My consultation at Duke

Hi everyone,

I had my consultation with Duke University Medical Hospital on Tuesday. My cancer had returned while I was on Xeloda/Navelbine so they were deciding what to do next. The doctors were very nice at Duke and they are putting me on a gemzar/carboplatin combination next Wednesday. I will be put in a phase II study trial that I can do at my oncologist's office here in Virginia Beach. They said they have gotten very favorable results with this combo so I'm hopeful. Also, they said that even though I'm HER2-, if I get a good result from this combo, they will put me on a vaccine called P53. I guess that's in the trial phase. My cat scan showed a micro dot on each lung (and I've been worried and coughing ever since) and one tiny spot on the liver. I will be getting scans every six weeks once the chemo starts. They think I have active neck nodes right now, but they said the chemo should get those. What a rotten, scary disease!

Has anyone had any good results from either one of those chemos? The doctors said the side effects were minimal. I just want the chemo to work this time.

Hugs,

Shelley from Virginia Beach

Hi Shelley,

Sounds like a good plan! I'm curious why no herceptin? FYI...my wife recently started gemzar/herceptin for lung and liver mets and the side effects have been very tolerable (pretty much fatigue only).

Best, Eric

Hi Eric,

They wouldn't put me on herceptin because I'm not HER2++. I sure wish I could have had herceptin because it's supposed to be wonderful. I'm glad your wife is only having minimal side effects. I hope I'm as lucky.

Hugs to you and your wife.

Shelley from Virginia Beach

Shelley,

I had carboplatin (with taxol and herceptin) for liver mets and it totally knocked them out. The platinum chemos (cisplatin and carboplatin) have proven to be very effective when combined with other agents. I was on 32 weekly treatments and never missed work or a treatment. I found them very easy to take. Good luck.
Kitty

When is the last time you had HER2 status checked, there have been many cases where HER2- has morphed into HER2+
Good luck with your new treatment. I've heard nothing but good things about it.
Al

My HER2 status was checked with the last tumor that popped up under my arm while I was taking xeloda/navelbine. Unfortunately, it was negative. I sure would have liked it to be positive because of herceptin. Especially with an agressive cancer. But I'm hopeful that this gemzar carboplatin combo will do the trick. If we can keep kicking it's butt before it kicks our, hopefully, eventually we'll have it licked.

Shelley

Hi Shelley, sorry you are dealing with this. How did they determine that you had mets? Is this the first time that you've been dx'd with a recurrence? What scans or tests were used to determine? What symptoms did you have? Which dr. did you see at Duke?

Hi Kaye,

They found out I had a recurrence by doing a ct scan. I had had one two months earlier and it came back negative. They decided to do another one since the neck node had been malignant and then when the underarm node popped up while on xeloda/navelbine, that's when they did another one. Two months to go from being okay to having lung and liver spots. Anyway, the doctors I saw at Duke were Dr. Calliglia and Dr. Markom. Really nice people, very matter of fact, but really decent manner with people. I'm hoping this new combo of gemzar/carboplatin will whip it into remission.

take care.

shelley