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StephN · 10-31-2005, 11:03 AM

Hi and welcome to the forum.
There are many of us here who have been in an ongoing fight with their cancer for years. Herceptin is big part of why we are all still here.

I, for one, was given a high probablilty of lasting "a year at the outside" and that was in Jan. of 2002. Mainly due to raging liver mets that were likely to spread, but an aggressive chemo cocktail topped in their tracks. This was in combination with Herceptin, and the drugs were very synergistic and worked for me. Now almost 4 years later I am free of active disease and have been off chemo for over 3 years. I still get my herceptin every three weeks like clockwork. I am 56 and my heart is fine, even with all the "bad" chemos I have been on.

Has your doctor mentioned putting you on anything like Zometa?? This is a drug that helps strengthen your bones and fights bone mets. I have been on it for over three years. Now I only take it only every 12 weeks. But all the chemo I had was hard on my bones and I had a lot of bone loss plus evidence of bone mets in my legs. Zometa is in a class of drugs call "biphosphanates." Not sure if it is better to be postmenopausal to take this, but it is worth asking into.

Wanted to add that many of us who are "not supposed to be here anymore" are writing new sets of statistics for survival that are not factored in when the docs give us our "chances." All the new clinical trials data is just coming in that include Herceptin. Your med onc is scaring you with unfounded guesstimates - so be like us - write your own statistic to the new chapter of Surviving Cancer!

10-31-2005, 11:03 AM	#4
StephN Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Misty woods of WA State Posts: 4,128	Five year survivor Hi and welcome to the forum. There are many of us here who have been in an ongoing fight with their cancer for years. Herceptin is big part of why we are all still here. I, for one, was given a high probablilty of lasting "a year at the outside" and that was in Jan. of 2002. Mainly due to raging liver mets that were likely to spread, but an aggressive chemo cocktail topped in their tracks. This was in combination with Herceptin, and the drugs were very synergistic and worked for me. Now almost 4 years later I am free of active disease and have been off chemo for over 3 years. I still get my herceptin every three weeks like clockwork. I am 56 and my heart is fine, even with all the "bad" chemos I have been on. Has your doctor mentioned putting you on anything like Zometa?? This is a drug that helps strengthen your bones and fights bone mets. I have been on it for over three years. Now I only take it only every 12 weeks. But all the chemo I had was hard on my bones and I had a lot of bone loss plus evidence of bone mets in my legs. Zometa is in a class of drugs call "biphosphanates." Not sure if it is better to be postmenopausal to take this, but it is worth asking into. Wanted to add that many of us who are "not supposed to be here anymore" are writing new sets of statistics for survival that are not factored in when the docs give us our "chances." All the new clinical trials data is just coming in that include Herceptin. Your med onc is scaring you with unfounded guesstimates - so be like us - write your own statistic to the new chapter of Surviving Cancer! Last edited by StephN; 10-31-2005 at 11:10 AM..