Gemzar alone

[rmarie]

Dr. Goodman Diagnosed 10/05, poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma stage 3cn recurred 3/07 in diaphragm, had a resection and I finished my second round of chemo the end of Sept. I was on Doxil and carboplatin.  I recurred with mets to the lung and pleura diagnosed in Dec.  I had a pleurectomy and removal of one of the lung tumors and will be starting chemo again.  Tumor sensitivity testing was done.   I realize that having had 2 courses of carboplatin may mean I am platin sensitive.
I will be starting Gemzar as a single agent.  My question is does it work as well as a single agent, their literature relates to it being used with carboplatin.
Thank you for taking your time to answer my question
Marie

[Hannah84]

Hi Gina

Its fantastic to read about your positive recovery. I was very sick 2008 and diagnosed  with IBS and had colonoscopy by surgeon and was in pain and discomfort for 5 months before i was diagnosed with ovarian carcenoma phase 111c, 2 surgeons refused to operate and the third surgeon and gyneocologist oncologist did major surgery.
Three weeks after surgery i started chemo...Cisplatin and Taxol...had a port in abdominal area as well where the chemo was applied directly.
It was hectic... had 18 treatments in 12 weeks....thank God my white bloodcells never went below 4.5....i was very sick...had 3 wonderfull months from October to December. My Ca125 went up to 80 and i was in pain and not feeling well... 2 glands under my colorbone by my neck was discovered and removed...had  my  first Gemzar treatment 2 days ago and feel dizzy and fatique,  otherwise not to bad.

I know that with the mercy of God there is hope for us and that we can have a normal life again.

God Bless
Hannah

[Gina21]

Hi rmarie - just wanted to give you some positive news about Gemzar. I was diagnosed Stage IIIC in Sept. 2002 and recurred in Nov. 2004. When I had the recurrence I was put on Gemzar/Cisplatin combination. Unfortunately the Cisplatin made me so nauseated and sick that after three treatments my oncologist took me off of it. I remained on Gemzar alone for the next 18 months. My treatments were 3-4 weeks on and 1 week off. The only side effects I had were a lot of fatigue and just a little nausea.

Thanks to the Gemzar I have now been off chemo and cancer free for 20 months. It took about six months to start feeling pretty good again but now I'm doing great. Have been eating well, taking vitamins and exercising. My husband says I look better than I ever have!

I still have my CA125 checked every month and see my oncologist every 3 months. We want to stay on top of everything just in case my CA125 starts to trend upward again. We caught my recurrence so early and want to be vigilant in case it happens again. Every time I see my oncologist he says "you know you're a miracle don't you". When I was diagnosed my surgeons told me to get my affairs in order because I'd be doing good to make it 1-2 years at most. Ha ha -fooled them! It's been over 5 years now!

I'm sending you positive thoughts and prayers that you and everyone else on Gemzar have the same results! Let me know if I can help in any way -------- Gina

[rmarie]

Glad to hear we will both learn from this post, that is good.  How are you doing with Gemzar?  I start it in a week and plan to go back to work the following week.  

[Jan214]

I would like to know the answer to that myself.  I am on Gemzar single agent and my onc says it is working just fine.  My FIL takes Tarceva? with his Gemzar for pancreatic cancer.  I can't take carbo this time, too soon since last time.  I'll look on the Drs forum and see if it got answered.