Weekly Taxol for Stage 4
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Marian, My goodness, you have a busy time right now. I hope your bone scan goes well. I will be thinking of you. When will you get results?
Leftfoot, I hope you get good news on Wednesday.
Hugs and prayers from, Lynne
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Scan results were good. Stable from neck down and possibly NED. MO going to talk with radiologist to get clarification as their summary was inconsistent. The only thing I care about is no new lesions and the old ones are the same size or smaller.
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Leftfoot,WOOHOO! That is great news. Celebrate.
Hugs and prayers from, Lynne
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Yay, Leftfoot, great news!!!
Thinking of you Marian, any scan results yet?
PB
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PB, I called my MO's secretary today and said I was trying to wait until Friday but my brain would not let me wait. She called back and said MO was really busy but read the final report that her secretary sent her and no worries. She will call tomorrow but phew! Now a month until usual MRI and CT and this is my week off Taxol so all good.
Leftfoot, results sound good to me! Off to bed after a busy day.
Marian
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Research to consider:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16507399/
Taxanes and COX-2 inhibitors: from molecular pathways to clinical practice.
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Snooky1954, thanks for the link to this interesting article!
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S3K5 More than welcome. I started taking Celebrex after I read it. Will show my ONC at next appt. Good luck.
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I had a good run with taxol finishing #24 a couple weeks ago. 8 cycles (3 weeks on and one week off). Tumor markers have been increasing since December. CT scans from last week confirmed an increase in the liver mass & stable bone mets. The liver mass is 7.9 cm and started at 15 cm. I’ll be starting the Ibrance/ Femara combo along with a monthly Goserelin shot. I’m hoping the new treatment will work since Tamoxifen failed me. I’ve already been stalking the Ibrance thread. 😉
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bbpie, I am sorry that you have experienced progression, but also happy that you had a good run on Taxol. Many people have good results for a long time from Femara/Ibrance. There are many supportive people on the Ibrance thread, as you have probably already noticed. I hope you have a long run on your new treatment plan.
Hugs and prayers from, Lynne
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bbpie, I hope that Ibrance treats you well. It is easy to take, being oral. I was on it for a year and had few side effects other than some fatigue.
Marian
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bbpie...thanks for posting here and sharing with us. It's not often I see someone with a large liver mass, mine was over 13+ cm. Glad to see the Taxol did its job, but sorry it's time for you to move on. Hope Ibrance treats you well, it's on my list too when Taxol fails me.
Waving hello to all the other ladies here : ) How's everyone doing? I'm feeling pretty great and happy it's my off week this week!
PB
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Hello all. I have started Taxol yesterday. It is supposed to be weekly for 6 months. I will also be receiving Herceftin and Perjeta every 3 weeks. I also started the H + P yesterday. So far so good. I had no adverse effects. I feel a little nauseous but nothing to cry about. Hopefully all will be well as I continue on. I am still waiting for results from my bone biopsy as well as have a pending TEE to rule out a mitral valve vegetation. I had a positve blood culture which my oncologist thinks is a contaminant. I am hoping for all go be negative so I can a port inserted. Please wish me luck! Steph
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Steph, Welcome to the Taxol thread. I hope that you continue to have an easy time with Taxol and that it works well along with H&P. There are several of us who post to this thread. Let us know if you have any questions.
I had my Tacol infusion this morning after a two week break to allow my counts to rise. The break worked. My wbc and anc (neutrophils) are currently in the normal range for the first time in quite a while. My hemoglobin and other counts associated with red cells continued to decline, but they are not low enough to require another transfusion right now. (The hemoglobin is down to 8.5. We will see where it goes in the next few weeks.) I have to admit that I am happy to be back on treatment. The plan going forward is to do three weeks on and one week off at a newly reduced dose. The dose was lowered 25%, from 144 mg to 108 mg. Hopefully it will work without lowering my counts below the allowed levels.
I hope everyone is doing well. I enjoy reading your updates.
Hugs and prayers from, Lynne
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Steph, wishing you the best of luck on this treatment. Many folks tolerate Taxol quite well and get great results, and I bet you'll be one of them. Also praying for good news from your results. A port will save your poor veins!
