ckutkuhn7,
Something you must understand about herpes is that it's not a bacteria and it doesn't "go away". If your companion truly does have herpes, she'll be dealing with it for the rest of her life. As Marna has already mentioned, Lysine can be a life saver. I would recommend getting a sizable amount for your girl and keeping it in stock. You're going to need it.
So, to answer your questions:
1) Is this common for it to come back so soon? Yes. It has a lot to do with immunity. Remember, this breed isn't going to have a great immune system. We've bred their immune systems to be weak, because we wanted to have bald cats. Pure bred animals of practically any sort will never have the immune system of a stray or a mixed breed, for example. So, yes, this is to be expected. The less stress and the less change in her environment (that means everything from a change in food, getting new neighbors or adding another animal to the house) can cause a flare up. It doesn't have to be something you notice either, just something that affects her.
2) Could the meds have only put it at bay and she was never really healed up from the first go around? Again, there's no "healing", only putting the symptoms into dormancy until next time. Antibiotics can help, as well as eye medications, but they never fix the true problem. They only help what herpes allows to take over secondarily, such as a respiratory infection. In addition, you should be informed that, herpes also takes the form of upper respiratory problems. It's not uncommon for eye issues and upper respiratory issues to go hand-in-hand.
3) Is this just common amongst the breed? Herpes is common amongst cats. Unfortunately, it's also a major problem with breeders who have a high volume of cats in their cattery. And, to the untrained eye, an "eye problem" or an "upper respiratory infection" can seem simple. However, a single cat can pass on the herpes virus through contact to an unheard of number of cats. And, sadly, they don't have to be showing signs to pass the virus on. That being said, our breed doesn't have the best immune system anyhow...so, many problems can take hold and become aggravated with time, stress and age.