Looking for Her2 Positive survivor stories
Comments
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LKC. Happy to hear this, I can read the joy in your post! May I ask if you had a BMX, UMX or a lumpectomy? What was the treatment protocol back then?
Thanks for sharing your success!
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Honeybair,
So glad to hear that you are doing so well. You are an inspiration to us all. I am stage 2 trip neg. I get my 5th chemo on Thursday.
I start a new chemo that for my last 3 chemo that kind of scares me that they say his hard on your heart. But, I am tough and I know I will get through this. It is nice to hear the survivor stories as it gives us hope as we are going through our battles.
Thank you for inspiring
Ventureval
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hi Moody Blues, the plan initially was for a lumpectomy and sentinel node biopsy. As my nodes lit up they did a full axillary dissection. My path revealed lots of residual BC so a mastectomy was done a few days later. DD AC x4 , then T x4. Did H., Rads and pushed for a second mastectomy. That path showed lots of atypica and hyperplasia. Very thankful
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Thanks for explaining your treatment to me Ikc, I appreciate it.
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Hello HER2+ Survivors
Checking in. Six years now since being diagnosed with a Grade 3 HER2+ tumour.
Doing well, cancer-free and cracking on.
Hoping for the best for you too.
Alice
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Thanks Alicethecat2- I appreciate the success stories. Keep on thriving
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Alice, thanks for stopping in to share your success story!
Immediately the song by Jefferson Airplane, Go Ask Alice jumped into my brain. It is rolling around in my head now... thanks. lol
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it's so good to be back here to read all the inspiring stories of Her2+ BC survivors. I have has mastectomy and 1st chemo. Will be going in for 2nd chemo on Saturday. It's a pity I can't have herceptin because it's not available to me both financially and physically. Having chemo now and radiation later. Don't know what the outcome will be but looking up to God for a miracle. God bless you all for lifting up our spirits and letting us know we can do this.
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Abby4G. I checked into the co pay card offered by Genetech. https://www.genentech-access.com/hcp/brands/herceptin/find-patient-assistance/co-pay-cards.html
I hope that you will be able to get this too.
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Abby-i wish you the best in getting the treatment you need. How easy we forget that certain medications are not so readily available or affordable. I have also heard genentech will provide assistance but I don't the requiements.
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Genentech is the US based branch of the company that makes Herceptin. Outside the US you should contact Roche, they are the parent company.
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Thanks a lot all esp modyblues for the contact. I will surely check it out. Am grateful to you all.
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Thanks modyblues, I have checked it out. It's for US residents. Am not in America. Am in Africa, Nigeria to be precise. Thanks once more for the concern
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Abby4G. Please check out SpecialK's post under (your original post and) my original post to you. She listed some details for you since you are outside of the USA.
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Hi all,
Seven years last week. One scare last month that turned out ok, so now I feel comfortable saying i hit the seven year mark. It is still stressful for me, so I am not the one to ask about living beyond breast cancer, lol. I really should be far more worried about colon cancer as my dad died from a duodenal tumor and my grandmother had colon cancer. I did do the My Risk genetic testing and was identified with no genetic abnormalities for the things they tested.
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Fluffqueen, thanks for posting. 7 years is awesome! I am happy to hear that your scare last month turned out ok.
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7 years and 4 months (not usually counting). Stage 1, grade 3.
May it last forever
Willing on all those who are at the beginning of the process.
Love and hugs
Sydneybased
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Fluffqueen- congratulations on 7 years, I would probably be a little nervous at each testing and every little bump and ache I felt.
Sydneybased- Congratulations on 7 years 4 months. I also hope it lasts forever.
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Sydney, thanks for sharing with us. 7 years and 4 months congrats!
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Hello everyone. I try to come back to this site once or twice a year just to report my progress. Because when I was frightened and stressed , this site was enormously helpful to me . You can tell by the stats below that my prognosis was not very positive. But here I am over 7 years from surgery. I had chemotherapy, radiation, and one year of herceptin for my stage 3A HER2 cancer. Once I felt like myself again, I embarked on a regular exercise program with a gym buddy and I believe that this has been very helpful. On top of the treatment I received of course! So have faith!
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Thanks evergreen. Your diagnosis and treatment are very similar to mine, except for my er+, and give me hope. Love, Jean
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I am unsure if I should post here because I do not have a happy ending story. I had breast cancer in 1997 with a lumpectomy which was followed with 2 solid years of infections. Eventually they took the wound all the way into the chest wall and left it open to heal from the inside out. My partner (now my wife) had to stuff gauze medicated tape in the wound three times every day. Finally it healed up though I was left with chronic pain in my surgical breast and chest wall.
