Wishing my mum the best of luck today! X

Mum2bellaandwilliam

Mum starts her first treatment of doxil today, please pray that we have some joy with it!!! Dear lord, she deserves some good news after no remission from carbo and taxol. She was also going to come skiing with us but feels to poorly now, this whole thing is sooooo ****, I hope the doxil is going to take away her symptoms, maybe she will be able to come still.
Love you mum now go mum kick cancers butt!

childofthestars

@Liz
Hi Liz
Wishing your mum the very BEST OF LUCK with her treatment.
I saw the Prof on Tuesday and asked him about IP chemo....it's quite a long story so it's probably better if we talk to eachother rather than write!!! I'm trying to send a private message but can't seem to do this so if you want to contact me on my work email i'll give you my moby number.
Mx
michelle@llc.co.uk

mopar

MY BEST TO YOUR MUM!
Luv, Hugs & Prayers!
Monika

Rookerbird

Good Thoughts
Go mom! Go Doxil! My first CT after starting Doxil isn't until next week, but I'm positive my tumors have shrunk. Doxil has been way easier to tolerate than Taxol/carbo, even with the list of do's and don'ts for avoiding hand/foot syndrome. (I too "failed" Taxol/carbo, and Doxil is my second-line chemo; had radiation and Femara between chemos.) Thinking of your mom today!

Tina Brown

keeping my fingers crossed
I really hope this chemo suits your mum. I have heard it works slowly but it long lasting. I have also heard it is less invasive on the body and you don't loae your hair. It doesn't take as long to infused.

So I really hope it suits her
Tina xx

kikz

Tina Brown said:

keeping my fingers crossed
I really hope this chemo suits your mum. I have heard it works slowly but it long lasting. I have also heard it is less invasive on the body and you don't loae your hair. It doesn't take as long to infused.

So I really hope it suits her
Tina xx

Good luck
to your mom. I hope the chemo does its job.

Karen

anicca

Good luck!
Good luck your mum. Hoping doxil does the job for her and she feels better soon!

poopergirl14052

so how did it go??
I hope your mum had a good tx. keep us posted...val

Mum2bellaandwilliam

poopergirl14052 said:

so how did it go??
I hope your mum had a good tx. keep us posted...val

Thank you everyone for your
Thank you everyone for your thoughts and wishes, the infusion went well yesterday, and so much quicker, they also drained mums tummy yesterday as the acites has come back with a vengeance, so she is happy and lot more comfy to .will let you know hoe she goes in the next few days.

sofarstillhere

Rookerbird said:

Good Thoughts
Go mom! Go Doxil! My first CT after starting Doxil isn't until next week, but I'm positive my tumors have shrunk. Doxil has been way easier to tolerate than Taxol/carbo, even with the list of do's and don'ts for avoiding hand/foot syndrome. (I too "failed" Taxol/carbo, and Doxil is my second-line chemo; had radiation and Femara between chemos.) Thinking of your mom today!

radiation
Hi, I got through with 15 doxil teatments within the last 22 months and now my doc wants to try to keep me off chemo for awhile, so I am going to do tomotherapy, I had that once before but just localized on one cancer that I had, now they want to radiate my whole abdomen and pelvic area. What kind of radiation did you have and what side effects did you have. The tomotherapy was a walk in the park as I had no side effects at all, but since this is going to cover so much more area on my body it sounds like sick to stomach and loose bowls are going to happen for sure. What is Femara? How long did the radiation work for you? My doc is hoping for 1 to maybe even 2 years in remission with this. I hope he isn't being too optomistic. Hope the doxil goes great for you. Thanks Patty

Rookerbird

sofarstillhere said:

radiation
Hi, I got through with 15 doxil teatments within the last 22 months and now my doc wants to try to keep me off chemo for awhile, so I am going to do tomotherapy, I had that once before but just localized on one cancer that I had, now they want to radiate my whole abdomen and pelvic area. What kind of radiation did you have and what side effects did you have. The tomotherapy was a walk in the park as I had no side effects at all, but since this is going to cover so much more area on my body it sounds like sick to stomach and loose bowls are going to happen for sure. What is Femara? How long did the radiation work for you? My doc is hoping for 1 to maybe even 2 years in remission with this. I hope he isn't being too optomistic. Hope the doxil goes great for you. Thanks Patty

IMRT Radiation
Hi Patty - When I had my surgery/debulking, my gyn oncologist said we're gonna do 6 rounds of Taxol/carbo, rest a month, then do 30 days of radiation. He wanted to do radiation because the cancer was "splattered" all over. I had a PET scan a month after finishing Taxol/carbo which showed 2 new growths/hot spots. They were just a couple of centimeters long, but they were new since surgery. So, that reinforced his decision to use radiation, and I was shifted to a radiation oncologist's care for 2 months.

The radiation oncologist used IMRT (Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy; http://www.mayoclinic.org/imrt/). There was a struggle with Blue Cross/Blue Shield getting IMRT approved, but they ended up paying for most of it. Radiation began on March 1, 2010 and went through April 12, 2010, every M-F. The radiation itself took about 15 minutes, and was no big deal except for having to be perfectly still. I had mild skin issues (treated with some prescription gel), tiredness, and bowel frequency/looseness issues that began 3-4 weeks into radiation and lasted until October or November. The bowel problems eventually went away. Never had nausea with radiation.

Femara is a maintenance drug used primarily for breast cancer, a once-daily pill. I took Femara from May 1 through mid-July, then elected to discontinue it due to joint pain. Femara might have been helping...not sure, as I only took it for a few months. In hindsight, I probably could have lived with the pain, but at the time I was sick and tired of feeling sick and tired.

