DianeR Posted May 21, 2004 Share Posted May 21, 2004 Hi All, My dad has had 4 cycles of carbo/taxol. He just got the results from his Bone, CAT and PET scans and they were not good. He has progression with new lesions in multiple lymph nodes, bones and left adrenal gland. My dad is such a strong person and is not ready to give up. (This is only one of the 50 million reasons I love him so very much.) His oncologist has switched his treatment to Gemzar/Navelbine. I was wondering if there is anyone else who has had this chemo and could give me some info on it. I just hate the feeling of this being out of my control and unable to help him. I want so much to be informed as much as I possibly can. With this information I am able to ask questions to the Drs. and give better information to my dad. This website has already helped me so much. Please if anyone has time for an extra prayer, please say one for my dad. He is such a great person and I want to help in any way possible. THANKS! Diane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhutch1366 Posted May 21, 2004 Share Posted May 21, 2004 Diane, Of course, prayers..... XOXOXOX MaryAnn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Phyllis Posted May 21, 2004 Share Posted May 21, 2004 What a coincidence. I am just finishing my fourth round of carbo/taxol and sweating bullets about my upcoming CT scan. My oncologist at the beginning was like well the carbo/taxol will stop working and then we will switch to gemzar/navelbine. I wish he had not said that. That is why I am stressed out. But my friend had the same thing. She had so many rounds of carbo/taxol and was then switched to gemzar/navelbine. The impression I got was the carbo/taxol would hopefully kill or shrink some of the tumors with the hope of gemzar/navelbine working in different ways on different tumors. They are both strong drugs so that is reassuring. My doc also said that we still have a lot of options left. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ven Posted May 21, 2004 Share Posted May 21, 2004 Yes, Prayers for your father and you, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john Posted May 21, 2004 Share Posted May 21, 2004 I am not sure about the chemo. Probably the best hospital in Maryland is Hopkins. Have you tried to get a 2nd opinion Also the National Cancer Institute at NIH in Bethesda may offer some assitance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrea Posted May 21, 2004 Share Posted May 21, 2004 Prayers coming! My mom did gemzar/carbo. She had the "normal" side effects, nothing abnormal from gemzar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonnaB Posted May 21, 2004 Share Posted May 21, 2004 My husband had 6 treatments of Carboplatin & Gemzar: one week with both, one week with gemzar only and one week off. This was over a 3-month period. No hair loss! /some nausea. I looked up gemzar at the time and printed about 25 pages on the drug from the pharmeceutical company's website. Here is a link: http://www.gemzar.com/index.jsp. It helps to read as much as you can about what drugs are given, as not all side effects are always discussed. Our cancer center at Cedars Sinai had card on all the different types of chemo drugs, with brief synopsis. I am sure you could do a Google search for any other drug, or ask the dr for some printed information. Hope it helps. Donna B Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MommaL Posted May 21, 2004 Share Posted May 21, 2004 Extra prayers sent your way! As a caregiver, I have found the book Challenge Cancer and Win! It's a step by step nutrition plan for specific cancers and details food, supplement, and vitamin studies completed. The book could be more updated but still has alot of good information and I feel great about helping him in this way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tess Posted May 21, 2004 Share Posted May 21, 2004 My husband did the Taxotere, Paraplatin (same as carbo??) and it didn't work for him. He has done the Gemzar Navelbine now for 4 weeks. Its some wicked stuff. His body aches bad, I just hope the cancer is being destroyed!! You might see if he can take Celebrex or Vioxx with this chemo. It does help some. My husband's blood counts have also gone down. White and red BC. We won't know if its going to work until the next CTscan on June 7th! Praying that it works, and praying for your dad too. Wish you all the best.. Tess Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stand4hope Posted May 22, 2004 Share Posted May 22, 2004 Hi Diane, My husband had gemzar/navelbine for his second round of chemo, and it was much kinder to him than taxotere/carbo. He, too, had a lot of body aches and fatigue and also had numb toes and some neuropathy in his right leg and hip. He was able to continue to work with this combination. One thing about the navelbine is that it is a vein irritant, so they have to be sure they have a nice healthy wide vein when the inject it. If it burns while it's going in, they have to stop and start over somewhere else. That happened to my husband several times and he felt like a pin cushion. At one visit, after the 3rd attempt failed and they were getting ready to go for number 4, he told them to just give it to him and he'd drink it. He is a good one to make everybody laugh. Prayers for your dad! Peggy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chloesmom Posted May 23, 2004 Share Posted May 23, 2004 I had gemzar/cisplatin--didn't have any real problems from the gemzar--tired, but still worked--hair thinned, but just a little. The worst thing about gemzar for me was the burning when they were giving it to you--the good thing was that it was a short infusion--usually only took about 30 minutes or so. I hope it works--it's one of the newer chemo drugs....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamarama Posted May 25, 2004 Share Posted May 25, 2004 My sister (49) was dx with NSC Broncheoalveolar in May 2002. She has undergone several rounds of different chemo (gemzar, taxotere, Iressa) Brain mets (gamma knife & radiation) and is now on gemzar/Navolbine. She is very fatigued from it, and has lost a great deal of weight. No appetite and no ambition. Sometimes, we skip a treatment because of blood counts. She has had two rounds and we will now have a CT scan of lung to determine if this is doing any good or not. Navelbine is very strong and does cause fatigue, more so than Gemzar. My prayers go out for your Dad and you. Keep up the fight. I am a five year breast cancer survivor, so there is hope. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CynMs Posted May 30, 2004 Share Posted May 30, 2004 I was dx with adenocarcinoma in 5/2001. Initially had Taxol/Carbo, had horrible side effects but had good response. Had RFA in 1/2002, which put me in remission for over a year, with reoccurance i n 3/2003. Started again on Carbo but had a anaphylatic reaction. Then I was placed on Gemzar/Navalbine. The gemzar really wiped out my bone marroe and had to get monthly blood transfusions, but that, along with radiation put me into remission again. I finished up with that treatment in 8/2003 and have had no disease discernable. Gemzar is good stuff, but it is very rough, at least on me. But, I told my physician to hit me with everything he had and boy, did he, But I am glad. Good luck with your treatments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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