Taxotere-Carboplatin-Herceptin Regimen Question

LawtonAJ said:

Taxotere-Carboplatin-Herceptin Regimen Question
I had been diagnosed with Salivary Duct Cancer (SDC)which has metastisized to my lungs, liver and neck area, despite having had prior surgery and radiation therapy. I was told of the Taxotere, carboplatin and herceptin (TCH) treatment by Dr. Robert Haddad of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston as the oncologists in upstate NY have not encountered this cancer previously.

My treatments of TCH are every 3 weeks with 6 total treatments and with Herceptin weekly in between which will continue for a full year. After 3 TCH treatments, the cancer no longer appears on a recent PET scan, which my local oncologist considers remarkable. My side effects of the TCH usually start on day 3 and include neuropathy in my finger tips, swelling of my gums and oral areas, and diarrhea until day 8. The Herceptin alone gives a hyper sensitivity to light on day 4 and 5.

I do have slight nausea which seems tolerable with compazine and any pain is controlled with oxicodone. Considering the agressive nature of SDC and the general poor prognosis, I consider the side effects tolerable. I did experience significant hair loss after day 10 from the first TCH treatment. I was told that after the last TCH treatment, I should start to regrow my hair in 4 to 6 weeks. Does anyone know if this is accurate?

If anyone also has SDC, they may want to consider this regimine as a possible treatment. My best wishes to all that are going though the same treatment.

12/2009 followup; With my latest PET scan, I still show that the cancer is no where to be detected. However the insurance company - Blue Shield of Northeastern NY has denied the rest of my herceptin treatments as they claim there is insufficient substantiation (in other words they consider it experimentatl) for this treatment. Short term results are clear that the TCH treatment seems to have worked. Only downside to my treatments is a lot of oral degradation. Working on the cause and treatment at this point. Will keep everyone updated

Herceptin is for Her+ Cancers and your expert Board Certified Oncologist needs to write your insurance carrier a letter of justification.  You then give that letter to the Insurance Company and request that they have 3 experts in Certified Oncology state that that this this drug is not appropriate, tell them you will wait 15 days and then turn this over to a Board Certifed Attorney on a contingency fee bases as you believe that the Insurance Company is in BAD FAITH claims process.  This will force you to file suit for breach of contract (get copy of your contract and if not specifical exculuded by contract its included, they wrote the policy) and Bad Faith Claims process with include a count for Punitive Damages. e

Again, Herceptin is for Her + and the drug is not considered experimental in that specific protein.  Thus, they need three experts (Board Certified Oncologists) to make determination experimental and you have no obligation to show anything more than the Her + or/and your Doctors opinion.   You could also contact the manufacture of Herceptin and get their researchers opinion.   I am finding this is  goining on alot and so I would contact an Attorney and get a contingency fee based contract with the attorney - to the attorney I would say these cases really are not that difficult as the jury's see them selves in these situations and would not want to be denied.