Search Results for '5fu'
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Search Results
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Lisa-LOL!!! I wore the 5FU pump 24/7 for 6 weeks while doing radiation. The worst part of it was the “ugly fanny pack”!! My radiation oncologist, Dr. Parik (he bought his wife one of the Runway show dresses, very hip guy) and I spent many visits discussing the need for Coach/Kate Spade… to design something more hip!! I saw him a few months ago and he said I would be happy to know there was a few more options now!! (Not sure if he was joking)!!
The wearing of it was no big deal, the only major change was me and my husband changed sides of the bed, so it could rest on nightstand!! I would meet up with nurse once a week to change chemo bag, and you will have to change batteries (which they provide).
Good luck!!
Lots of prayers and HOPE-CathyWith the start of my IMRT treatment in a few weeks, we’re changing my gemcitibine/cisplatin regime to cut the gemcitibine (too strong with radiation). Today was my last day of that combo and I get 3 full weeks off from chemo to rest up for the radiation.
I’ll still come in and get a cisplatin infusion, but I’m going to start on 5FU, wearing a pump 24/5 (M-F). Not looking forward to rocking a … ugh, dare I say it … fanny pack.
Any tips, tricks, words of wisdom from someone who has worn one? One of my friends suggested my husband buy me a Hermes/Gucci/Prada/whatever bag as a medical device transportation unit. However, the day my husband drops Hermes money on a bag is the day that monkeys will fly out of my unmentioned nether-regions. And, I have to say, the day I drop money on a Hermes bag would be equally memorable because, at this point in my life, I can think of much better ways to spend it. Either a bag I own (and I’m way more the Kate Spade/Coach kind of gal – on sale the better) will work, or not.
I do like the idea of saying FU to cancer every day I get up and see that damn pump laying on my bedside table, though. My friends joke there is a direct correlation between swearing and tumor shrinkage.
Maybe. Maybe not. We’ll see.
lisa
PS, off topic, but I think my oncologist was surprised when I mentioned the recent conference in SF, which I knew about from reading the forum last night. He was there. He didn’t know that patients/folks from the .org were there. I think he would have loved to have met you guys. He said it was a really great conference.
In reply to: Newly Diagnosed
Judy,
I think they do y90 for pretty large tumors, but it might depend a bit on where it is situated. At diagnosis, my wife had a number of tumors, the largest of which was 9cm. The plan at the time was to use y90 if chemo did not work. I don’t think size would necessarily prevent the procedure in Ron’s case.
As far as combining gem and capecitabine (xeloda), there has been some research on the combinations. This chart has references to lots of the chemo trial research:
GemCape and Gem/5FU are the ones relevant for your question. It looks to me like the combination does have a reasonably good response profile.
Hope that helps,
Jason
Topic: Update on me
I haven’t posted in a while as the FOLFIRI + Tarceva has been rough. The really bad news is that it didn’t work. I had my quarterly PET scan this week and the news wasn’t good. The cancer in the liver is still relatively stable but it has now spread to the omentum. The findings say interval progression of peritoneal carcinomatosis.
Dr. Javle has suggested we try to get me in the Pazopanib + Trametinib trial. They are checking on availability. After reading Regina’s posts, I am not feeling too good about that. If I can’t get in the trial in January I will go on 5FU and Oxaliplatin. The 5FU has caused horrible heartburn and mouth problems and I know Oxaliplatin is no picnic either so I can’t say I am looking forward to that either. On the other hand, if either of these options work I can get through it. However, I am a bit annoyed that I lost my hair for nothing!
As you can tell I am a little depressed but I am going to try to not let it ruin my holidays. I am going to my sister and her husbands ranch Monday for a week. My 1 year old great niece and 3 year old great nephew will be there later in the week and playing with them is a great distraction.
Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas.
In reply to: update on tom
Hi,
Sorry I do not know the financial or charity assitance in your country. But according to the ESMO(giudelines from the European Socierty of Medical Oncology):
For post-op treatment after a noncurative resection of intrahepatic or extrapetic cholangiocarcinoma,supportive care alone, chemotherapy alone and radiotherapy with or without chemotherapy are aceptable options.
In the States, clinical trials are encouraged;otherwise, chemotherapy with GEM or 5FU based or supportive care. for intrahepatic CCA with positive margin,options include reresection,ablation,or5fu sensitized chemoradiation.
Happy Thanksgiving holiday and
God bless.
In reply to: my father having cc.
