I need the basics about Tykerb....
hi guys :-)
Can someone give me the "reader's digest" story about the current status of Tykerb? My situation is in my signature; I also am watching a non-cancerous mass on my pituitary, so I am having MRIs every 3-4 months.
I am asking this question because I want to be on Tykerb myself and I want to figure out how to get it (so far I have been successful in getting my way on the rest of my treatment requests).
But I am also curious because of a friend of mine. She had a recurrance 13 years after a stage I or II tumor she had in her mid- to late-50s. Her bone and liver mets were discovered shortly after my initial diagnosis (2005), and she was successfully treated with the same meds I received (Herceptin, Taxol, Carboplatin). But a month or two ago, she was losing her balance (of course they wouldn't do a brain MRI unless there she exhibited symptoms--I HATE that), and a 4mm tumor was discovered. She had surgery and will be getting radiation. But I wonder....could she have ben treated neo-adjuvantly with Tykerb, then surgery, then radiation, then continue wth Tykerb? That's just my uneducated thought, and I want to hear from you all about what you have experienced and learned.
thanks!
Val
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BLOG:
http://valleygirlvnp.blogspot.com/
Dx 11/04, Age 42, ER-/PR-, HER2+++
3 months weekly Herceptin, Taxol. Carboplatin
Significant tumor shrinkage
Mastectomy 3/05; Stage 3b, 9 cm tumor, 5/8+ nodes
3 more months weekly Herceptin, Taxol. Carboplatin
7/05 30 radiation treatments, IMRT planning approach
Started 1 year of Herceptin 9/05
9/06 Began quarterly triple doses Herceptin. Brain & breast MRIs semi annually.
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6/08 Right breast, intraductal carcinoma, high nuclear grade associated with comedo necrosis; extensive diffusely involved the entire biopy specimen. ER+, PR-, Her2 unknown at this point, 07/08 mastectomy.
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