I don’t want to be the voice of pessimism here but I should point out that Herceptin doesn’t always guarantee a successful treatment. I’ve had chemo and 18 herceptin injections for my Her2 positive tumour. My tumour was completely destroyed by the chemo and I had a lumpectomy. The histology confirmed there were no tumour cells left in the tissue and my lymph nodes were all clear. The week before my last Herceptin injection, I was very suspicious that all was not well and I have just been told that the cancer has returned. It has not responded at all to Herceptin. To say I was devastated is an understatement but I also didn’t realise there was the possibility that the tumour cells wouldn’t respond to Herceptin. I don’t recollect that ever being mentioned so I guess I just assumed it always worked. So I’m now back on this roller coaster journey. I really wanted a mastectomy first time round but because my reponse to chemo had been so good, the surgeon talked me out of it. Hindsight is a great thing but sometimes you need to really go with your gut instinct.
Hello! I am new here! I am Swedish but living in Spain. 45 years old at diagnosis. I have got a weird one for you; I was diagnosed with BC “In Situ”, 5 mm, ErPr+, Her2- (neg), grade 2, clear margins, no vascular invasion, no necrosis. Had surgery begining January 2018. Since the lump was palpable, during surgery (lumpectomy), they also took out a 3 lymph nodes, 1 had micrometastases, and 1 had ITC. The doctors where perplexed, where did these micrometastases come from? The pahologist searched and searched; finally they found a tiny Micro IDC, 0.18mm. It could, due to the small size, not be tested. I did not get chemo, but had 20 rounds of Radiation. I did change oncologist after that. My old oncologist was a very unsympathetic person, older, and seemed kind of tired of his job. Anyway, fast forward, my new Oncologist, head of largest BC clinics in Spain (Madrid and Barcelona), working in many EU countries and the US (researching), said it was too late for chemo, but decided that I needed Herceptin. Yes, you read right; Herceptin! I argued that my In Situ was Her2 Negative, but he said he “didn’t care” about the In Situ lump. But that if a 0.18 mm tumor can send metastases to lymph nodes, it is a very very agressive one; therefore a big chance of being Her2 Positive. He did say that he agreed, they do not know, and that they are “fumbling in the dark” with me. But that he thinks that the side effects of taking Herceptin, outweight the risk of this 0.18 mm tumor being Her2 Positive. I get Herceptin in injections. So far no side effect whatsoever. They said he injection would hurt a lot, but it didn’t hurt at all. Doing heart screens and blood tests. We will see how it goes. I am in a very “grey area”, and it doesn’t feel good at all. But anyway, I am getting Herceptin every 3 weeks for 1 year, without chemo…
Hello
I just read your story from 2013 and wanted to know how you are doing now? I have been told not to do chemo as well and take herceptin.
Please could you let us know how you are and how you found the treatment?
Preet
Hi there I know the post was from a long time ago I just wondered did you have the herceptin without chemo?