 221 in weeks (alt), and three days later, 282. The ast is also going up, now about 190. The alp went from 70 to 78. I am going for another liver panel test Thursday, 3 days after the last one. I have no other serious reactions to the Tykerb and in fact, have handled it quite well given the high dose.

These numbers are moving up fast. Yet my tm went down. Doctor has not reduced my tykerb dose. I am sure I will be going for a pet/ct scan asap ( I had a clean ct scan 6 weeks ago) but my question is, has this happened to anyone else on tykerb? It does state in their literature that ast/alt can be affected but this much? Is this the beginning of liver mets? NO other signs. I am really going crazy because I was doing so well. I really cannot go back on chemo because I have had so very much already.

I thank each and every one of you wonderful people who post and have helped me in ways that outside people could never understand. You have been my lifeline to survival. I really don’t believe I would be here today without this support group. Your courage and information have sustained me throughout this ordeal. With sincere gratitude, Ellen