agressive cancer

[Colleen]

I had written before about my mother being involved in a clinical study with gemsar/carboplatin/herceptin.She was due to start this morning,but when we went to the Dr. yesterday she would have required one more scan. In the 2 weeks since she had last visited the onc. the cancer has progressed rapidly so the Dr. said we could not wait any longer. She has to start today. She will be on the 3 drugs,but instead of gemzar it will be the combination taxol 1x per week. My question is,due to the agressiveness of the cancer will the treatment have less chance of working? Two weeks ago she had no symptoms,now she is presenting with several. Dr. is still hopeful. BTW, I found out yesterday she is Her2+++.

[Ron]

Colleen,

The combination your mom’s doc has chosen is probably one of the more common. It is more common for one reason, it works for many people. Cyndi has not had the triple combination, but she has had the Taxol and Herceptin and the results were amazing. Adding the Carboplatin adds a lot of horsepower and somewhat more side effects. I notice though that many ladies who post here have been on this or a similar combo using Taxotere with manageable sides.

Be glad that the doc saw the need to start now and decided to begin instead of waiting for more test results. I sometime think waiting for test results is the worst part of the process. (The devil you don’t know is always worse than the devil you know.) Keep us posted as to your mom’s condition and know that there are many people who really care as you begin this battle.

God Bless You All,
ron

[Lisa]

Colleen, I believe I answered on another web site, so sorry if I'm repeating myself. I, too, have aggressive liver and bone mets. Although I'm on a different chemo, your mother's should be very effective. Like mine. I'm Her 2 +++(which, by the way has been shown in some studies to be more successfully treated than others) and on Navelbine/Herceptin/Zometa. My liver tumors have shrunk more than 50% since Sept. and my everywhere bone mets are being arrested and disappearing. Aggressive tumors simply call for aggressive actions and your Mother's doc is taking them! Hooray for that! If you need assistance with any side effects, let us know. And do keep us posted.

Much love and light to you and Mother,

Lisa

[Lisa]

Colleen, are you Hockeymom?

[Paul]

Colleen,

As Ron indicated, the Taxol, Carboplatin, Herceptin combination is tried and true and very effective. This combination has true synergy.

In response to your question, there is no hard and fast rule that chemo does not work for aggressive cancers. Often times, you will see a general comment made that HER-2 positive breast cancer patients are less likely to respond to chemotherapy. The comment is based upon the general fact that HER-2 positive breast cancer cells have an uncanny ability to repair DNA damage caused by chemotherapy. Despite this fact, fast dividing cancer cells are nevertheless more prone to destruction by chemotherapy because of the action attributable to chemo -- it stalls the reproductive process of fast multiplying cells.

To combat the resilence of the HER-2 positive breast cancer cells, doctors utilize drug cocktails (e.g., taxol, herceptin and carboplatin). The cocktail represents a multi-prong attack. Taxol stalls the ability of the cell to replicate, Carboplatin damages the cell DNA, and Herceptin makes it more difficult for the cancer cell to repair its DNA and specifically signals the immune system to attack the cancer cells. This is the reason that taxane drugs, plus platinum salts (e.g., cisplatin and carboplatin), plus herceptin, produce such an incredible synergy with a high response rate.

Your mom's drug combination is an excellent choice.

[Colleen]

Thank you all for your encouraging words. Mom started yesterday and so far so good. I have to believe at this moment the chemo is killing off those tumors.I'm not sure what I expected but,sitting in the treatment room was not at all what I thought it would be. It was not depressing,nobody puking,etc..in fact it was very upbeat and everyone was friendly and helpful. Again I am inspired by anyone who has this horrable disease. Thanks again for all the encouragement.

[Kitty]

Colleen,

Weekly taxol/carboplatin/herceptin is an awesome combination and I am confident it will work for your mom. My liver mets were almost totally gone after 11 weeks of this combination, the largest one being 6.8 cm. I too am her2+++ and studies show that the stronger one overexpresses her2 the better the herceptin seems to work. My onc said it was because there was more of the her2 protein for the herceptin to seek out and latch onto. At any rate, she is on the right track. I really haven't had problems taking this weekly, I hope your mom is the same.
Hugs,
Kitty