Potentially Kadcyla after surgery

Going through breast cancer treatment Surgery
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Hi all. I was diagnosed with stage 2 (grade 3) triple positive BC in November 2020. This was such a shock as I’m an active and healthy 34 year old woman. I was lucky enough that the cancer hadn’t spread but still needed chemotherapy due to it being aggressive. 

I struggled through 6 horrible cycles of chemo and had a lumpectomy a month later. I started herceptin on my 4th cycle of chemo and now get an injection in my thigh every 3 weeks (for a year I’ve been told). 

Yesterday I received my pathology results from my lumpectomy. It was quite unclear to be honest. Even though the surgeon got the tumour and my lymph nodes are clear, I need to get further surgery in less than 2 weeks. I was told that this is because they have to follow guidelines about how much tissue they take away and not enough of mine was (about 1mm). I was also told that even though there was no sign of cancer in my lymph nodes that I might need further chemo as there was no sign of chemo in my lymph nodes. I’m getting radiotherapy also. I’m so upset about this as the cancer is gone but it’s just to prevent it coming back. I know I should be happy that the doctors are trying everything to stop it recurring but the thought of more chemo is causing me so much upset and anxiety.

I spoke to my nurse and she thinks the chemo that the doctor was referring to is Kadcyla. Is anyone getting this treatment? If so, what side effects have you experienced? I really want to be able to work as I couldn’t during previous chemotherapy. 

Thank you. P x  

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Hi Phil86

Thank you for posting on the Forum, and I’m sorry to hear you’re feeling anxious. Hopefully someone will join the conversation soon, but if you would like to talk things through, our nurses can offer support, information, or just a listening ear. You can post a question in the Forum’sAsk Our Nurses board, or if you prefer to speak to them on the phone, you can call them confidentially on freephone 0808 800 6000.

Sending you my best wishes  :sun_with_face:

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Hi Phil,

Bit of a late reply as I’ve not been on the forum for a while, but I wanted to offer some reassurance if I can. I had stage three her2 and er positive breast cancer, with an original tumour around 7cm X 5cm and a couple of lymph nodes affected. I had EC then paclitaxl (sp?), Then surgery then radio. After surgery I thought I was done with chemo but my onc suggested kadycla as a preventative measure against it coming back. I didn’t suffer too badly with chemo side effects and Kadcycla has definitely been very gentle. (Although I’ve been having some vision issues of late that I’m getting checked out) Presume yours must be underway now and hope you’re not facing too many side effects - I find I don’t even need domperidone or anything, I hope it’s the same for you! Have seen some stories of fairly nasty side effects, but my understanding is that’s quite rare, as the kadcyla is targeted it’s generally thought to be less likely to cause side effects than other chemo drugs.

Take csre,

Sarah x