[al from Canada]

Annemarie,

Thanks for the kind words. I have a number reasons I post: I feel I have family here, it helps me heal, I think I can still contribute and of course the big one: I have 2 daughters who have a one in eight chance of getting this disease in their life time. If the unthinkable ever happened, believe me; I will be prepared.

In terms of other options, there are other "small molecule" drugs that do cross the blood brain barrier. Two are Iressa and Tarceva. These drugs are HER1 inhibitors which represent 1/2 of lapatinib's action and since you are HER2 + there is a strong chance you are also HER1+. There is another drug under development, pertuzumab, which is a HER1,2 & 3 inhibitor but I am unsure of the molecular size.

Al