Avastin and Cumodin?

MrsPlate
MrsPlate Member Posts: 19
edited March 2014 in Brain Cancer #1
My husbands oncologist and neurosurgeon have decided that our next step is Avastin and CPT-11. I was wondering if anyone has been on Avastin and Cumodin? My husband had a pulmonary embolism last month and has been on Cumodin since then. He's already had some issues with bleeding and his INR being too high (had a nose bleed that got him sent to the ER)... with Avastin there is a risk of bleeds. I'm concerned that the bleeds will be uncontrollable and very dangerous... He's still got clots in his leg, has a filter as well, but he needs to stay on the cumodin for at least 9 mos.

Anyone have any experience with combining these medications?

Comments

  • HeartofSoul
    HeartofSoul Member Posts: 729 Member
    #2
    Bring your husbands
    Bring your husbands cardiologist on board and work closely with his oncologist and neurosurgeon. your concerns are valid
  • OCMenno
    OCMenno Member Posts: 26
    #3
    Avastin and Lumostine
    As soon as we get insurance approval for Avastin, my wife is to begin Avastin combined with her current chemo, Lomustine, which she recently started. Sorry, not familiar with CPT-11. My wife was first diagnosed with grade 3 AA but now has new inoperable tumor that they suspect is GBM due to the way it is behaving (growing fast). Temodar no longer helps and Lomustine on it's own is not expected to do much, if anything. When you look at the side effects on the Avastin website it sounds like some potentially very serious side effects. Even some of the common side effects listed sound quite scary. But the Oncologist assures us that most patients experience very little problems.
  • MrsPlate
    MrsPlate Member Posts: 19
    #4
    OCMenno said:

    Avastin and Lumostine
    As soon as we get insurance approval for Avastin, my wife is to begin Avastin combined with her current chemo, Lomustine, which she recently started. Sorry, not familiar with CPT-11. My wife was first diagnosed with grade 3 AA but now has new inoperable tumor that they suspect is GBM due to the way it is behaving (growing fast). Temodar no longer helps and Lomustine on it's own is not expected to do much, if anything. When you look at the side effects on the Avastin website it sounds like some potentially very serious side effects. Even some of the common side effects listed sound quite scary. But the Oncologist assures us that most patients experience very little problems.

    It does sound scarry...
    My Husband is going in tomorrow to get his port for the new treatments. I'm nervous about alot of the side effects, not the least of which is the bleeding, expecially with the blood thinners- he's already had nose bleeds that wouldn't stop and got us sent to the ER. Twice. He's also nervous about the diareah, since he's got some numbness in his abdomin and can't always tell when he needs to go- AND he's not very quick on his feet to get to the bathroom... well, I'm sure you understand. Our oncologist was origionally a hematologist, they'll be taking over the monitoring of his INR levels and assure us that the bleeds shouldn't be a problem. I'm still warry...

    I was reading that you have young kids- so do we. I'm about 3 weeks from delivering our 3rd and I cant' believe how much things have changed since the day we found out we were expecting. It's difficult for us because there aren't really any other patients out there where their GBM in not in the brain, only in the spine- you'd think that it wouldn't be so bad, symptom wise, because it's not in the brain, but it's been steady problems since diagnosis. Sounds like you know the rollercoaster that is Cancer pretty well. Man when they say it sucks, I think they're understating it just a tad.

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