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I believe all these combo protocols in second line treatment(taxotere/herceptin, etc.) are under clinical investigation for those of us who are resistant to herceptin alone. I have had some oncologists agree and some disagree with my decision to stay on Herceptin until what I told them "I die, it stops working or research comes up with something better". Because I had so much disease and was ER-/PR- with nothing else to protect me, I studied everything I could find and made this decision. Of course, I had to be prepared to pay for it myself if my insurance decided it was not allowed. After discussing my first four years of BC with Dr. Slamon last January, he said he doubted that Herceptin was protecting me much after the first year. I don't think even he really know for sure. The data for the two year Herceptin protocol has yet to be published. It takes so so long for the research to be put into action for all of us. And they don't know why some women become resistant and others do not. Of course, they don't know either what causes or fuels ER-/PR- breast cancer---researchers call it the most understudied type of breast cancer. I hope they come up with a blood test to monitor as women are taking Herceptin rather than wait for a shoe to drop. I am anxiously awaiting the news from ASCO Meeting the end of the month---maybe there will be something exciting for all of us.
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