Hi ,
According to guide lines.by uptodate.com(a medical web sited for MD )
For advanced Unrespectable CCA,we suggest chemo radiotherapy followed by chemotherapy such as 5FU or gemcitabline. For extra hepatic cholangiocarcinoma .
For intrahepatic CCA ,RFA,chemoembolization ,radioembrolization etc.For palliation of jaundice patients,who have Unrespectable CCA, STENT placement is recommendation..
Below link may help to guide you what to do on different stages.http://www.cholangiocarcinoma.org/punbb/viewtopic.php?pid=81006#p81006
God bless.
In reply to: Finally delurking – husband has nonresectable CC
Mary. If I were to guess you are Saints fans?
I was given FUDR in addition to Gemzar and oxaliplatin. FUDR is a form of 5FU I think.
My feelings on the journey? Get as many consults and opinions as you are comfortable with. I love live love Dr. Fong at Sloan Kettering (surgeon) but was unhappy with the personality of my onc (Dr. Kemeny). I got good results, overall, but finally left Dr. K after 2 years for a more open, compassionate, and informative onc in another cancer center.
I believe you must also like your treatment team. It certainly helps. And of course, the more knowledgeable, the better.In reply to: Finally delurking – husband has nonresectable CC
Hi,
Is the hepatologist that you work for is also a liver surgeon?
Do you know where is the 4cm tumor located? in the upper or lower part of the live or in the common bile duct? is the tumor compress the portal vein ?
Only if you want chemotherapy should you consider MA Anderson at this juncture.
For locally advancedCCA, Chemoradiation with 5fu followed by chemotherapy like gemcitabine is also one of the recommendation for CCA treatment by NCCN.God bless.
In reply to: Finally delurking – husband has nonresectable CC
Hi Mary,
My understanding is that Gemcitabine + Cisplatin is the standard first line treatment. I would ask your oncologist the rationale for going 5fu + radiation instead of gem/cis.
There could be a very good reason, but I would want to be sure I understood the logic.
Best of luck,
Jason
In reply to: Genetic & Molecular testing
Hi, Marion and Dr. Lin,
Thanks for the info. and I totally agree that ” the interpretation is very important – perhaps even more important for molecular profiling.”
In my case, one company recommend 5FU and the other one say no from the same tumor tissue.Therefore bioinformatics companies that help with INTERPRETATION beyond what’s just provided by the sequence providers can be helpful.God bless.
It’s been a very long time since I posted here. I’ll be honest, after the initial comfort this site gave me, I couldn’t get past the posts of those that had passed away. So I kept my distance. I always seemed to gravitate towards that link, probably indulging in my own self-pity.
But here is an update.
-I’m still stage 4…YAY! (Can I ever go down?)
-I made it to my 28th birthday.
-I had an emergency hip replacement on 9/10 because one of the tumors had eaten away most of my hip and when it shrank, so did the support for my hip. It was either…replace it now…or blow it out and we can reconstruct it later. I opted for the replacement. I’m doing well. I finally ditched the walker last week in favor of one crutch. It suits me just fine and is less cumbersome than that stupid walker.
-I’ve been taken off of Gem/Cis and put on Oxaliplatin/5FU with horrible new side effects. Cold aversion. Neuropathy in my fingers and mouth. Tunnel vision. Increased painful Neulasta related side effect (I actually just posted a question about it – it causes me to have a fybromyalgia flare up for a few days)
-A new tumor had been found on my back. Its being radiated, and really…for the first time I can say that radiation has helped with the pain.
-My mother-in-law has finally pulled her head out of her a** and realized that I’m dying after making some really inappropriate comments at dinner a few nights ago. In her penance, she has donated her winter bonus to my husband and I for a once in a lifetime trip. We chose a 21 day cruise on the Mediterranean in December. It truly will be my one and only chance to travel with my husband since we always plan for it but can never afford it. Planning this trip has given me new purpose and a desire to stick around for a bit longer.
-Speaking of my husband, he was fired from his job because I cost too much on their health insurance. We hired a lawyer and got a relatively small settlement that includes them paying for COBRA, which is the most important thing. It was kind of a blessing in disguise because now I get to spend so much quality time with him. He’s not stressed about work. He drives me to my teaching jobs. Its been really great. We also renewed our vows in August. 5 years we’ve been married. We wanted to celebrate with our friends and family in case…well…you know.Ok that’s enough. Sorry to take up your time.
