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Re: Depression from Herceptin
Dear Elizabeth,
I would urge you very strongly to try and continue with Herceptin. If you look at the signatures on here where women had small tumors and did not have Herceptin they sometimes recurred and a recurrence is truly a change of life. All the current data points to early(small) stage cancers such as yours benefiting greatly from Herceptin. I am wondering if you should seek counseling for this so you can continue your treatments. I know there are some side effects with Herceptin but wonder if your depression is more a result of being on infusions rather than the actual infusion of Herceptin itself. Our minds can do very strange things indeed to us. I truly urge you to find help to conquer this reaction to Herceptin and stay the course. Wishing you all the best, Carolyn
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12/17/08 biopsy after two 6 mos mammo recalls
12/30/08 diagnosed high grade IDC & DCIS ER/PR +, Her2 (+++) post menopausal/age 57
1/15/09 double mastectomy/skin sparing; no evidence of vascular/lymphatic invasion, 8neg/8 nodes (tumor 8.0mm)
2/16/09 given portacath/removed 4/30/10
2/18/09 "surprise" 2.0mm tumor/positive borders~completed 28 rads 10/09.
2/23/09 until 4/19/10~treatments every 3wks (4 Cytoxan + Adriamycin, 4 Taxol + Herceptin, 13 Herceptin alone)
8/09 osteoporosis diagnosis/Zometa 3 yrs of 1x/6 months
Chemo side effects; Deafness, kidney function loss
11/09 began Aromatase Inhibitor (Femara)/Feb2014, stopped Femara early/after 3 mos began Tamoxifen for 8 mos to complete 5 years
11/10 Reconstruction, directly to silicone implants
12/11 nipples by skin graft/Right breast size reduced
I have heard there are troubles of more than one kind
Some come from ahead and some come from behind.
But I've bought a big bat. I'm all ready you see.
Now my troubles are going to have trouble with me!
Dr. Seuss
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