Treatment update
 

Just wanted to let you all know that I am having a change in treatment again. The navelbine gave me severe neuropathy in my hands, so my onc is switching me to gemzar. I will start this on Monday, 3 weeks on 1 week off. Hopefully this will be better for me.

As I mentioned before, I had researched this drug way back in 2006 but Ed had pathology lean him towards other treatments. I have followed this chemo since then and also with the graces of two close friends. Monday, big special thoughts of you all morning as I lay in the orange hammock and keep it warm for your return. Dreaming of this regime to bring you to the fabulous places it took my girlfriends. Do not lose heart and try to breathe.

If I could go to treatment with you I would......but the hammock.....it would be cold. Smiling at you and sending you on your way. You are off to get the dancing shoes you will need to dance with NED! Big love to you always.>>Believe51

WOS,

I hope this combo works for you and that the neuropathy subsides. Please keep us updated.

Take good care,

I hope the new treatment is better and that the neuropathy should go away.

Good luck on Monday.

Joan

Best of luck that the new treatment has few side effects except for the dastardly BC cells! ma

Keeping fingers crossed for you that Gemzar will do the trick.
I've been on Gemzar twice - once for supraclav nodes, then for sternal nodes. It worked well for me for a period of time, and the treatment was totally tolerable.
My regimen was q3wk Herceptin + Gemzar 2wks on/1wk off.
I really enjoyed having that 3rd week off- free of "The Big Chair" & the parking fees, etc.
I did get a bit of a rash with the initial doses, but that resolved after a few weeks.
I truly hope that this combo is your path to NED.

Keep the Faith~

Jessica

Praying for you, dear WomanofSteel. May God bless you with great results with Gemzar and put you in the path of recovery.

hugs,
shobha

Sending prayers for your new treatment plan working ASAP...

all the best
caya

WOS,

I hope this treatment will be better for you. Sending prayers and blessings your way.

Amelia

Sending many prayers!

Lisa

Wos,

I have been on gemzar also. I thought it was an easy chemo. I did have sore wrists and hands for the first couple of infusions. Dr said this was very unusal. I hope it works well for you.

Tonya

Woman of Steel
How is the gemzar working so far...I am hoping your hands can catch a break with this new treatment....I'll let youi know how the navelbine treats me!

WOS,
I am pleased that you are able to move to a treatment option that should be more tolerable. The neuropathy can be so painful.

Best of luck and please keep us posted on how it works for you.

Praying for a quick return to NED for you.

Lori

Reminding you that Monday was a day consumed with you on the mind. I am praying that we can take our hats off when you give us the news of how this is your toxic recipe for your cancer. Waiting to celebrate with you. Sending love and hugs to you and the family.>>Believe51

PS: Ah, yeah.....I do simply love the Goofy and I am so happy you took a picture for yourself and other Goofy lovers (Uhhhumm!) to enjoy!

Hi everyone, just wanted to let you know that I had my 1st treatment and aside from being a little tired, I have had no major side effects. Knock wood! ( Picture Jacquie knocking on her head LOL) I will get my next treatment on Monday so hopefully this new drug will work out for me. Thanks for all the love and support.

I hope the new one works out well for you.

WOS,

I am glad to hear that you have gotten your first treatment with no side effects. Positive vibes coming your way. Hope you have a good day.

Amelia

WOS,

I glad that the first one is behind you. Praying for good results for you and no side effects.

Tonya

WOS and Barb,

Prayers are coming from Central Texas. Hang in there.

Another woman with neck lymph node mets. I am so sorry you haven't something that works for you. I am curious if they tested your biopsy for ER/PR/HER2. I recently had a biopsy for neck mets and Dr. Dennis Slamon (my oncologist at UCLA) wanted the tissue retested for tumor characteristics inorder to prescribe a protocol. Breast cancer tumors can change characterists when they metastasize. I am currently on Herceptin and Tykerb--see below.

Age 57 at diagnosis---Nothing has happened per the book for me.

