Need Prayers for Tom.

[hope]

I'm getting a CT chest scan tom. 2/22 to follow up on how well Abraxane is working on my lung tumors. I've been on Abraxane since April 2005 and the last scan showed stability and some shrinkage but everytime the scans come up again I get so worried about progression so I need some prayers. I will update all when I get results. God Bless, Hope

[Lolly]

Dear Hope, I will keep you in my thoughts and prayers that your anxiety will be eased and scans will be good.

<3 Lolly

[StephN]

from my corner of the world. Will pray that you have good results with continuing shrinkage. You seem to feel OK so will take that as a good sign.

[RhondaH]

will keep them coming for you. Take care and God bless.

Rhonda

[jhandley]

Dear Hope
Thinking and praying for you. Fingers crossed.

Jackie

[Sheila]

Hope

Lots of prayers and positive thoughts coming your way for a great report.

[IRENE FROM TAMPA]

Sending my guardian angels your way Hope.

Good luck to you and let us know how everything turns out.

[Unregistered]

with Prays and hopes and lots of hugs.

Randi

[al from Canada]

Thinking of you hope...stay calm and kick-butt!

Al

[lexigirl]

Hope,

I have said a prayer for you.

Love,
Lexi

[Patty H]

Hope
You and I have had a lot of the same mets. I finished radiation on my large lung met on Dec. 28th. My radiation,( I think) was a little different then yours. it was called novalis and has only been in Indiana a couple of years. I also had a ct-scan on my lungs today. ( Feb. 22) This will be the first real scan since the radiation, to see if it works. I'm not sure but I think it takes a while to tell if radiaiton worked or not.
You are in my thoughts and peayers Patty H

[Cathya]

Hope and Patty; You are both in my prayers. God bless.

Cathya

[sherri]

Hope you are in my thoughts and I wish good result. Please let us know.
Big hug,

[Kim in CA]

Hope,

Saying prayers that your CT shows good news. Kim in CA

[Toril]

Thinking of you, whising you all the best.

Toril

[lindaw]

all the best for tomorrow Hope.


love
linda

[hope]

Well I got the results of CT chest, bone scan, and CT pelvis. All of abdomen OK, bone scan stable execpt for some moderate uptake in upper thoracic spine, onc. wasn't too worried. Well the bad news is that I do have some progression in both lungs. Compared to my other bouts of progression in the lungs the tumors didn't grow as much in the 3 months ~.5cm to 1cm. My two largest tumors are now ~4cm and ~8cm. All of the other small tumors all less than ~1cm did not grow. Symptomwise, I have had more shortness of breath but really no pain. My onc. has also refered me to a pulmonary specialist to go over scans and check my oxygen level for possible oxygen tank use.

My onc. wants to get off Abraxane and try some clinical trials at the cancer center I go to. I am already on a clinical trial for a decadron subsitute drug, which I'm not sure if I'm getting the drug or placebo, to help get rid of this brain edema after a successful Gamma knife to one brain lesion. I don't think you can be on two clinical trials at the same time so that leaves me with trying Xeloda again.

I was originally on Xeloda a year ago but was hospitalized for low electrolites, high fever, and lung infection. Once out of hospital onc decided to put me on Abraxane, that was just FDA approved so I really never failed Xeloda. The only thing is that when I started Xeloda I was put on a very high dose and Al from Canada had mentioned in a post awhile back that the starting dose of Xeloda was set very high. My onc is aware of that and will put me on a lower dose. My onc will talk to the investigator of the other clinical trial I am on to see if it is okay for me to start Xeloda again. Still will be getting Herceptin weekly and Zometa monthy but if I were to be put on any of the new clinical trials for lung mets I would have to get off Herceptin (Scary Thought!). If any of you have suggestions on this, it would be appreciated.

I'm trying to keep a positive attitude on this darn rollercoaster of progression and I at least have some options left and and an onc. that is still fighting the battle with me. I want to thank each and every one of you that continue to pray with me and this wonderful board on which there is a wealth of information. God Bless, Hope.

[StephN]

Dear Hope -
That is just awesome that your scans came out good with the exception of your lungs. And it seems that something can be done for those mets.
You did not mention whether you are taking any kind of hormone blocker. It IS possible that those lung mets have a different cell biology than the others that have responded. It is not unusual for our mets to mutate - I know more than one person whose mets were more than one kind of hormone pos/neg. Any way to get a biopsy? At least one of those lesions should be reachable, hopefully.
That way you would know exactly what you are dealing with instead of wondering why they did not respond as the other places did.
You also did not mention tumor markers or if you can get the HER2 serum test as a guide to how well treatments are working.
Keep up the good work and I pray that you can get some good answers.