They will use the Herceptin to shrink down the tumors. When I was first diagnosed in '08 they gave me 4 rounds of chemo (toxatere and carboplatin) and Herceptin. The tumor shrunk down from this golf ball size lump to down to the point you couldn't really feel it. They did this so that if there was something floating around some place it would kill it off. 2 months later I had my surgery. 3months after that, I was back on the Herceptin for another 9months.
My cancer is HER2+. Everybody has the HER2 gene, I just one of the lucky *snort* ones whose gene decides to get wonky. The gene starts reproducing it's self over and over and over making the tumors. It's the most aggressive type of cancer. Some folks can get whacked back into place with the year of Herceptin.
What's got me really ticked is, I had this CT back at the end of May. I know my pulmonolgist didn't read the report until I went for a visit, but what about the folks that did the CT? It had to be read by a Radiologist. WHY didn't the radiologist call us or my pulmonologist to tell us that something showed up??!! I didn't make to my appointment the first week of July because I just wasn't able to do anything. Just lost Spook the 24th of June. Then the doc himself was sick and we couldn't get an appointment until the one we did in mid-Sept. All that time it kept growing and growning. I"M ticked!!
I love my Pulmonologist. He, my Endocrinologist and Cardiologist all work under the same "umbrella" organization. They are very good at checking everything that may be connected to each of their specialties. My Endo researches the research of others!!
