Perjeta/Herceptin/Taxotere

Hi, Suniday/Debbie, and welcome,

I am also a newby to the Stage IV forum. I was dx with liver mets the end of May, 10 years after my original dx. I've had 3 cycles of P/H/T so far, and the side effects haven't been bad. The good news is that last week my onc told me that my liver enzymes are way down and within the normal range now. I have scans in 2 weeks, and I hope that translates into a good report. I was having quite a bit of pain before I started treatment, and it's all gone now and has been since soon after the first treatment.

I'm also curious about the Neulasta. I had it with my chemo 10 years ago because I had dose dense, every two weeks. This time it isn't necessary because my blood count returns to normal by the time the next treatment comes. At the end of 1 week, it's very low; at 2 weeks it's better; and by 3 weeks it's back to normal.

I hope the treatment works well for you with very few se's. I'm sorry to hear about your mother. Wow, back after 24 years is tough!

Hugs, Trish

Has anyone reduced taxotere. By how much? .did it make a difference? In what way? Thx

Lalenlou, it's great that you were able to go off Taxotere. I'm hoping to do the same after 3 more treatments, but when I asked my onc about it, he didn't give me a definite answer.

I have a couple of questions for you: When you went off it, had you reached NED? Also, do you have problems with diarrhea when just on Perjeta and Herceptin? That has been my worst se on this drug combination, and my life would be totally different if I could get rid of that.

Thanks, Trish

Carla, it's wonderful to hear that you're doing better after dropping the taxotere. I really hope my onc lets me do that after 3 more treatments. My scans earlier this week showed 30-40% decrease in the size of the tumors in my liver, so that's very encouraging. 

I hope you're having an easy recovery from your mastectomy. What does "oligometastic" mean? I'm not familiar with that term. I hope rads goes well for you and that you remain stable on H/P only.

Hugs, Trish

Carla, thank you for your explanation. Your treatment certainly sounds interesting. It sounds as though your onc is very progressive and not afraid to try new things. I hope that the plan works wonders for you. Prolonged remission sounds wonderful!!!!

Hugs, Trish

Fujimama-hooray for a year of NED! That's great to hear. I would love to stay on p/h for awhile....I just got my mastectomy path report, apparently the taxotere wasn't all that kick ass. Still with 3 positive axillary nodes, and some invasion of the pec muscle...for how crappy I felt on it, I was expecting complete obliteration!

So on to rads for me...if my lung mets behave over the next 6 months, then we'll be talking about surgically removing them. Weird to be rooting for a chance to do major surgery-ouch!

I get a burning warm itchy feeling in the affected breast after tph. Anyone know about this. !

Ned is no evidence of disease. I have never had neulasta. Do many peo on pht take it?

Hi,  I am also newly diagnosed stage IV with liver mets (8), numerous mets to both lungs and mets to tons of bones. Literally skull to feet. I am going in for my 3d chemo treatment of Perjeta, Taxotere and Herceptin. The first one kicked my butt pretty bad. Sores in my mouth, thrush, Diarreah, vomiting. My tumor markers were 2400.2 before the first tx and after they dropped to 1200.1 so they dropped by half... But my tumor markers are still very high. The second tx landed me in the hospital for the weekend. My WBC dropped to ZERO... had neutropenia which was totally not fun. Was pumped full of fluids and 3 different types of antibiotics and then sent home with 2 more antibiotics. So I am hoping to get a little better reaction to this next round of tx on Thursday. I am really hoping to get back to NED. Hope I am not wishing too much out of the possibilities. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I will say this... I had the worse case of thrush after the first tx and then someone told me to eat ice chips during the actual infusion and my tongue would not be able to absorb so much of them chemo... I will try anthing once. I tried it the next round and it totally WORKED!!!! no thrush at all. Here's to ALL of us looking for NED!!!! :-)

Hi Fujiimama ... Glad to see you are NED  I had been getting regular scans by my Onc and never went more than 3 months in between visits... I had a clear scan in February 2013... and In May/June started having some serious stomach issues with losing weight, no appetite, terrile heart burn. I had seen my primary Dr. whom thought I had an ulcer. Had an EGD and found nothing other than a severly inflammed stomach, by this time it was time for my usual follow up with my Onc who said my liver enzymes were high and he sent me in for a CT-scan of chest and abdomen. Voila it showed the liver and lung mets which then started the ball rolling for the typical Pet/bone/brain scans and they found all the bone mets. Thats the cause of most of my pain now. After the first round of chemo I could feel changes in my liver because I no longer had the heartburn and stuff. But its crazy how all this happened in the time of about 2-3 months. EEEEK!!!! I did have neupogen injections the first time I did chemo in 2007 I did Carboplatin/Taxol?herceptin. But this time my Onc didn't give me the injections, however once I was in the hospital they gave me 2 injections and then my WBC went way too high. But they leveled out within a few days. We will see how this next chemo does. I don't know how long I will be on this tx, my once says I will be doing some kind of treatment the rest of my life.  I usually hang out in the YSC facebook groups... on my iphone but I just got started on here and this seems to be much more officially informative... some of the facebook stuff can be catty and some what or a more "social" place. 

I am sorry u have to join us a d at such a young age. You will loose your hair in this tx. Get a pretty wig. Inhope you will find lots of support and help on this board. Of you have any questions about thp let us know

Sorry about the brain mets, Kingcour. I have also joined the kadcyla camp as of two weeks ago. So far..side effect wise I'm just loving it. Haven't felt this good in months. I also have brain mets since 12/2011 albeit few and small ones. I've had two gamma knife procedures and zero symptoms from the brain mets thus far.



Not good news for you no matter how you slice it. But hope you get off as easy as I have thus far or even better. And I hope you have lots of healthy happy days on the kadcyla.

Beth, I'm very sorry that you have to join this group, but I know that you will find a lot of support here. At the end of May, I was also diagnosed with liver mets. The good new is that after 3 cycles of P/H/T, my tumors have shrunk by 30-40%. My onc was really pleased with the response. I feel very good most of the time and am able to do pretty much whatever I want. I hope that you have great results with this chemo combination and that you'll be able to enjoy your children for many, many years. I know it's overwhelming right now, but know that lots of women live for a long time with liver mets.

Hugs, Trish

Kadcycla is supposed to be fantastic for mets. I hope it works well for you. I am unsure about what chemo I will be getting now. My original cancer was triple positive, after a spine biopsy it came back that its only estrogen positive. I had a liver biopsy today to see if that is also only estrogen positive. I'm not sure if that will change things...

Kingcour what is the plan for treating the brain mets?