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Jade · 08-09-2006, 05:16 AM

I'm having my last Herceptin today (after one year) and for the last couple of months have been experiencing strange things going on with my heart. I sneaked a look at my Echo results (done one month ago) while at the oncs yesterday, and while my left ventricle ejection factor (LVEF) was fine, the report noted "mitral, tricuspid and aortic insufficiencies as previously noted". I brought this to my oncs attention as I hadn't been informed of this; he said it's "leakage" and probably wouldn't be a problem until I was 70 (I should be so lucky to be 70!) - I'm 50 now. He is arranging an appointment at the cardiologist to further check it out and provide a baseline for the future. My point being, if I didn't sneak a look at my report and specifically ask the question, this information would no doubt have stayed in the files without my knowledge. I have absolute trust and faith in my onc, however, their focus is on the cancer and treatment related problems, so to him this is minor, and probably why he didn't mention it.

We know when something is not right with our bodies/heart. Perhaps it would be worth asking exactly what the report said, any notes besides that the LVEF was fine.

All the best to you,
Jade

08-09-2006, 05:16 AM	#4
Jade Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Vancouver Canada Posts: 72	Hi Rupali I'm having my last Herceptin today (after one year) and for the last couple of months have been experiencing strange things going on with my heart. I sneaked a look at my Echo results (done one month ago) while at the oncs yesterday, and while my left ventricle ejection factor (LVEF) was fine, the report noted "mitral, tricuspid and aortic insufficiencies as previously noted". I brought this to my oncs attention as I hadn't been informed of this; he said it's "leakage" and probably wouldn't be a problem until I was 70 (I should be so lucky to be 70!) - I'm 50 now. He is arranging an appointment at the cardiologist to further check it out and provide a baseline for the future. My point being, if I didn't sneak a look at my report and specifically ask the question, this information would no doubt have stayed in the files without my knowledge. I have absolute trust and faith in my onc, however, their focus is on the cancer and treatment related problems, so to him this is minor, and probably why he didn't mention it. We know when something is not right with our bodies/heart. Perhaps it would be worth asking exactly what the report said, any notes besides that the LVEF was fine. All the best to you, Jade