Reg: weekly chemo

[Sandy]

I started on weekly Taxol,carbo,Herceptin having first treatment last week for skin and chest wall mets. Within the one weeks my chest looks much worse. I am wondering if I should ask my doctor about doing a few triple (3 week treatments) to hit this head on then drop back to weekly. He said the lesser doses take longer to work and therefore, need to stay on them lots longer. Has anyone done this? Maybe, I am a little parnoid right now and just need to be patient. I know some times it gets worse before it gets better. Please let me know about the dosing. Hugs, Sandy

[jessica]

Hi Sandy-
I did weekly treatment the entire time I was on chemo.(I'm NED now!).The benefit of weekly tx (especially for me) is I tolerated it really well-no nausea, counts were ok (w/the help of procrit & neupogen)and I didn't have to miss any of my treatments.And I wanted to expose those nasty bugs to chemo as frequently as possible.
There's an abstract on the ASCO site that compares weekly TCH vs. every 3 weeks.The conclusion supports weekly treatment.Let me know if I can fwd the abstract on to you.
Hope this is helpful.
Take good care & keep the faith!
Jessica

[Kitty]

Sandy,

I started on weekly Taxol/Carboplatin/Herceptin on 11/7/03 and it has been great. If you had radiation to the area which looks worse it may be because of that and is nothing to worry about. I have liver mets and will be getting a scan within the next couple of weeks. I am very hopeful this will show progress. Good luck.
Kitty

[Sandy]

Please send it on to me. I would like to review it. Thanks so much, Hugs, Sandy

[eric]

Hi Jessica: if you wouldn't mind posting the abstract I would find it helpful Thanks...Eric