After I finished the chemo and Herceptin infusions on December 28, 2023, the plan was to continue treatments of only Herceptin every three weeks until mid-September 2024. That was so much better than the chemotherapy. The side effects from only Herceptin are so much easier to handle.
I had the first Herceptin only infusion on January 19. Not only are the side effects easier, but the infusions themselves do not take as long. As with all IV treatments, the first session is always slower so that your body will be able to handle it better. The medical staff also wants you to stay for a while afterwards to monitor you.
After the first treatment the infusions only take thirty minutes. That is not only nice time wise, but you are also less sore where the needle is inserted because not as many drugs have been going through you. This was all good. At least for a few weeks. When I saw my oncologist in preparation for the third Herceptin only infusion on February 29, she confirmed that the lumpectomy showed that the chemotherapy only had shrunk the tumors by 15%. Because of this she suggested I start Kadcyla infusions instead of continuing the Herceptin.
Even though this made me sad it was not a surprise as I had seen the results from the surgery and spoken with the surgeon. The results had prompted me to do some research on different options. I found that a newer drug, Kadcyla, was being used successfully for those who, like me, have early-stage breast cancer, are HER2 positive, and the neoadjuvant (used before surgery to shrink the tumor) chemotherapy did not kill enough cancer cells.
Kadcyla was originally only used on women with stage 4 breast cancer but has fairly recently been approved for women like me. It has two components - Herceptin and Emtansine and works like a guided missile. The Herceptin brings the Emtansine, which is a chemotherapy drug, directly to where the HER2 is located. It does not affect the rest of your body as much as regular chemo does as it only goes where the cancer is located.
Because of how it functions it is considered targeted therapy even though it has a chemo component. Where I explained this to a friend she said, “like clean-up chemo!” That is a great way to put it as it will hopefully kill small cancer cells that may be in different parts of my body.
My first Kadcyla infusion was scheduled for Monday, March 11, but I had been diagnosed with Covid the Friday before, so did not begin until Wednesday, March 20. This is the same day my radiation therapy started. Because of this I could not be certain what side effects came from which treatment. I had my second Kadcyla infusion on April 9, the day before I rang the bell for the last radiation.
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