Topic: Anyone on Taxotere, Perjeta and Herceptin

May 26, 2014 10:28AM Kthielen wrote:

I have completed 5 of 6 of TCHP.  I have had nausea, change in taste, hot flashes, bad diarrhea, and about 12 days after treatment my skin breaks out very bad, my eyes get puffy too.  I have a constant runny nose and eyes. Although it sounds like a lot they have all been mild SE's compared to how I thought it would be.  The diarrhea has been the worst but Immodium works for me.  My fifth treatment was the absolute worst!  I am so grateful I only have one more treatment and will be over with this stage.  If you have any specific questions lmk, I would've happy to share my experience:) 

Jun 10, 2014 07:51AM CoastalXPat wrote:

Hi All, So I'm getting TCHP but in the adjuvant setting. Is anyone else doing this? Apparently I'm lucky that my insurance is covering it, o/w it wouldn't happen. 

Btw a family friend who is also a oncologist said that adding Perjeta to TCH tends to increase side effects, especially the digestive ones.

Jun 12, 2014 03:21PM Kite wrote:

carolsue- it was much harder for me too. My onc switched me to kadcyla since my mets are stable. I only made it through 2 rounds.

Jun 13, 2014 11:55AM ednamary wrote:

I had my 1st treatment 2 weeks ago and it really did "kick my butt". I had diarrhea, developed sores in my mouth and a face rash. Was also very tired and really didn't want to eat. The shot neulasta was a killer didn't know what to do with my body but by the middle of week 2 everything started to improve. My next treatment is next Thursday  I am not looking forward to it but I think I am ready having learned much from the SE of the first one. I suggest you have Gatorade in the refrigerator and drink it very frequently, make jello in advance,  and avoid citrus. Also drank Sprite Zero because ginger ale burned with the mouth sores. The oncology nurse also recommended that I have baking soda toothpaste and Tom's of Maine mouth cleaner (it has no alcohol) in the house. both those things really helped and are available in the supermarket. good luck and above all be confident that the triple play will do it job.

Jun 14, 2014 04:57PM redhummer wrote:

I started taxotere,  herceptin,  and perjeta in November 2013.  When I had surgery in March 2014 my tumor was gone and only a .01 millimeter cancer cell was found in 1 lymph node. I had 16 removed. The side effects during chemo were awful. I lost all my hair, eyebrows,  and my skin was extremely dry. I had sores in my mouth, nose, any other area that had any type of moisture. Yep even down there!. I had diarrhea the whole time even though I took lomotil. Now I'm finished with radiation and I have 8 more herceptin treatments.  It was hard but it works and I am cancer free!!!

Jun 15, 2014 05:51PM CoastalXPat wrote:

It sounds like the THP and TCHP is kicking a lot of butts - I know it kicked mine, and I decided to stop after 4 rounds. I already had my lumpectomy and am stage 1, so I have no real idea of how much this is helping other than by reading about the studies and statistics. I got so many of the SE's - not quite all of them, but most of them. We'll see how it goes with just Herceptin for the next 9 mos.

Re. mouth sores, I found two things that really seemed to help. BMX helped to ease the pain - it's a mix of lidocaine, maalox, and pepto bismol, your phamacist can mix it w/a prescription. It makes your mouth numb for the first ~20 minutes, but then the painkilling effect seemed to linger for a good while. Second, my acupuncturist told me to suck on mints to help saliva production, which helps to protect the mouth. I did this faithfully during rounds 2 & 3 and didn't get any mouth sores even though my mouth was (and still is) pretty dry.  But now I can't wait to just heal. I really miss flavorful food.

Jun 25, 2014 06:10AM elabee wrote:

I lurk a lot but figured I should share my experience with TCHP.

I completed the six founds of TCHP at the end of March. In an effort to preserve my fertility, I also opted for Lupron shots during chemo. My oncologist wasn't sure it is going to work but I figured I had nothing to lose.

I found chemo to be really difficult with some good days and plenty of bad days (thanks chemo and neulasta). I found the not wanting to eat and the GI issues to be hardest.

All that being said, my pathology showed a complete pathologic response in both my breast tumor and armpit tumor. Reading marvelher2's results makes me wonder if lupron helped the chemo be more effective by shutting down my hormones.

Jul 17, 2014 06:09AM marvelher2 wrote:

Hi Ladies,

It's been a while since I last posted.  Here's the scoop.  When I finally received the actual pathology report, I began to question what I'd been told by my surgeon that the Her2 tumor had dissolved, but the ER/PR tumor had grown.  The PET scan I had in April even said there was a 3.5 cm tumor at the biopsy site of the ER/PR tumor.  I had always believed that they were looking at the hematoma that developed after the MRI biopsy.  After I received a copy of the pathology report and reading the report over and over, the anatomical markers mentioned in the report just didn't add up to me.  When I brought it up to my Surgical Oncologist, I received a rather defensive reaction, stating that he didn't think it was wise for patients to try to analyze their pathology results, but finally said if it would make me happy he would order a test on the tumor to confirm which tumor was remaining.  I don't think he ever ordered that test as I have not heard back from him.

When I went back for my first weekly dose of Herceptin four weeks after surgery, I asked my Oncologist to read the report carefully and tell me what he thought.  He at first came to the same conclusion as I did, but after talking with the pathologist went back to the thought that it was the ER/PR positive tumor remaining.  Apparently they don't test the tumor type generally if it has been biopsied.  With me having two totally different cancer types, they really should have done that. He was very concerned about the aggressiveness of the tumor, and wanted to order an Oncotype DX test to determine the tumor's likeliness of recurrence.  He is also sending me to a specialist at UCSF due to the complexity of my case.

