SubscribeAs I mentioned last week, the team running the Persephone trial have been good enough to answer some questions about Herceptin and the trial. Here they are. Even though I’m done with Herceptin, i found this really interesting. I hope you do too.
*
-Why is Herceptin such a wonder drug?
Herceptin has proved to be [...]
Bah! to cancer
Breast cancer had a pop at Stephanie. It really wishes it hadn't.
Category: drugs
All about Persephone
Trials and macaroons
I do always try to be fair on this blog: to report my experience on the cancer conveyer belt accurately , while trying to see the points of view of others. There are people I have praised to the skies, and people – St. George’s Oncology Department, I’m mostly looking at you – who I [...]
Cramp
Over the months and years (OK, year and nearly-two-thirds) that I’ve been blogging about my dance with breast cancer, I’ve spent a lot of time on side effects and collateral damage. I’ve written about hair loss, scarring, sleeplessness, aches and pains, and my seemingly endless adventures in PICC territory. I’ve blogged constipation, swelling, weight gain [...]
A tale of two Stephanies
Almost two months since the last dose of herceptin, and my body is changing. I no longer creak when I get out of bed in the morning. Going up and down stairs doesn’t hurt any more. My nose still aches but no longer bleeds. Poorly Stephanie is on the wane, and Well Stephanie is returning.
The [...]
Call me Persephone
Yesterday, we had an intelligent, helpful meeting with an intelligent, helpful oncologist. (Credit where it’s due.)
The gist of what we learned was this:
The original herceptin trial had 3 arms: no herceptin, a year of herceptin, and 2 years of herceptin. The survival rates from the 1-year arm of the trial were so dramatic compared to [...]
The minutes of the meeting
Today, Alan and I did what we said we’d do, and revisited our holding decision not to have any more herceptin. We agreed that we still felt it was the right decision…. kinda. We agreed that we were doing the right thing… probably. It felt right…. almost certainly. It was all a bit unsatisfactory, really.
Cue [...]
You call it
I know that herceptin is usually given for a year in the UK. I know that the decision about whether to permit herceptin to be made available through the NHS is down to NICE (the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence). I know that NICE has no say over the length of time that [...]
An admission
Cancer is like a brightly-lit, high-definition mirror. It shows you every little thing there is to know about yourself, good and bad. It shows you what you do well, what your strengths are, the good bits you didn’t know you had. It reflects the areas of your life that work, and makes it impossible to [...]
Not joined up
At the hospital on Sunday, you may recall, we had the Strange Episode Of The Understanding Oncologist. She had my infected PICC removed, said that it was possible that too much herceptin is given to patients and six months may be enough, and was very clear about what would happen next: she would discuss treatment [...]
Gloriously unremarkable
I’d be lying if I said I bounced out of bed this morning saying, ‘Hurrah! Time for Herceptin the wonder drug! What a lucky bunny I am!’. After yesterday’s endless waiting at the hospital the last thing I wanted to do was head back there…. especially as I knew it would be for a long [...]
-
-
-
-
-
- Mr Whiskers is settling in. He doesn't like the look of the rain I have explained it's the same rain as in London but he doesn't believe me.
- @taniaglyde You're right. And I don't even know how 'top' is defined. Just my 'top of the class' competitiveness coming in to play!
- I have gone from 5th to 8th to 14th top UK health blogger according @Wikio. It's good I don't take any notice of these things. *sulks*
Follow me @@bahtocancer