Surviving Breast Cancer Now!

My body has endured surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. As a result of this I have lost my hair and my energy. Still, that tumour the size of a baked bean is perceived as a threat. Its return must be further discouraged. My oncologist therefore insists on mammograms every six months and prescribes Letrozole. I must take one 2.5mg tablet each day for 5 years.

Breast cancer is often discussed as a general condition, but there are several different types that require different treatments. One way to distinguish breast cancer cells is through your genes. When you are diagnosed with breast cancer, your doctor will test the cancerous cells to determine their genetic makeup. My tumour had more of the HER2 protein in it than it should have had. HER2 is a protein that stimulates the growth of breast cancer cells. It can be found in your blood and urine. Sometimes it is referred to as a tumour marker. Tumor markers like HER2 cannot be used for cancer diagnosis, but they can provide other important information and the presence of HER2 helps the doctor predict how likely the breast cancer is to respond to treatment.

It is estimated that about 20 percent of breast cancers are HER2-positive. Younger women are more likely to be HER2-positive than older women. HER2-positive breast cancer tends to be more aggressive and to spread more quickly than other cancers. That is why it is important to find out if the cancer cells in your body contain this protein. If your breast cancer is HER2-positive, you have a much better chance of successful treatment with methods that target the HER2 protein specifically. Results show that those who tested positive for HER2 at an early stage of the condition (with tumours 1 centimeter or smaller) had a higher risk of recurrence. Researchers have also found that HER2-positive patients had a 77.1 percent five-year survival rate, with no recurrence. However, they also are
around five times more likely to suffer recurrence than those who were HER-2 negative and have close to three times the risk of recurrence of those who tested negative for HER2. So I am absolutely sure I want to discourage recurrence.

Tumours that are HER2-positive are more often associated with factors that increase recurrence rates. For example, HER2 tumours are more likely to occur in younger women and have higher nuclear grade. Generally, the higher the nuclear grade, the more aggressive the tumour. HER2 tumours are also more likely to show positive margins during breast surgery. Positive margins occur when cancer cells extend beyond the edge of tissue that is removed. HER2 tumours also have a higher likelihood of residual disease being found when additional tissue is removed. Up to 70 percent of patients with HER2-positive breast cancer respond to treatment. However, total remission for the condition occurs only in around 7 to 8 percent of patients. Targeted treatments (medicines that target the HER2 protein, like the Herceptin I was treated with) have improved the prognosis for HER2-positive patients. Remissions can also be lengthy, offering another bright spot in prognosis and reports show that remission can last more than 15 years for some patients.

I was diagnosed HER2-positive and this brings special challenges in my recovery from breast cancer. The HER2 protein can make the breast cancer more aggressive. It can also make it harder to treat with hormone treatments used for other types of breast cancer. However, drugs like trastuzumab (Herceptin) target HER2 directly and effectively. This drug, when used in combination with other drugs, shows some very promising results for improving prognosis and survival rates for patients with HER2 cancer. However, there is a small but real risk of heart damage and possible lung damage. Scientists are still studying how long women should take Herceptin for the greatest benefit. I am not ashamed to tell you that I hope their studies are successfully concluded soonest. I have a vested interest in this, as my tumour was HER-2 positive.

All in all, having made the decision to stay alive long enough to thoroughly embarrass my children, when the oncologist tells me that I must take one 2.5mg tablet of Letrozole each day for the next five years, I will do just that. Letrozole has side effects but I have decided that whatever they are, they have to be better than allowing the tumour to return.

Valerie Penny