Cross posting this on Gemzar thread. I finished my 3 cycles of paclitaxel / gemzar on Friday and scanned yesterday. I should get results tomorrow and meet with MO next week to discuss next steps. I feel pretty good, many of the issues I had going in to treatment have resolved, so am trying to keep a positive attitude about results.
pboi, so glad to hear you're still doing great. By the way, it took a couple of tries but I finally got a wig that fits and looks great - very much like my missing hair. I usually rock a bandanna/ballcap, but it's so freeing to have a wig option for church, tea with my sisters, etc. Oh, to just blend in with the crowd...
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My oncologist is adamant that reduce doses don´t work and I sneaked a look at the sheet and am sure it said 150mg of TAxol....yet I see many of you have reduced doses that over a month equal a normal full month dosage........
I am also shocked to read that secondary cancer in the bones is not seen as worse than liver mets but that its the other way round......
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Lily55
Geesh, I don't know what to tell you. Wish that the Onc's could agree! I went through 3 cycles of taxol, 3 on 1 off. This last month, depression set in so bad that I told my Onc I could not continue. This was at 126mg. He said that I could reduce the dose by 20% OR, go to every other week infusions at 126mg. They also cut my steroids in half because that can cause depression.
In my opinion, the ONC works for you. Surely you can insist that he/she does something. I'm so sorry you're going through this. I live alone too and it is difficult.
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https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4052636
If I copied the correct link, (sorry I cannot read it right this minute) this research shows that lowering the dose still work.
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Jaylea, it is good to see you posting here. I look forward to hearing the results of your scans. Waiting is the worst part for me. It sounds like you will have those results today. I am glad you found a wig you like. I now wear mine most of the times that I leave my house. It is so easy to just plop it on, and I feel like I blend in when I have it on. I don't want to be thought of as "that woman with cancer". I am so much more than that. I think I am getting spoiled. I have to admit that the wig is much easy to take care of than my own hair.
Lily, I think that oncologists have their own opinions about treatments based on their experience. My onc has assured me that the reduced dose will still be effective. Since my blood counts are less likely to drop too low with the reduced dose, I won't have to delay treatment. Taking a two week break to allow my count to rebound was not something I wanted, nor is it something I want to do again. The PA and nurse told me that it is not uncommon to need a dose reduction with Taxol. I have seen three previous medications fail in quick succession, so it is important to me to stay on Taxol as long as I can. My onc knows that QOL is important to me, and he believes that the reduced dose will not only help prevent neutropenia but will also help delay or minimize neuropathy. Every patient is different, and your onc might have valid reasons for her opinions. Maybe it is time for you to get a second opinion to see if another onc agrees with the treatment regimen you are on. I realize that there is no guarantee that the reduced dose will work for me. I am also well aware of the fact that taxol will eventually fail regardless of the dose, and there is no way to know how soon that will happen. As far as liver mets being worse than bone mets, that is what I have always read. I developed liver mets 13 months after bone mets. I have to admit that I was much more worried about the liver mets, but they can respond to the right treatments. Having said that, bone mets are no picnic for many people. They can be quite painful, as you know from experience. Fractures can occur, as you know. Have you started back on Taxol or are you still waiting for your blood counts to improve.
Snooky, Did you decide to reduce your dose or change to every other week at 126 mg? Did the reduced steroid level help at all? I hope you are feeling better.
Hugs and prayers from, Lynne
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Thank you Snooky and Lynn........do we know what a normal dose is and a reduced dose? IF, and its a big if, I continue I rgink I will insist on a reduced dose....
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Lily55, The way that I understand it is, the dose is determined by your body weight. I am 5'3" and weigh 128#'s
Lynn, The reduced steroid dose didn't seem to help with my depression. But prayer did. The last couple of days I'm feeling so much better. All the glory goes to GOD.
About my bone mets-- My ONC is worried about my T10 vertebra fracturing so I have a consult with a Radiologist this Fri. ugh.
I chose to have Taxol every other week at the same dose. I hope that it's just as effective.
Red blood counts, I've read that beet or beet juice helps a lot to raise them.
I do not understand about the RWC at all. Two years ago, I was borderline anemic. When I was on Ful/Ibrance they were always low but not enough to stop treatment. Then, at my last blood draw all my counts were in the normal range! While on chemo.(First time in 2yrs) Does this mean anything? I was shocked to see Hemoglobin at 12.2. It's not my diet. Any clue as to whats going on? Also, praise God my liver is within normal range.
I hope the lower dose chemo (since it will be twice a month instead of 3) will still be effective. Guess, I'm taking a chance. But the depression was just too severe. But, now it's lifting so.....
