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A few thoughts
I wrote something that seems to have disappeared into cyberspace, so here are my thoughts in a nutshell:
* Your oncologist doesn't seem to be that knowledgeable. Yes, some of your problems could be herceptin (tiredness, broken out skin), but some of them could be all the taxanes you have had, since you did an unusually large number of cycles and taxanes are associated with achiness. Herceptin mainly causes problems because patients have had so many really toxic treatments beforehand, especially things like adriamycin.
* His figures on the UK are way off. There is no way the British National Health Service would fund an expensive drug if it only benefitted 2% of people. Herceptin with chemo has halved recurrence in a number of trials, whileherceptin after chemo seems to reduce it by around about a third. In the UK, it is not used with node-negative, ER-positive patients because the overall benefits for that group are smaller. However, since you were first diagnosed as node positive, your benefit would be much higher.
* Did you have your herceptin after chemo or with chemo and, if so, with which chemos? There have been some successful small trials in which herceptin was given only with the taxane part of the chemo, suggesting that that is where the main benefit comes in. So, if you are having problems tolerating the full year, you should consider that you may have had most of the benefit already if you had herceptin based chemo.
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