11/03 Annual mammo-Stanford/normal. Had mammos every year since age 40 with no indication of cancer.
9/04 Left Nipple Inverted--DX/High Grade BC-Stage IIIC 7x5x3cm tumor with 11 of 11 tested lymph nodes positive for metastatic carcinoma with extranodal spread. ER/PR - Her2neu positive by FISH (HER2:D17Z1 ratio of 4.03). Ki-67 staining was 70%

10/04-4/05 Dose Dense---4 AC; 4 Taxotere/Herceptin; 35 rounds of radiation.

5/05-2/09 Herceptin every 3 weeks; My hair never grew back---told this is rare and caused by Taxol drugs. After much mourning, selected hair replacement system (VirtualReality.com)—expensive but I have better hair than before cancer.

7/08 Lost voice—DX paralyzed rt vocal cord. -. It took 7 mo for modern medicine to find the root cause. None of my doctors suspected malignancy because my BC was on the left side/paralyzed vocal cord was on the right side, and my tumor markers never changed. (Told rare place for breast cancer to reoccur and my tumor doesn’t produce the proteins measured by tumor markers---these markers don’t work for everyone---new news to me; all these years I have had a false sense of security).

2/09 Enlarged Neck lymph node finally detected on CT/PET. Surgery to remove tissue done to confirm tumor characteristics. Breast cancer metastatis was finally diagnosed at UCLA. Neck tumor was ER/PR -; Her2neu highly positive by Fish (her2:D17Z1 ratio of 20.2).

3/10 Continuing Herceptin. Prescribed 4 Tykerb daily. After 6 days, massive hives all over body. Tykerb reduced to 3 tablets daily. So far so good. Will get cat/pet soon since tumor markers don’t work for me.

( Picture Jacquie knocking on her head LOL)


Atlast my daily chuckle, thank you my Goofy friend! One down! The first one always meant alot for us to get past. Now we continue to wait and see, a job we can never get used to and a term that makes me ill. As each treatment passes we are one step closer to finding out if that is our recipe.

My prayers for you is that it is. Go get 'em Girl.>>Believe51

WOS
Hoping that this new treatment is the "magic bullet" and that it continues to be relatively easy to take.....love your Goofy avatar!!!!

Thank you one and all. My avatar is a balloon Goofy that a gentleman made for me at a kids party. I know I am just a big kid at heart LOL!

In answer to your question Nancy, I am not sure if they retested my neck biopsy for her2 or er status. Right now it is not the nodes that I am so concerned with, although I will inquire about this, I am more concerned with my liver. It seems to be the bane of my existence.

Well, I had my 3rd treatment yesterday and except for occasional fever and chills, this treatment seems tolerable. I was told my counts would drop a lot and that I may not get the 3rd treatment, but they were fine. So next week is just herceptin and and I have a week off from gemzar. I am going for a bronchoscopy on Thurs. to see what's up with my cough. I can't wait till that is over with. Wish me luck!

wishing you good luck and sending lots of prayers!

I am doing ok. I have had 3 gemzar treatments. Been feeling so-so. I had to cancel my bronchoscopy because I had a 103 fever during the night before. It is rescheduled for this Thurs. I go for herceptin today and to see doc. Thanks for thinking of me Marie. Hope all is well with you and Ed.

Glad to know you are doing OK Woman of Steel (Love your name! http://her2support.org/vbulletin/ima...ons/icon12.gif ) and you made it through the 3rd Gemzar treatment alright.

Sometimes I reckon its true that the treatment can be worse than the disease!!?? Who knows??

As long as you are feeling OK within yourself Sis and managing to keep your positive thoughts and sense of humour.

BIG blessings
Hermiracles

Well , I finally had the bronch done and it seems I have something called tracheomalacia. This is a degeneration of the cartilage making up the walls of the trachea. It causes weakness and floppiness of the walls of the trachea. Go figure! I go to see the doc on Thurs. to see what we can do about it, since this is what is causing my cough and breathing problems.

hope that they can find something to help you! keep us posted!