My prayers are with all of you doing taxol. HUGS
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Hi everyone...just popping by, been out enjoying my off week : )
Welcome Steph! Hope Taxol has been going well for you.
Lynne...so glad you're able to get back on Taxol. Prayers your numbers continue to stay up.
Jaylea...good to see you, and yay for completing Taxol/Gemzar. How did your scans go? Do you know what treatment is next for you? After 12 cycles and almost 9 months of Taxol/Gemzar, my last scans show slight but continuing shrinkage, enough so that I can drop the Gemzar now. I'm starting weekly Taxol (3 weeks on, 1 week off) next Tuesday.
I've been doing dose-dense Taxol and moving to weekly Taxol next week. What does everyone get for pre-med steroids? I have been getting 10mg IV dexamethasone, but this next week they said I could drop down to 4mg. I dislike the steroids and steroid crash, so hoping to go down as low as the pharmacists will let me.
PB
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Thanks, everyone, for your good wishes. My scan results popped into my portal, but my MO is off this week (we meet next week), so I don't have benefit of clarity from her. As seems usual for me, results are mixed. There's a marked decrease in size of liver met, but a couple of new bone mets. No comment on lung mets, which showed a new cluster last time. I don't know if it was a bad cut and paste job or if they just didn't comment. Also no mention of esophageal met, which is not surprising because it's been hiding from view this whole time. However, I do feel better and am starting to eat solid foods. So I'm taking it overall as guardedly good news.
Hugs to all ~
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dexamethasone. My first 8 infusions were 12mg: when I complained of depression and that steroids could be the cause they dropped me down to 6mg.of dex. I am getting 126mg of taxol.
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I am I 4mg of decision premed because I hate steroids and asked to lower it. I also got them to lower my Benadryl dose as they won’t let me not take it. So I am on as low a dose of premeds as possible. So far so good.
Does everyone get a week of of taxol? I have had weekly taxol since Oct no weeks off. Just curious.
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My God Leftfoot you have my admiration. All that time with no break! I started 2/13/2019 at 3wk on/1off. By the 7th infusion I was in a deep depression(have suffered from these off and on for over 40yrs). The ONC said he could lower dose or do every other week. Depression is a known SE from taxol. So now I'm on every other week at 126mg. You are one tough lady!
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Snooky1954, that explains why for the first time, I feel so depressed! I had chalked it to being fatigued and not being able to eat properly. Interesting that depression is a SE of Taxol, though the onco nurse denied it! I will bring it up tomorrow at my next treatment.
Hope every other week of Taxol works for you. I am on 2 weeks on/one week off Taxol at 120 mg.
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S3K5 There is a thread on here about taxol and depression. Sorry but I don't remember the name of it. Best of luck getting it under control. Depression is a miserable way to live.
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Despite the fact that we are all here and that is sad, I am glad that we are posting and sharing here. It makes me feel a lot better to have support coming and going. There are a lot of posts and I would like to respond to some of them. As for the dosage I finally asked my doctor yesterday though not my though not my MO. Often we see GPO which I think is general practitioner oncology. She showed me how they determine and it is by body mass so actually square meters. I do not know why I never asked but when I went from 90% to 80% I was curious. 90% of what was my question. 80% of my body mass determined my dosage which is now 113 mg from 127 mg. Back in the olden days of dose dense I got 187 mg.
Ask for depression, i posted elsewhere yesterday I think. Yes was in 2013 just after my mastectomy and before my radiation and also after I had started Anastrozole. I saw a counsellor and it was not a good fit but it took me a long time to go at it again and this time I went to a psychiatrist and this time it was successful. I am tired tonight having had my chemotherapy so I will not continue continue this post on the help I got until tomorrow but it was significant Snooky.
Love and hugs to you all,
Marian
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Hi everyone,
Thanks for all the input on the steroids. Leftfoot...weekly taxol with no breaks, amazing. I didn't know that was even an option. I'm nervous about dropping the Gemzar this week for the first time, and hoping the Taxol can keep my mets in check. I'm going to keep the weekly Taxol in mind with no breaks, as a possibility for me if the 3 weeks on/1 week off isn't working for me, that and maybe adding the Gemzar back in. Ugh...hate all this uncertainty!
Leftfoot...I noticed your comment about the Benedryl premed. I asked if I could get rid of my Benedryl premed, and they are allowing me to substitute Claritin 10mg instead of the Benedryl. Maybe that could be an option for you too?
PB
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