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My CT scan was normal! Even my pleural effusions (a result of taxotere a year and a half ago) were much better/almost gone.
My PET scan was basically stable, but there was one new spot in the C3 (which didn't surprise me because I've been having a stiff neck the last few weeks.) The other spots in the vertebrae & ribs were either the same or slightly better or one slightly worse than the last scan. One spot was less active, but bigger in size (i don't know if that's good or bad).
My onc. said he thinks the cancer is slowly growing because of the upward trend of the tumor marker counts - they've gone from 70 - 149 in the six months since I've been off navelbine - even though the PET doesn't show any drastic change yet. So he wants me to start Xeloda.
I have cataract surgery this Monday, so he said I can delay starting the xeloda for 3 weeks. I see him again on July 26 & will start it then. I'll continue to get the herceptin and Zometa. So, I have 3 weeks to enjoy feeling good before I have to deal with more chemo effects.
I've read many of your posts about xeloda, but if you can reply with your experiences/info I'd appreciate that. My questions now would be:
1) what should I ask my onc. when I start?
2) what dose do you take? (I think he said I'd start with 1000mg in morning; 1000 mg in evening, so a total of 2000 mg/day.
3) what are the most likely side effects? I've read about h/f syndrome, diarrhea as the worst -- do you all experience that? what about fatigue?
4) is it a very successful/effective drug? (compared to navelbine, taxotere, etc)
5) how long can one stay on xeloda?
Thanks in advance for your support & info. Pam
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