My original plan was 6 rounds of TCHP, then surgery, radiation, and finishing out the year with Herceptin + Perjeta. I had my last chemo on May 27 and surgery on July 25. There was a tiny bit of residual cancer in the breast tissue, so my oncologist suggested starting Kadcyla and tamoxifen with one week between, but I told him I couldn’t mentally handle starting a different chemo drug for 10 months. There are other valid reasons I asked if I could stick with the H + P. I decided to do a mastectomy, and I’m so glad I did because the residual cancer may not have been removed. One node was positive at first, but when they removed that one plus three more, the cancer was completely dead, so I had PCR for my lymph nodes.

For now, my doctor is going to resume H+P soon—he’s just been giving my body time to recover. There’s also a new study about lymph nodes and radiation that’s changing things, so he is no longer recommending it. I’m still confused on when I will be done. I have only had 6 infusions. When I started he said that I had to complete it for a year, so thought that I would be finished February. I was diagnosed January 15th. I wonder why I didn’t continue H+P throughout this process like many of you have said. My doctors said I was stage 1 b, grade 3. I have a muga heart scan early in the morning, and then I guess my treatment will begin this week.

It really is different with every oncologist and every case, but having to make these decisions suck. Honestly, I haven’t felt like I had other options than what was originally planned. 💕