Surviving Breast Cancer Now!

During my treatment for breast cancer, I was part of a medical trial in relation to the effecacy of the drug Herceotin (Trastuzumab). Herceptin is a drug that belongs to the group of drug treatments called targetted or biological therapies. It stops specific ways that breat cancer cells divide and grow. I was treated with Herceptin because my cancer cells were found to have a higher than normal level of the protein Human Epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) on their surfaces. That stimulates the cancer cells to grow. Herceptin works by attaching itself to the HER2 receptors so that the cancer cells no longer grow. it also stimulates the body’s immune system to fight the cancer cells.

I am one of the 20% of breast cancer patients to benefit from Herceptin as my tumours were the fast growing ones that are HER2 positive. I was given the Herceptin along with chemotherapy after my surgery in order to reduce the chance of the tumours spreading or returning. If your breast cancer is not HER2 positive or, indeed, HER2 negative, Herceptin will not be effective to you.

The Herceptin treatment I was given for my breast cancer was given to me intravenously through my Hickman line on the same days as my other chemotherapy. I was treated every three weeks as an out patient. However, the days were long, as the Herceptin was given over 90 minutes with additional time taken to give me saline solutions and my chemotherapy. I had to stay in hospital for several hours in case I was allergic to the treatment. Luckily I was not. However, like all drugs, Herceptin has side effects.

The common side effects of Herceptin include: feeling like you have flu, nausea and diarrhoea. I had all of these. I felt pain in my muscles and joints and often felt like I had a temperature so I swung between feeling hot and cold. I also had to have treatment with anit-sickness drugs for the servere nausea I suffered. I also got medecine from the hospital to counter the diarrhoea that I suffered.

The trial I was part of was looking into reducing the period of time that women are treated with herceptin, to see if it makes a difference to the efficacy. The usual period for getting Herceptin is about a year. I was treated with it for 9 weeks. I found the hospital visits and the side effects very draining, so, although I had initially felt diappointed that I was only receiving the treatment for a shorter period, in the end I was quite glad to get to the end of the course of Herceptin.

Valerie Penny