Taxol and Herceptin for stage 2?

kdholt

Hi Ladies,
One quick question for someone out there. My breast surgeon still thinks I'm a good candidate for taxol and herceptin. She brought it up again when I saw her yesterday. So I have been scouring these forums looking for information on TH. To me it looks like many stage 1 her+ Get it but what about us stage 2. Do we still qualify for TH? Or will I more than likely get something different? I know treatment protocols change often. I see my MO Tuesday so I guess I will know for sure what the plan is then. I guess I'm really hoping to be able to do TH and hoping new stage and grade of my cancer(stage 2A, grade 3) aren't going to prevent me from this treatment path. My daughter is getting married in May and I'd love to have the hard stuff behind me by then so I can enjoy the day!

Debbie

MinusTwo

YOU need to talk to your doc. There's a fine line between 2 & 3. And every single doc has a slightly different plan. If you don't like your doc's plan, maybe you need a 2nd opinion. But since you're HER2+, you will definitely do chemo. And usually before surgery with HER2+.

Taxotere or Taxol is what jump starts the Herceptin - so it will likely be one of the other. I had Taxotere, Carboplatin, Herceptin & Perjeta before surgery and Adriamycin & Cytoxan after surgery because I didn't have pCR from the first batch. Then of course Herceptin for the rest of a year. I've read on these boards that some people think Taxol easier but have no personal knowledge.

kdholt

Hi minus two,

I already had the BMX 3 weeks ago. So for me the next step is chemo. I just don’t know which kind. I am meeting with my onc on Tuesday. I was just wondering what other people’s experiences were.

Debbie

WC3

kdkolt:

As far as I understand, TCHP is the standard treatment for HER2+ breast cancer requiring chemotherapy, which stage 2 does. It is the treatment I had. Though my "T" was taxotere but with respect to this type of cancer, taxol and taxotere are interchangeable, but I think taxol is weekly and taxotere is every three week and taxol has less risk of permanent alopecia.

Melbo

I’m stage 2a and I’m on theTCHP cocktail, which seems to be fairly common for HER2+ tumors.