Xeloda failed on me-need your opinion

[Sue C]

On thursday, i went in for my CT scan of pelvis, ab and chest. when i walked into my doc's office on friday, i heard the bad news. my liver met is growing. Navelbine failed on me and now, xeloda is not working for me either. My Doc gave me couple of options. He said I could take the gemzar and carboplatin(?) along with my on-going Herceptin and Zometa or we can look for a clinical trial. of course, i was a basket case again for the third time at the office but now, i kind of recovered from that and thinking little bit more like a normal person.

Any suggestions for me?

I really want to be at my daughter's wedding. Even though she is only 25 months now, i have a long-term plan.

[Kathie in New Jersey]

Xeloda failed on me also and now I am on Taxol/Gemzar and Herceptin. I don't know if it is working as yet will have my mid-treatment Ct's at the end of this month. Xeloda made me feel awful so to think you go through that and it didn't work you want to scream. Hope you new concoction works for you.
Kathie

[rose]

In addition to chemo, you might want to see if you are a candidate to either have the lesion removed, or have it radio frequency ablated. Usually, they will only do surgery if the cancer has not spread to any other sites. As for ablation, it has to be a lesion less than 5 cm ( although some places will go to 7 cm ), not near any major blood vessels or bile ducts.

Good luck!

[shelley]

Hi Sue,

Same combo failed me too. I'm starting the gemzar/carboplatin on Wednesday at noon. Can't wait. Right now I feel so tired. The doctor at Duke said that they have been getting VERY favorable results with the gemzar/carbo combo so I'm hopeful. Good luck to you Sue and hang in there. We're all in this together.

love,

shelley

[Rozebud]

Sue - I don't have any specific advice on your post.....but it touched me since my daughter is 26 months old (June 15th 2002) and I know how scared you must be. Know that you are in my thoughts and prayers.

(On the lighter side, isn't this such a wonderful age? She took the phone from me the other day while I was talking to my mother, and had a "conversation" with her. When I asked for the phone back....she said "No, I still talking!". It's so frustrating that we are battling this disease instead of just being able to enjoy our children.)

[Sandy H.]

Rosebud: That is so precious of your daughter and the phone. It really touched my heart. My older BC friends and I talk about you young folks with children and how difficult it must be. We are thankful ours are grown and we are older. May God be with you all. Big hugs, Sandy

[Esther]

Sue, I don't have any input on the drug regimens, but wanted to wish you the best with the new treatment option. I was diagnosed with liver mets in Feb 04, and so far have been having good results with Navelbine/Herceptin/Xeloda. I go in for a Cat scan on 8/25 to see what the status of my tumors is. In Feb, I had so many tumours that they virtually covered my whole liver and other treatment options beside chemo weren't open to me.

Hope that your new chemo turns things around for you! Keep us posted.

[al from Canada]

Sue,
I have heard many good things of the Carboplatin / Herceptine combo and I would have confidence in this. I would also consider a few supplements that have been shown to have significant anti-tumor effects in small case studies: CoQ-10 - high dose over 300 mg / day (split into 2 doses) and Curcumin (extract of tumeric), 2 - 3 grams / day (split into 2 doses). None of these have any toxicities at those dosages and it may be one of the ducks you need to get lined-up.
All the best and good luck,
Al

[Kathy]

Since I don't know your diet back ground... have you tried 6-10 TBS of flax oil mixed with 3/4c of cottage cheese eaten every day? I would put it in a blender (but hand mix the oil and cottage cheese first) along with some blueberries and non sweetend juice.(This is the Budwig theory). Build up to taking 1-1000 mgs of fish oil per each 10lbs of your body weight everyday with food (example, I take 13 since I weigh 130lbs). 800 to 1200 mgs of Vitamin E succinate - no other type of E. Eat light and smart, no sugar or processed foods including any soda. Starve the cancer by keeping your insulin levels even. It sounds crazy but read up on diabetes and follow their guide. New research shows that apigenin in celery and parsley kills and controls HER2/neu cells in the lab. Start eating them incase it does the same thing in our bodies. I eat 4 stalks of celery for a snack and mix a hand full of parsley in my health shake daily. Turmeric shows promise too but supposedly it is hard for the body to absorb it. Life Extension sells it with a black pepper extract that helps with that. Hope this helps and you will be in my prayers tonight.