Who else is HER2 positive?

Your experience fills me with hope. I am 81 and may start on the Taxol/Herceptin part of the treatment, but am waiting for definitive HER2 diagnosis from Mayo (a second opinion). I'm assuming it will confirm the HER2+, but have a smidgen of hope that it might not. Had a lumpectomy 3 weeks ago. I am otherwise healthy, but had DCIS - lumpectomy/radiation/Tamoxifen - in 2010.

I am HER2 positive and on round 5 of chemo; plan is lumpectomy after chemo, radiation after surgery, oral chemo for a few months. I'm in hell with the chemo side effects; those HER2 targeted drugs have awful side effects. I can hardly walk up the stairs now; but on a positive note, the 9 cm mass in my breast is shrinking -- doctor could feel the difference just with her hand. Good luck.

I was HER2 positive at 79. I had a lumpectomy, chemo with Taxol and Herceptin, plus 6 weeks of radiation.
I'm now 82 and recently had my 6 mos. check up with the oncologist. He looked at my blood work and said he didn't expect my cancer to come back.
I had a horrible first 2 weeks with the chemo, but after the Taxol was reduced by 20 percent, I pretty much sailed through it.
I read of an an oncologist who said if she had breast cancer she would want it to be HER2 positive because with Herceptin (made from vinca) it is the easiest type to put in remission.

My friend is diagnosed with Her2 positive size of a grape and was going to start with chemo then do surgery but during the contrast MRI they noticed another abnormal area and biopsied it. She also has DCIS in the same breast- lime size.
So she had to have a mastectomy which was Thursday. The plan is to start chemo when she’s healed enough. She’s 54. They did say the stage of cancer could change with the pathology. So praying it stays just the HER2 Positive and DCIS.

Hi @turbomom (love the username!), how are you doing? Have you started treatment in the meantime?

Just saw my oncologist this morning and got the plan. Should start with Taxol and Herceptin in a couple weeks, after port placement, echo, and education lecture.
(Turbo is our tuxedo cat - moves very fast and has a loud engine!)

Hi there

Were you HER2 positive? I was. I had TCHP first, then surgery, then kadcyla b/c of 6 mm of residual. My smallest margin was 1 mm which MAYO said was a clear margin. I pushed to have radiation but was declined by both the surgeon and radiation oncologist. They said I had clear margins. Would you mind sharing what your margins were? I had a SMX, no radiation b/c of the SMX and stage 1 - 18 mm. ER 95% and PR 10-20%.

THank you so much.

My cancer was invasive lobular HER2 also. My margins were .8 mm post surgery. I started with 12 Paclotaxel infusions with 4 phesgo injections. Then surgery Then radiation followed by kadcyla over 42 weeks