Hi Everyone,
My grandmother and mother both have varying degrees of fybro. I’ve never had a problem with it until I started Neulasta. The very first time I got it was when I started Gem/Cis in May for the very first round of chemo ever. I had bone aches, but nothing to write home about. However, after a few more shots, I developed a searing sensation in my skin when it was touched. It ran from the bottom of the hairline on my head down to my hips.
I have recently been switched to the Oxaliplatin/5FU regimen. I had my second Neulasta shot on Thursday after the switch and last night I couldn’t sleep because my skin hurt so bad to lay on it. I’ve never had it this bad. Just having my skin rub against my shirt is unnerving. I can’t be touched or get dressed without crying out in pain. Has anyone ever had the same side effect? Trust me, I would rather go back to the simple bone aches any day over this strange fybro flare up. If it gets worse, I don’t know what I’ll do.
For pain management, I take a 50mg Fentynol patch, an Aleve in the morning and night for inflammation, and 10mg oxycontin in the morning and at night. None of this is helping.
Shatimay… My oncologist did mention freezing my eggs but we opted not to because we were wanting to get started with treatment immediately. I only had one 3 week round of 5fu chemo before my resection surgery and I was suppose to have a round of gemzar after my surgery but I had issues with infections in my incision so I wasn’t able to finish it. I have an appt with my Obygn next week to discuss my options but I do already have a little girl so if its not an option for us then we’ll just have to find other options, possible adoption etc
Marion… I do have a probiotic that I take several times a day that seems to help. That was one of the things I loved about Cancer Treatment Centers of America, every first I meet with a nutritionist and naturiopath (spelling??) dr which I feel plays an important role
Susie… Thank you for the info. That is very scary and if there is a chance of pregnancy increasing the chances of reoccurrence then it’s prob not a chance we wanna take.
I guess we shall she next week!In reply to: Folfox
Hi Patti,
Sorry to hear about the bad side effects with the Xeloda. Fingers are crossed for you that your new treatment of Folfox and the Oxaliplatin works well with less side effects too. Please let us know how you get on with that one. Here’s a link with some info on Folfox and Oxaliplatin for you, hope it is of use to you –
Hugs,
Gavin
In reply to: Trying a new chemo
Shel….Our Percy compiled a list of current chemotherapies for advanced CC. It is considered a rather harsh form of treatment, but has been commented on by numerous members:
Here is the exert focused on Irinotecan:
12.Irinotecan(Camptosar)-inhibits DNA synthesis in tumor cells by inhibiting an enzyme called topoisomerase1 ; useful but tough to take.
General Adverse Reactions include: asthenia(69%),fever(45%),pain(24%).headache(17%), back pain(14%), chills(14%) and edema(10),weight loss about (30%).
Hematologic side effects are anemia(60-96%),neutropenia(30-96%),and thrombocytopenia(96%). All adverse drug effects are dose-related and reversible.
GI toxicity: diarrhea,nausea and vomiting(70-86%), abdominal pain(57-67%),anorexia(43-59%),constipation(30%),mucositis .
Neurological side effects include: dizziness(15-21%)drowsiness(9%).
confusion(2.7%), vertigo and syncope.
Pulmonary side effects include: dyspnea (22%), and cough (17-20%). and pulmonary embolism.(PE)
Other adverse events include: exfoliative dermatitis,hand skin and foot syndrome(10%) when give with 5FU;hyperbilirubinemia (83%).
Cardiotoxicity include: angina,thrombosis,stroke,DVT,myocardial infraction. Muscle cramps and paresthesias have been reported in post-marketing reports with irinotecan.—from clinical pharmacology-ip.com 12/6/2011
Drug-drug interaction : severe interaction with St.John’s Wort, Atazanavir.Less severe with anticoagulants ,Sorafenib, anticonvulsive agent llike carbamazepine, phenytoin and primidone.Additionally, the search function reveales many postings referring to the key word: Irinotecan. I must caution you as it is lengthy and may be too confusing to read however; I will the decision of reading it up to you.
http://www.cholangiocarcinoma.org/punbb/search.php?search_id=1554482369Michelle, this is a difficult situation. It is the nature of the beast that everyone is affected by this cancer and children are particularly vulnerable to the changes occurring in their lives. You might want to reach out to the school counselor and the teachers and explain the current circumstances. My heart is with you. This is much to carry and I hope that you have plenty of support. Please keep us posted.
Hugs,
Marion
