Hi everyone,
I was diagnosed earlier this year with primary IDC, nodes and secondary multiple lung mets. The first chemo I was put on was FEC then after finding the lung mets they changed me onto (docetaxel) taxotere which I have been on with Herceptin ever since (4 chemos in total so far). Found out today the results of my CT scan that the primary tumour of 6cm had shrunk and the mets to the lungs were much smaller which is really good news (upon examination my onc could not find the primary lump yay). Onc also said that the mets to the lungs was now under control is that the same as stable?
My Onc said I was to have 2 more (making a total of 6) and that I could choose either FEC or Taxotere, my SE on FEC chemo caused much more nausea, whereas SE of Taxotere seemed to effect me more on an emotional level. Has anybody got any more information to add to this on these two chemo’s? especially for lung mets, I think I will probably go for Tax.
Straight after my results I met up with my surgeon who highly recommended to have a mx and node clearance instead of a lumpectomy with recon at a much later date due to the fact that I have got secondaries and have to take herceptin for the rest of my life. I am soooo glad they still want to perform the surgery, as I was led to understand that at stage IV they dont always offer surgery.
Any advice regarding the chemo choice would be most appreciated as would any words of wisdom on the mx.
Love and light to all
Sarahlousie
They’ve given you a choice?
Well the problem is it’s unique to everyone, some people have no or hardly any SE’s on one and then loads on another, so it’s hard to say.
If I had to make a personal choice, I’d go for the one I had least problems with, if it was about the same for both then I’d ask which is the more aggressive.
As far as I know Taxotere is a new generation Taxol based treatment and is more aggressive so “better” at killing cells but check with your onc on this as I’m no expert.
I had 3 lots of FEC and had a load of SEs, then went onto Taxotere, I’ve had 1 round of it and had a severe reaction to Filsgram Injections and got such horrendous bone marrow pain that I was crawling on floor, was prescribed morphine etc, but they can make a decision not to gice that to you next time if you have a bad reaction.
Hi I’ve got lung mets I’m on carboplatin / taxol which as shrunk my lungs by 70/50 percent I’m tn so can only have chemo I was on fec tax for prim but the tax made my lump grow so only had 2 then mx all dif hos do dif chemos so it depends on funding gd luck in waterer u choose at least wat u have had seems to be working Laura
El Katrano - Hi thanks for getting back so quickly, yes they have given me the choice and I’m not very good at making these sorts of decisions, sometimes I think it would be best if they just told you what your having, making these decisions can be a bit confusing. But I think taxotere is the one I will opt for cause at least I’m not sick like when I was on FEC, I hate throwing up a top pet hate, the taxotere has been ok ish, some neuropathy to hands and feet, nails are really suffering, and I do have at least 5 days where I am laid up on the sofa and need help to get up, I think the steroids really knock me out!
Laura64 - Hi fellow lung metser, your post reminded me that we all react differently to these chemos and what might work for one wont necessarily work for someone else, and of course I’d forgotten about the funding issue and that different hospitals get different funding, I agree with you laura at least what we have been doing so far has worked and I am over the moon with the results of yesterday.
I think I would probably go for FEC, and keep Taxotere in reserve (keep your powder dry so to speak). The thing is, when someone has secondary cancer, progression is always on the cards, so it’s important to manage the armoury to best effect.
Hi Lemongrove,
I had’nt thought of that, saving the taxotere for fighting further progression at a later date.
Thanks for that its definately food for thought.
Love, light and healing to all.xx
hi
I had 3 fec and 6 tax for lung mets and mass in lymph nodes.Had loads of se’s on fec and did not really work.Had less se’s on tax, other than total exhaustion, but the end result was that lung mets had totally disappeared.However only small shrinkage of axilla mass so ended up with 35 rads.
It is difficult to know what is the best as we all react differntly.
Hope whichever you choose is successful and all goes well without too many se’s.
L x
Hi
I thought tax was the gold standard for use with herceptin. I had 6 tax with herceptin for bone secs in May 08 so I would choose tax but treatments are changing all the time. Herceptin and Zometa seem to be keeping everything under control.
Good luck with your decision.
Sue x