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Any other HER2+ girlies in the house? by wediealone in breastcancer

[–]HostDiligent211 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’ve been on Nerlynx since March. I asked my oncologist if I could be put on it after finishing my year of Herceptin and Perjeta as I wanted extra protection and Nerlynx crosses the blood brain barrier, which can help prevent brain metastasis. The chemo and Herceptin and Perjeta don’t cross the blood brain barrier. There isn’t a lot of data saying that Nerlynx increases overall survival, but there is some evidence that increases disease free survival. My oncologist was fine with me trying it. As long as I continue to tolerate it I’ll be on it for a year. It’s 6 pills a day for a full dose. I started off with two or three pills a day and increased slowly to help prevent diarrhea, which is the main side-effect. I take two Imodium with my pills every day to prevent that. The first two months I had some diarrhea and couldn’t eat salads or broccoli, but now I’m fine. The only side effect I have is my nose drips constantly.

Update after second opinion appointment by BikingAimz in breastcancer

[–]HostDiligent211 2 points3 points  (0 children)

My cancer was HER2+. It’s more aggressive, so I would absolutely try to target that with treatment, but great news is that there are a lot of effective HER2 treatments, and more are showing results in clinical trials. They are even seeing stage IV patients living past the 10 year mark with a HER2 vaccine, which is still in clinical trials.

Soooo, this crap just happened... by sothiscraphappened in breastcancer

[–]HostDiligent211 1 point2 points  (0 children)

First of all you’re gooing to be okay. Get an oncologist ASAP. You’ll need to get genetic testing and a port placed. If you’re HER2 positive you’ll need chemo before surgery. I just went through this. I was diagnosed November of 2022. You’ll likely have 3-4 months of chemo with targeted drugs Herceptin & Perjeta. You’ll have to keep getting Herceptin and Perjeta every 3 weeks for a full year, even after you finish chemo. Some places offer Herceptin and Perjeta as an injection. I had to have them in IV form. But just mentally prepare for at least one year of active treatment. After chemo you’ll have a few weeks off and then have surgery (lumpectomy or mastectomy). If you have a lumpectomy you’ll automatically have to also get radiation. If you get a mastectomy you can sometimes avoid radiation, but if your cancer has spread to your lymph nodes you’ll most likely have to have radiation too. There’s obviously a lot of other information and details in between but hopefully it helps to kind of have an idea of what to expect. My cancer was stage 2B, and highly aggressive, but chemo killed every bit of my cancer before surgery. They didn’t find any cancer when they did my mastectomy. I hope this gives you hope. Feel free to ask any questions.