pregnancy after Her2+

Elfmcg

Hi everyone,

I haven’t posted in a while, but am always reading, and i’m looking for some advice or insight.

I’m 37, and am two years on since diagnosis and myself and husband have recently started talking about children. I have none, and wasn’t sure if i even wanted one, but after going through treatment and every emotion that throws up, i started to feel like having a baby would actually be something i would like to happen.

My periods seem to be back to normal, ive still weight i put on over treatment that doesn’t seem to want to shift, but i suppose im wondering is having a baby even something i should think about? is it too soon? Basically, id like to hear if any of you have had similar thoughts post treatment and if you ended up having a baby?

Thanks in advanc

windgirl

hello, I went through similar decisions and decided to not get pregnant. I had some doctors say it’s ok and some who were more risk averse. There is no study that shows what recurrence risk would be if one did get pregnant, except for I believe one doctor who collected information after the fact and didn’t see a difference. I still couldn’t take the risk though so am currently searching for a surrogat

Elfmcg

thanks windgirl, I hope you are successful in finding a surrogate. That is very exciting!

I met with my onc last week and expressed my wishes and thoughts of becoming pregnant and she was very supportive, it has to be said. She referenced some study that said for my type of cancer that's hormone negative, there may be even some advantages to pregnancy, and that survivors of ER-negative breast cancer who became pregnant had a 42% lower chance of dying than those who did not become pregnant in the study she quoted, and that Pregnancy could protect ER-negative breast cancer patients through either immune system mechanisms or hormonal mechanisms.

My mind is fairly made up, it's just a matter of going for it now.

raleighgirl

hi there!

I was diagnosed in December 2014 at 37 years old. I had a seven month old and a 20 month old at the time of diagnosis. We wanted a third child so badly. I didn’t do fertility preservation as I had ten tumors and felt I needed to get started on chemo right away.

I had a pcr. I went to see a fertility doctor in February of 2018 who told me he was not worried about the regimen that I took(tchp) causing infertility. He was more worried about my age! He told me to try on my own that month, and the following we would start fertility medication. Low and behold, I got pregnant that month on my own!

I’m now 42, and have a 9 month old beautiful baby girl who was born on Thanksgiving. I’m so happy we went for the third! She has completed our family.

Elfmcg

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to come back to this thread to say i've just have my pregnancy confirmation with my GP. I'm so happy and excited and scared, but mostly happy. It was the first month of trying and it's happened. Very early days,but here's hoping!

Gudrun

Elfmcg, I'm so happy for you.

My daughter, now 32, gave birth to her cute and healthy babygirl three weeks ago, and four years after dx.

Best wishes to you and soon to your baby, G

Elfmcg

thanks Gudrun, congratulations to your lovely daughter too. fingers crossed for me X

kimm992

Congrats!! So exciting!!

Elfmcg

Thanks Kimm992,

I still can’t believe it. Hopefully it will all go well!

berries

Congratulations on starting your family! So exciting for you! Wish you a happy and healthy pregnancy!

Elfmcg

Thanks very much vmb. really appreciate the kind words

persapoliviou

hi! Sorry but i dont speak English very well! I am 37 and i finish chemo 4 months ago! I am her2 positive and no hormonal cancer! I did ac and taxol and now herceptin! I wonder if i will have period again! You have period after chemo ? I am very sad because i dont want to have now menopause!

sarah_78

Hi there persapoliviou,

I came here to ask the same question. I read Herceptin causes periods to stop on 60% of the women. I am getting Kadcyla, which is close to Herceptin, so thinking probably it is about the same. I never missed my period, it was very regular until chemo (TCHP) and during Chemo I got monthly injections to stop my ovaries since they said it would help preserve them.

My last injection was early January, then I had surgery and since February I started Kadcyla, no period. Wondering if it can come back or if I am not menopausal.

Elfmcg

Hi, I am the original poster. I was on the same regime as both of you. My periods stopped for nearly a year or thereabouts (maybe 8 months). Then came back, I then went on to conceive naturally and am now a mother to a healthy nearly two year old.

melbo

My period stopped as soon as I started chemo in August 2020, I finished treatment in August 2021, and my period started again in March 2022. On one hand it was nice to be done with periods, but on the other it’s probably good to go through menopause more naturally. We shall see

1982m

elfmcg,

Congratulations! I turned 40 during treatment and am personally done with conceiving but I it’s so great to hear updates with happy endings! I’m sure there are lots of people who read this and will appreciate you coming back to update!

persapoliviou

my doctor didn’t say anything to me about herceptin that stop my period (sorry for my English:))

That feeling that your head burn because of menopause stop 2 months ago and i am waiting my period to come back! I hope ! because is the only thing that remind me all this (and my hair of course)