two dr. appts down, one to go- now what? Updated

Kathryn_in_MN said:

YEAH!
I am so happy I kept reading. I was so disappointed for you, and with so many posts I almost didn't read all the way through to the end. This is great news. I am glad you have a doctor that will fight for you with the insurance companies - and not just one, but three that will do it!

Have you taken Xeloda yet at all? Even though it is very much like 5-FU and most people have about the same end results, some people do much better on one than the other. And in those cases it is often Xeloda that works better for certain patients. Combined with a new drug you haven't tried, it could be just the combo for you!

Kathryn
Hi Kathryn,

Yes, I've taken Xeloda before. Actually, I had a recurrence this past summer while I was on a maintenance dose of Xeloda and was also getting Avastin infusions every 2 wks. But the drs. think that Xeloda mixed with the Gemzar will be a promising possibility. I guess it's not the strength of the Xeloda on its own that matters as much, but how it interacts with affects the other drug. Weird.
I'm certainly willing to try going on it.

Thinks for your input and take care-
Lisa

dianetavegia said:

That sounds GREAT!
Wow, what a nice and dedicated doctor! That's great, too, that he called to give you some peace of mind over the weekend.

Praying the letter sways the insurance company and that this treatment works, really works for you!

Diane
Hi Diane,

I sent you a message. Thanks for the prayers!

Lisa

Kathleen808 said:

Good news
Lisa,
Good news from Dr. Fanta. I am so hopeful for you. We are reading Anticancer as well. **** is committed to starting it when he gets off chemo in March.

Thanks for keeping us updated. I thought of you and prayed for you a lot today.

Aloha,
Kathleen

Kathleen
Hi Kathleen,

Glad you're reading Anticancer also- it would be a miracle if my husband would ever read it or listen to anything said there. Soooo frustrating! While I was reading it yesterday, he went off because I "was inconsiderate" in buying a brand of hotdogs without the sodium nitrate. He thinks of hot dogs and beans as a "staple". Dinners with ground beef and tomato type sauces are about all he wants for dinner. If I make something else healthier, he'll eat it some of the time and complain or will just go get himself something else to eat like a bowl of cereal, his "beans and weins" as he calls hot dogs and beans, etc. Really hard to get into what I need to do with healthy eating. I already know it does not matter at all what he hears about nitrates, preservatives, dyes, chemicals, hormones in our meat and milk, pesticides, etc. He doesn't believe any of it. I've talked about ALL of that many times. I love my husband, but feel lots of frustration over this. He said I can do whatever I want with how I eat, but he and the kids shouldn't have to change what they like to eat. I told him they need to change or at least get better about it because I don't want them to go through what I'm experiencing! He said for himself, he prefers "quality over quantity"- he'd rather not live to 90 if he has to eat "garbage" (the garbage is referring to the healthy food- not the actual junky and fatty foods he prefers- lol) I believe it really would take a miracle. I do happen to believe in miracles and have "little" ones (if there's such thing) all along the way. Just realized I have not prayed about this issue. Here goes...

jscho said:

these drugs sound promising
Hi Lisa, sorry to hear about the financial/insurance issues, but I looked up the gemzar/pazopanib drugs and they seem full of promise. Gemzar appears to have only mild side-effects and should act cooperatively with xeloda (both create base deficiencies for replication, but for different bases). The pazopanib targets growth receptors like avastin does, so acts quite differently. It has a nice track record of slowing progression (by factors of two!). This sounds like a potent cocktail, attacking cancer cells on multiple fronts, and I sincerely hope your doctors can get insurance to cover them.

Best,
Jeremy

Jeremy- Gemzar
Hi Jeremy,

Thanks for your reply. It is interesting, isn't it, to read the results of both the phase I and phase II studies on Gemzar with Xeloda and to read that it sounds really, really promising and with very few side effects too. The pazopanib also!

Lisa