New Stage 4 Diagnosis

Nina -

You want to find a thread with a lot of HER2+ people and ask them about the sequence of treatment options after Herceptin. You might drop in on the Herceptin thread. Most people favorite certain threads and only hang out on those threads. Also, ask BestBird for her guide to MBC treatment options and read up on the current state of HER2+ treatments.

In general, the options for HER2+ are improving faster than other types of MBC right now. I usually flood people with specifics, but I can't speak to HER2+ cancer well because it is not what I have.

If they are insisting on biopsies, they are doing the right thing.

It's terrible to be dealing with this news, but I expect you will get a treatment plan lined up soon and it will work and things will get back to normal. In the meantime, take care of yourself.

>Z<

Nina,

Welcome to the club no one wants to join. That said, the people here are fantastic, and have been a life/mind saver for me.

I'd suggest that you PM Bestbird and ask for a copy of her guide to MBC treatment. It's free, and extremely well researched. She needs to publish that bad boy, but she updates it so frequently, I can see how that would be limiting if it were in paper form.

If you weren't scanned before treatment, there's no way of knowing whether the metastases were present then, or popped up after treatment. So, please don't think that you "failed" Herceptin. It might have been trying to hold the fort, but needed assistance from other treatment modalities.

Since you are getting new biopsies, inquire about genomic testing to see what treatments you could respond to better. I do not know what is available in South Africa. If you find out, please let us know so we can throw it into the database of knowledge here.

As for hope? Hell, yes, there's hope. Every day we are alive, new treatments are being developed. Check out JeninMichigan. She is a HER2+ lady who had a few bobbles at the beginning of her treatment, but has been NED for years now.

Dear everyone,

both underarms have positive and two spots on my chest wall and two spots behind my chest wall...all reported lymphnodes and skin. docs calling it stage IV metastatic and im taking leterozole and Ibrance now. I am so scarred and am hoping the meds will reduce or kill these spots. I want very much for the surgeon to remove everything but they want to treat the blood now. does anyone have any encouraging words?? my docs are treating me different now....I can feel that they have been defeated or something...

Nina,

I'm in the same boat. Diagnosed er/pr- her2+ July 2014, did tchp neoadjuvent then had bmx dec 2014, got the all clear, no lymph node involvement. I've been living it up for the last 2 years thinking I'm Ned, then out of nowhere, my be got mets to both lu go, both kidneys, liver, one adrenal gland and some black es. I went for a MRI today to see if it went to my brain. I started weekly taxol last week and go again tomorrow.

pinkninja, I'm praying it's not in your brain, but even there you have good treatments.

ajones, I don't think your docs should be feeling defeated. They just need to adjust to a new set of circumstances, a new playing field, and that's probably what they're doing. Lymph node and skin metastases would still be amenable to local treatment, although I understand if they want to nip everything in the bud with systemic ones. I hope you have a great response.

Hi JHarbolt-

We want to welcome you to our community, although we're so sorry to hear of the circumstances that have brought you here. You've come to the right place for support as you begin down this road, and you're in good company with women who understand what you're dealing with. Please let us know if we can be of any assistance, you and your daughter are in our thoughts.

The Mods