The two growths/nodules remained unchanged in size according to CTs in February, late April and late July. At the time of my next CT in November, they had grown to golf-ball size. They were right next to each other, and together about the size of a grapefruit according to my doctor.

We believe I gained time by having radiation. It might have been more time had my two nodules been smaller going into it. Femara might have helped too, but I bailed. My doctor also gave me the option of monthly maintenance Taxol, but we didn't pin much hope on that since I'd had disease progression during my first rounds of Taxol/carbo.

I don't know anything about tomotherapy, but if your doctor thinks it can give you 1-2 years, I'd go for it! It's great you were able to tolerate 15 rounds of Doxil. Fingers crossed!

LaundryQueen

Mum2bellaandwilliam said:

Thank you everyone for your
Thank you everyone for your thoughts and wishes, the infusion went well yesterday, and so much quicker, they also drained mums tummy yesterday as the acites has come back with a vengeance, so she is happy and lot more comfy to .will let you know hoe she goes in the next few days.

Ascites
I had TPN done (IV nutrition with proteins & fats) and it REALLY made a difference keeping the ascites away. When the ascites is drained off a lot of protein goes with it and that creates more ascites (has something to do with the change in the osmotic pressure).

Is that just my experience or has anyone else had that experience (improvement of ascites after TPN)? I never know if I am typical or just plain lucky.

HRH (Her Royal Highness: The Laundry Queen)

sofarstillhere

Rookerbird said:

IMRT Radiation
Hi Patty - When I had my surgery/debulking, my gyn oncologist said we're gonna do 6 rounds of Taxol/carbo, rest a month, then do 30 days of radiation. He wanted to do radiation because the cancer was "splattered" all over. I had a PET scan a month after finishing Taxol/carbo which showed 2 new growths/hot spots. They were just a couple of centimeters long, but they were new since surgery. So, that reinforced his decision to use radiation, and I was shifted to a radiation oncologist's care for 2 months.

The radiation oncologist used IMRT (Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy; http://www.mayoclinic.org/imrt/). There was a struggle with Blue Cross/Blue Shield getting IMRT approved, but they ended up paying for most of it. Radiation began on March 1, 2010 and went through April 12, 2010, every M-F. The radiation itself took about 15 minutes, and was no big deal except for having to be perfectly still. I had mild skin issues (treated with some prescription gel), tiredness, and bowel frequency/looseness issues that began 3-4 weeks into radiation and lasted until October or November. The bowel problems eventually went away. Never had nausea with radiation.

Femara is a maintenance drug used primarily for breast cancer, a once-daily pill. I took Femara from May 1 through mid-July, then elected to discontinue it due to joint pain. Femara might have been helping...not sure, as I only took it for a few months. In hindsight, I probably could have lived with the pain, but at the time I was sick and tired of feeling sick and tired.

The two growths/nodules remained unchanged in size according to CTs in February, late April and late July. At the time of my next CT in November, they had grown to golf-ball size. They were right next to each other, and together about the size of a grapefruit according to my doctor.

We believe I gained time by having radiation. It might have been more time had my two nodules been smaller going into it. Femara might have helped too, but I bailed. My doctor also gave me the option of monthly maintenance Taxol, but we didn't pin much hope on that since I'd had disease progression during my first rounds of Taxol/carbo.

I don't know anything about tomotherapy, but if your doctor thinks it can give you 1-2 years, I'd go for it! It's great you were able to tolerate 15 rounds of Doxil. Fingers crossed!

surgery
Hi, Is it possible for you to have surgery on those two if they are the only cancers showing up? I hope I won't have any nausea, I can take a lot but am not so good with an upset stomach. I was also wondering if you could talk to your radiologist about tomotherapy. It targets the cancer with extreme doses but they have a way of just doing the cancer growths while protecting the more delicaste organs etc. around it? Good luck to all of us who are trying to keep up with everything and doing the best we can. Thanks, Patty

Rookerbird

sofarstillhere said:

surgery
Hi, Is it possible for you to have surgery on those two if they are the only cancers showing up? I hope I won't have any nausea, I can take a lot but am not so good with an upset stomach. I was also wondering if you could talk to your radiologist about tomotherapy. It targets the cancer with extreme doses but they have a way of just doing the cancer growths while protecting the more delicaste organs etc. around it? Good luck to all of us who are trying to keep up with everything and doing the best we can. Thanks, Patty

TomoTherapy = IMRT
Well, I just Googled tomotherapy, and your doctor is talking about the same type of radiation I had. No nausea for me, so hopefully none for you! TomoTherapy is the name of a company that developed the software/technology and holds a bunch of patents for IMRT. (http://www.tomotherapy.com/)

My doctor thought surgery would be too risky due to the placement of the tumors. He sent me to MD Anderson in December to see if they might attempt surgery, and they concurred with him. I'm hopeful about Doxil and can't wait for my CT next week for proof it's working.

Mum2bellaandwilliam

LaundryQueen said:

Ascites
I had TPN done (IV nutrition with proteins & fats) and it REALLY made a difference keeping the ascites away. When the ascites is drained off a lot of protein goes with it and that creates more ascites (has something to do with the change in the osmotic pressure).

Is that just my experience or has anyone else had that experience (improvement of ascites after TPN)? I never know if I am typical or just plain lucky.

HRH (Her Royal Highness: The Laundry Queen)

@laundryqueen.
Mmmm interesting, We are waiting to see if the doxil keeps the acites away ,but if it doesn't this is certainly worth considering, thanks for the advice.
I love your name by the way!!