Just made the hardest phone call

Her+ what about herceptin? Don't despair there are drugs to knock it out.

Hi!

My cancer was HER2+ as well, and it's very treatable these days. Thanks to Herceptin and Perjeta (targeted therapies just for HER2+), HER2+ cancer now has similar survival rates/recurrence rates as other forms of breast cancer. It think that the most challenging part of being HER2+ is the length of the treatment. For example, not only did I spend five months getting chemo, but I then did Herceptin (every three weeks) for a year. It's definitely a marathon, not a sprint, but it's doable if you just take it one appointment at a time. ((Hugs)) and best wishes to you!

cindyanne - I agree with barbe1958 that you may be dealing with a new primary, not a recurrence. Also, I am wondering if you would be willing to make the drive from Destin to Tampa every three weeks for a full year for the necessary Her2+ treatment, it is a long haul. Have you considered going to Mayo in Jacksonville? It is a couple of hours closer than Tampa. And although I am not familiar with the details of your new diagnosis beyond your Her2 status, you might also consider Florida Cancer Specialists in Tallahassee, at least for the medical oncology part of your treatment.

Cindyanne - I'm so sorry! I can't imagine facing cancer again. I don't know much about The Moffitt Center. However, my surgeon moved from U of Penn to the Moffett Center last year. He is wonderful surgeon and well respected. His name is Dr. Brian Czerniecki. I don't know if he is focusing more on research now, but if he is still practicing surgery I highly recommend him. While he takes a little getting used to, I found him to be very compassionate and knowledgeable. Good luck!

Dr. Czerniecki did my bilateral prophylactic mastectomy at UPenn. He is rather blunt, but I really don't care about bedside manner as long as the doctor is skilled. I think my outcome was fair to poor. He did a procedure prior to the mastectomy to increase the survival of the nipple (I did nipple sparing). He never biopsied the nipple (they did for my sister who had the same surgery at Sloan Kettering). He said it wasn't necessary. Even though he did a nipple delay procedure to increase the chances of the nipple surviving, I still had some necrosis and lost some pigment in one nipple. I wish now that I had stuck with Sloan Kettering. I was scheduled there, but backed out and decided to go with the docs at UPenn. Big mistake. I think my DIEP flap reconstruction was poorly done and the PS lied to me.

I would rate the quality of my surgery as sloppy.