Weekly vs. tri-weekly Herceptin

The different plus signs after her2 relate to how strongly positive you were for this, I was highly pos so would have three 3+

 I began at weekly infusions but switched to three weekly as my hospital was two hours from me and it became far too much of a hassle to go weekly:)

Tricia x

Hi Julie!

        I did TCH for 6 rounds, (I started on 1/19/10 and ended on 5/3/10) followed by a mastectomy,and 33 treatments of daily radiation. I continued with the weekly Herceptin until the end of my radiation treatments (8/9/10), and then went to the every 3 week schedule, and I just had my last Herceptin infusion on 1/18/11. It has been a long year, but in my opinion the Herceptin (both weekly and every 3 weeks is very doable)! Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions - I'm also a fellow SC girl!

I have talked to my onc about weekly Herceptin vs. every 3 weeks and here is what he said.  His experience is that women have more complaints of heart palpitations when it is given every 3 weeks versus every week.  So he said the way he likes to do it is every week during chemo, then check the MUGA (heart scan) again.  If the MUGA score is good, then you can try going to every 3 weeks but if the heart palpitations are bothersome or if the MUGA score drops (it is done every 3 months) then you would go back to weekly.  I have one chemo left and then if everything looks OK I think I will try the every 3 weeks Herceptin.  My onc's office is only about 10 minutes from my house so it is not terribly inconvenient but I would just prefer to go less often!

Sorry, I forgot to say I also had weekly infusions with taxol but as my heart echo's were okay I then swtiched to herceptin alone three weekly.

 Sam this is a new protocol I think (since I was dx five years ago) as the a/c plus herceptin can be tough on the heart.

Tricia x

This is going to sound a little cynical, but here goes!  If you get it weekly, they make a lot more money off of you!  If you ever saw the breakdown of the treatment and charges, it really adds up.  Just the set-up and initial hour of IV infusion at my center is around $500, not including the drugs or anything else.  Of course, the insurance reimbursement agreed upon is about half of that, but it's still pretty good money.  Or, maybe I'm wrong.  I did the 3 week schedule, and I'm still on Herceptin.  If you had some kind of cardiac issue, I could understand doing weekly, but if you don't have any problems, then 3 weeks is much easier.  If you're getting it with chemo, and doing weekly chemo, then it makes sense to just do it weekly, since it would only take 1/2 hour to infuse as opposed to 1 1/2 hours every 3 weeks, and switch to 3 weeks when chemo is done.  When I was initially diagnosed, the plan was to do DD Taxol every 2 week with Herceptin every week, but my onc changed that to Taxol every 3 weeks with Herceptin.

I will be getting my Herceptin weekly for a year.  I've had 3 treatments of AC at every 3 weeks apart, one more to go and then I am onto Taxol for 4 treatments at 3 weeks apart.  Apparently I won't be given any with my Taxol.   Anyway that is what is scheduled for me, but I guess that could change.

The first four herceptin infusions I did every 3 weeks. The first week after the infusion I was wiped. I just begin to feel well at the time I'm to have the next infusion. After the first two infusions my EF dropped 15% at 50. I began taking C0q10 which helped, and asked them to slow down the infusions. I also have developed strong heart palpitations, and am extremely fatigued. So...I asked my oncologist if it would help if I did weekly infusions. She thought it could help so now I'm scheduled for one every week. I prefer the 3 wk infusions due to the time it takes out of my week. But, if it helps me feel better and helps my heart to get back to normal it's worth it. It might be the only way for me to continue the infusions.

Today I will have my first of the weekly infusions, my fifth. It will be interesting to see how I feel afterwards. I figured it's going to cost more but I'm about caught up on my co-pays to where the rest of the year is covered by my insurance.