I am in a bit of a quandary, my oncolologist has given me info on both of these chemo treatments and I will be discussing them with her at my next appointment in 3 weeks time following a C T scan. I can appreciate that I will get S E with which ever one she feels is necessary to relieve/ reduce my symptoms and hopefully stop my secondary progression. I would like however to have a more informed discussion with her so I wondered if anyone has had the same dilemma.
I thought it would be useful to give you a bit of background info so I apologise in advance if I start rambling.
Sept 2015 CXR bilateral pleural effusions and # of 9 ribs. Bone scan confirmed bone mets CT confirmed mets in lung and pleura. I have had my right lung aspirated 4 times and my left x1 each draining a litre+ to relieve breathlessness. I was commenced on Everomulus and Exemestane Oct 2015 but my breathlessness worsened over time and despite being aspirated along with other se.My oncologist decided to give me a trail on steroids and stopped the Everomulus as this may have exacerbated the breathlessness. I was on the steroids for 4 weeks, continuing with the exemestane and felt much better. However my breathing has deteriorated since stopping the steroids so hence this possible new regime. She has also referred me to Guys to see a chest surgeon to get a more permanent solution to the pleural effusions that remain consistently the same on CXR.
Hi there, I have had both these treatments after progression (I now have lung, liver and bone mets with some in pleura as well!)
I had xeloda last March and it totally ruined my stomach and didn’t work but there are many ladies on here who have a lot of success on it. It’s big advantage is its in tablet form rather than IV! (Plus no hair loss!)
I then went onto 12 weekly sessions of taxol which finished last Aug. Very few SE apart from total exhaustion by the end, from which I still haven’t recovered fully. Didn’t lose hair as I had the cold cap! I would think trying to avoid IV chemo for now would be a positive!
I too have had pleural effusion x 2 of 1 lung and had it drained twice. In Nov last year I had a pleurodesis procedure which seems to have been successful and have had no problems with breathing since.
Good luck with whichever treatment you have!
Glo xx
I too was offered a pleural catheter but chose the pleurodesis, knowing that if it was success, would be a permanent solution. I was told that with cancer in the pleura/chest wall it was the irritation of this that caused the pleural build up, so the catheter would be more or less permanent.
My other reasons for this choice was that I could be confident, that if I went away it wouldn’t build up whilst away, or stop me going away at the last minute and the surgeon was also able to take a tissue biopsy as I had requested a re-test for HER2 status! A pleurodesis is not always guaranteed to work though and does require a longer stay in hospital. All very complicated!
Glo xxx
Hi aimilee. I have had both these treatments.am on docetacol at the moment.this is a big decision.personally I had less side effects on capecitabine.and tablet form no veins…go with your instincts.xx Sharon xx
Hi, I haven’t had taxol so can’t comment on that but I was on Xeloda for 2 1/2 years, it was very effective for me, it shrank my hilar lymph node and lump in armpit right down then slowly lost its effectiveness and the Marsden team kept me on it until I was back where I started. They also use a regime of one week on/one off so the sore hand/feet syndrome was manageable.
Having had 2 IV chemos in the past, this was much more doable for me. I’m now on Faslodex injections, a hormone treatment.
I hope that this is of some help. The other point is that Xeloda can be taken indefinitely as long as it works but Taxol is a finite regime. Good luck in your decision xx
Hi anneemay.i lasted 15months on capecitabine.also went abroad 3 times while on it.then it stopped working.so I tried letrozole for ten months which never really worked well.i had progression and I am now on 6 cycles of docetaxel which is done thru veins every 3 weeks…i have just had number 3 and waiting for scan to see if its working…the docetaxol has helped my ascites.good luck for whatever you decide…Sharon.,x
Hi Barton.thanks for capecitabine news.when I was on capecitabine I had slight bone mets progression and blood markers went up
My oncologist took me off cape and put me on letrozole.which didn’t work.i asked if I could try capecitabine again and she said never its like an anti
Biotic you get immune to.I’m on six x 3 docetaxol.at the moment Iv had 3
Struggling with it…i would like to think if needed I could try cape again…im not her2
Thanks for your information
Sharonx
Also meant tosay while I was on capecitabine.I was tired and onc said I cd go 2weeks on and two off.then I went away on holiday so had a whole month off.so not surprised markers went up .too late now but maybe I could look into it again later
Xxthanks sharon