Taxotere v. Navelbine v. Xeloda which to choose?

[kk1]

Like sherry, I did the taxotere,xeloda, herceptin and it worked great been NED 18 months. I had the herceptin and taxotere weekly and xeloda two weeks on 1 week off. Did not even lose my hair with the weekly treatment--although it did thin out some. Anytime my feet started to get red or a little sore we would stop the xeloda for a 2-3 days and then restart when ever my feet felt "normal". This way I avoided the foot blisters that Sherry experience.

kk1

kk1

[Maggie C]

When you were on treatement? I'm my sole provider and taxotere q3 weeks really knocks me out. Are these other combo treatments doable for working (at a computer/going to meetings, etc.)?

Also, the weekly treatment regimen doesn't sound as harsh. Did I read this right?

Lastly, what size were your mets (liver/lungs) before treatment started? Getting to NED would be outstanding.

Maggie

[kk1]

Hi Maggie;

I had the weekly treatment and worked most of the time. I could not work on the day of treatment and was tired on day+2. If you get treatment on a friday afternoon then you can have most of the down time over the weekend. Still by the time I was at week 25 I was pretty darn tired and was not working very efficiently but my employer did not complain. I think they were amazed I was working at all, and everyone in my office helped me out.

kk1

[Karen t]

Hi Maggie,

I have been on weekly Herceptin for nearly two years and Navelbine (3 wks on/1 wk off) for nearly 10 mos. due lung mets that seem to be kept in check with this regimen. This is the second time I have had Navelbine - the previous stint was for 6 mos. Most of the time, I have no ill effects to speak of. There is some pain around the area of my earlier radiation on my sternum, some eye tearing (teardrops) that I only today learned was related to wkly Herceptin, some very minimal hair thinning. I have recently started given myself a Neupogen injection once a wk for white cell count. That's about it.

Karen

[Maggie C]

Karen -

Curious as to why you are receiving weekly v. every 3 week Herceptin. What's the rationale?

I'm starting to think that my Herceptin dosage post-chemo was insufficient, either frequency or dosage.

Maggie

[jojo]

I only took Xeloda, so I can't vouch much for those chemo's you just mentioned, but I did ask my onc nurse recently. She said that Abraxane (what I am currently having) was the better drug, and Xeloda & Navelbine are just about in their own 2nd tier (in terms of effective chemo's).

Some ladies require additional chemo's in order to have Herceptin being effective to keep their cancers at bay or bring them to NED. The others just luck out with Herceptin alone. I seem to be part of the unfortunate group. It all depends on our cell make-up.... I wish we could know! This is the $64 million question!

As for the weekly VS 3-week Herceptin, this drug is still so new that nobody really knows the difference. For now, it is mostly just conveinence to your schedule. In the long run, though, the 3-week turns out to be cheaper on the medical-bill front.