Diagnosis - Metastatic Breast Cancer (Stage 4)
This was written by Karen's husband, Dan. I was reading her postings and I realized that from what is there you would assume that she has had a mastectomy. This is not the case. The CT scan came back showing two tumors in Karen's liver. One was 2 cm. and the other about 0.5 cm. The location of these tumors is only inches away from the site of the original tumor. The biopsy proved these tumors to be malignant. Therefore the mastectomy was cancelled - the only purpose of a mastectomy is to keep the cancer from spreading. Since hers has already spread, the mastectomy serves no purpose.
You can imagine that this was shocking news. After all, last September her mammogram was clean, and now she has breast cancer already metastasized to her liver! The answer to this is probably Her-2/neu. Never heard of it? Neither had we! It turns out that something like 20% of women with breast cancer have the Her-2/neu factor. Her-2 is formally known as human epidermal growth factor receptor. What happens is the Her-2/neu gene is over-expressed in the cancer tumor. This causes the cancer to be excessively aggressive. Her-2/neu is graded on a scale of 0 to 3+. Values of 2 and over are considered to be over-expressing. Karen tested 3+. The good news is that in 1998 the FDA approved a new drug named Herceptin (Trastumazab) - a monoclonal antibody engineered through biotechnology which binds to the HER-2 proteins (receptors) on the tumor cell surface. The bad news is that the administration of Herceptin can result in the development of ventricular dysfunction and congestive heart failure, particularly when combined with certain chemotherapies. The heart damage is usually reversible.
Karen is receiving Chemotherapy every week for three weeks with one week off. She is receiving Taxol and Carboplatin. This combination of drugs usually results in some amount of neurotoxicity (nerve damage) which is not reversible. She gets Herceptin every week. This is expected to last for six months. Adding Carboplatin to Taxol doubles the toxicity, but it also doubles the response rate and the time to progression. The oncologists are aiming for a complete response.
If you want to know more about Herceptin or Taxol and Carboplatin, just enter "metastatic breast cancer" and the other words you are interested in into Google or other search engine. There is lot's of good data out there.
The two rules for visiting/calling Karen: Don't come if you or anyone with you have a cold or are sick, and no war stories. We need you to help her keep a strongly positive outlook. We thank you for your calls and cards, and especially thank you for your prayers. We are counting on a miracle!
You can imagine that this was shocking news. After all, last September her mammogram was clean, and now she has breast cancer already metastasized to her liver! The answer to this is probably Her-2/neu. Never heard of it? Neither had we! It turns out that something like 20% of women with breast cancer have the Her-2/neu factor. Her-2 is formally known as human epidermal growth factor receptor. What happens is the Her-2/neu gene is over-expressed in the cancer tumor. This causes the cancer to be excessively aggressive. Her-2/neu is graded on a scale of 0 to 3+. Values of 2 and over are considered to be over-expressing. Karen tested 3+. The good news is that in 1998 the FDA approved a new drug named Herceptin (Trastumazab) - a monoclonal antibody engineered through biotechnology which binds to the HER-2 proteins (receptors) on the tumor cell surface. The bad news is that the administration of Herceptin can result in the development of ventricular dysfunction and congestive heart failure, particularly when combined with certain chemotherapies. The heart damage is usually reversible.
Karen is receiving Chemotherapy every week for three weeks with one week off. She is receiving Taxol and Carboplatin. This combination of drugs usually results in some amount of neurotoxicity (nerve damage) which is not reversible. She gets Herceptin every week. This is expected to last for six months. Adding Carboplatin to Taxol doubles the toxicity, but it also doubles the response rate and the time to progression. The oncologists are aiming for a complete response.
If you want to know more about Herceptin or Taxol and Carboplatin, just enter "metastatic breast cancer" and the other words you are interested in into Google or other search engine. There is lot's of good data out there.
The two rules for visiting/calling Karen: Don't come if you or anyone with you have a cold or are sick, and no war stories. We need you to help her keep a strongly positive outlook. We thank you for your calls and cards, and especially thank you for your prayers. We are counting on a miracle!
posted by karen @ 6:18 PM
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