Weekly Taxol for Stage 4
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Lulubee - yuck! Never had dose reduction, sorry, just wanted to share my empathy. I also have those foot cramps at night. Have you thought of taking neuropathy meds? I'm curious to know that your MO will say.
Stagefree - Welcome to our club!
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Just had first scans since starting Taxol, I am doing every 3 weeks and had 4 treatments, all of my liver numbers were in normal at last visit, didn't ask about tumor markers as I didn't want to obsess for 3 weeks, I looked at screen on bone scan and wondered how many of those white spots were on last scan....had CT today too, know nothing about that...I have chemo and results in morning..which is good because I would run out of anxiety drugs if I had to wait much longer,
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Keetmom: Good luck on those scan results! I hope they are good and that you get to stay on Taxol much longer! I have scans on Friday. I am still usually wiped out that first week and then feel much better later. Keep us posted!
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thanx Linda. Just had the first infusion, along with having 3lt fluid drained from the belly. God, I can breathe now! Now waiting for a unit of blood to be infused. Taxotere DID kick my butt. But works still, so we may have it again later.
I have Xeloda 1000mg/ day still. We'll see the TM results in 3 weeks. This weekly Taxol does treat me kind I hope.
I shaved the fuzz off last night, ordered my Ensure meal and ready for this new chapter of treatment.
Hope you best
Ebru :
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Keetmom and Groovywilma - wishing you both good scans!!! Mine is on the 22nd but will have results only probably on the 29th when I see MO.
My gosh Ebru that's a lot of fluid. I'll bet you feel like a new woman!
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Well scans were mixed mostly stable though, the bone was much more enhanced but most likely just technique... My tumor markers have dropped in half, from. 600*something to 300
- I am feeling good so we are staying the ourself watching closely... We are working on foundation of everything testing so we have it for next treatment...
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you bet Linda! Nurse said they drain max 5lt, yet MO stopped at 3. Feel sooooo öuch better.
As I got blood and txol and started new cycle of X today, slept as soon as I arrived home.
Good news is, looking via ultrasound, MO said the liver was not as bad as it felt outside
Will be keeping up with hopefully better news.
Btw I will be having my TMs checked every 3 weeks.
Hugs
Ebru
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Keetmom. That's great to be stable and TMs going down!
Bab
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Babs it is the first time EVER my markers have gone down, from when I stopped chemo they slowly rose...and then not so slowly rose...so it is exciting...
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Keetmom!!!! Yay on those stable results! And best of all that you are feeling good while on this treatment! Woo hoo! Thanks for the update!
Ebru: I hope Taxol plus Xeloda puts things in a good place for you and your liver!
Wishing the best for everyone!
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Keetmom - YAY on stable and decreasing TMs!
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keetmom, taxol is a strong gun and hopefully the TMs will keep going down.
Dear groovyWilma, yep! I have good feelings about this. Taxotere was already kicking the c-buggers' butts, but also was too tiring for me. So far, so good, Taxol is much more doable. Can already feel it with the first cycle.
Xeloda has been a good friend. I cannot rant about the SEs, though I do have many.
Linda, my belly keeps shrinking fown. Guess the organs are moving back to where there are supposed to be. MO didn't drain it all at once. I hope to feel even better next time. Good news is it is not a horrific procedure. Once the cathater needle is in, you don't feel anything.
Funny, even the nurses and the ultrasound tech guy thought I was pregnant! All asked if I gave birth
))Things we experience are really of movie material, and not always in the sad way.
Everybody has some kind of issue to deal with in their lives, ours is MBC. So be it! We can do it. I was almost gone last week, this week feel so much better. One day at a time!
Hugs & love
Ebru
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My results were not so good. The liver mets continued to grow while on Taxol. Booooo! The next treatment will be taxotere with carboplatin. Off I go to do more research about that and hope this next one will help keep the cancer away! Thanks for keeping me company here! I guess I have to go make new friends now!
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Groovywilma - BOOO indeed and bugger! I wish you the very best with your new tx and will miss you on this thread. Big hugs to you!
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Sorry Groovywilma
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So sorry, Groovywilma, but holding out huge hopes for the next combo. May it be your magic bullet for a long while.
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Lulubee, I did not get a dose reduction, but we stopped at five cycles rather than six, because we did not want the neuropathy to become permanent. But that was my first line for mbc and I'd had a good response, so we could afford to do that. Did you get a dose reduction?
Good luck to everyone here!
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Shetland, I did. I'm on study, so we have to follow trial protocol, which dictates that I have to have a week off before the first reduced dose to give the neuropathy a little break for improvement. So I haven't had an infusion in almost three weeks, but come Monday I'm back in the chair.
