What Chemo should be used for me?
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Derin, my wife is on Gemcitabine/Cisplatin. We do spend about 5 hours in the hospital. We arrive 2 hours before our chemo appointment to do the blood test. Then we sit and wait. Chemo session itself lasts about 2.5 hours. 30 minutes premedication by Zofran/Decadron. 1 hour gemcitabine. 1 hour cisplatin.
Our oncologist is very cautious, but not as cautious as yours. My wife started on Gem/Cis right away.
Good luck,
EliGemzar went in with no problems. Finished around 3:30 today. They gave me Decadron 10 mg and Aloxi 250 mcg with 2000mg of Gemzar by IV. All of my bloodwork was normal and the CA19-9 marker was 34.7 which according to the ranges is normal and in the ‘normal’ range… So far, feeling fine, but we will see over the next couple of days. I have Zofran if nausea hits. 1 more session next Friday with Gemzar only, one week off, and the following they add Cisplatin with the Gemzar and I’m told this is a 5-6 hour process because of the hydration required with the Cisplatin. Thanks for the comments everyone!
Derin, one thing I’ve learned, is Gemzar or Gemzar+Cisplatin are the standard for adjuvant chemo following a resection, although many do nothing at all. I had six months of Gemzar only, 2weeks one/one off, for six months right after a successful resection. I was never a candidate for cisplatin (cardiac issues ruled it out). All that said, there’s no effectiveness guarantees with the chemo, just a hope that it improves your odds of staying clean.
Good luck with your treatment.
Derin,
Good luck with your chemo. Everyone reacts differently to it. My daughter is on three different ones and does remarkably well. Only a bit tired for a few days and then it’s go, go, go. Hoping the same outcome for you. Take care.
-Pam
Just had my chest CT for a baseline to compare to if anything else happens. Chemo at 1:30 today… We’ll see how it goes!
Derin…I would be surprised if you could not continue your workout. You may have to re-arrange the schedule a bit, though.
Good luck with your first treatment on the 13th.
All my best wishes,
MarionDerin, this is good news. A game plan! I am wishing you the best of luck. Your body will definitely let you know about the work outs! To do or not to do workouts. Everyone handles chemo differently and I hope you are one who does well. Please keep us posted.
Met with the oncologist, Dr. Buck, and we’re starting off with Gemzar only for a few weeks to see how I handle it. If I’m handling well, they will add the cisplatin. Not sure of the overall duration, and pretty sure radiation with chemo for a while after the chemo only is done too. Optimistic at this point, as long as I can hopefully continue to work out and it doesn’t take too much out of me I’ll be happy but can only really wait and see how I’ll feel after the first dose. CT of upper chest Friday AM, then first chemo dose at 1pm on the 13th next week. We’ll see!
Darin….this is what I have learned. Given the aggressive nature and high recurrence rate of this disease we have witnessed, within the last few years, a noticeable shift toward post resection treatment however, a standard of treatment has not yet been established. In the meantime you will see varied approaches brought forth within the medical community.
Numerous neo-adjuvant therapies (post resection) studies are conducted and others are in the process of development and approval however, it will take a few years before the true benefit can be determined.
Is your local oncologist aware of the recommendations made by Dr. Javle? If so then you might want to ask him to explain to you his reasoning for using Gemzar rather than the proposed MD Anderson treatment. Is there a possibility for your oncologist to make phone contact with Dr. Javle? Remember that the date of first chemo treatment can be held off until clarification has been achieved.
Be assured though that we have seen similar circumstances in where the treating physician’s approach differs from the recommendations of a high volume cancer center. At the end is always works out.
Please, keep us posted.
All my best wishes,
MarionHi Derin, wow, this is a hard one. We really can’t prescribe, just kind of give gentle suggestions. Gem/CIS is one of the top cocktails around here and Dr. Javle is one of the top guns, guess I would just tell your ONC what he said and ask him why he is doing only the Gemzar. You are way ahead of the game by being Cancer free and we LOVE that! Let us know the outcome on this as it helps everyone and we just like to know how you are doing.
Well, I have an appointment with my oncologist today at 1pm. We are discussing final decisions on my adjuvant therapy that starts on Friday the 13th. As of now, I believe they are only putting me on Gemzar but from what I can gather, the combination of Gemzar/Cisplatin is the ‘standard of care’ for CC.
My situation is a bit different in that there is no remaining tumor and the chemo is preventative to hope for a better chance of non-recurrence.
I actually sent an email to Dr. Javle at MD Anderson, gave him my history, and he also suggested a combination Gemcitabine/Cisplatin for 3-4 months with 5.5 weeks of Radiation and oral Xeloda. I am going to bring this up to my oncologist today but really have no clue as to what I should be doing.
Suggestions/comments?? Thanks in advance!
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