taxotere and avastn

jadav1956

Hi ladies. I started my maintenance chemo today with taxotere and avastin. It took an hour for the taxotere and one half hour for avastin. I am doing well so far but the side effects dont usually start until about the 3rd to 4th day afte tx. I have been keeping a journal for my family since I was diagnosed in 4/11. It really helps me to write things down about how I feel, my thoughts on life, etc. I also went ahead and filed for my ss disability. I went down to the local office this past Tuesday and they called me today and I am approved already. I didn't think the government could move that fast. They used the date of 5/11 since that was the date of my surgery. I really couldn't work much after that. It takes 2 yrs now to get medicare health insurance now. Anyway I got the "clock" started which was my whole reason. I didn't have a lot of choice. My cobra will run out in june 2013. Who knows where I will be or what I may need but who can take that chance ? I send prayers up every night for all of us. Everyone hang in there. Jackie

AnneBehymer

AHCCC state health plan
I was dx on June 4 2011 I got SSD first try also and like you I had to use Cobra because I could no longer work. I was paying 500.00 a month for Cobra and 300.00 a month for medications I only received 872.00 a month so I only had 72.00 a month left well..... that wasn't going to work look into your state health insurance I got mine because I was now disabled so now I pay nothing for my insurance, 3.30 for office visits, and 2.00 for medication. I don't know if your state does that but it is worth checking into. If you have what our state has in place and that is if you do not have a child under the age of 18 livingin your house then you can't have AHCCC don't stop trying I could not get it through my DES office BUT I could get it if I went AHCCC personally. I applied at a DES office and they would not even interview me for it because I had not children so I walked away not sure what to do. Less than a month later I got paper work from AHCCC saying that they saw I applied online and was denied but I could be able to get it through being disabled and sure enough I did. Please don't wait until you are almost out of Cobra why pay that much if you can get on AHCCC. I wish you luck also and please come back with us so if you have any questions of you just need to vent we are here.

Love, Hugs, and Prayers
Anne

whiterose

Hi Jackie
Good luck to you in your fight! I'm at about the same point as you are---I'm about to start on Avastin too, next week in fact. My doctor elected to use Avastin only, not any further chemo. Would you mind sharing why your doctor is starting you on this combo? I'm just curious, I thought I was going to have a combo too, but my onc. changed his mind. Any info. would be helpful. Thank you.

jadav1956

whiterose said:

Hi Jackie
Good luck to you in your fight! I'm at about the same point as you are---I'm about to start on Avastin too, next week in fact. My doctor elected to use Avastin only, not any further chemo. Would you mind sharing why your doctor is starting you on this combo? I'm just curious, I thought I was going to have a combo too, but my onc. changed his mind. Any info. would be helpful. Thank you.

Sure whiterose. I can tell
Sure whiterose. I can tell you we seem to be very close with diagnosis and surgery. I was diagnosed in April 11, and had surgery 5/11. I had my port placed in June and started chemo last of June. I had 9 txs every 21 days. It was supposed to be 6 txs but my ca125 was still too high. I did 6 txs of carbo/taxol and 3 of carbo/taxotere when there was a shortage of the taxol. The taxotere seemed to bring my ca125 down much faster. My onc told me then that taxotere would be the drug of choice for my maintenance therapy. He called it a coincidence but I believe it was the hand of GOD. The taxotere just worked better for me. Anyway I asked about the avastin as well. Carlene or Hissy fitz on this board did this also for an extra year. I believe she is now in a study for a ovca vaccine and is doing great. My onc had already told me he was not one to just sit around and do nothing, and I agreed. We decided on the maintenance and I am glad we did it. I am happy to be proactive with my care. I have read about the side effects of the avastin too. It does make me scared but I would rather do this and see what happens. I kind of picture the chemo as like a pacman in my cancer cells running around and eating them all up. It helps me to visualize it that way. I have been feeling ok today, but I usually have problems the 3rd to 4th days after chemo and lasts another 3-4 days. I plan on doing nothing the next 3-4 days but resting and watching basketball. My KY wildcats are playing tomorrow night. So no worries for me so far. Stay in touch and let me know how you are doing. Jackie

whiterose

jadav1956 said:

Sure whiterose. I can tell
Sure whiterose. I can tell you we seem to be very close with diagnosis and surgery. I was diagnosed in April 11, and had surgery 5/11. I had my port placed in June and started chemo last of June. I had 9 txs every 21 days. It was supposed to be 6 txs but my ca125 was still too high. I did 6 txs of carbo/taxol and 3 of carbo/taxotere when there was a shortage of the taxol. The taxotere seemed to bring my ca125 down much faster. My onc told me then that taxotere would be the drug of choice for my maintenance therapy. He called it a coincidence but I believe it was the hand of GOD. The taxotere just worked better for me. Anyway I asked about the avastin as well. Carlene or Hissy fitz on this board did this also for an extra year. I believe she is now in a study for a ovca vaccine and is doing great. My onc had already told me he was not one to just sit around and do nothing, and I agreed. We decided on the maintenance and I am glad we did it. I am happy to be proactive with my care. I have read about the side effects of the avastin too. It does make me scared but I would rather do this and see what happens. I kind of picture the chemo as like a pacman in my cancer cells running around and eating them all up. It helps me to visualize it that way. I have been feeling ok today, but I usually have problems the 3rd to 4th days after chemo and lasts another 3-4 days. I plan on doing nothing the next 3-4 days but resting and watching basketball. My KY wildcats are playing tomorrow night. So no worries for me so far. Stay in touch and let me know how you are doing. Jackie

Thanks
Thanks Jackie. Yes, I was diagnosed last June and had my surgery a few days later. Started chemo in July and have been through 8 rounds of carbo/taxol, three weeks on, one week off. My CA-125 dropped quickly to 7 and has remained there for a few months now. Hope it stays that way. Haven't had chemo for three weeks now, start on Avastin next week. The last couple of months I wasn't too sick, I think starting to work out a little bit helped. Got my appetite back and gained back a little weight which I needed to do. Great that the taxotere worked out for you. Funny how things come about, isn't it? Hope that the Avastin works out for both you and me.....Have a restful couple of days and Go Big Blue!!!