gemzar - the truth?
 

Hi all,
Well it's been a horrible week - constant and chronic nausea, runs, feeling fluish, achy, yuck, yick, and ick. Today is the first day I am not suffering from the carbo/gemzar but I am still having to rest the whole day - far from having a bad day or two like my onc said.

Already I am thinking about next time and how I am supposed to do gemzar again, every two weeks.

My onc says there are very little side effects from gemzar alone, and it shouldn't bother me. I DON'T BELIEVE HIM ONE BIT.

Has anyone done this regime? What's the truth?
Thanks. xo Flori

Oh Flori,

I've been on vacation but have been thinking of you a lot. Dealing with a harsh chemo's side effects is so hard! I do remember how i got resentful even just thinking about the n e x t one. Wish I had any suggestions but have not had experience with carboplatin and gemzar.

I'm still just on the Xeloda /Tykerb for another month with minimal side effects but maximum anxiety. :(

Hope, pray, and believe that your combo will kick cancer's butt. Remember your oncologist believes that this shall put you in remission!
Just have to get through these tough times.

Can I send you the new Harry Potter book?

xoxo

Odette

Hi Flori,

I was on Gemzar and Herceptin. I found the Gemzar to be easy but took Zofran just in case. It made me a little tired. I hope you feel better soon.

Carolyn

Flori,

My wife Caryn was on Gemzar/herceptin for liver and lung mets and found it very tolerable. Happily it brought her to NED which lasted 2 years. I hope you will find at least the same.

Warmest wishes,
Eric

Flori,

I wanted to add something. Eric mentioned that his wife got good results from Gemzar. So did I! It pushed the liver mets way back to the point where they could not be seen anymore. That was 4 months of treatment which ended in December. Since then it has bought me some time to try other things. I hope you feel better soon. Hang in there.

Love, Hope, and Peace,

Carolyn

Flori,

I am so sorry you are having such a hard time with this combo. I have been on carbo but not gemzar. A few words of advice: 1. there are SO many anti-nausea meds out there - try a different one next time to see if it works better for you. 2. I did find with the carbo that the second treatment was better than the first. I find the first is always hardest. Maybe it's your body adjusting (hey, what the %&@# are you doing to me, lady!) or maybe it's you and your onc figuring out what works best for managing side effects.

I know it is tough going back for more abuse when the first was so rough. But try to focus on the thoughts that just like your digestive tract is in disarray, think about the cancer saying "oh crap" and dying. Visualize it, it does help.

You are in my thoughts and prayers - you will get through this and the cancer will be TOAST!!

Donna

Hope you are feeling better soon.
 

The others posts seem very encouraging about the results of Gezmar. I hope it will be easier for you to tolerate or that your oncologist will find a better medication for the side effects. I know my oncologist sometimes "glosses over side effects" in order to keep things positive when I start a new medication. This was certainly what he did when I started Arimidex!

Hi Flori, I haven't taken Gemzar, but I wish you all the best! Listen to the other ladies here... they will tell you how to make it tolerable!

Same dx
 

Flori: I'm sorry to hear you're having a hard time with the combo. I had a recurrence in 2003 and was placed on herceptin+navelbine. It has worked great for me. I will be seeing onc August 7 and will have a tumor marker test done, am a little anxious to find out how am doing.\\


Maybe you can ask your onc about this combo. My diagnosis is exactly the same as yours. I was dx in 1994, lumpectomy,chemo, rad. almost 10 years NED until recurrence.

Good luck. Sending you positive vibes and a big HUG>>>>

I hope to see you in Carlsbad August 4th...

I'm sorry the gemzar is hard -- I took it w/ carbo and felt just ok, but as it turns out I was progressing on it, so i attribute that to the reason i didn't feel better - not many side effects though although they did mention the stomach upset, but that didn't affect me...

Good luck w/ things,

I'm late to this post...sorry I didn't see it sooner, but my Mother which has stage IV lung cancer was started on Carbo and Gemzar and I was really worried about her since she is 77 years old. But she did rather well and her main complaints was fatigue, taste and the runs as you mentioned. Over all she said it wasn't too bad. She did rather well on it all things considered. But we all know everyone reacts so different to these drug regimens. I hope things are going better for you.

Chelee