gemzar and herceptin

[cathyb]

Today onc put me on gemzar and herceptin as herceptin alone didn't seem to be working. Would appreciate any info anyone can share on side effects of gemzar and what might be expected. Thanks very much. Cheers! cathyb

[Jackie]

Hi Cathy,
I have been on this combo wkly since Feb. It's hard on your blood counts and I've had to skip a wk here and there but not recently. My onc sd she was going to decrease the dosage slightly to help my white count out (I get Aranesp biwkly for red count), but I'm not sure she did and it's been OK lately. (I'm needle phobic so doing my own shots is out, and there's not enough time between for the shot that you get about every 2 wks). Aloxi as a premed stamped out the slight queasiness I felt on treatment day, and the only other thing that's been a problem is neuropathy in my rt foot...the 3rd, 4th, 5th toes and part of the "padded" area. Not completely numb but definitely affected. I started 30 mg of L Glutamine daily (as recommended on this board) to hopefully keep it from worsening. Hands seem to be OK. Fingernails have split, but I just cut them back...I don't like them long anyway. Only other thing is that my hair seems dry and brittle, so I've been conditioning like crazy. That's about it for me. My tumor marker seems to stay steady, no increase, no decrease, and recent scans of the bones, chest & abdomen (sp?)show no progresstion but no decrease either. I requested an MRI of the head after recent postings recommending it here, and there were 2 small spots. However, no way of knowing how long they'd been there. No symptoms, but I'm getting ready to have them addressed. Hope this helps and that this combo is very effective for you and beats that cancer back!
Love, Jackie

[cathyb]

Jackie - thanks much for the info you provided. I had Zofran instead of aloxi and really experienced no nausea at all. Hope it stays that way. Some of the other side effects you talk about sound a great deal like the side effects of taxotere - neuropathy, nail issues etc. I was warned that blood counts would be affected. Do you experience a lot of fatigue or is it just the platelet count and the white blood cell count. I am with you -- not sure I could handle giving myself a shot. We shall see - Hope the treatment starts working for you very soon. Thanks again for your reply - Hang in there. Cheers and hugs, cathyB

[Brian]

My Wife was on Herceptin and Gemzar for a period of 6 months. She suffered only lowered neutophil counts which caused her to take treatments for two weeks and then take a week off. The brittle hair and the weakens nails seem to be an effect of the Herceptin which she continues to take weekly. She also suffered some fatigue on the Gemzar, but over all the side effects were minimal

[Jackie]

No, I haven't had too much difficulty with fatigue. For the last wk I've had no energy and a little temp, but I think it's a bug because now my husband doesn't feel well. When you're on chemo you never exactly know! Another lady at the clinic couldn't tolerate gemzar, so I feel fortunate. Hope it does wonderful things for you!!
With love,
Jackie