Desperate for hope: anyone er-, pr+, HER2+++ but nonresponsive to Herceptin/Tykerb?

[Lani]

in Spain they are doing a trial with Herceptin and Pertuzumab reported by Dr. Baselga at ASCO ( I watched the virtual meeting last night)

The biggest news is a paper authored by Kent Osborne and Rachael Schiff of Baylor where they were able to cure her2+ bc in mice with herceptin, pertuzumab and Iressa (like Tykerb, but blocks only her1 aka EGFR)

Tarceva, a similar oral EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor, is approved for other purposes, I believe --it is just pertuzumab we are waiting for.

There are papers about other drugs which improve the efficacy of Herceptin including fluvastatin and Velcade (approved for multiple myeloma)

In prostate cancer a combination of a very high dose (given in a dosing pattern to avoid kidney stones) vitamin D and Aleve was very effective in metastatic prostate cancer and they were to begin a similar clinical trial in breast cancer at Stanford (don't know if paperwork still in progress or approved)

Just throwing things out there as what you asked for was hope.

Now Becky's suggestions are much more practical and down to earth.

Hope both benefit you!

[lilyecuadorian]

thank you for all your support for theresa and for all of us ....my dears geniuos you and becky and many more in this site .....thank you for all your time and your knowlogy ...so generous ......to share with us ....

[TheresaM]

To all who so generously offered your suggestions or just sympathy, I wanted to provide an update:

I began Hospice today, they have such great support services, and they permit me to stay on the hormonals as a "palliative" for some reason. I've also gotten the okay from the doc I consult with long-distance, to try to add xeloda and tykerb to the mix.

If my onc here will prescribe it, i will try it. i will stop the xeloda/tykerb if it starts to make me feel bad, because I've had enough of that and that was the whole point of beginning Hospice. It most likely means I will have to put the Hospice folks on hold for a while. I'm nervous about this decision because my focus had emphatically changed to having as peaceful a death as possible. But I had surgery Sunday night to replace left ureter stent that was so painful, and put one in on the right, and havent had any pain past two days. I'm feeling pretty good now compared to last week.

that said, my coughing/breathing have worsened since yesterday morning. so.....I'm moving away from "don't talk to me about anything but how to die well" to....could there POSSIBLY be a way to knock back my lung mets without making me feel so bad I want to kill myself.

SO that's my update, thanks again for your support, will keep you updated,
love,
theresa