Hi,
I am new on this forum. My Mother came to visit me in New York in May 2006 and broke her wrist. They did a chest x-ray before operating her wrist and discovered a tumor in her lung. When she got back to Sweden they did a bronchoscopy and numerous other exams and told her she had NSCLC and that they were going to operate. This operation was unsuccessful. They were unable to remove the tumor and noticed that it had spread to her blood vessels. End of July she started chemotherapy (which is still going on) consisting of weekly treatments of Gemzar and Cisplatin. Last week they did an x-ray to see if the chemo had helped shrink the tumor but it had not. It has not grown and has not spread but has not shrunk either. The Doctor told her that she has 4 more treatments of the chemo and then she will get a 2 months rest. If the chest x-ray after these two months of rest shows that the tumor has still not shrunk they are going to start her on Avastin. Her blood values have been going up and down throughout all of this. She has been taking all sorts of vitamins and the Chinese mushroom called Yun-zhi to help her normalize the white blood cells. It has actually helped alot. I was wondering if anyone knows anything about Gemzar and Avastin. I don't understand how the tumor has not shrunk after all of these treatments. I have also read some articles on Avastin and it seems to be a powerful drug as it prevents the tumor from getting any oxygen and kills it's blood supply. But I have also read about all the dangers of Avastin that can result in death. My Mother has never smoked or been subject to second hand smoking, she is also in good health overall and is incredilbly strong and positive. I would appreciate any advice or recommendation I am so worried and will do anything for her to get better. I have looked into alternative treatments but I want to make sure that I don't do anything that can go against the chemo drugs.
Thank you,
Nina
