Her2+ & BRCA+?

My tumor was Her2++++ - BRCA1 & BRCA2 tests were negative (good question Lexislove!)

My Genetic Counselor said the same. That Her2+ Is less apt to be BRCA.

I was Negative BRCA

LLove I just have to say how much I like you, you are just great. Maybe I get sick comfort in that you and others on here are so much like me. I just knew you would post on this thread as I would and you are always so on top of it. I just had a big LOL because I came over expecting to see this question and feel comforted by the fact that you posted and I am not as odd as I think by this blessed worrying.

I too am very very HER2 positive and in answer to your question I am BRC 1 and 2 Neg.

I hope you will have the best vacation ever, please let us know the fun things you do and how you let go of BC for 7 weeks, I would like to take a tutorial on that......LOL 

Sorry-but I'm HER2, and BRCA2!! (Trust me to be different....)

Me too (BRCA2)

Sorry Lexi......

But hope you will be OK.

-Helena.

Lexi...to confuse the issue even more. I had a mastectomy at primary diagnosis in 1996. Following the genetic results some years later, I opted to have the healthy breast removed, and a hysterectomy. Sadly, several years later (Nov 2007), I was diagnosed with mets to pleura, liver and bone. Although I was warned that this could happen, I had felt that I had to do as much as I could to minimise the risk of recurrence-but sadly for me, the prophylactic surgery did not contain the risk. If you have additional surgery, your risk will be decreased substantially-but it can never be completely removed. With hindsight, I'm still glad that I had the surgery-it's only speculation, but had I not had the surgery, I may have had the recurrences sooner-who knows? I didn't have reconstruction at either stage-I'm quite comfortable with my body image, so it was never a huge issue in this respect for me.

Elaine - did you ever receive Herceptin?

Swim, I did indeed receive herceptin (in conjunction with taxotere, which worked well, and we had 50% reduction). However, when we continued on herceptin alone, the tumours started to regrow again. My onc then tried me on xeloda and tykerb, which did nothing for me. We now wonder if I may still repond to herceptin, but not tykerb. However, as helena pointed out, I am now on a PARP trial, and the criteria of that stipulated no other drugs (although I may if necessary be able to have bisphosphonates, if the bones deterirate too much). Initial response to this has been promising-I was scanned after 2 cycles, and had slight reduction in the pleura, stability in the liver, and slight progression in some of the bones. I'm on the BRCA2 arm of the trial, and my gut feeling is that potentially this is the way forward for genetic cancers.

We were disappointed to get no response from tykerb-theoretically, as I responded to herceptin, I should have responded to this-but again, that returns us to the old problem-what works for one patient, may not necessarily be any use to another.

Yeah!!!!!!!!