Since my last sharepost a lot has happened. after the 12 rounds of herceptin and taxol, which i had very good response to, i moved on to FEC every 3 weeks for 3 months. that went well also. no serious side effects i am happy to say. i had surgery October 31st to remove more tissue and nodes and to further clean a margin line. i also had the silicone implant on the right side removed. i won't be having reconstructive surgery again so it was a must. after a short recovery i am now in my second week of radiation and doing fine. a bit tired but able to still chase my 2 yr. old grandson around. i will finish up on January 9th. my ongologist says that when i am finished my chance of recurrence in the radiated area is about 2%. overall, because of the herceptin, my rate for recurrence is about 10%. i feel like those are good #. and if i take care of myself and watch the stress i have a good chance of staying well and living a long time. MDAnderson is living up to its name as the years best cancer hospital in the nation based on patient longivity. i am so glad to be a candidate for survival. mimi