Stage IV treatment

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cher76
cher76 Member Posts: 292
edited March 2011 in Esophageal Cancer #1
We are back at home after having gone to MD Anderson for a 6 week scan in the clinical trial that Rickie was in. Apparently he was receiving the placebo or else the drug did him no good and the cancer has grown. We had that feeling before the scan, as suddenly in the last week or two he has started having difficulty eating again. It has now spread in his bones along his spine and his sternum and more lymph nodes are involved. It is not in his liver or other major organs. He has been in much pain, and we saw a pain management doctor as well. Dr. Ajani has prescribed Erbitux and irinotecan as the next corse of chemo. His is hoping to get him back to where he was before we tried the clinical trial. If our insurance does not approve the Erbitux than we will use the 5FU again with the irinotecan. The trial was a gamble we took and lost and now we have to stop second guessing ourselves and try to look forward. I see my husband going down physically as well as mentally and I don't know what to do for him. He is eating very little and sleeps most of the time. When we asked the Dr. about a feeding tube he said he would rather treat the cancer than the symptoms. To do a feeding tube now would take time away from the much needed chemo. The dr. felt that with the first treatment he should get relief from the eating situation. Rickie has elected to do the chemo in our hometown and I have agreed with him. This way we are close to family and friends and have more of a support system. He will start this round on Monday. Has anyone else had any luck with these two drugs? Also does anyone know if there is a recourse when the insurance turns down a treatment? Thanks for all you help.
Keeping all in our prayers,
Cheryl

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  • oriontj
    oriontj Member Posts: 375
    #2
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    stage 4
    My husband had erbitux with cisplatin and taxol....when first diagnosed...he was fine with clear scans for a year but it's back. The erbitux was a clinical trial...so the company paid for the very expensive drug...it's not yet approved for ec...so insurance doesn't want to pay for it at all.

    We don't know if it was the erbitux, taxol or the platin drug that worked the first time...they are not using erbitux now...

    jan
  • cher76
    cher76 Member Posts: 292
    #3
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    oriontj said:

    stage 4
    My husband had erbitux with cisplatin and taxol....when first diagnosed...he was fine with clear scans for a year but it's back. The erbitux was a clinical trial...so the company paid for the very expensive drug...it's not yet approved for ec...so insurance doesn't want to pay for it at all.

    We don't know if it was the erbitux, taxol or the platin drug that worked the first time...they are not using erbitux now...

    jan

    Thanks Jan for the reply. We
    Thanks Jan for the reply. We are waiting to hear what our insurance has to say. We are hoping to get him back to were he was before the clinical trial that we just got off of. If the insurance will not pay then the dr. ordered 5FU again. Today was a better day and he was able to eat a little more and was not in quite as much pain. I have told him that he needs to be stronger for the chemo on Monday and therefore must eat. His disposition is a little better today also. Thank God for small favors!
    Cheryl

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