Don't want to be discouraged

Baby13

So far so good, until now. I was diagnosed May06, did 10 cycles of chemo, had mastectomy, ovaries removed, radiation complete then began Herceptin. Took test for heart last week showed decrease in heart function. Now we have to determine if decrease is from Herceptin, maybe radiation. Will see doctor tomorrow and take ekg to get to bottom of it all. Not discouraged yet, but I have to be honest when I say that through it all I don't have the same horror stories that some of us have. Chemo didn't mess me up too bad, I think it killed some memory cells, made me a little sick in the morning only, as long as I took my meds I was fine the rest of the day. Had a couple mouth sore, but nothing to go to the doctor about. Herceptin and other meds have not had any adverse effests. I have been truely blessed. Now we face this. I'ts just crappy how the things that are meant to help you possibly cause other problems. Pray for me as I for you.

Susan956

Baby 13,

I hope that you will manage to take the herceptin treatments. For me I had to cut them short... Managed to do about 20 weekly treatments.. but then had to stop for about 10 weeks waiting for my echocardiagram to get better... then did another 8 weeks and at that time had to call it quits... I got really bummed to begin with... but finally got to where I could thinkg that someone was just making things easier for me to keep me from having to finish the Herceptin ... 1 year treatment... I am now 2 years out and all is well.

Take Care....

Susan

KathiM

Prayers sent.

I had heart trouble from the rads. I had ER/PR+ cancer, so was not a candidate for Herceptin. I agree, looking back, almost 2 years NED on both breast and colon cancer, that I have additional aches and pains, my special breast is still blue, and I have a custom 'zipper' running up my tummy!

But, you have to be alive to complain, so I will at each opportunity (with a smile and a laugh).

I have no regrets. I skipped the last Adriamycin/cytoxin infusion because of my heart. But I did all the Taxol. Listen to your body. And the experts. Don't get down.

Hugs, Kathi

LesleyH

It's a balancing act this, isn't it? We do what we can until our bodies say no. There is not a lot of evidence about Herceptin yet - only that it helps. You may have already had all the Herceptin your body needed. Good luck. FWIW, I think your heart is perfect. :-)

Hugs.

Lesley