Treatment options......?

I have started this topic on behalf of new user Carol

Kind Regards
Lucy
Moderator
Breast Cancer Care

Hi everyone,
I was diagnosed with breast cancer in September 2002. I had surgery, chemotherapy, zoladex injections, and was on tamoxifen. Everything was fine for nearly 4 years and then all hell broke loose! I returned from a wonderful holiday in the French Alps with my younger son and husband, only to find that I had to return to hospital to have an FNA on my breast as they had seen something irregular on my yearly MRI scan. This came back negative and I was told it was fat necrosis, but to be sure they also did a core biopsy which was another red herring. However during this time my husband noticed a small lump had appeared above my right eye on my forehead. To cut a long story short, it turned out to be breast cancer cells that had eaten into my skull bone, I had a craneotomy and part of the skull bone was replaced with titanium. After various bone scans and finally an MRI scan, I found out 3 days before Christmas, that the pain I had in my lower back was as I suspected, metastatic cancer, that had spread to the spine.
I had 5 radiotherapy treatments to help with pain relief, and it was suggested I take Xeloda. Before this I had a CT scan and found I also had small deposits on the right lung and also some fluid. I started taking xeloda 2 days before my 44th birthday back in January. I had to go into hospital at Easter because the fluid in my lung had increased, making breathing very difficult and had 7 litres drained from it! 4 weeks later I had to go to the local hospice as the bonefos tablets were not controlling the level of calcium in my blood, and I had to have an infusion of a similar drug to bring it to a normal level. I came home for the weekend and then had to be taken by ambulance to another hospital as my breathing problems had returned. I found out that the fluid had returned to the same level as before and I had a similar procedure, but this time under general anaesthetic; it had only taken 5 weeks to build up again!
I had stopped my chemo for some time and was told by my oncologist on the 21st of June, that the chemo had not worked as he had hoped and he advised against taking taxotere as he thought it would half any time remaining to me.
Is there anyone else in my position who has been told that taxotere is too toxic for them, and if so what are they taking now?

kind regards,

Carol

I’m so sorry to hear of your problems. I have bony mets in my spine, pelvis and rib. I also have a small met in my liver but i have extensive lung mets in my lymph system so I can understand a bit of what you are saying.
I thought taxotere was only not advised if your kidney or liver function was poor. I would phone up the ask the nurse here or email her. I’ve always found them very useful and helpful.
It is a tough chemo though but can have really great effects on shrinking tumours. I felt the illest I have ever felt on taxotere and would hate to go through that again. Some people seem to be able to tolerate taxol better though from what I have learnt on this web site.
I had vineralbine which worked wonders on my lungs even though I only lasted 8 weeks off chemo afterwards but it gave me a quality of life I could only have dreamt about. I could breathe, talk and walk at the same time!!! It also did not make me lose my hair or give me side effects until the 6th cycle when I got very tired.
Another option is cisplatin or carboplatin and gemcetabine although I have not had that so do not know what the side effects are like.
I know nothing about hormone options as I’m hormone negative but I would have thought you would have some more options there.
I hope someone can give you more advice than I can.
Thinking of you
Kate

Hi Carol,

Have they offered you taxol or taxotere on a weekly basis? This supposedly lessens the side effects. I had weekly taxol and still found it hard work but it did control my liver mets for 6 months or so. I have also heard, that it may be possible to give the infusion very slowly (even overnight) to try and avoid possible allergic reactions.

I appreciate that your onc feels you need more chemo now, and my hospital would usually suggest vinorelbine, as Kate suggests, after taxanes and xeloda. There should be other chemo options for you to try, which your onc. should discuss with you.

Also, if you have been taking tamoxifen, it should be possible for you to try the other hormonal options such as Arimidex, Aromasin or Femara, when they have managed to stabilize your mets.

Don’t give up - there should be many options for you to try yet, and I wish you the very best of luck with your treatment.

Jenny
xx