Herceptin finally bites back

[Tom]

I guess I knew this day might come, but it still caught me by surprise. As we waited for Mom's Herceptin infusion, we were told the onc needed to talk to us. That made my neck hairs stand up, as usual. Well, he told us that Mom's MUGA results showed a rather sudden, and precipitous drop in her LVEF. It had dropped tp 49% , down from 69% three months ago. This news made me sick, as I knew we were about to be denied Herceptin, and we were. The onc wants to wait and watch for a while. That concept has always seemed to me to be the same as watching a house fire start in an ash tray. I hate it, but he's right. What good will Mom be if she's NED, but has no pulse?

I surrendered with almost no fight to his decision, but did ask if he would allow her to receive lapatinib if I could make that happen, and he agreed that he would. So, I now need to finds out exactly what criteria need to be met before Mom might qualify for compassionate use. In the meantime, I am going to try and increase her intake of some of the staples I have been using all along. Those would be ECGC, IP-6, CoQ-10, D-3, and pomegranate, among others. I also intend to add olive leaf extract (D-Lenolate) to the list.

I must say that I feel like we're now doing a high-wire act WITHOUT a net. I guess we shall see soon enough. I really hated to give up the one thing I am convinced has kept the Beast quiet all of these many months. Oh well. More green tea, and lots more prayer.

Tom