I am 17 years as a survivor.

scpatti

No reoccurrence but got sick Dec 2016 with a side effect of my chemo drugs being enlarged heart resulting in congestive heart failure. I am taking medications and should do well. I was never told to have EKGs every three months or would have caught it real early. Please do this after treatment is over.

Moderators

Indeed, thank you for sharing your experience here. Keep sharing! It is appreciated!

BellasMomToo

scpatti, So sorry this happened to you. I recently had a pre-op EKG, which turned out to be "abnormal". (I never had an EKG before so I don't know if I was ever 'normal'.) According to my anesthesiologist, my valves were probably damaged by chemo (last chemo was 2/14/17) and they may or may not repair themselves. Never knew that chemo could do this kind of damage. Good news is my cardio-echos show I have a good heart (I take herceptin so I get cardio-echo grams about every 3 months).

I have an appt with my MO next week. I'll ask her about it.

Denise-G

I had a heart attack during AC chemo and permanent valve damage from Herceptin.  I read that over 80% of all cancer patients have heart damage due to chemo.  My sister, who also went through chemo, is now seeing a Cardio Oncologist - new field.  She sees only cancer patients with heart issues.

KEEP Getting THE  WORD OUT!