Avastin approved

smokeyjoe
smokeyjoe Member Posts: 1,425 Member
in Colorectal Cancer #1
Well, got the first infusion of Avastin yesterday. Scans booked for first week in Jan., if the Avastin is effective for me will those scans show some improvement in a short amount of time, or does it take several months to know??

Comments

  • PhillieG
    PhillieG Member Posts: 4,866 Member
    #2
    Congrats
    Everyone's different but I would not be at all surprised if change was seen after a few treatments.
    Maybe someone who's been taking it lately can provide more up-to-date info...
    -p
  • Brenda Bricco
    Brenda Bricco Member Posts: 579 Member
    #3
    My husband got his second
    My husband got his second opinion at Mayo 3 weeks after beginning Avastin and there was an amazing difference already. I pray you have wonderful results too.
    Brenda
  • karguy
    karguy Member Posts: 1,020 Member
    #4
    Well
    I got an improvement after a few treatments,but I had the usual,no appetite,etc.Good luck.
  • k44454445
    k44454445 Member Posts: 494
    #5
    Smokeyjoe
    i started folfiri with avastin in july. i had a ct & a mri after #6. original dx was colon ca tumors in the liver, peritoneal, 2 abdom & rt ovary. the ct/mri showed no liver ca & all other areas except ovary decreased by at least 1/2 ! now the onc thinks the ovary is a cyst. in the peritoneal some of the numerous tumors are gone & the largest was 5.1cm & is now 12 mm. what a huge decrease especially since that is a hard area to treat. since there was a good report, i am now a candidate for surg. we knew at the beginning that surg would be the best chance to remove the tumors so i am glad the avastin is working. needless to say my onc was shocked! on the downside, at #8 the urine protein was a trace. this monday i got #9 chemo but the count was 2. if i reach 3 i will be taken off avastin as to prevent kidney damage. so i am praying i make it thru #12. good luck & i bet the avastin is working for you!
    prayers & hugs
    judy
  • Dyanclark
    Dyanclark Member Posts: 296
    #6
    Avastin
    My husband just had Avastin to see if they can get his CEA down it is 6.3, he had to go off it for surgery but it was very effective for him. His CEA was 1.9 after surgery in September but now that he is healed we really wanted Dr. to start Avastin again. All his scans are normal but some things just dont always show up on scans. We are hope Avastin will get CEA to 0
  • pete43lost_at_sea
    pete43lost_at_sea Member Posts: 3,900 Member
    #7
    i hope you have the best response.
    my suspicion is that avastin can have a quick response, especially in the case of direct injection like my treatment. it causes the arteries feeding the tumour to shrink and die. how great.

    the trick with all these drugs is to use them before the multi drug resistence kicks in. but ignore my worries and just have faith you have a cool therapy that going to really work.

    I have also enjoyed reading others interesting avastin stories.

    hugs,
    Pete
  • Sundanceh
    Sundanceh Member Posts: 4,392 Member
    #8
    Your Wait Is Over...
    Know you waited a long time for the approval...best of luck with it!

    I'm the oddball of the group...I can't say whether Avastin worked or not...I recurred despite surgery, cyberknife, oxy, xeloda, and avastin...

    I'm sure it made some kind of difference, but for the long term it did not for me...might have been because I could not get the oxy the way I needed to towards the tail end...

    Just don't know...

    My heart took a hit from doing it...it was about 9-10 months if I remember...now it skips beats pretty regularly...of course, nobody else has this condition, so I'm the one-off.

