Treatment plan

SEs from perjeta are difficult to determine since it is given with the other chemo drugs. Herceptin and Perjeta are both supposed to be easier to tolerate than the more toxic chemo agents. Chemo leads to many SEs, but it is different for each person. Nausea and fatigue are common. With Herceptin, initially many feel like they have the flu, but that it supposed to go away over time.

I ended up with an intolerance to the TCHP regimen. (Hospitalized for severe dehydration, diarrhea, nausea, skin burns) The first drug they took out was Perjeta since they knew the least about it. It wasn't the culprit. They next tinkered with the toxic chemo agents (which were to blame).

Herceptin always gives me face pain - in my jaw and sinuses. My oncologist says that this is rare. It gives me nausea (the drug co. says that it does so 30% of the time. I'm now on my maintenance Herceptin, and still taking Zofran. Most people do not need to at this point. I've found that the combination of Tamoxifen and Herceptin makes for bad head aches.

The studies show a significant impact that this regimen has on HER2+ IDC. Some say it takes you from a death sentence (which was the case before Herceptin) to 85% survival rate. Perjeta increases the effectiveness of Herceptin. Coming into cancer, I wanted to avoid chemo. But, with many hours of researching the NIH and medical journals, I quickly realized that I could not, due to my HER2+ status - Herceptin truly is a life saver.