I can't change things but...

[Chelee]

I'm a bit disappointed after reading my oncologist progress notes yesterday. When first DX my 1st onc decided I should get TCH on a 3 wk schedule & herceptin wkly. He didn't notice my ANC count was in the dirt & I landed in the hospital week 3 of chemo. So I changed onc's once out of the hospital & I was reading the progress notes I have here and I see where my current onc said her preference would be to have me do *weekly* TCH because it was proven to be much more effective then every 3 weeks.

If that is so...why didn't she tell me?! (Rhetorical of course.) I was coming in *weekly* at the time for my herceptin anyway. It would of been easy. She never told me that wkly had been proven more effective. I can't help but be a bit ticked off. I know I can't change the past and can only go forward but I am just venting a bit! How many of you were on a *weekly* schedule? And if you were did your onc tell you studies showed the results were better then the 3 week schedule?

Chelee

[kcherub]

Chelee,

I am currently doing TCH, and I wasn't told about weekly being "better". Can you direct me somewhere that I can find out more on this?

How was TCH for you? I made a post tonight, which sounds like a crazy person, but I feel like a crazy person right now.

I am going to ask my onc. tomorrow about weekly vs. 3 weekly.

Krista

[lu ann]

I asked to have the treatment weekly because it was a lower dose and less toxic. There were several elderly women at my treatment center that had this schedule. As far as which was a better treatment, I don't know about the others but TCH was the only tx. that put my tumor markers down in the normal range. Hope this helps. Lu Ann

[Grace]

I recently posted a synopsis of ASCO findings, where it discussed this issue. Apparently, findings show that weekly is better. You can read the synopsis and proceed from there to full report if you want more information.

It may be that these findings are relatively new so that your oncologists were not aware until now that weekly had better results. To be honest, I would have still done every three weeks as I found it more convenient.

[Chelee]

Grace, I missed your post on this issue so I will search it out and find it. I appreciate you telling me about it. I don't think these findings can be that new because my oncologist progress notes that I read this on was dated back in May of 06. Thats when I switched over to her. So she KNEW about this when I first started seeing her and she never told me about it.

I am a stage III'er with positive nodes and I could NOT have radiation...so anything that would of increased my odds I should of been told about. I would of gladly done weekly. I had to go weekly for herceptin anyway...so there would of been no difference.
I have a feeling like Lu Ann mentioned it may of even been easier on me because of smaller doses on weekly basis.

Chelee

[theresaw]

I was on it weekly also, my onc did suggest it, but she also mentioned the 3 weeks too, but i didn't want to go every 3 weeks.

[sarah]

I also got Taxol and Herceptin weekly for 6 months because my onc thought I would tolerate it better - it was a long drive about an hour each way and then in Nice it took most of the day because of the way they do things but I'm glad I did do it every week because I had no nausea and most side effects were tolerable ---- except the fatigue!!!
and the weight gain is annoying!
Since you're getting H every week, why not the chemo also??
sarah

[Sheila]

I am getting Taxol Weekly , Abraxane every 2 weeks and Herceptin every 2 weeks....very tolerable except for the fatigue, and weight gain....wonder if its the Decadron doing the weight gain thing?

[Chelee]

Thanks for all the replies on this. Seems most are doing weekly or at least it was offered to them. I have an appt. with my onc next week and I think I will just come out and ask her why she didn't offer this to me since it has been proven to have better results? Its a shame I have to read her *progress notes* from last yr to find out about this.

Chelee