Interesting article on our fellow Chinese HER2 sisters...

[RhondaH]

AWESOME suggestions and Kim...my thinking is "can it be worse"? and then I answer "yes, it can" and then I think of all my blessings and not my problems. Also, Sarah, I wish we could. Unfortunately, China is a communist country (my sons best friend is from China) not to mention that "women" are not thought highly of (not sure if you've heard the story of how in China there is a 1 child per couple limit and for those that have girls, they tend to abandon them so that they can try to have another...preferably a boy and NOW the problem they are experiencing is that they have all these boys and no girls to marry them to) and like Al said, there are so many OTHER countries that have the same experiences. Take care and God bless.

Rhonda

[Cathya]

Hi;

I had an interesting discussion last evening with a federal politician here in Canada. I was asking about our health care system and he told me he believes that countries such as the US, Canada and the EU must get together and deal with pharmaceutical companies and drugs on an international basis.....for instance your FDA in the US is able to get drugs registered much more quickly than Canada because we have a smaller organization. This would be the first step in a process of becoming global. I love the idea. The article on those chinese women really does hit your heart. We really are so lucky to live where we do and have all of the benefits. I also get down sometimes....as I believe we all can do from time to time.....we are after all living with a life threatening illness. When that happens to me I try to pull myself into the day.....this day....what I am doing....who I am with. It is only when I think longer term that I can worry a bit so I try not to do that....or at least not to do that without being in the presense of an extreme optomist....lol.

Cathy

[Christine MH-UK]

I hope that you are feeling a bit better today, unregistered guest. While I think that life was better before breast cancer, certainly there are still some good things and helps me to focus on what I still have rather than what I have lost.

The question of why bad things happen to good people is an old one and in the early days of breast cancer I did feel a bit like Job (who lost everything but his life). Instead of "why me?," I think "why not me?" Time and chance happen, unfortunately. But, at least for her2 positive breast cancer, the clinical proof is that the drugs have made a big difference to the survival of her2 patients and I am thankful for that.

The governments do need to get things together and work things out. Right now there are real problems in comparing US and European clinical trials on breast cancer simply because no study has been done comparing the efficacy of FEC (the European standard anthracycline) with AC (the US standard), so studies based on those combinations don't readily translate, although this problem might disappear if they are replaced by a new anthracycline. From a her2 perspective, there have been two drugs trials now, one in Finnland and one in Miami, with fairly strong results indicating that perhaps giving herceptin only during chemo is adequate, but attempts to get the larger trial, FinHer, tested more widely in Europe seem to be foundering because the governments don't want to shell out for this type of research, even though these small trials had fewer heart problems and were highly effective (83% disease free survival at 3 years for stage III patients in the Miami trial of herceptin+cisplatin+taxotere->AC with low cardiotoxicity (1 woman with congestive heart failure out of arounf 40). The costs of the full-year of herceptin (not just the drug, but also the administration) mean that it is simply too expensive for many countries and you would think the governments would be chomping at the bit to find a more efficient use, but apparently not. There is some good material on this in an article 'Beyond the Herceptin Hype,' which is, unlike many similarly titled items on the internet, an intelligent discussion of the problem of expensive drugs.
http://www.cancerworld.org/CancerWor...e.aspx?id=1083

[hannah68]

Dear All,
Let me share my experience about getting Herceptin here.After I was done with standard chemo, surgery and RT in 2005, my surgeon suggested I take a year of Herceptin.At that time she thought my cancer was local hence herceptin as a preventive maintenance treatment. We like the idea very much but the cost is very expensive. We have no insurance and have to pay by ourselves. Every oncologists were not supportive about this because of the cost and also they thought herceptin was at a clinical trial stage and bla..bla.At that time,my surgeon left for UK and I was left alone without any damn doctors monitoring my progress with herceptin. Only one nurse helps me with the infusions and so on.

When I went to get my treatment, these doctors didnt acknowledge my presence..
Now I am into 14th session and thanks God, and thanks my surgeon for recommending me this drug. I am NED for the rest of my body except for
my brain- we found tumors early this month.

I found this site and very GRATEFUL for all the infos and encouraging stories from everybody here.
Take care and God Bless.

Dear Members,

I am very thankful to all of you for your tremendous support. I just opened this link and read so many responses and I felt good that someone out there cares for how I feel. I don't even have the words to thank all of you ( I am actually crying as I am typing this message).

It's just that sometimes I feel so lonely in this fight that I feel lost but the messages that all of you have sent gives me comfort and hope. I hope someday I will be the one comforting others.

Thank you and God bless you all !!!!

Rose

[Sheila]

Rose

We are all here for each other... I do not know how desperate I might feel without the love and support I have found here....we are all in this together, we didn't ask for this, we don't deserve this, but life has dealt us this, and so we go on, trying to make something positive out of all of this. If we can make one life better from this experience, then it is not a bad journey....
remember, it is out of our hands, we are not given more than we can take...although the limits seem to be pushed at times.

[CherylS]

Rose,

I don't have the answer to why these things happen to us either. One thing I have definitely learned through my cancer journey however, is that if we allow it, God is waiting to use this difficult challenge in our lives to draw us closer to Himself and to show His loving character in ways no other experience can. Remember, God is not a religion, He is the real, living, loving, caring, forgiving creator of heaven and earth and you. He is waiting for you to cry out to Him.
I know that this can sound trivial or cliche', but I can honestly say that I am a happier, better, more at peace person now. I love my family and my life, but when my life here is through a better one awaits me. My duty here for whatever time remains is to love those around me with the love of Jesus, and to help Him offer the same free gift of the promises I have to as many others as possibe. Open your heart up to Him, ask Him to reveal Himself to you and mean it, and then hang on for the ride of your life.

You are much stronger than you feel right now. Hang in there, and keep posting. You have found a great resource here to share your feelings, thoughts, fears, conerns.

God Bless,
Cheryl