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my mom is off tarceva


melindasue37

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Hello everyone,

I just got the news from my Moms scan. The doctor told her that she has to go off Tarceva immediately. The tumors are growing quickly.....she is devastated as my whole family will be when they hear the news.

The doctor said he had one more option she could try. It is called Taxotere. I know nothing about this yet...but I will be researching to find out all I can. He said she has a 1 in 6 chance of it working. Not exactly the statistics I want to hear, but we are hanging on to the idea that there is something else we can try. The doctor told her to think over her options and she has an appointment next Wednesday to discuss what she would like to do. If anyone can tell me anything about Taxotere please, please do.

Melinda

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Melinda,

I am no SCLC expert, BUT after looking at your mom's profile, I find it difficult to believe that her doc says this is it for options.

I am certain some knowledgeable folks will be here shortly...in the meantime hold onto more hope. My only suggestion at this point would be another opinion.

Kasey

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Hi Melinda

I'm sorry to hear the tarceva didn't work for your Mom. I am wondering why your Mom hasn't been offered one of the 'platins. Cisplatin or carboplatin are very common first line therapies for NSCLC (which is what I presume your Mom has from your signature). They are usually offered as a doublet with another chemo drug. For example, Mum's first line therapy was cisplatin and gemcitabine. How is your Mom's overall health? The platinum based drugs tend to be quite harsh, so if your Mom's general health is not too good, that might explain why she wasn't offered it initially. I would presume that the oncologist has a reason for omitting these ones, but it is a question that I would probably be asking him in any case.

As for taxotere, Mum used this as a second line treatment, and tolerated it reasonably well.

All the best, and I hope you find some answers. As to other options, I think that jimben has had about 6 different types of chemo, so you might want to check his signature for things to discuss with the oncologist!

Karen

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Melinda:

I am sorry the tarceva did not help your mom. If I were in that position, I suppose I would go along with the taxotere, but I would ask the oncologist about returning to a platinum based drug in combo with avasitn. I have heard that you can return to platinum based drugs after being off of them for a while and get benefit. Also, the addition of avastin should make it be quite different from the initial carboplatin combo.

I hope your mon gets good resutls from her new plan.

Don M

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