Your white blood count was probably already compromised a bit before you started the Herceptin. I read somewhere that it takes two years to "heal" from chemo...
I had a similar reaction as yours (although no hospital stay) with loss of balance, could not raise my head due to horrid dizziness high BP and heart palpitations. My onc thought enough of the reaction to send me in for a brain scan... we all thought I had a tumor up there! Turns out my brain was fine. I eventually got better (after a couple of weeks or so) and then went on Herceptin every week, which still made me dizzy. I even got back on every 2 week doses only to feel awful again. This proved that the Herceptin was the culprit. After that I went on weekly doses and still felt a bit dizzy when I looked up fast, or turned my head... After about 3 months of that, I was perfectly fine. I finished my year in July and I still have mini-dizzy spells that last about 2 seconds with a hot flash following. I call it my early warning system.
Hormones, anxiety, chemo -- it ALL just takes a toll and we have to learn to deal with it. I felt like a wimp when I would see women twicw my age dealing with breast cancer way better than me- but I got over that too. If anything, I am entitled to wimp out whenever I want!
Hang in there! You've put up with so much, don't give up on Herceptin yet. Time does fly and YOU WILL get better!
Maria, (MTS)
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