Her-2-nu therapy

smokey

I was told my body needed 40+ infusions of Herceptin (Trastcuamob ??) after having the Taxol. Yes some nurses said take it every  3 weeks;get it over with; douse your body with the drug and enjoy the convenience of having it done only once every 3 weekis.   MMMMM  Why?

 But I chose to have a "lose dose" injected in my body every week.  Yes, it was an inconvenience.  However, it was my choice.  And after reading a lot I thought that was better for my body than having all of the drugs (Taxol 12times + Herceptin....and then another 40 Herceptins) it was easier on my body to absorb all of the chemotherapy drugs.

Who knows what the best outcome really is.  If it is your body and the chemicals are being injected in your body than you need to make that decision; do it quickly or do it slowly; no one really knows what is best.       We all are surprised and overwhelmed when we are diagosned with breast cancer.  It really changes one's life.  Read alll that you can.  And try to help yourself be better, feel better, live a happier life.  You deserver a good life. Remember that.

lovemygarden

I agree with you 100% and am planning to have a discussion with my onc next week wherein I will say that I absolutely want the weekly regimen after I finish my 12 weeks Taxol-Herceptin in June. Question: Did you have a hard time selling the weekly idea to your onc?

Heathersmom

I just finished my one year of herceptin and I can tell you that the bigger dose given every three weeks was no different than the weekly dose I had while getting Taxotere and Cytoxan.

When I began doing just the herceptin infusions I was asked if I wanted it in a 30 or 60 or 90 minute drip. I opted for the 60 minute drip, this worked fine. A few months later I went in for an infusion, due to the doctor running late and the herceptin prescription taking longer to be filled the nurse decided that I could have a 30 minute drip so everyone could get out of there sooner.

I noticed more achiness and flu like symptoms the next day. I gave the 30 minute drip one more chance and when I experienced the same thing, I told them that I wanted a 60 minute drip due to the increased side effects. Once I was back on the 60 minute drip I was fine.

I asked my onc about the weekly infusion and he told me that only the patients with severe side effects or ones that are having lower muga scan scores get those.

Good Luck to you in whatever  you choose to do.

Personally I think the herceptin treatment was a walk in the park compared to the side effects of Femera. I can't wait until my 4 years are up.