dr heinrick

sir, i forgot to tell you her chemo is platinol. there was something he wanted to add, cant remembe the name, but he was afraid of her brain bleeding.

thank you in advance

[HeinrikMD]

Hi,

The usual treatments given may include platinol, gemzar, taxol, taxotere. Was the drug mentioned but withdrawn for fear of bleeding Avastin?

Current treatment usually involves 2 drugs and if without contraindications - a third drug Avastin is considered.

I failed to inquire in the other post if the chemotherapy involves 1 or 2 drugs? Are you sure all she is getting is platinol? not a combination of platinol with 1 of the drugs I mentioned above? The importance is that by and large, 2 drugs are recommended for patients who are deemed well enough to aim for extending survival. You asked in the other post about the chances of making it til June, if she is receiving only 1 drug, and is pretty much in bed more than half of her waking hours - the goal of treatment may be to improve symptom control - not really halting cancer progression. If this is the case, her chances would be less.  

Stay positive.

[sreid]

The 2 radiation treatments were in middle two weeks of December.  I believe the other drug beside the platinol is taxol. Avastin is the drug they won't give her because of possible brain bleed. Does this tell you anything?

[HeinrikMD]

Hi,

Using two drugs generally means that the patient is still fairly well.  If this is the case, her  chances of  a longer survival would be better.

The Taxol has a side effect that may  make fine movements of the hands and fingers difficult. However, as I said before - this is cumulative - so I don't think the chemotherapy is responsible for the symptoms you discussed in your other post.

Stay positive.

[sreid]

doctor,
my wife was scheduled for 6 chemo treatments. she began them in jan. & had 3. she is now as of several weeks ago wearing 2 morphine patches, this week the doctor said the chemo is doing her no good & stopped treatments, she had a picc line put in  & hospice is in the process of being set up to come to our home. there is a place in florida & utah that does some type of laser treatment & focuses on each individual tumor. i am seriously thinking about taking her to see if this could help. if it will hurt her in any way, i dont want to do it. but is it possible this type of treatment could kill ALL of her cancer cells & prolong her life to a degree that would be worthwhile or would the doctors just be sucking insurance money from me? please help. she is 57. thank you

[HeinrikMD]

Hi,

If the initial chemotherapy is not doing well, then it appears that the disease is progressing.

When the decision was made for chemotherapy, this was due to the disease being too extensive to be controlled by any local therapy such as surgery or radiation. A laser treatment sounds like a local therapy as well – so it doesn't sound too promising under her circumstances. There are also therapies involving photodynamics – this would involve a drug which is activated by certain wavelengths of light. I'm mentioning this because this is delivered similar to chemotherapy so it is not a local therapy. However, these are investigational and the patients who are candidates for this treatment have to be fairly up and about, independent with most daily activities, and out of bed at least half of the waking hours. From your description of your wife, she doesn't seem to be in this fairly active category.

At the present time, the only other treatment known to extend survival after failure of chemotherapy is a second-line chemotherapy. If she seems pretty fail – conventional cytotoxic chemo may do more hard than good. You could discuss the option of taking Tarceva, which has a different side-effect profile: mainly rash and diarrhea which are more manageable than nausea and immunosuppression.

If you can find some more information on the treatment you are considering, post the details and I may be able to shed some more information.

[sreid]

they put in a picc yesterday & sent her home with a morphine pump. no communication with doctors. they hem & haw & that's about it. how long do we have? hospice began coming to the house last week. just give me your opinion & i want HONESTY. PLEASE.