scohn
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Posts:237
My wife just started her first treatment with abraxane. Her oncologist said he would be starting with abraxane alone (not the ramucirumab as well) as the trials showing effectiveness of the ramucirumab were with the docetaxel and not the abraxame, and it's not clear yet whether the ramu helps with the abraxane where there is a very different dosing schedule and no heavy steroids as there is with the regular taxols. Initial schedule is 3 weeks on, 1 week off.
I'll keep everyone updated on how the abraxane treatment goes!
Thanks again!
Forums
Reply # - October 29, 2018, 03:32 PM
Hey Scohn, Good to hear she
Hey Scohn,
Good to hear she's getting started. I'm going to assume she will fair very well and I hope she gets a respit from toxicity.
Best of luck!
Janine
I joined GRACE as a caregiver for my husband who had a Pancoast tumor, NSCLC stage III in 2009. He had curative chemo/rads then it was believed he had a recurrence in the spine/oligometastasis that was radiated. He's 10 years out from treatment.
Reply # - November 8, 2018, 10:08 PM
Two Treatments Down
Things going pretty well with abraxane so far. No steroids needed at all with the treatment so digestive issues (so far) are good - diarrhea and heartburn have been pretty minimal as long as my wife avoids very spicy food and too many raw vegetables. The main side effect of this has been the return of the muscle pain/cramping, and so she is slowly upping her concentration of gabapentin again. On the blood level - things are good but some of the liver enzymes have been going up - we hope this is mainly due to the abraxane. RBC slightly low and WBCs and platelets have remained great so far. And, as always, my wife seems to luckily be resistant to any nausea. So, this treatment has been very manageable for my wife - now we just have to wait a number of weeks and see if it works at all!
Reply # - November 9, 2018, 07:37 AM
Abraxane Away!
GRACE Community Outreach Team
That's great to hear that the side effects have been minimal, and I hope that continues. I wish more patients had access to Abraxane instead of Taxol, since it provides similar benefit with much less toxicity.
Looking forward to getting your update on good results from the new therapy.
Jim C Forum Moderator
Reply # - December 20, 2018, 06:54 PM
Hooray for Abraxane!
Just got the first post-abraxane CT scan back. Main lung tumor is smaller - now down to about 10% of its maximal volume (which was about 2 years ago), after holding steady at the same size for the last two lines of treatments (about 1 year). It is now at the smallest size it has ever been. It does note a number of very small likely metasases in the lung, but nothing new. More importantly, the liver lesions also improved (after a pretty steady increase in size during the last two lines of treatment) - the reference liver lesion decreased in volume by about half.
So, it looks like my old friend taxol (which I used to work with to study cell division in my postdoctoral studies) comes through again!
This was my real hope at this point, that my wife's liver lesions would decrease somewhat with the standard treatment, so that if she has to go on to another clinical trial next she could at least start from a better starting point.
They also did a head CT since my wife was having a few headaches, but the CT scan was clear (unremarkable) - but I think it is less senstive than the MRI scans, so I suspect there are still small brain lesions present, but we don't know, but certainly nothing major or new or dramatic. The headaches must have been due to dealing with some of my family members (or the altitude) in Denver.
As always, thanks to everyone here for all the help you gave us in helping us to make the decision between the new clinical trial and the abraxane.
Reply # - December 21, 2018, 07:09 AM
Hooray for Abraxane!
GRACE Community Outreach Team
Hi scohn,
That's terrific news! Glad to hear that she's getting such a good response, and I hope the side effects have been minimal.
Keep these good news updates coming!
Jim C Forum Moderator
Reply # - December 22, 2018, 10:42 AM
Hi Scohn, It's great to hear
Hi Scohn,
It's great to hear she's having such a great response to abraxane. I hope the side effects aren't worrisome and she can continue on for a while. I'm sure the altitude had something to do with the headaches because that you can change ;).
All best for you and your's,
Janine
I joined GRACE as a caregiver for my husband who had a Pancoast tumor, NSCLC stage III in 2009. He had curative chemo/rads then it was believed he had a recurrence in the spine/oligometastasis that was radiated. He's 10 years out from treatment.
Reply # - December 26, 2018, 10:11 PM
Thanks!
Thanks Jim and Janine!
May you and your families, and all the staff and faculty of CancerGrace have a wonderful New Year full of health and love and blessings!
In reply to Thanks! by scohn
Reply # - December 27, 2018, 06:02 AM
Thanks!
GRACE Community Outreach Team
Thanks, scohn,
And the same to you and yours!
Jim C Forum Moderator
Reply # - December 28, 2018, 07:43 AM
Thank you Scohn! May this New
Thank you Scohn!
May this New Year be filled with the health, love and blessings for you and your loved ones as well. Though it's not a blessing for anyone to need Grace, Grace is blessed with you here.
I joined GRACE as a caregiver for my husband who had a Pancoast tumor, NSCLC stage III in 2009. He had curative chemo/rads then it was believed he had a recurrence in the spine/oligometastasis that was radiated. He's 10 years out from treatment.