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08-10-2005, 03:37 PM

I was diagnosed in May 1998, stage 2b or 3a. 7 out of 9 lymph nodes affected; Mastectomy followed by 4 rounds of AC and 4 rounds of taxol. Then I had 7 weeks of radiation. Remained NED until May 2004. I am HER2 positive so if I had been in a Herceptin trial in 98 I would have been in the group that made it longer than 5 years. At the time I knew about it, but as everyone knows it was not offered for early stage disease. During the spring of 04 I begin getting headaches and was diagnosed with a 3cm tumor to the left prefrontal cortex. A pet scan revealed multiple small mets to the lungs, liver, nodes through out, and I had skin mets on my chest. I then had a craineotomy to remove lesion followed by stereotactic surgery. The worse part of the whole experience was the decadron. I wish I had known about this site at http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&ct=pr...aGauvLsZAOthat time so I would have understood why I was up all night and at the same time so weak. In July I started Herceptin without any other chemo to see if it would work, and also because my daughter's wedding was in July. By the end of the summer my tumor markers were all low normal, and the skin mets were gone. I went back to teach third grade in September and never missed a day of school. All my MRI's have been clean, but I am a wreck everytime I go for one. I have been on herceptin for a year and worry how long it will continue to work by itself.

Again, I can't say enough about how wonderful the supporters of this website are. It has really helped me get through this.

Thank you to all of you who post your messages.

Best,
Barbara

08-10-2005, 03:37 PM	#7
Barbara H. Guest Posts: n/a	I was diagnosed in May 1998, stage 2b or 3a. 7 out of 9 lymph nodes affected; Mastectomy followed by 4 rounds of AC and 4 rounds of taxol. Then I had 7 weeks of radiation. Remained NED until May 2004. I am HER2 positive so if I had been in a Herceptin trial in 98 I would have been in the group that made it longer than 5 years. At the time I knew about it, but as everyone knows it was not offered for early stage disease. During the spring of 04 I begin getting headaches and was diagnosed with a 3cm tumor to the left prefrontal cortex. A pet scan revealed multiple small mets to the lungs, liver, nodes through out, and I had skin mets on my chest. I then had a craineotomy to remove lesion followed by stereotactic surgery. The worse part of the whole experience was the decadron. I wish I had known about this site at http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&ct=pr...aGauvLsZAOthat time so I would have understood why I was up all night and at the same time so weak. In July I started Herceptin without any other chemo to see if it would work, and also because my daughter's wedding was in July. By the end of the summer my tumor markers were all low normal, and the skin mets were gone. I went back to teach third grade in September and never missed a day of school. All my MRI's have been clean, but I am a wreck everytime I go for one. I have been on herceptin for a year and worry how long it will continue to work by itself. Again, I can't say enough about how wonderful the supporters of this website are. It has really helped me get through this. Thank you to all of you who post your messages. Best, Barbara