Jorge's new kind of chemo

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tina dasilva
tina dasilva Member Posts: 641
in Colorectal Cancer #1
Jorge's new chemo is Folfiri with Erbitux he will get folfiri and erbitux every other Monday and then on the off Monday he will just get Erbitux has anyone been on the chemo and if so how did it work for you thanks guys

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  • buckeye2
    buckeye2 Member Posts: 428 Member
    #2
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    My husband is on Folfuri
    My husband is on Folfuri with Avastin. Initial results show it is working. We will have new scans taken Friday so will know more after that. He is down for about 4 days and then life gradually returns to normal. Lisa
  • mukamom
    mukamom Member Posts: 402
    #3
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    Robert
    has been on folfri and erbitux, just not at the same time. He seemed to tolerate the folfri pretty well, with minimal side effects...His current chemo is erbitux and camptosar, which he is not doing as well on, side effect-wise. First scan with the erbitux, shows no new tumors, altho' there is still one area "of concern" in the liver. With the erbitux, you get a rash..face and torso. Can get painful, especially in the heat and sun. I pray Jorge does well.

    hugs, ;-}
    Angela
  • tina dasilva
    tina dasilva Member Posts: 641
    #4
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    mukamom said:

    Robert
    has been on folfri and erbitux, just not at the same time. He seemed to tolerate the folfri pretty well, with minimal side effects...His current chemo is erbitux and camptosar, which he is not doing as well on, side effect-wise. First scan with the erbitux, shows no new tumors, altho' there is still one area "of concern" in the liver. With the erbitux, you get a rash..face and torso. Can get painful, especially in the heat and sun. I pray Jorge does well.

    hugs, ;-}
    Angela

    Angela
    Angela did your husband have to go every week or every other week
  • Buckwirth
    Buckwirth Member Posts: 1,258 Member
    #5
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    tina dasilva said:

    Angela
    Angela did your husband have to go every week or every other week

    Tina,
    I am on Irinotecan and Erbitux, and I started out going every week. If Jorge does well with the Erbitux you can discuss bumping up the dosage and going to an every other week schedule.

    My treatment was two weeks with Irinotecan, and one week just Erbitux. The week of Erbitux was very tolerable, but I do not do well with the Irinotecan. The other drug he will get every week is Benadryl, which will pretty much knock him out for the day. After a few weeks you can ask that that be reduced as well.

    Blake
  • tina dasilva
    tina dasilva Member Posts: 641
    #6
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    Buckwirth said:

    Tina,
    I am on Irinotecan and Erbitux, and I started out going every week. If Jorge does well with the Erbitux you can discuss bumping up the dosage and going to an every other week schedule.

    My treatment was two weeks with Irinotecan, and one week just Erbitux. The week of Erbitux was very tolerable, but I do not do well with the Irinotecan. The other drug he will get every week is Benadryl, which will pretty much knock him out for the day. After a few weeks you can ask that that be reduced as well.

    Blake

    Blake
    Blake did u get a rash and what about Folfiri I hope this works
  • mukamom
    mukamom Member Posts: 402
    #7
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    tina dasilva said:

    Angela
    Angela did your husband have to go every week or every other week

    He has gone every
    week since he started chemo Feb 2009, except for breaks for surgeries and one time in late 2010 when it was determined he was NED. He always got the full treatment every time he went.
    Never had any problems with blood counts, and onc was ok with skipping a treatment if Robert wanted. Robert even swapped engines in his truck summer of 09 while on the folfri....but it took him alll summer long to do it!

    Hope all goes well on Monday for Jorge

    Hugs,
    Angela
  • steveandnat
    steveandnat Member Posts: 886
    #8
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    Had three treatments of
    Had three treatments of erbitux but had bad side effects. The rashes on the face and body were bad. I also for some reason lost alot of my hair. My fingers are real tender still because of the cuticles getting inflammed. Not doing erbitux anymore because the onc said i was kras mutant. If that is the case then they say erbitux isn't helpful..wish the onc would have checked that before getting the treatment!
  • tootsie1
    tootsie1 Member Posts: 5,044 Member
    #9
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    Praying
    Praying it works great for him, Tina!

