When do most recurrences for HER2 happen? Revived round 2...

Shadow, congratulations on being 3 years out.  I was 3 years out in June and I think 3 years is big.  Its really all in the past, if you will.  Could be different tomorrow but i'm not going there.  I want to be happy today.

bump

Hi Marilyn

Once you've finished your chemo, you are likely to start feeling better quite quickly.

I'm a month past my final chemo now and feeling 50 per cent back to normal but cheery.

Hope you will too.

Alice

everyone is different.   you are not a statistic.   i had recurrance 6 months after stopping herceptin

Evergreen, sounds like time for a check-up. No sense worrying ourselves when the drs are there.

Barb, sorry to hear of your recurrence. May i ask how you found it?

My fear is that i get done with herceptin and go about my life thinking all is fine, not knowing that something is happening that i can't feel. When those of you finished tx, did you get any scans or tests that showed you were clear? I asked my mo at last visit 'how do we know its gone'. He said 'we don't but it was probably gone after surgery, before you even got to me'. Your thoughts?

I just spent the better part of an hour reading the first Her2 recurrence thread and then this newer one. I hope people keep adding to this because it's so interesting what different opinions are out there in the medical community.

I asked my MO about how she felt about recurrence chances dropping off after 3 years, and she responded that it's closer to 5 years for me. Her feelings were that triple negatives recurrence chances dropped significantly after 3 years, but for her2 was closer to 5. 

I've finished neoadjuvant chemo...have had scans that show my tumor shrank by 85% and normal looking nodes (one was shown to have cancer before chemo). Had my lumpectomy & SNB last week and am now waiting for pathology. This whole process is so draining. Just when I finally start getting some positive news...the old fears sneak back in. 

Thank you for all of this info girls. My doc said if I do everything (neoadjuvant therapy, mastectomy and radiation), I will have an 85% chance of survival. She did not say how long, I noticed, and I am not asking right now, just getting through it. I start rads next week.

One day at a time.

hugs to all.

I have not been on this site for awhile because I try not to think about breast cancer...but it is so hard as we all know.. and especially with HER2+ diagnosis....I am a year and a half out of bi-lateral mascectomy and feel well...I chose not to do conventional treatment for many reasons...I am taking the holistic approach....from what I have read and learned whether with chemo, radiation, herceptin, or holistic...there are no guarantees that this dreaded cancer will not return in fact there are no guarantees in life about anything....I know women who did nothing after their surgery and are still well 30 years later and I know women who did everything and are well for years only to have it come back....there is no guarantee that whatever it is you do to prevent recurrence, it will work....that is why I try to live each day to the fullest and I must say with this terrible diagnosis in 2011, my life is so much fuller now that I realize we only have today to be well and happy...it has made me realize that family and good friends and loved ones are so important...the little things that got me down do not get me down any longer...in fact, I don't get down much at all because today is too precious to me....my wish for all of us is to stay well and happy each and every day....hugs to my sisters!!!!!!

Hello, all, 

I had my annual screening/diagnostic mammogram today. It was clear, and I was very relieved--even after five years, I get extremely anxious in the days leading up to my mammogram. 

But I'm here, life is good, the sun comes up every day, and I keep learning what it means to live with this diagnosis, this disease, this experience in my life. You will too. 

Happiness and good health to you all!

Ann

My oncologist just discharged me after 10 years because she hasn't ever had a patient with my type of bc who got a recurrence after that point. She did say that it's possible to get bc again but that it would be a new primary, not a recurrence. I'm sure it helped that I was on the herceptin clinical trial for early bc.

Sally

Update 8/18/18: Now at 15 years post-bc!

Sally, 

Just adding one more voice to the chorus of thanks--for posting your good news and for having the courage and determination to join that initial trial. Our debt to you and the other women who participated in that trial can't be overstated. 

Wishing you a long, happy, and healthy life. 

Ann

New to this forum -- I hope I can help you all feel better.

I started Herceptin in early 2005, just after they stopped the clinical trials so that they could give Herceptin to all HER2+ patients. I was diagnosed in August 2004 -- finished Herceptin late January 2006.

I have NO signs of any recurrence!!!!! Isn't modern medicine wonderful?

BTW, didn't know there is a triple positive forum. Guess I will be heading there later.

Shari

Redwolf,  Amen sister. How are you doing now?

Sue did you have a rads after lumpectomy? i have IDC with Her2nue+ and am going through 18 rounds of chemo right now and trying to decide if i shoudl do rads or masectomy. I 'm praying that I can leave all this behind me one day.

Hi Leslie - I had a lumpectomy and a re-excision but still did not achieve clean margins, so I then had a mastectomy with silicone implant reconstruction. No rads since I had no lymph nodes - I would have needed rads if I had not had the mast. I know a lot of women choose bilateral mastectomy, but I've been happy with unilateral mast. 

Wishing you all the best whatever you decide. Sue