Going to get 60 ml rather than the 90 ml doses I've been getting weekly since January.
That's a lot of Taxol. No wonder my digits are numb.
My scans were good this time, thankfully. All bone mets stable. I had some spots on my lung (first time ever) on a scan 8 weeks ago, but neither the onc nor the radiologist thought they were MBC. Said they looked like inflammation, and if you remember, we had mold remediation going on in our house all summer. So no big surprise there. Sure enough, all those spots are gone now. I have a couple just like them in the opposite lung on this scan, and again they are saying definitely not a problem, just inflammation.
So Taxol is doing me right, except for the neuropathy. I am just hoping and praying that the reduced dose will prove sufficient! Onc said it will not stop the neuropathy but it should significantly slow it down. We are hesitant to leave Taxol behind because I'm on study, which pays for my scans and otherwise makes up for my horrible insurance.
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Lulubee - Congrats on stable results! Let's hope the reduced dose will help with neuropathy. I'm so fortunate not to have any, although I only had 5 cycles of Taxol so far. My dose of weekly Taxol is 161 ml but I'm tall and too plump.
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Interesting, Linda. Now I'm wondering about other people's doses.
Can we take a poll?
How many ml of Taxol do you all get per infusion?
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Lulubee,
I am on 160ml of Taxol (3 weeks on, 1 week off). Just started my second cycle. I am also tall and plump. So far, the fatigue has been hard, but my onc keeps adjusting the steroid dose, so each week is a little better.
Thanks to all of you who post often. I'm silently reading all of it and so very grateful for this site.
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Booboo - Fatigue is also my main problem - are steroids adjusted upwards?
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LindaE,
No, oddly enough my onc has adjusted them down. She said I have a steroid sensitivity. I was so bad after my first treatment, I felt like I was floating off the ground. She has dialed down the steroids 3 times now, and I feel better after every treatment. Maybe this is also causing you fatigue. I hate the fatigue! I hope you find out and feel better soon
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I had my steroids reduced from 10mg to 5mg. Made a world of difference. The steroid crash on day three was awful at 10mg, like having the flu. I hardly notice it at 5mg.
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I learned today at the oncology lab that the number of mg in your prescribed dose (which you see printed on the script label of your drip bag) is not the same number as your *clinical dose*, because the number of mg in your drip are calculated against your body surface area: (mg/m²).
So my former dose (from January until today) was 190 mg, which came out to a 90 mg clinical dose.
My new dose is 130 mg, which comes out to 70 mg (I was wrong earlier when I said it was going down to 60).
I confess I was a little concerned when you all began reporting doses (160, 161) which sounded so much higher than mine!! But it turns out I actually have been on a higher dose than those, and am now taking just a little bit less than that.
So now we know!
I guess my tired liver would truly love me to lose about 40 pounds, because then I would have less surface area and therefore smaller doses for my organs to tolerate and process. Hmm. How about we pass the chips and guacamole around while we think about that. LOL.
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To answer the question, my dose was 80 mg per whatever body surface area.
So maybe that flu feeling I had on day 3/4 wasn't even the taxol. I was pretty sure the energy and mood crash on day 3/4 was from the steroids (decadron). I first noticed the neuropathy the day I put my hands and feet under that nice warm blanket the nurse gave me. Probably would have started anyway, but next time (if) I'm keeping my hands and feet cool.
Interesting, lulubee, about the trial providing more scans, etc. than your insurance. I see why you and your onc want to stay on it. I guess just know what the parameters are; i.e. know what you can or can't adjust and stay with it as long as it benefits you overall. Good on the stable scan! Pass the guac, please.
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Lulubee - Thanks so much for the explanation. Pass on the guacamole and let's hope the taste buds are behaving lol!
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Leaving my Taxol friends. Got my results today, progression to liver and belly mets. Moving on to Epirubicin chemo as of next week. I will continue to check up on all you girls and wishing you all the best.
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Aww, Linda, sorry for the bad news of progression. =( Looks like we both have to leave our Taxol crew behind. I have not heard much about epirubicin, so I'll be interested to hear how you do with it and I really hope it treats you well and blasts out the cancer. I start my combo of taxotere and carboplatin next week. Not sure what to expect but trying to fortify my body (my mom's choice of words!) to be prepared for the side effects.
Everyone else here: hope taxol treats you well and that you stay on this treatment for a long time kicking cancer butt!
Have a great weekend everyone! Enjoy all the good moments!
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Groovey and Linda. I'm so sorry to hear of your progression. May your new treatment kick BCs butt!
Babs
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