Please Help: Mom is Now Stage IV - what next?

I am so sorry to her about your Mum's recurrence.  But please take heart - there are still treatment options out there.  If your Mum is still fragile after the radiotherapy, then they may well suggest hormone therapy, but they will decide that based on the type of cancer she has.

If it receptive to oestrogen or progesterone (meaning it uses these hormones to feed itself and grow), then there are a few different hormone therapies that they can try and if one doesn't work, then they can try another.  Some are designed to stop the body producing oestrogen or progesterone, so in effect they starve the tumour.  Others are designed to block the receptors on the surface of the tumour so that they can't feed on the hormones.  The most commonly used anti oestrogen hormone therapies seem to be Femara (letrozole) Arimidex (anastrozole), Aromasin (exemestane), which are all a class of drug called aromatase inhibitors.  There is also Nolvadex (tamoxifen), which works in a different way.  Common progesterone based hormone therapy seems to be predominantly Megace.

There are also chemo options.  If it is at least 6 months since your Mum had the carbo/taxol combo then they could potentially try it again but they are more likely to move onto something else with an easier regimen if you Mum's body has taken a bit of a hit.  There are chemos which can be given weekly, but in smaller doses, so the immediate effect on the body is less but the overall dose over time can be higher.  One of the other chemo drugs that they might suggest is called Doxil.  But there are also others and I am sure that the other ladies on this board can tell you of there experiences.

But, overall, please take heart and don't give up - there should still be options for your Mum.

Helen

runwithloki said:

Sorry to hear this

Thanks for responding. I'm sorry to hear that your mom is in this situation, too. It's so frustrating to go through the recommended chemo regimen, only to find that the cancer has still managed to spread. Where else did it metastasize to? Did they give you different treatment options or was doxil the clear choice? What kind of side effects does it have, do you know? I am trying to research different treatment options so that my dad can ask some specific questions when he meets with her oncologist (hopefully tomorrow or soon thereafter).

Best wishes for you and your mom-

Stacey

It metasized to a few locations in her abdomen and to her thoracic spine. I think because it got to her spine, that's why it is inoperable. I do ask questions but in this last meeting I didn't want to ask anything that would upset her. Doxil was the only option givin to her. Maybe some palliative radiation as things progress.  She has another issue which may play into that. Her kidneys have been up and down in terms of there function. They monitor that with blood tests during chemo. Her first chemo was cancelled because her kidney function was so bad. They chalked it up to all the antibiotics she got during a post op infection. But then the kidney function de-stabilized again, so they took her off of her blood pressure medications (changed them, really).

Side effects, not too bad. No aches and pains, no flush face, no neuropathy, things that she experienced with carbo-taxol. It will make her tired, and it could cause a rash on the palms of her hands, the bottom of her feet and in her mouth. It doesn't always happen, we're praying it doesn't for her.

I am wondering if I should get a second opinion, or talk to one of the doctors on the phone to get a better idea of why there aren't more options. I don't know....