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Chelee · 01-10-2010, 09:56 PM

Vicky, Since TMs aren't always reliable many times onc's know it just causes "some" patients too much anxiety. For me personally I rather know asap when I recur. I had recurrence in several places and had no symptoms. So when these onc's say to 'wait" for symptoms...what if the person never has any?

If you are considering having them done even though they say they don't run them there. You could always ask/push for them now and blame it on us. Tell them all your Her2 sisters get them done. lol (I'm kidding!)

But seriously...if this is a tool you would like to use I would get a baseline TM ran some time after you finish chemo. But wait a short while because TM's will some times jump up around the end up chemo. So you would want to wait till your finished up with that.

I checked my journal & it was my 4th infusion of TCH that I felt like I didn't get anything. What a trip. But my 5th & 6th wasn't horrible...but it wasn't like the 4th. (Darn it.) I could tell I had chemo...sorry to disappoint you. But hey...maybe you will get lucky and yours will be the same as your fourth one. Good luck to you Vicky. Congratulations on being almost finished. Yeah.

Chelee

01-10-2010, 09:56 PM	#10
Chelee Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Southern, CA Posts: 2,511	Re: Tumor Markers & Update Vicky, Since TMs aren't always reliable many times onc's know it just causes "some" patients too much anxiety. For me personally I rather know asap when I recur. I had recurrence in several places and had no symptoms. So when these onc's say to 'wait" for symptoms...what if the person never has any? If you are considering having them done even though they say they don't run them there. You could always ask/push for them now and blame it on us. Tell them all your Her2 sisters get them done. lol (I'm kidding!) But seriously...if this is a tool you would like to use I would get a baseline TM ran some time after you finish chemo. But wait a short while because TM's will some times jump up around the end up chemo. So you would want to wait till your finished up with that. I checked my journal & it was my 4th infusion of TCH that I felt like I didn't get anything. What a trip. But my 5th & 6th wasn't horrible...but it wasn't like the 4th. (Darn it.) I could tell I had chemo...sorry to disappoint you. But hey...maybe you will get lucky and yours will be the same as your fourth one. Good luck to you Vicky. Congratulations on being almost finished. Yeah. Chelee __________________ DX: 12-20-05 - Stage IIIA, Her2/Neu, 3+++,Er & Pr weakly positive, 5 of 16 pos nodes. Rt. MRM on 1-3-06 -- No Rads due to compromised lungs. Chemo started 2-7-06 -- TCH - - Finished 6-12-06 Finished yr of wkly herceptin 3-19-07 3-15-07 Lt side prophylactic simple mastectomy. -- Ooph 4-05-07 9-21-09 PET/CT "Recurrence" to Rt. axllia, Rt. femur, ilium. Possible Sacrum & liver? Now stage IV. 9-28-09 Loading dose of Herceptin & started Zometa 9-29-09 Power Port Placement 10-24-09 Mass 6.4 x 4.7 cm on Rt. femur head. 11-19-09 RT. Femur surgery - Rod placed 12-7-09 Navelbine added to Herceptin/Zometa. 3-23-10 Ten days of rads to RT femur. Completed. 4-05-10 Quit Navelbine--Herceptin/Zometa alone. 5-4-10 Appt. with Dr. Slamon to see what is next? Waiting on FISH results from femur biopsy. Results to FISH was unsuccessful--this happens less then 2% of the time. 7-7-10 Recurrence to RT axilla again. Back to UCLA for options.