for how long Herceptin?

vivo

Hello her2+ sisters... 

I am her2+ hr+stage IV . Finished chemo work and now on herceptin , zometa and femara with no evidence of desease!!! Femara  and Zometa are for lifetime but I cannot understand what the protocol says for herceptin and how long will I have to take it. There are some women in the thread that take it for 1 year and then  stop it. If everything goes all right will I stop it after a year or the stage IVs take it for lifetime?  

orange1

The wife of a colleague has stage IV and has been on it for 10 years.  She is doing fine.  I don't know if she is NED or stable, but I do know she is still on it.

chainsawz

I am also stage IV and will be taking herceptin for the rest of my life (I hope 30 years!) or until it stops working.  It was explained to me that once you are stage IV, you will be on a regime until it doesn't work anymore.....there is no cure for cancer, so once it spreads you have to always assume it is lurking around somewhere....better safe than sorry :>  It has kept me stable for 14 months and I am SO grateful!!  

I will be doing my third type of chemo on top of herceptin and tykerb shortly.  The others on this thread taking herceptin for a year are probably earlier stage.  I believe the protocol for them is much different than it is for us.   

Congrats on being NED!!  That is an amazing thing and I am so happy for you and I hope it lasts for 30 to 40 years!!   Best to you!! lisa

JeninMichigan

I will be on Herceptin for life.    My onc says Zometa (actually I take Aredia) just for two years but Herceptin is for keeps.   I am good with that.  It is life a security blanket.    I am doing Herceptin and Tykerb right now and have been NED for about 15 months now and off Chemo since August 2008.    I should get to finish up with Tykerb in February!

 I have heard of many ladies doing wonderfully on Herceptin being stage IV for very long periods of time 5-10 years. 

Best of Luck.

Jennifer