Navelbine - Pain Pulse
After having breast cancer recur in my liver (3 tumors), I had Navelbine added to my chemo, because I thought it would be easier to tolerate.
My first round went smoothly, but it really hit wbc's, anc's, and rbc's hard, so I waited an extra week and self-injected Neupogen shots. The central neuropathy was problematic and there was some thinning of hair, but it was not as bad as being on TCH.
The third round did not go smoothly. About 25 minutes after receiving Navelbine, I had severe chest and abdominal pain. It was excruciating and it took several doses of Dilaudid to get it under control. I was told that less than 5% of patients receiving Navelbine have something called a "pain pulse". The name is deceiving, because it lasts much longer than a pulse.
During subsequent rounds, I am receiving prophylactic Dilaudid. We tried lowering the Dilaudid dose, but that turned out to be a bad idea.
Has anyone else experienced this ill-named pain pulse?
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Margo
Diagnosed 08/2004 @ 45; Metaplastic Breast Cancer (MpBC)
Stage IV, HER2 3+, ER-/PR-, Met to Liver
08/2004 - Neo-adjuvant Taxotere/Carboplatin/Herceptin (TCH) - 4 rounds.
09/2004 - Herceptin - Weekly.
11/2004 - Liver RFA, followed w/TCH - 2 rounds.
12/2004 - Lumpectomy, axillary node dissection, followed w/TCH - 2 rounds.
05/2005 - Radiation - Breast, shoulder, neck (left side) - 35X
09/2005 - Developed severe osteoporosis - Boniva - monthly
04/2008 - Herceptin - Every 3 weeks (changed from weekly).
05/2012 - Mets: 3 new liver and 2 lymph nodes.
06/2012 - Start 16 rounds Navelbine and Herceptin weekly.
11/2012 - Liver resection, RFAs (8), lymphadenectomy (2), cholecystectomy.
12/2012 - Herceptin and Letrozole.
05/2014 - Mets: 5 aortocaval nodes & 1 mesenteric.
06/2014 - Herceptin/Perjeta/Taxotere - 6 rounds.
10/2014 - Herceptin / Perjeta - Open ended
04/2015 - Progression: Porta hepatic node, 2 aortocaval nodes.
05/2015 - Exploratory surgery treating progression, 12 nodes removed.
07/2015 - Restart Herceptin / Perjeta
01/2016 - Progression 8 nodes.
02/2016 - Starting T-DM1 (Kadcyla) - Open ended.
07/2017 - Progression.
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