Xeloda? Another round of new chemo-- what to expect?

BJeastOR said:

Herceptin Q?. Thanks William! A little more on our "journey"
Thanks for the long informative reply. Hubby was dx in Jan 09. Had chemo/rad for 6 weeks at Mayo in AZ. Had 5-FU then plus others and concurrent radiation. Cancer responded well to this unbelievably tough, exhausting treatment. Had Minimally Invasive esophagectomy in July 09. Had one follow-up scan that was clear. Brain tumors showed up in Nov. 09. Had brain surgery to remove and radio-surgery (halo). Follow up scan showed another tumor and lesion in brain- so 3 weeks whole brain rado this July. Scan also showed "spots" lungs and adrenal. Chemo now is to try to get those into remission. May possibly try spot radiation on adrenal later. They are very small and haven't increased much. Plan is to go to Mayo once every 3 weeks for the IV infusion and the Xeloda allows us to come home to Oregon in between. 3 days out now from IV chemo and 2 days out from starting Xeloda hubby is very sleepy and fatigued. Metallic taste issues are a problem. Gaggy coughing is a problem. He is back on Reglan and erothromyacin and an antifungal (and of course continuing omeprazole). He's had several dilations through the course of all this. I'm watching for diarrea, nausea, and hand/foot and wondering just how fatigued is he going to get? As you can see from all this, he's a fighter but he's getting very tired. We have had some wonderful times together-- just daily living and enjoying each other-- in the in-between times. Tip on hydration is wonderful. I'm going to call his chemo nurse and see if we can get that added. They did hydrate him this last round because he had lost so much weight. Every time they have done it it has done wonders for him.

Re: the Herceptin-- is that only useful/possible if they had NOT removed the initial tumor?

Jen

Hello Jen,
I see William
Hello Jen,
I see William copied by post to Linda from last Nov.....thanks William.
Just to update you since Nov.....Charlie stayed on the Xeloda and Herceptin until June of this year. We had a PET done in May and it showed activity in the esophagus and stomach and right around the same time, Charlie started to develop swallowing problems. So we all figured the beast was back. Our dr thought the Xeloda and Herceptin stopped working. So long story short.....we started a new chemo regime.....taxol and carboplatin. Was scheduled to have it once a week for 4 - 6 weeks. We had to skip a week due to Charlie developing thrush and then another week due to being dehydrated and in need of a blood transfusion. In the meantime we had an endoscopy and discovered the tumor was NOT back in the esophagus.....Charlie has developed Barretts and an ulcer. So we wonder if that was the activity that showed up on the May PET scan. They took biopsies during the endoscopy and everything came back clear. We just had another PET done last week and we get the results on Thursday. We will compare it to the May PET and decide what to do. I am praying the PET shows no new activity and possibly less activity. If things look good, we will talk to the dr about putting Charlie back on the Xeloda and Herceptin. Charlie was taking 1500 mg of Xeloda in the morning and then another 1500 mg in the evening. It really knocked him out.....he would sleep a lot after the first couple of days. Sometimes, towards the end of the cycle, he would have diarrhea. The skin on his hands and feet started to peel off....finger and toe nails would fall off. If we do go back on the Xeloda, I think we will ask for a lesser dose. I thought the Herceptin was given to keep you in remission but I know someone that is on it for breast cancer and she has never been in remission. All I can tell you is Charlie's original tumor was not removed....the chemo shrunk it to the point it wasn't detected on the PET scans he had after initial treatment.
I hope I answered your questions. I will keep you and you husband in my prayers.
Stay strong,
Jane

BJeastOR said:

Xeloda
thanks, Betty. Yes, Bill is having diarrhea and complains of his "guts hurting" all the time. He had the pump the first round of chemo and absolutely HATED it. I think if that is the option, he will just quit treatments. He may anyway, he's getting so tired of feeling so awful all the time. I keep trying to tell him that he just has to fight through this and then he may have remission and feel good again and taste again, etc. But it is a long haul and I feel guilty trying to tell him to suffer that long...

Jen

Xeloda
Hello Jen
My dad took oral chemo along with 6 wks of radiation for his ec. He was not able to have surgery. He did very well with it. The only side effect he had was the thrush. This was taken care of with a prescribed mouth wash and antibiotics. He went into remission from 1/09 to 12/09. In December he got mets to his liver. We tried the xeloda again, this time it did not work as well. He got every side effect imaginable. When I look back now, I wish we never even tried the chemo for the liver cancer. It is a trial and error, live and learn journey. I wish you both the best of luck. I agree with you, tell your husband to keep up the fight. It does get worse before it gets better. Keep in touch.
Tina