Hi, Sherry,
I was born in Welch, WV, so howdy neighbor. >>smile... I, too, have struggled off and on with liver mets since 1999 and am still here and going quite strong. What worked HANDS down best for me...was simply taking a higher dose of herceptin more frequently...every time the liver mets came back--which they did again and again for about 4 years--now I have mets in my sternum, but at least..smile..it is different hee hee hee. Anyway, every time I got it, I just knocked it back down with herceptin alone and avoided any chemos which were just toxing out my already over-loaded liver.
For some reason, the oncs don't seem to be aware of the incredible power of simply increasing the dose of herceptin for mets folks--for really severe cases, even hitting it with 8mg/kg is NOT too much..but at least going back to a loading dose of 4mg/kg and then weekly 2/mg is also beneficial--just monitor your Serum her-2 levels and take as much Herceptin as you need as frequently enough as you need to start causing the numbers to drop and the liver enzymes to stabilize.
You did not mention how much herceptin you are currently taking. If for any reason, you are NOT taking herceptin, get back on a loading dose ASAP and if you switched from weekly to every 3 weeks, return to weekly which is best for very active disease...you can and should be taking it with the Xeloda, if you like. Also, there are MANY things nutritionally and with supplements you can do to help yourself. Many are posted right here on this site. I found walking also very helpful and mind-clearing. In a REAL emergency, and as long as your kidney function is still ok, you could try taking a 5-day Z-pak to bring the numbers quickly, but temporarily back down and there are just so many other things, like the olive leaf, and milk thistle mentioned, and eating artichokes, etc., etc.
With so many advances today, there is no reason not to have hope, especially, if the the mets are only in the liver, as those are some of the easiest to clear with the Herceptin, whether used alone, or coupled with some agent, like Xeloda, which back in 1997, I found very useful in normalizing my cancer in the form of 5-Fu, long before Herceptin was even approved...fyi. Xeloda is effective against most varieties of her-2 mediated mets, but in my humble opinion, works BEST when combined with the APPROPRIATE increased dosing of Herceptin.
Please take care and feel free to write me any time with any specific questions or worries you might have as I have a lot of experience with resolving liver mets in myself and in others. You can e-mail me direct at
GPopp@Comcast.net.
Please take care, Gina