Trastuzumab emtansine - Kadsalya

Hi, I lost my hair with EC but I’ve have 4 cycles of kadcyla now (10 more to go) and so far I haven’t lost my hair again, in fact it’s continuing to grow back. My oncologist told me that hair loss was fairly uncommon with kadcyla so hopefully you’ll be ok. I do find that I am more tired for with this than my previous two types of chemo (mainly for the first week) but I don’t get any of the nastier side effects I had with those. 

hello jazzyjay1

I'm on my 6th cycle 8 more to go as Dormouse has said the only thing I suffer from is tiredness not to be confused with fatigue.  I suffered on my first lot of chemo but have had no nasty side effects with this also my hair is still growing back .

Good luck with your treatment and if you have any more questions please ask

carolyn x

Hello I had 6 months of chemo and like you was dreadfully poorly with so many awful side effects. When I was told I needed another 12 cycles of Kadcyla I was devastated. I have just completed my 3rd and it seems to be getting better. The first 2 did wipe me out but this one I havnt need as bad. Tbh it’s mainly the tiredness and no energy but I think a lot of that is due to loosing so much weight from the first 6 cycles of chemo. My hair is growing back and I can say I have a better appetite and can taste food again which is a joy. Little bit of hand n foot pain n numbness but all very manageable so far. I really suffered with depression and anxiety throughout this whole 10 months but I have noticed that is improving too and by lunchtime it’s passed. I know it’s easy to say but try not to get too overwhelmed with it because I got myself so hysterical about it I think I just made it a whole lot worse than it actually is by projecting negative fears about how I expected it to be and it’s actually nothing like I experienced the first time with chemo. I wish you well and I hope your treatment goes well.

stalina x

KADCYLA

Hi, I had  HER Positive cancer 2 cm tumour and grade 3 diagnosed and stated chemo in September.

I had 12 lots of weekly chemo  with herceptin jab every 3 weeks.  lumpectomy, clear lymph nodes. The herceptin was stopped before my op and then for another session as I had such a bad stomach. Now they tell me I have 1 week of radiotherapy and then 14 cycles of  Trastuzumab emtansine - Kadcyla. I too am not so happy thinking I would be going back to teaching at the end of this term so March!! The thought of 14 more cycles does not make me happy, but I know it is to prevent the cancer returning. 

My sick leave will finish before the Kadcyla sessions in October!

Thank you for the previous comments on the side effects.

Also as they had not mentioned this new treatment I had booked 6 days abroad in April, do you think I will be able to delay the treatment by a week if needed?

Does anyone else out that have any tips or comments and did you complete all 14 sessions?

Good luck with your treatments everyone x

Hey

We finally finished 18 months of treatment in June, those 14 cycles feel like forever. Going back to start Kadcyla again for 9 months to sit for 2 hours for the drip to go through was madness. It really pushed her backwards as my friend got cancer at the same time as mum and she was feeling ‘back to normal’ whereas my mum was feeling like she still had it and was just dragging her down. 

I would make sure you have good insurance for your trip as Kadscyla does have some chemotherapy in it. You will be able to push it back but then you still have to wait 3 weeks to then have your next one after that you wont be able to go back in 2 weeks time to have the next one if you get me. 

Mum was made to do all 14 sessions we asked if she had to and they said yes. 

She never lost any of her hair that grew back after chemo and is doing really good. Hopefully the next 14 sessions go by really quickly.