    The drug brochure does warn you that it can cause congestive heart failure from prolonged use...I'm glad to be off of it...don't know if I would do it again.
  • herdizziness
    herdizziness Member Posts: 3,624 Member
    #9
    Blood Pressure
    Just a reminder to keep a close eye on the blood pressure and if you need or are taking blood pressure medicine, try not to miss any while on the Avastin. I was on it for two years, and am on it again after a six month sabbatical dealing with other things, while on it my CEA remained less then 5, after I got off it, CEA began to rise, and I'm back where I started, so I think the Avastin wasn't necessarily killing the tumors off by completely stopping the blood flow to them, but rather, restricting the blood flow to them enough that they didn't grow. Who knows.
    Winter Marie
  • steved
    steved Member Posts: 834 Member
    #10
    How to measure response
    This is more complex than simply hoping rumours disappear. For some Maris and cts don't allow a great picture and pets may be better- my own best measure was pet uptake ie how strongly the tumour up took the radio ligand on pet scan. The other question is what are you looking for- realistically response Kay be shown by a tumour stopping growing rather than actually shrinking. For many this is about managing a long term illness and holding it stagnant rather than cure. Cea is of course another way to monitor.

    Six cycles ie around January, should be a good time to measure the effects but perhaps discuss with your team what the aims are for your individual situation. I took avastin really with the aim of slowing tumour growth knowing it was never meant to be a cure for me.

    Steve
  • smokeyjoe
    smokeyjoe Member Posts: 1,425 Member
    #11
    steved said:

    How to measure response
    This is more complex than simply hoping rumours disappear. For some Maris and cts don't allow a great picture and pets may be better- my own best measure was pet uptake ie how strongly the tumour up took the radio ligand on pet scan. The other question is what are you looking for- realistically response Kay be shown by a tumour stopping growing rather than actually shrinking. For many this is about managing a long term illness and holding it stagnant rather than cure. Cea is of course another way to monitor.

    Six cycles ie around January, should be a good time to measure the effects but perhaps discuss with your team what the aims are for your individual situation. I took avastin really with the aim of slowing tumour growth knowing it was never meant to be a cure for me.

    Steve

    PETs are not done for colon
    PETs are not done for colon cancer where I live. CT's are the only scans they'll do, Gov't regulated. My hope is tumor disappears.....but realistically I'm stage 1V....one foot in front of the other... hoping each treatment works keeping any growth at bay. Winter, it's funny when I had my oncologist appt. my blood pressure was way up, they talked about maybe having to go on blood pressure meds. When I went for infusion my blood pressure was great both before and after the infusion.
  • herdizziness
    herdizziness Member Posts: 3,624 Member
    #12
    smokeyjoe said:

    PETs are not done for colon
    PETs are not done for colon cancer where I live. CT's are the only scans they'll do, Gov't regulated. My hope is tumor disappears.....but realistically I'm stage 1V....one foot in front of the other... hoping each treatment works keeping any growth at bay. Winter, it's funny when I had my oncologist appt. my blood pressure was way up, they talked about maybe having to go on blood pressure meds. When I went for infusion my blood pressure was great both before and after the infusion.

    Blood Pressure
    Maybe stopping by a blood pressure machine (here they have them at drug stores and grocery stores) if you happen to be by one and keeping a list of the blood pressure readings would be a good idea for a while? Just to be on the safe side.
    Here's to the Avastin working for you!!
    Winter Marie
  • joemetz
    joemetz Member Posts: 493
    #13
    Avastin
    I had folfox6 + erbitux for 30 weeks... then the bag reversal. (Stage IV with large tumor in the transverse colon and MANY lesions in the liver. )

    Avastin and Xeloda are my "maintenance chemo".
    I'm In week 10 of Xeloda and have had 5 treatments of Avastin.

    I feel great... been gaining weight, blood pressure has increased a bit... but luckily I've had low blood pressure all along. so, no worries there. They've done urine test the day before each treatment of Avastin, and no problems or issues.

    Honestly, there are more times each day that i completely forget that i have cancer.
    people. Able to eat about anything i want to eat now, and having minimal issues with hands and feet.

    But the real question... is it working?
    I think about this every day.... but December 6th is my next CT scan... so, I'll let ya'll know by December 7th!

    I hope you feel good and it works well for you.

    Joe

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