Avastin

terrypaci
terrypaci Member Posts: 15
edited March 2014 in Ovarian Cancer #1
My name is Terry Paci, I am 43 yrs old and I have just completed my 6th treatment of carbo/taxol, I am on the avastin and have been since the 2nd treatment, after I had my 1st treatment of Avastin I broke out in a rash and I was determined to leave the trial due to this problem, when I talked to my Dr. he actually talked me into staying in the trial I am in stage 3c and so far I am tumor free I still have the cancer cells in my blood stream and the avastin only kills those cells so my hair and eyebrows and lashes will grow back, the hair is already starting to come back.
My Dr. told me straight forward that even though I am other wise healthy and so young that without the trial drug I might only have 5 yrs. that is also what the Cancer sites tell you when your searching to find out what causes this type of cancer, it can scare you to death but the best thing that I found for myself is to be active in my treatments options and to be my own advocate, No one is sure if they are getting the avastin or the placebo but I have read that when a person is on the trial drug and nothing else they will put you on the actual drug they need to see if it will really work or not and if your not on it alone then its useless to be on it.
I am so glad that there is a site that deals with OC, I have been to so many sites and some of the people are just really snotty and dont care, its nice to know that there are people out there that do care and it is wonderful to have other people to talk to who have the same thing even with family and friends they cant always understand what your going through only someone who has this disease can help.

Comments

  • BonnieR
    BonnieR Member Posts: 1,526 Member
    #2
    Welcome
    Hi Terry, I am so glad you found your way here, you have found a safe, supportive, knowledgable, loving group of women here, and yes we all really do care and understand.

    I have been on Avastin, but for a recurrence when nothing else was working. My understanding is it stops the blood vessels from forming to the tumors and starves the cancer off. For me it was exactly what I needed and did kill off a lot of the cancer.

    About the 5 years, I have been living with cancer for almost 6 years and have other friends that have been living with the disease(yes no remission)for even longer. So even though the stats say 3-5 years, with so many more options women are living longer in spite of the disease.

    Hopefully you don't have to live with the disease, you will be dancing with NED(no evidence of disease)by the time you are finished with treatment.

    Hugs N Prayers Bonnie
  • terrypaci
    terrypaci Member Posts: 15
    #3
    BonnieR said:

    Welcome
    Hi Terry, I am so glad you found your way here, you have found a safe, supportive, knowledgable, loving group of women here, and yes we all really do care and understand.

    I have been on Avastin, but for a recurrence when nothing else was working. My understanding is it stops the blood vessels from forming to the tumors and starves the cancer off. For me it was exactly what I needed and did kill off a lot of the cancer.

    About the 5 years, I have been living with cancer for almost 6 years and have other friends that have been living with the disease(yes no remission)for even longer. So even though the stats say 3-5 years, with so many more options women are living longer in spite of the disease.

    Hopefully you don't have to live with the disease, you will be dancing with NED(no evidence of disease)by the time you are finished with treatment.

    Hugs N Prayers Bonnie

    Avastin
    Hi Bonnie,
    thank you for prayers, I do appreciate them so much and I will keep you in mine as well. that is what my Dr. told me as well about the 5 yrs. that was the minimum that he told me and he wants to see me go the distance which is whatever god and the trial give me, Don't get me wrong I am not anywhere near ready to go to the big man, I plan on doing whatever I can to be a 10-20 yr or more survivor, I am so far from my last scan tumor free, I know the Dr got all the cancer tumors out of me he did a complete sweep of every single organ so I am very grateful to him for that.

    How long have you been on just the avastin and what kind of side effects have you had, I know that everyone has different effects so I might not have what you did but I am just curious about that because my 7th -21st treatments are only avastin. I have been told that my blood pressure will go up or down. if you want to chat with me via email or IM my email is terry.paci@yahoo.com same as my IM.
  • floridajo
    floridajo Member Posts: 480
    #4
    Welcome
    Hi Terry,
    Glad to see you have found us,but sad that it's through this disease!! lots of good info and support will be found on this site. As far as a timeline..we are all different. i know of a lady with stage 4 and has been cancer free since the original surgery and 6 cycles of carbo/taxol for 12 years. I know of another lady who has had many recurrences but is coming up to 28 years. I always looked at it as someone has got to be in the % that does just fine. Of course now I know it's not me as I'm currently in chemo for my 3rd recurrence in 3 years. However I still have the same hope as anyone else...to live a long,long life!!!Again welcome!!!~~~~Joanne
  • saundra
    saundra Member Posts: 1,370 Member
    #5
    Keep it up
    You will be welcome here and I am glad to have your input. I seem to be in my first recurrence and will know for sure after 10/15 and what meds I will be put on then. The exchange of information on this site is wonderful. Please tell us your side effects from Avastin. That may be what I get, who knows? I am Stage IV and still have a lot of fight left. ((Hugs and Prayers)) Saundra
  • BonnieR
    BonnieR Member Posts: 1,526 Member
    #6
    terrypaci said:

    Avastin
    Hi Bonnie,
    thank you for prayers, I do appreciate them so much and I will keep you in mine as well. that is what my Dr. told me as well about the 5 yrs. that was the minimum that he told me and he wants to see me go the distance which is whatever god and the trial give me, Don't get me wrong I am not anywhere near ready to go to the big man, I plan on doing whatever I can to be a 10-20 yr or more survivor, I am so far from my last scan tumor free, I know the Dr got all the cancer tumors out of me he did a complete sweep of every single organ so I am very grateful to him for that.

    How long have you been on just the avastin and what kind of side effects have you had, I know that everyone has different effects so I might not have what you did but I am just curious about that because my 7th -21st treatments are only avastin. I have been told that my blood pressure will go up or down. if you want to chat with me via email or IM my email is terry.paci@yahoo.com same as my IM.

    avastin
    Hi Terry, I am not on avastin now, but was on it for 6 months. I got 12 doses along with daily cytoxan. My side affects were extreme headaches and very high blood pressure. But I stayed focused on its working and made the 6 months. I know some women who get the headaches have to stop. Thanks for sharing. Bonnie
  • terrypaci
    terrypaci Member Posts: 15
    #7
    BonnieR said:

    avastin
    Hi Terry, I am not on avastin now, but was on it for 6 months. I got 12 doses along with daily cytoxan. My side affects were extreme headaches and very high blood pressure. But I stayed focused on its working and made the 6 months. I know some women who get the headaches have to stop. Thanks for sharing. Bonnie

    avastin
    Hi Bonnie,

    I was re reading your last post to me about avastin and there are a few more questions that i wasnt to ask you about. did you have any neck and shoulder pain at all, did your bowels change in color, and did you experience any nausea at all. if you want to email me versus putting it on here that would be great my email is terry.paci@yahoo.com any help that i could get would be great. thank you
  • BonnieR
    BonnieR Member Posts: 1,526 Member
    #8
    terrypaci said:

    avastin
    Hi Bonnie,

    I was re reading your last post to me about avastin and there are a few more questions that i wasnt to ask you about. did you have any neck and shoulder pain at all, did your bowels change in color, and did you experience any nausea at all. if you want to email me versus putting it on here that would be great my email is terry.paci@yahoo.com any help that i could get would be great. thank you

    side affects
    Hi Terry, I suffer neck and shoulder pain so can't help you there and I did not notice any bowel change and no nausea. Hope that helps. Bonnie

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