ER-/PR- HER2 +++ and 11 weeks pregnancy

Hi Vitelle,

Sorry you are having to learn all about this. I'm not sure if my experience can provide any insight to you, as my diagnosis is different. But I went through chemo while pregnant last year and I'm sitting here now, holding my healthy 2-month-old daughter.

I was diagnosed at 18 weeks and the biopsy revealed ER+/PR+ & HER2+, with Grade 3 cells. I underwent a lumpectomy at 22 weeks and my sentinel node came back negative. I started AC chemo at 26 weeks, four rounds which ended at 35 weeks. My daughter was born four weeks after my last chemo, weighing 6 lbs 10 oz and healthy. Her bloodwork showed she was not unaffected by the chemo but it does not appear to have impacted her development. I believe chemo can be administered in the 2nd trimester but my oncologist preferred to wait until the third since I was node-negative. The rest of my chemo (taxol, which cannot be administered during pregnancy) resumed 5 weeks after I delivered.

With you sister's Grade 1 pathology, I don't know how they determine whether to wait until post-delivery. I met a woman locally who was diagnosed later in pregnancy and so she delivered her baby at 32 weeks (via c-section) in order to commence chemo as soon as possible. Have you visited the Hope For Two website? I signed up for the registry maintained by Dr. Elyce Cardonick and consulted her on a few concerns I had during my pregnancy. 

Good luck and please know that while you're sister may feel all alone in her experience, there are a bunch of us out here and our babies are doing fine. Again, I highly recommend reading some of the stories on the Hope for Two website. They can also pair her with a woman who had a similar diagnosis for support. 

Hang in there.