Following on from my “A Question for Herceptin Ladies” thread, I have another question regarding Herceptin injections.
When I had my first 3 injections alongside my chemo, I had my herceptin injection directly into my thigh (alternating thighs each time), this took around two minutes.
When I started to get my Herceptin injections on their own, it was in the out patient department of my Cancer Centre, rather than the Day Unit where I got my chemo. I was given my injection in a different way there. It was given by having a cannula inserted into my thigh via a long thin tube and the herceptin was injected via the cannula over around 5 minutes. According to the nurse I was speaking to at the hospital today, saline is mixed via this method so a larger amount of fluid is injected into the thigh and this “may” explain the red circles I still have on each thigh causing me to now have to have my herceptin by iv infusion.
Hi Hazel - when I had it with the chemo, the Herceptin was given as an infusion through a cannula. At each of the three treatments all the drugs (Herceptin, Perjeta and Taxotere) were given one after the other on the same day (I don’t think this is typical). Needless to say they were long days, particularly the first time, because I had to be monitored for adverse reactions, and I also had the ‘loading doses’ (double doses) of the two targeted therapy drugs. Somehow I managed to survive all three cycles of this combination! Now I have gone over to Herceptin only injections (at a different hospital), they are being given through a needle in the thigh. It only takes a few minutes - the injection that is, not the faffing around waiting for it, that seems to take a lot longer. I’ve only had one injection so far, and on that occasion the faffing around stage lasted 3 hours (see my post of 12.01.17 on the August 2016 Starters thread for details!). I hope this is not typical. When I eventually had the injection, the nurse told me that in some hospitals they inject it into the stomach instead. So I guess how you have it depends on the policy at the hospital you go to.
Hi again Hazel - how did your next Herceptin go? I had my second Herceptin only injection on Monday, and this time there wasn’t too much waiting around. They did have to wait for the echocardiogram report to confirm my heart was OK, but they did it straight away after that. Hopefully I won’t have another repeat of what happened the first time!