    *hugs*
    Gail
  • Buckwirth
    Buckwirth Member Posts: 1,258 Member
    #10
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    tina dasilva said:

    Blake
    Blake did u get a rash and what about Folfiri I hope this works

    I get the rash
    but it is not that bad. Make sure he sees a dermatologist right away and start on the antibiotic early. Also, get a real good sunscreen, and a wide brimmed hat (I started with the hats early!).
  • tina dasilva
    tina dasilva Member Posts: 641
    #11
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    Buckwirth said:

    I get the rash
    but it is not that bad. Make sure he sees a dermatologist right away and start on the antibiotic early. Also, get a real good sunscreen, and a wide brimmed hat (I started with the hats early!).

    blake
    Blake yes jorge has started on antibiotic yesterday thanks for the heads up .
  • laurettas
    laurettas Member Posts: 372
    #12
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    Tina, my husband just
    Tina, my husband just started FOLFIRI a month ago, so I can't tell you how he is doing yet. Tomorrow he gets his CEA checked so we will know more then. I can tell you that he seems to be more tired on FOLFIRI than FOLFOX and has more discomfort in his throat and esophagus than before-- kind of like constant heartburn. No diarrhea from the Irinotecan yet but he does have some burning when he has a BM for the first few days. Good luck with the new treatment--we can exchange notes since we are about in the same place with it!
  • tina dasilva
    tina dasilva Member Posts: 641
    #13
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    laurettas said:

    Tina, my husband just
    Tina, my husband just started FOLFIRI a month ago, so I can't tell you how he is doing yet. Tomorrow he gets his CEA checked so we will know more then. I can tell you that he seems to be more tired on FOLFIRI than FOLFOX and has more discomfort in his throat and esophagus than before-- kind of like constant heartburn. No diarrhea from the Irinotecan yet but he does have some burning when he has a BM for the first few days. Good luck with the new treatment--we can exchange notes since we are about in the same place with it!

    thanks guys
    Thanks guys for all the heads up . Hugs Tina
  • here4lfe
    here4lfe Member Posts: 306 Member
    #14
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    Hope all goes well for Jorge. My wife had her third Irinotecan. The side effects are starting to slow her down. She is not on the Erbitux, so cannot give any observations of that.

    Best
  • luvmum
    luvmum Member Posts: 457 Member
    #15
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    Check his body temperature everyday
    Hi Tina,

    From my understanding irinotecan would affect WBC seriously, please inform his oncologist if his body tempeprature is above the normal range. It could be due to the low WBC.

    Apart from this and losing hair, my mum tolerates it most of the time. Oh and she sleeps a lot from day 1 to day 7.

    Best wishes to you and Jorge,
    Dora
  • tina dasilva
    tina dasilva Member Posts: 641
    #16
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    luvmum said:

    Check his body temperature everyday
    Hi Tina,

    From my understanding irinotecan would affect WBC seriously, please inform his oncologist if his body tempeprature is above the normal range. It could be due to the low WBC.

    Apart from this and losing hair, my mum tolerates it most of the time. Oh and she sleeps a lot from day 1 to day 7.

    Best wishes to you and Jorge,
    Dora

    dora
    Is jorge going to lose all of his hair . I don't care if he does but he will be very upset I will love him anyways
  • pepebcn
    pepebcn Member Posts: 6,331 Member
    #17
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    tina dasilva said:

    dora
    Is jorge going to lose all of his hair . I don't care if he does but he will be very upset I will love him anyways

    Well Tina not always like that but I have lost most of it!
    I'm sorry but it's very frequent .
    In the begging I felt pissed of but get used to it veer soon! don't worry too much about!.
    Best!
  • PhillieG
    PhillieG Member Posts: 4,866 Member
    #18
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    Hi Tina and Jorge
    I have been on Erbitux (sometimes with Irinotecan) for the past 4-5 years. It's worked VERY well for me. I went through the rash but at this point it's pretty minimal. I do have issues with cracked skin on my fingers often but I can keep that somewhat under control. I have not had any experience with FOLFIRI at all.
    I hope Jorge has very good results too.
    -p
  • sasjourney
    sasjourney Member Posts: 395 Member
    #19
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    Worked Well!
    Tina,

    I did 12 treatments of folfiri and erbitux and it completely resolved my lymph nodes. I found it to be much easier for me to handle than folfox. Studies have shown that getting a larger dose of erbitux every other week (with the folfiri) is just as effective as a weekly dose. This way he does not have to go to the onc. every week. Also, I was advised to discontinue the antibiotic as it can cause some severe intestinal problems. I was lucky and did not have a very bad rash.

    Good luck to Jorge...I'll be praying for him.

    Hugs,
    Sara

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