Treatment effectiveness.How long to wait?

[michka]

Hi to all,
I started Navelbine + Herceptin 4 weeks ago.
I had Week 1: triple dose of Herceptin+ single dose of Navelbine, Week 2: single dose of Navelbine, Week 3: single dose of Navelbine, Week 4: triple dose of Herceptin no Navelbine.
My CA 15.3 markers slightly fluctuate but stay at the same level. Between 32 and 36. It is not much but I detected the liver mets because the value went from normal to over 30. So my sensibility is very low but significant.My liver enzymes that were always normal before my liver resection never went back to completely normal and after going down regularly but slowly went up again this week to double normal. I am 2 months away from surgery and RFA.I would like to see the markers fall.
-How long should I wait with Navelbine before changing?
My next MRI is in 3 weeks.
I had to take Lyrica because my neuropathy woke up again.
- Does Lyrica and/or Navelbine influence liver enzymes. If not could it be a sign of new metastasis and should I try to speed up the MRI?

Any thoughts or opinions are welcome. Thanks.
Michka

[Pam P]

Michka =

I think my onc,.would say to give it another round at least. When I was on Navelbine it did make my liver enzymes fluctuate more. I don't know about the tumor marker that you do, but again my doc would say that the markers may go up slightly at first then drop. That gives you no answers, just my little experience with Navelbine.

The waiting to know 'is this working' is so difficult. I'm crossing my fingers for you that it's all working very well and in 3 weeks the MRI will show that. Pam

[Sheila]

Michka
I agree with Pam, give it another round to see...many times the tumor markers seem to rise at the beginning...mabe they are counting all the cells dying off from the chemo.....Hoping next Tumor Marker shows a drop for you....stay strong!

[StephN]

Hi Michka!

Good questions. I had the same thing happen. My tumor marker rose after I started my chemo treatment for liver mets. Sheila is probably on the right track commenting that the marker may be picking up cancer cell sheds from tumor debris.

My liver function numbers were mostly normal and stayed that way through my whole liver mets experience.

Try to relax a little and let the treatment do it thing! Hard to do when the neuropathy is bothersome, I know.

[hutchibk]

I wouldn't (and your onc shouldn't or won't) make any determinations without scans... they will probably want you to complete at least 8-12 weeks of treatments first.