I had an appointment with him this Tuesday to go over the results of the tests to the tumor, and low and behold, I was right.  The remaining 3.7 cm tumor was actually the Her2 positive tumor, and the ER/PR positive tumor was zapped by the Taxotere.  Since Oncotype DX is only performed on hormone positive tumors, there was no need for that test.   So that was good news and bad news.  No rapidly growing hormone positive tumor to deal with, but a very persistent Her2 positive tumor.  He spoke at length with the pathologist who believes the tumor had actually started out to be 7.2 cm based on the necrotic tissue surrounding it.

At least I won't have to go through more chemo at this point because had it been the hormone positive tumor, my Oncologist was concerned that I should have a different blend of Adjuvent therapy for the ER/PR positive tumor.  He still wants me to see the specialist in SF because he says 80% of patients now receiving this combination of drugs have a complete pathological response, but mine did not respond as well which concerns him.

Jul 29, 2014 05:00PM Teachingwithcancer wrote:

Hello ladies! I have not posted in a while. Just came across my old friends herceptin projeta and taxotere. Yes I call them friends bc I'm here today. I was DX May 4, 2013 (May the 4th be with you, a joke a former student told me). I had 6 rounds of taxotere, perjeta, and herceptin first. I begged my team to let me return to work in sept 2013. I was on herceptin and perjeta every 3 weeks. Went in on Friday mornings before work. Would sleep all weekend.  I postponed my surgery until November. I had a bilateral mastectomy with TEs. All was well until 1 month later left TE became infected and removed. But still able to return to work in January after Christmas break. Planning on replacing TE during spring break but I'm the small percentage that perjeta and herceptin caused CHF. So heart was functioning at 30%. In comes cardiologist placed on heart meds monitor heart with MUGA scan. ❤️ Function increased to 56% which is normal. Started at 65% before chemo. Left TE replaced 7/25. My summer break started 7/22 (year around school). I have had 2 PET scans which were clear. Will have another in 2 weeks. We,my team and husband will decide how to proceed after results. Sorry so long just reflecting. New people it is a fight but find something or someone for fight for. I fought to teach and see my daughter start kindergarten. I'm winning that fight now I will focus on my next fight. But it is a fight. I'm not fighting alone my husband my medical team my parents my daughter my students my fellow teachers are all fighting with me in some way. Keep strong

Jul 31, 2014 11:58AM ednamary wrote:

I have my last chemo tomorrow and I am scheduled for surgery on the 25th of August. I start chemo again in September for a least one year. The taxotere, perjeta, and Herceptin seemed to have done their job, My tumors did shrink. The protocol was really difficult. As many of you were and are, I also was really sick after each chemo and extremely tired. I have a prescription for mouth sores that helps. It is used before meals and at least I can put some food in my mouth. Does anyone have a constant metal taste from the chemo? What do you eat that taste somewhat normal? I see that most of you have the big D also. That certainly keeps me home a great deal when I am not at work.(which sometimes is a problem) lomotil doesn't always help.Just know I think of all of you often, you are a great support group.

Aug 17, 2014 08:08PM agness wrote:

I did neoadjuvant TCHP, March through the beginning of July for 6 treatments. My MO gave me a 7th dose of Perjeta before my surgery.

I had additional bloodwork done during my treatment and my magnesium level was always low in spite of supplementation. I didn't have too many problems with altered taste until the last two rounds, my naturopathic oncologist had me taking double strength zinc to help in this regard, plus I restricted shellfish, coffee and chocolate as my copper levels were high. 

My ferritin level was low at the start but with Floravital liquid iron supplement and also Chinese herbal medicine in-between infusion weeks, my bold counts were really decent until after round 6 when I hit the edge. I'm still trying to rebound and am making progress slowly but my granulocytes were still dropping 6 weeks PFC. 

My MRI and ultrasound the day after dose 6 showed no tumor, only the calcifications that were there before. Two lymph nodes still lit up but they didn't know what it was.

I had my lumpectomy and SND this past week and my pathology report came back with no sign of cancer. I need to get a copy of the report but the best news was that my 3 nodes were clean, with one showing scarring, since I also had an infected node behind my breastbone that they weren't going to address surgically.

I asked a lot of questions about why if there was expected to be only microscopic disease left and rads are supposed to treat microscopic disease, why then did I need surgery. They all had their reasons and I looked for research articles but there is such limited data on HER2/neoadjuvant treatment/Herceptin with Perjeta that I resigned myself to having the least amount of surgery that was still intended to have a therapeutic advantage.

Now I'm questioning the merits of rads. They really don't know much at all about Perjeta it seems.

A toast to Perjeta and Herceptin for changing the game. May research catch up with results.

Ann

Aug 24, 2014 12:22PM Gailgie wrote:

I have Stage IV metastasis to brain, lung and liver. I am managing herceptin and perjeta ok now every three weeks for over a year. Echocardiograms and CT scans have been ok.  

Aug 24, 2014 02:31PM Beatmon wrote:

going to start perjeta, herceptin, taxotere on Wednesday. Had bm 2 yrs ago, neg sentin node . 2 - 4 mm  her 2 neu grade 3, large dcis... No chemo..did not met protocols.  In the hospital 10 days ago for r/o implant infection and instead found. 40-50 small lung nodules that were proved cancerous by lung biopsy. What can I expect ladies? 

Aug 24, 2014 02:59PM - edited Aug 24, 2014 03:00PM by Beatmon

how successful has it been for most on these discussion  boards?

Aug 27, 2014 05:27AM agness wrote:

tlj030 - may I ask why you didnt do neoadjuvant TCHP. It looks like you did surgery first yet our diagnosis of only HER2+ has the highest pathologically complete rate for neoadjuvant chemo plus Herceptin. Were you not interested in breast conservation? I know some gals just want to remove the breast so I am curious as to what influenced your treatment path.