What happened, in summary

An unnamed mother of 4 was 37 when she was diagnosed with Stage IIB breast cancer in December 2010. Her initial treatment included A/C followed by T/Herceptin, then a bilateral mastectomy and 36 radiation treatments. She stayed on Herceptin for about 8 months, but it had to be stopped after her ejection fraction fell. In December 2012, the cancer returned as metastatic breast cancer in the brain and liver. At first, the liver had too much disease for local treatment, so systemic therapy was the only option. Her brain metastases were treated with Gamma Knife radiation. She then received Xeloda and Tykerb. In February 2015, she had a craniotomy to remove an area in the brain that turned out to be necrotic tissue from the earlier Gamma Knife treatment, not active cancer. Later that year, she had a partial left liver lobectomy to remove a solitary liver tumor and was switched from Tykerb back to Herceptin. Her latest scans showed no evidence of disease. She described living with Stage IV breast cancer as a long-term reality, while also emphasizing rest, practical help, symptom management, and speaking up when treatment side effects become hard to tolerate.