new member with questions regarding treatment

yoyonc
yoyonc Member Posts: 3
in Lung Cancer #1
Hi - my husband was diagnosed 5/18/12 with Stage 3 NSCLC adenocarcinoma of course this was after a little over 2 months trying to figure out what was going on with him and why he was having chest pain constantly and a cough that wouldn't go away, on 5/30/12 we found out it had metestasized and he had several spots on his brain which moved him up to Stage 4. He has since been through radiation to his brain which was a complete nightmare until he got started on steroids, and that has completely gotten rid of the smaller spots and the largest one was shrunk down by half, and also radiation to his chest. He also ended up having to have radiation to his right thigh due to a tumor showing up there causing him immense pain, his last treatment on it was today.

He started chemo (carbo and taxol) on 6/19/12, the leg pain from the taxol was almost unbearable for about a week. He had his 2nd round (carbo/taxol and avastin) on 7/10/12. They did a CT scan on 7/20/12 and we had to meet with his oncologist on 7/23/12 at which time he told us that nothing has shrank, the tumors had actually grown some and he had some new spots. He wants to try the same combo one more time since he has only received the Avastin one time, and stated if that didn't show any progress on the next CT scan they would have to try a different chemo.

My question is this....has anyone been on the carbo/taxol/avastin and it not work for you or it took a couple treatments before it started working???? I'm just so concerned and worried about them finding a combination that will start shrinking this evil thing that has invaded my husbands body.

Comments

  • dennycee
    dennycee Member Posts: 857 Member
    #2
    Actually, I am mildly
    Actually, I am mildly surprised that they switched up the way they did and then had a ct after only one round of the final combo. Usually you have two rounds of the chemo and then a CT. I did not have have that combo though. Did they say why they changed it like that? Did they do any genetic testing? If not, push them to do it right away.
  • yoyonc
    yoyonc Member Posts: 3
    #3
    dennycee said:

    Actually, I am mildly
    Actually, I am mildly surprised that they switched up the way they did and then had a ct after only one round of the final combo. Usually you have two rounds of the chemo and then a CT. I did not have have that combo though. Did they say why they changed it like that? Did they do any genetic testing? If not, push them to do it right away.

    He had two rounds of chemo,
    He had two rounds of chemo, but only one of those rounds the second one had the Avastin added with it. I know he does not have any mutation on the EGFR, but I don't know for sure if they checked his ALK gene to see if it was abnormal. That's one of the things I have to ask his oncologist.
  • dennycee
    dennycee Member Posts: 857 Member
    #4
    yoyonc said:

    He had two rounds of chemo,
    He had two rounds of chemo, but only one of those rounds the second one had the Avastin added with it. I know he does not have any mutation on the EGFR, but I don't know for sure if they checked his ALK gene to see if it was abnormal. That's one of the things I have to ask his oncologist.

    I'm sorry, my question
    I'm sorry, my question wasn't very clear. I am wondering why they didn't wait until after the second round of the newer protocol before the CT. I thought a clue might be in the results of the mutation testing. Hopefully someone else will check in with more ideas. My best to you both.
  • yoyonc
    yoyonc Member Posts: 3
    #5
    dennycee said:

    I'm sorry, my question
    I'm sorry, my question wasn't very clear. I am wondering why they didn't wait until after the second round of the newer protocol before the CT. I thought a clue might be in the results of the mutation testing. Hopefully someone else will check in with more ideas. My best to you both.

    Oh ok got ya. :) I don't
    Oh ok got ya. :) I don't know why they didn't wait until he had 2 rounds with the Avastin. Hopefully the second go round with the Avastin will help. We'll find out near the end of August if it has started working or not since they are going to do another CT scan and MRI. Thank you for your response.

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