My new year old hair

[luds]

I'm Lourdes Phillips a filipina was diagnosed n 2012,have left breast taken with 3 lymph nodes taken ,diagnosed as invasive ductal carsinoma in situ,I was not even referred to see an oncologist,by 2014 and no treatment what so ever were not even for Her2 progesterone negative,I was then diagnosed after biopsies as 4th stage metastasize to lymp nodes to the lungs had chemo taxoter with perjeta and herceptin ,herceptin and perjeta was my chemo every 21 days,but recently my oncologist had to stop treatment due to my ejection fraction in very low ,it been 6 month with no treatment ,I will have pet scan,2d echo and lung function ,any body knows what's my other option.

[Rhwright12]

Hi Lourdes!

Thanks for joining us! Are u on Tamoxifen or any other pill for ER+? . I'm on Tamoxifen. It'll stop progress for a while until u can get back on chemo. Mine was 90%ER+ So Tamoxifen does a lot for my cancer.

Perjetta is tough on your heart ❤️. My normal blood pressure is 108/62. It was up to 138/78. I finished Perjetta November 20 and bp is down to 122/72. Feels so much better...I hope your heart continues to repair itself too. Let us know how your scans turn out...

-Thanks!

[Hidden in reply to Rhwright12]

That's good to know about Perjeta. That it's also tough on the heart. I thought that only Herceptin was tough on the heart and that Perjeta doesn't add to that toxicity, according to the FDA when it approved the combination. However, it's good to find out about individual experiences like yours because I sometimes feel that not all of the side effects are known, despite the fact that they're recorded during clinical trials.

I took Herceptin when I had stage II breast cancer in 2003 and had to have an echo to test my left ventricle ejection fraction every three months. Perjeta was not a drug in existence at that time, and I've never been on it. After becoming metastatic I've been getting infusions of Herceptin again every three weeks and still having my heart tested.

[Hidden]

Lourdes,

I'm sorry to hear of your metastatic breast cancer diagnosis and that your left ventricle ejection fraction is stopping you from taking taxotere, Perjeta and Herceptin. I'm not sure why your oncologist stopped any treatment for 6 months. You would be able to take Xeloda (a chemo pill) and lapatinib (Tykerb), which is another anti-HER2+ medication. Tykerb will not interfere with your heart function, and many women who are HER2+ take this drug. Perhaps you should ask your oncologist about it

Also, if you have limited metastasis in the lungs, you could potentially also use a local procedure along with systemic treatment to remove the tumors. That would include interventional radiology procedures (such as radiofrequency ablation (RFA) to burn the tumor, microwave ablation or electro-nanoporation, which kills tumors with electrical current) or surgery, as in having a wedge resection, which means the surgeon cuts out the part of your lung with the tumor(s) in it. Although these types of treatments have not been shown to be effective through proper clinical trials, some studies of already concluded trials for other purpose have shown them to be somewhat effective, and right now, several proper clinical trials are being conducted to show how well local procedures work with system treatment.

clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show...

Joan