Just as I was ready to celebrate my 5 year anniversary from breast cancer, I had a bit of unusual bleeding so I saw my gynecologist who did a biopsy in her office that turned out negative. She suggested that we do a hysterectomy despite negative results. She has been my doc for years and we both trusted her so we said ok. Well, she did a complete hysterectomy and found two separate cancers - uterine and fallopian. We even sent slides to Stanford to verify that the cancers were two individual cancers and not mets - which would have made a big difference in treatment. More chemo - bald again and then 13 years in the clear. At my normal followup at the cancer center, my CA 15.3 (?) test was elevated so my oncologist ordered an PET, an MRI and an ultrasound and they found cancer in the same breast but a different type (my first was triple negative and the most recent is Her2 positive)
So I have had a full year of treatments including surgery, radiation and chemo followed with Herceptin. I will start the new drug for Her2+ cancer in March when my Herceptin infusions are over. I will take 6 pills per day for a year. The meds are $10,500 per month or over $126,000 for the year. I am waiting to see if my insurance will cover it.
The fact remains, however, that I am over 20 years out from my first cancer diagnosis and I am still here - enjoying life and grateful for every day. I have a great medical team who watch me very carefully so my cancers have all been caught early at stage One. My most recent breast cancer is a stage 2B , however, so we are fighting it very aggressively.
My willingness to fight is as strong as ever. I do have a different view of my mortality than I had starting out. I am much more comfortable with my mortality. I have a very good life and at some point I will die. Now, that may not be big news but I wonder how many of us are as comfortable with the thought as I seem to be. I believe in a higher power and I strongly believe that angels will come to take me home at some point and I will be ready - whenever that may be. I hope it is not tomorrow - smile... but I am prepared for any eventuality. I will keep up with my great medical care and continue to fight. I would go through the whole process again if need be.
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Evergreen, thanks for posting your 7 year success story, I too believe exercise helps to keep your body healthy.
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Scarlett. Thanks for stopping by to share your story, although you have had some bumps in the road and a few detours, I can hear and feel your strength through your words. Your story can still have a happy ending, maybe not the happy ending that Joe Schmo would envision but, a happy ending never the less. Something like the American dream, we all have different visions of what that may mean. My American dream was a small piece of land in the country with a garden, a few chickens and happy, healthy children. Day trips to festivals and a cup of hot tea to start each and every day. Someone else, their American dream may be an enormous home, a fancy car/boat and trips to the exotic places. A third person may see a cooler of beer, a cigar and family reunion and BBQ on the Fourth of July every year as their American dream. I guess what I am saying is that even though we have gone through the trenches with BC, we now find so much happiness in the smallest of things that we may not have seen before. We have found that the things that would put us over the top and frustrated previously, fail to even ruffle our feathers now. We are more kind and sensitive to the needs of others. I too believe that when eventually our days end here, we will be in a much better place. I myself am believing age 85. A feisty, 85 of course!
Once again, thanks for checking in and sharing your strength with us. Here's to many more years for all of us!
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moodyblues, I loved what you wrote.
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Thanks Mistyeyes,
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Scarlett-I am glad you posted your story because it does reinforce that with vigilance, some cancers can almost be treated as a chronic disease. My scare last month, with a lump below my thyroid that they thought was something in the sub clavicular node had me thinking I was on the short end. Not a good place to have a recurrence for long term survival. It turned out to not be anything but some fatty tissue, but it took a lot of tests to get that result. I am prepared for a recurrence, but was thinking it would be more along the lines of what you have experienced. I like knowing that there are people surviving to enjoy all those special moments with family and friends, whatever they may be, for a long time.
Moodyblues...are you saying you are a feisty 85, or you plan to get to a feisty 85? Im hoping for 100 lol. Im knocking on wood as I type that. Putting it out there will jinx me, I'm sure
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Fluff. I am currently a feisty 55. I am aiming at a feisty 85 and beyond. My family on my fathers side, live long. My grandmother was just a few weeks shy of 100, I believe she would have been around a lot longer if her son (my birth father) wouldn't have put her in a nursing home because he was too busy to look in on her. The year before she passed, she was still in her garden and telling young people off!
Here's to 100 for you Fluff!
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Thanks Moody! My mother's side lives long too. All into their 90's. Not much cancer. My dad's side, what little I know, not so much. They are the cancer side. Both my dad and my grandmother died at 72. My dad, duodenal cancer, and my grandmother, I thought was colon cancer, but my mom seemed to think breast or liver, so not positive. He was raised by a step grandfather, and no real connection to his father's side at all, so I don't have much to go on.
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I had my BMX and SNB on the 29th. 1/18 positive nodes. Tumor was larger than expected at 2.5 cm in pectoralis muscle. The second tumor was completely removed during the biopsy. Margins were all clean. Round 1 Chemo TCHP on the 16th went well. Fatigue is the only problem. Drinking lots of water and taking claritin helps. The problem with chemo you never know what tomorrow brings. As all the ladies keep saying it's doable. Your stories are so inspirational
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