Gemzar - Cancer is back

base61ball
base61ball Member Posts: 125
edited March 2014 in Breast Cancer #1
I am royally po'd right now. Did not have insurance or the funds to see oncologist before August 1 of this year. Doctor is very proactive and immediately ran a CT scan and a PET scan. There are spots on the lymph nodes from under right arm to the neck (bc was on the left side w/11 nodes removed in 2008) a spot on my back and one in the pelvic region.

The good news is no surgery this time because it is cellular changes, not tumors yet. The bad news is chemo again - he is doing 6 rounds of Gemzar - once a week for two weeks, then one week off for six cycles. That puts me at Dec 8 for finishing.

Question is - has anyone out there had Gemzar? Doctor assures me that I won't lose my hair this time but not sure what to think. It isn't a vanity thing - I have a challenged son who I don't want to tell if I am going to keep my hair. My children lost their father two years ago to lung cancer, then my son's "housemom" won't be returning to work because of bc and treatment. So I don't want to alarm him if I don't have to. Hope this makes sense - he doesn't process things the same as we do.

Any info is appreciated. Thank you.

Comments

  • iowasignterp
    iowasignterp Member Posts: 55
    #2
    Not taking gemzar
    Sorry I am not getting Gemzar so I can't answer at this time but do a google for Gemzar and look under cancer.org to see if they can give you some side effects as to what you are may get. I am taking Xeloda and i do think that you need to consider fatigue as a side effect to most chemo drugs. There are quite a few of us here who have recurrent cancer so you are not the only one. I can understand your qualms about not wanting to tell your child but you need to tell him something. Hiding secrets can be worse in the long run. Perhaps that is something that you can discuss with his special needs consutlants or counselors or talk to someone at the American Cancer Society's hotline. Maybe you don't have to tell him the big 'C' but you do need to let him know that something is not quite right. You neglected to mention how old he is. That is a major factor in all of this. Please write more.

    i will try to do some research and hope others will respond to your query. good luck!
  • TraciInLA
    TraciInLA Member Posts: 1,994 Member
    #3
    Chemocare.com
    I'm so sorry that you're having to fight this fight yet again, especially with all the other illness and loss your family has been going through.

    I haven't heard of any women on this board having Gemzar, but one of the best resources, IMO, for information on specific chemo drugs is Chemocare.com (Scott Hamilton's site, though the content is from the Cleveland Clinic Cancer Center). They have a very informative page about Gemzar: http://www.chemocare.com/bio/gemzar.asp.

    And it sounds like your doctor may be right about hair loss -- the site specifies that only 10-29% of patients on Gemzar lose their hair. It looks like the most common side effects are flu-like symptoms.

    Hope this helps,

    Traci
  • Eil4186
    Eil4186 Member Posts: 949
    #4
    I am so glad that there are
    I am so glad that there are no tumors. It sounds like your doc is treating aggressively. I am not familiar with Gemzar but I have heard of it. I will be thinking of you and hoping this chemo kills any bad cells and is easy on you at the same time. God bless. Eil
  • DianeBC
    DianeBC Member Posts: 3,881 Member
    #5
    TraciInLA said:

    Chemocare.com
    I'm so sorry that you're having to fight this fight yet again, especially with all the other illness and loss your family has been going through.

    I haven't heard of any women on this board having Gemzar, but one of the best resources, IMO, for information on specific chemo drugs is Chemocare.com (Scott Hamilton's site, though the content is from the Cleveland Clinic Cancer Center). They have a very informative page about Gemzar: http://www.chemocare.com/bio/gemzar.asp.

    And it sounds like your doctor may be right about hair loss -- the site specifies that only 10-29% of patients on Gemzar lose their hair. It looks like the most common side effects are flu-like symptoms.

    Hope this helps,

    Traci

    I haven't heard of Gemzar
    I haven't heard of Gemzar either, but, wish you the best of luck with your treatment.


    Hugs, Diane
  • Lighthouse_7
    Lighthouse_7 Member Posts: 1,566 Member
    #6
    Eil4186 said:

    I am so glad that there are
    I am so glad that there are no tumors. It sounds like your doc is treating aggressively. I am not familiar with Gemzar but I have heard of it. I will be thinking of you and hoping this chemo kills any bad cells and is easy on you at the same time. God bless. Eil

    I never heard of Gemzar
    I never heard of Gemzar either, but like the others have said, you can look it up. So sorry for all the troubles, you have all been through a lot. Sounds like this treatment might be easier on the body ( no hair loss etc.) and I wish you the best of luck.
    Hugs,
    Wanda
  • survivorbc09
    survivorbc09 Member Posts: 4,374 Member
    #7
    Eil4186 said:

    I am so glad that there are
    I am so glad that there are no tumors. It sounds like your doc is treating aggressively. I am not familiar with Gemzar but I have heard of it. I will be thinking of you and hoping this chemo kills any bad cells and is easy on you at the same time. God bless. Eil

    I wish I knew something
    I wish I knew something about your treatment, but, I haven't heard of it either.

    I will be praying for you and I'm sending you big hugs.


    Jan
  • tami90650
    tami90650 Member Posts: 82
    #8
    I'm so sorry
    Hi, I'm so sorry to hear what you are going thru. My breast cancer is back too. Once the doctors confirm that it is non invasive, my next indicated step is a massectamy. I scared right now. I have 4 kids. My youngest is 9. I havent been on here for a couple of years. I will pray for you.
  • tami90650
    tami90650 Member Posts: 82
    #9
    I'm so sorry
    Hi, I'm so sorry to hear what you are going thru. My breast cancer is back too. Once the doctors confirm that it is non invasive, my next indicated step is a massectamy. I scared right now. I have 4 kids. My youngest is 9. I havent been on here for a couple of years. I will pray for you.
  • tami90650
    tami90650 Member Posts: 82
    #10
    I'm so sorry
    Hi, I'm so sorry to hear what you are going thru. My breast cancer is back too. Once the doctors confirm that it is non invasive, my next indicated step is a massectamy. I scared right now. I have 4 kids. My youngest is 9. I havent been on here for a couple of years. I will pray for you.
  • Megan M
    Megan M Member Posts: 3,000
    #11
    tami90650 said:

    I'm so sorry
    Hi, I'm so sorry to hear what you are going thru. My breast cancer is back too. Once the doctors confirm that it is non invasive, my next indicated step is a massectamy. I scared right now. I have 4 kids. My youngest is 9. I havent been on here for a couple of years. I will pray for you.

    I am so sorry that your
    I am so sorry that your cancer is back. Wish I could do more than just send hugs and prayers, but, that is all I can do.


    Take care,

    Megan

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