Mom's Treatment Schedule

A1pena
A1pena Member Posts: 92
edited March 2014 in Uterine/Endometrial Cancer #1
Hi There,

Wanted to share what my mom's treatment schedule will be for stage 3C UPSC. We met with her Medical Oncologist today- who is AMAZING! Sat with us for like an hour and answered ALL of our questions and really educated us on UPSC and the chemo that he'll be using. He believes in treating the whole body so alongside the chemo, we will be meeting with a nutritionist, massage therapist as well as an accupuncturist- cool stuff. Starting tomorrow, she will receive weekly doses of carbo/taxol. Has anyone else started with weekly carbo/taxol? I thought this was kind of a new approach, but he felt that this would be the best way to have the most amount of chemo in for the longest amount of time in order to kill as many cancer cells as possible.

would love to hear your thoughts,

Amanda

Comments

  • lindaprocopio
    lindaprocopio Member Posts: 1,980 Member
    #2
    Dense-dose weekly carbo/taxol is the latest 'best practice'.
    You should feel very good about your gyn-onc that he is recommending what is the BRAND NEW recommended 'best practice' for UPSC. Claudia posted a very recent (2010) article from a gyn-onc who stated that clinical trials for weekly dense-dose carbo-taxol as an initial treatment protocol for ovarian cancer show that this improved prognosis. This article quoted him as saying that these studies would initiate a paradyme (sp??) shift in the prescribed first-line chemo treatment for ovarian cancer. And, as I am sure your gyn-onc explained, UPSC has more in common in prognosis and treatment to ovarian cancer than to the more common types of uterine cancer. Here is the URL for that post thread: http://csn.cancer.org/node/176123 (You'll have to paste it into the browser.)

    I know many chemo-oncologists (like mine) are very slow to jump on anything new, versus 'tried and true' chemo regimes they have used for years. But with UPSC, in my opinion, carbo/taxol every 3 weeks has been TRIED, but it sure hasn't proven to be a TRUE guaranteed best practice!
  • Ro10
    Ro10 Member Posts: 1,561 Member
    #3
    Amanda your Mom's onocologist does sound Amazing
    I like your onocologist whole body approach to treatment. The nutritionist, massage therapist and accupuncturist sound like great additions to the traditional chemo. These things are offered as options at the chemo centers I have gone to. Your Mom's weekly chemo is certainly different than what most of us had. Linda did do the weekly treatments of Taxol with her reoccurrence. It sounds like the weekly treatments would be easier on the body. Hope all goes well with her treatment tomorrow. Hope you are taking care of yourself, too. In peace and caring.
  • Northwoodsgirl
    Northwoodsgirl Member Posts: 571
    #4
    How did the treatment go?
    Just checking in to see how the first dose of chemo went for you Mom.
    I too am pleased to hear that your oncologist is taking a holistic approach.
    Nutrition, guided imagery, accupuncture, massage will all help your Mom get healthy again and minimize side affects. If you can you would also benefit from all the beautiful complementary medicine the oncologist is recommending.
    You are a great daughter and your Mom is blessed to have you as her daughter.
    God Bless!
    Lori
  • A1pena
    A1pena Member Posts: 92
    #5
    Northwoodsgirl said:

    How did the treatment go?
    Just checking in to see how the first dose of chemo went for you Mom.
    I too am pleased to hear that your oncologist is taking a holistic approach.
    Nutrition, guided imagery, accupuncture, massage will all help your Mom get healthy again and minimize side affects. If you can you would also benefit from all the beautiful complementary medicine the oncologist is recommending.
    You are a great daughter and your Mom is blessed to have you as her daughter.
    God Bless!
    Lori

    It went really well!
    Hi There,

    Thank you all for your posts! Im happy to report that her first day of chemo went really well :) She didnt have any allergic reactions and so far hasnt had any side effects. We are hoping this is how it will continue to be- *fingers crossed*!

    Linda: Thank you for sharing the link to the article- our chemo doc specializes in breast cancer and was saying that the weekly doses have been working well in that group as well. I guess it makes sense since the its all sort of connected.

    Ro & Lori: Have you taken advantage of the complementary therapies offered at your centers? Did it help you? My mom is really traditional and is just starting to get used to the idea of massages (can you believe she doesnt really like massages) and accupuncture- its kind of fun to see her open up to new experiences. I feel really blessed to have had the mother I do so I guess it goes both ways :)

    Talk Soon,

    Amanda

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