MUGA at 46 - now what?

whatRstatsanyway

Hi all. This is my first post. I am 53. work full time and am a single mother of two. I went through a mastectomy, 6 FEC100, tamoxifen and herceptin at 3 week intervals (10).I was one of the lucky ones and worked throughout without interruption or major SE - probably due to the advice gleaned from this site ( thank you!!) After herceptin #9, my MUGA went from 51 to 48 and then 46. For some strange reason, I had treatment #10 and today, two days before #11, I get a call from the onc saying that we are stopping things until the next appointment ( 5 weeks from now). I don't know why I received the last treatment as the test results were in and were low then. I've never been above 52, so I haven't got much leeway to start. I bike, walk, watch my diet, take fish oil and CoQ10. The last thing that I want to be is a cardiac cripple, but is 10 herceptin considered to be enough, or should I risk cardiac consequences? After reading posts on this site, I really appreciate the knowledge that you all have - I guess that I'm just plain scared of the unknown. On one hand, I'm looking at cardiomyopathy, on the other, the possibility of a reoccurrence, of which the onc was so nice to point out that I'm at high risk for.....

riley702

It's possible it was a bad MUGA, although since yours have all been close makes that theory iffy. I had a MUGA of 36 and we all freaked out, but then they sent me for a heart MRI to double-check. That came back 78! So, it was a botched MUGA. It's at least worth asking your doc for a re-do, whether another MUGA or a heart MRI. I'm triple negative, so I wouldn't be on Herceptin, but I was receiving Adriamycin at the time, which can also trash your heart function. Crossing my fingers for a good result for you!

sheila888

Usually once you take a break from Herceptin Muga goes up.

I took Herceptin once a week for 52 weeks. Muga slightly went down to 60 something.

How many more treatments do you have?

whatRstatsanyway

Thanks so much for the replies. In theory, I have 7 left ( a treatment every 3 weeks, for 1 year, at the higher dose). Before Epirubricin, I was at 53, then had a MUGA every 2 months. It stayed around 51 and then slowly went below 50 - we wondered if it was significant, so I requested a month for  a break to see and that's when it went to 46, from 48. Then I had another treatment and was scheduled for one tomorrow when I got the call. The decision will be made next month whether or not to continue and I would love to be straight on my facts before I walk into the appointment. The oncology center treats so many in a day that sometimes I feel that we fall between the cracks. I've got a lot of people depending on me to stay functional, as long as possible. Like so many, I'm frustrated, scared and trying to deal with "life" outside of this. I'm 4 hours away from the oncology center and the nearest hospital is an hour away, so scheduling appointments is a joy in itself with my work schedule. Thanks for your support - it means the world!