4 TCH vs 6

Eileenohio

Hello ladies,  I was up all night last night reading about TCH and Herpercin. I found that some gals are doing 4 treatments vs 6 but most all are doing the herception for a year. Only a few did herceptin for 6 months.  I found some studies that say 4 has proven to be as good as 6 just wondering if anyone has had only 4 or if even they were given the option. 4 treatments would cut the time by 6 weeks. I hope my MO will give me this option, We will see tomorrow.

Happy Super Bowl Sunday to everyone.  Hugs  Eileen

Itzme

Eileen:  I am beginning treatment #1 of 4 TCH treatments this week.  I will have herceptin for one year.  My oncologist did not really give me a choice and I want to trust his decision for me so I am trying not to second guess his judgment.  This seems to be the standard for stage 1, negative nodes, Her2+ in our area and the onc thought this was aggressive treatment?  Can anyone tell me what to expect for SE from the TCH and how long I should plan to miss work??

turtle108

my onc wanted me to have 4 TCH, on an every 2 week schedule- I did this, but in the end had 5 TCH, it just made me feel safer- it's been 7 months now, and I am comfortable with my decision- am on Herceptin for one year, and also have started taking Tykerb for the last 3 months of my Herceptin treatment.     I also was stage 1, IDC 1.2cm., no nodes involved-  hope this helps in some way-

BTW, I only lost 50% of my hair during this treatment- so I would not be quick to shave my head if I were you- I would try cutting my hair real short, and see what happens- 

Itzme

Wow Turtle, every 2 weeks?  I am scheduled for every three weeks.  You still had hair after 5 treatments?  I would love that but I have a wig ready to go...   I am getting anxious yet I want to start so I can get this thing behind me.  Did you work through your treatments?

turtle108

yes , I had hair, but I had buzzed it off and it was very short- I wore a wig for a few months until it had grown an inch or so -remember tho , I said I lost 50%, so it was pretty thin. The docs say they see this all the time with TCH-

I did not work thru my treatments- I guess I'm wimpy, but I don't think I could have done it.  I do some work at home on the computer, and I did continue that, but I was pretty much a homebody thru surgery, chemo, rads. 

Just a suggestion, but I found Ativan to be the best drug to get me thru chemo- I really didn't suffer nausea as long as I took it- I'd want to get some in advance if I were you, hopefully your doc has prescribed some anti-nausea drugs for you.  Hope it all goes well, I was scared too, most of us were, but, we got thru it.    good luck to you!!!!

Itzme

I have Emend (super expensive) and Prochlorperazine (generic name I guess) for nausea.  Does anyone have any experience with these two drugs?  I have Ativan but didn't realize it was also for nausea.  I am going to try to work but we will see how that goes....thanks for the wishes...

maureenb

Hi!  No one has posted on here in awhile but I was wondering if anyone knows any latest research on 4 vs 6 TCH.  My onc said 4, but I'm worried.  Is this enough?  I also have a year of herceptin and 5-10 of tamoxifen.  

Annie54

Hi Maureenb,

We have basically the same diagnosis except my tumor was larger at 3.1 cm (stage IIA ER 100%+, PR 60% Her2 2.8+; clean margins, no postive nodes)). I'm having #6 of my TCH tomorrow (Yea done!). I asked the onc about 4 vs 6 treatments as a curiosity because I had read on these boards some gals were doing 4. He told me he always does 6 treatments for his patients - which was fine by me because I want to throw as much at this beast as I can. Perhaps your onc recommended 4 because of the small size of your tumor. For very small tumors they will let you forgo chemo all together. HER2+ is a sneaky aggressive cancer though and I was told because of it I would be doing the full chemo.