HER2 Support Group Forums - View Single Post - If you have ever had Navelbine, pls reply.

Chelee · 01-20-2010, 04:27 AM

Rich, The standard protocol I find says Navelbine wkly. My onc & I agreed on wkly. She herself told me it was better wkly, & that it had a good synergy with herceptin this way.

So I had Navelbine/Herceptin wkly for a month & my counts did tank immediately after each infusion. But my onc just kept reducing my wkly dose for that first month "instead" of giving me Neupogen?

Then one day she tells me she will be gone for a month & will be back beginning of Feb. With no warning that day she tells me she is changing my infusion from wkly to a 2 wk dose of Navelbine. Then 3 days of Neupogen after each infusion. Personally I did not like this change when she had told me originally wkly was better. Plus in hindsight I don't like the way she reduced my dose of Navelbine wkly instead of giving me Neupogen. (I should have been getting the full dose of my "wkly" Navelbine & the Neupogen injections from the get go!)

I believe it was all about keeping cost down. Neupogen injections are expensive. Each vial my pharmacy told me cost $1300. I would have been getting 3 per wk so my onc saved $15,600 in just that 1st month of doing wkly with NO Neupogen! Now that she is gone for a month, & switched me to every 2 wks she knew she wouldn't be there to "reduce" my dose each wk depending on my labs...so she "had" to order Neupogen for me while she's gone. So doing it every 2 wks she saves money. This way instead of $15,600 it only cost $7,800. Seems she is more concerned about cost then killing my cancer? I've searched on "several" bc boards & so far it seems like the most are getting wkly Navelbine. I think I found 2 that were getting it every 2 wks....I would love to ask them what kind of insurance they have? I know with an HMO it's all about Profit over patients". So I'm doing my own mini poll here...I bet most are currently doing/or did wkly as the protocol calls for. (Rich...are you sorry you asked now.) lol

Chelee

01-20-2010, 04:27 AM	#3
Chelee Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Southern, CA Posts: 2,511	Re: If you have ever had Navelbine, pls reply. Rich, The standard protocol I find says Navelbine wkly. My onc & I agreed on wkly. She herself told me it was better wkly, & that it had a good synergy with herceptin this way. So I had Navelbine/Herceptin wkly for a month & my counts did tank immediately after each infusion. But my onc just kept reducing my wkly dose for that first month "instead" of giving me Neupogen? Then one day she tells me she will be gone for a month & will be back beginning of Feb. With no warning that day she tells me she is changing my infusion from wkly to a 2 wk dose of Navelbine. Then 3 days of Neupogen after each infusion. Personally I did not like this change when she had told me originally wkly was better. Plus in hindsight I don't like the way she reduced my dose of Navelbine wkly instead of giving me Neupogen. (I should have been getting the full dose of my "wkly" Navelbine & the Neupogen injections from the get go!) I believe it was all about keeping cost down. Neupogen injections are expensive. Each vial my pharmacy told me cost $1300. I would have been getting 3 per wk so my onc saved $15,600 in just that 1st month of doing wkly with NO Neupogen! Now that she is gone for a month, & switched me to every 2 wks she knew she wouldn't be there to "reduce" my dose each wk depending on my labs...so she "had" to order Neupogen for me while she's gone. So doing it every 2 wks she saves money. This way instead of $15,600 it only cost $7,800. Seems she is more concerned about cost then killing my cancer? I've searched on "several" bc boards & so far it seems like the most are getting wkly Navelbine. I think I found 2 that were getting it every 2 wks....I would love to ask them what kind of insurance they have? I know with an HMO it's all about Profit over patients". So I'm doing my own mini poll here...I bet most are currently doing/or did wkly as the protocol calls for. (Rich...are you sorry you asked now.) lol Chelee __________________ DX: 12-20-05 - Stage IIIA, Her2/Neu, 3+++,Er & Pr weakly positive, 5 of 16 pos nodes. Rt. MRM on 1-3-06 -- No Rads due to compromised lungs. Chemo started 2-7-06 -- TCH - - Finished 6-12-06 Finished yr of wkly herceptin 3-19-07 3-15-07 Lt side prophylactic simple mastectomy. -- Ooph 4-05-07 9-21-09 PET/CT "Recurrence" to Rt. axllia, Rt. femur, ilium. Possible Sacrum & liver? Now stage IV. 9-28-09 Loading dose of Herceptin & started Zometa 9-29-09 Power Port Placement 10-24-09 Mass 6.4 x 4.7 cm on Rt. femur head. 11-19-09 RT. Femur surgery - Rod placed 12-7-09 Navelbine added to Herceptin/Zometa. 3-23-10 Ten days of rads to RT femur. Completed. 4-05-10 Quit Navelbine--Herceptin/Zometa alone. 5-4-10 Appt. with Dr. Slamon to see what is next? Waiting on FISH results from femur biopsy. Results to FISH was unsuccessful--this happens less then 2% of the time. 7-7-10 Recurrence to RT axilla again. Back to UCLA for options. Last edited by Chelee; 01-20-2010 at 04:39 AM.. Reason: Corrected spelling.