Thursday, May 31, 2007
So much for doctors......
I saw the doc today. I already had my scan results, so I knew more Carboplatin was not an option. He says I need to find a trial. I guess the search is up to me and he will be available for consult. I have already started this based on our earlier emails. I showed him some of the other trial sthat I have looked at....I'm not sure how to read his response. It may be that since these are not standard treatments he doesn't know what to recommend or it may be that he doesn't think I will ever find anything that works and the trial stuff is too humor or distract me. I guess we may find out the answer some day.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
More bad news
emails from the doc:
Hi Jill,
The scan could have been better. It is available in My Chart for you to see, but it showed some growth in the lung nodules. Nothing new was popping up anyway. I haven't heard of the specific trial you are talking about, but there are likely a number of phase I trials at various locations. These are new drugs being tested, with little data so far regarding safety and effectiveness. They are always administered at a university setting (or at the NCI in Bethesda). The idea of a trial is probably a good one, as the standard drugs have failed to work well. I'll see what I can find out about the NCI trial, but I think there may be other standard options to think about (as they are more likely to work, honestly). I will see you when you come in.
Dan
They do have a trial that may be interesting, but you need to have a sibling who is HLA matched to donate blood cells. If you are interested, I believe the NIH requires you to be the point of contact rather than the physician, so call and see what they say about the trial...
Let me know. Here's the trial info:
Phase I Trial of T Cell Exchange With Th2/Tc2 Cells for Allogenic Stem
Cell Transplantation After Reduced Intensity Conditioning for Metastatic
Breast Cancer NCI-04-C-0131
Hi Jill,
The scan could have been better. It is available in My Chart for you to see, but it showed some growth in the lung nodules. Nothing new was popping up anyway. I haven't heard of the specific trial you are talking about, but there are likely a number of phase I trials at various locations. These are new drugs being tested, with little data so far regarding safety and effectiveness. They are always administered at a university setting (or at the NCI in Bethesda). The idea of a trial is probably a good one, as the standard drugs have failed to work well. I'll see what I can find out about the NCI trial, but I think there may be other standard options to think about (as they are more likely to work, honestly). I will see you when you come in.
Dan
They do have a trial that may be interesting, but you need to have a sibling who is HLA matched to donate blood cells. If you are interested, I believe the NIH requires you to be the point of contact rather than the physician, so call and see what they say about the trial...
Let me know. Here's the trial info:
Phase I Trial of T Cell Exchange With Th2/Tc2 Cells for Allogenic Stem
Cell Transplantation After Reduced Intensity Conditioning for Metastatic
Breast Cancer NCI-04-C-0131
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
So much for the easy chemo
I haven't heard the results of my scan so I email the doc today. He said "the lung lesions are growing in size, but there are no new spots anywhere. This isn't the result either of us were hoping for. We'll discuss when you come in tommorow (with questions).
Monday, March 12, 2007
??
Is is better to know that you will be dieing soon or is it better to live without knowing that the end is near?
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
no side effects
Did I really have chemo last week? I have had absolutely no side effects. I hope this stuff works because I can handle this.
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
starting chemo again!!
I saw the doctor today as started my new chemo. I'm going to do 2 rounds of CMF and then recheck the spots with a scan and see where my tumor markers are at. They are retesting my tumor markers today in case they went up since Jan 11th.
CMF is suppose to be an easy chemo. They call it "chemo -lite". I'm not sure if my hair will fall out. I would prefer any other side effect.
CMF is suppose to be an easy chemo. They call it "chemo -lite". I'm not sure if my hair will fall out. I would prefer any other side effect.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Facts about Lung Mets
If the cancer has traveled past the lymph nodes to another part of the body, a woman is said to have “distant metastasis”. The most common places that breast cancer spreads to are the bones, the liver, and the lungs. Many treatments are available for breast cancer that has spread to other parts of the body, but unfortunately once cancer has escaped from the breast and under arm lymph nodes, it is no longer curable. The goal of treatment in this case is to prevent the cancer from spreading further while at the same time minimizing side effects from the treatment.
Once breast cancer has spread beyond the breast and under arm lymph nodes, it is considered a “systemic” disease, meaning that it is necessary to treat the whole body rather than just one particular spot. This is because, once the cancer has traveled through the blood stream or lymphatic system, there are likely to be breast cancer cells in many different parts of the body, even if scans only show a few spots. For this reason, treatments that reach all parts of the body, such as chemotherapy and hormonal therapy, are used to treat metastatic breast cancer instead of treatments that just treat one part of the body, such as surgery. In general, surgery is not a part of the treatment of metastatic disease because treating only one area allows cancer to grow in other places. It is unfortunately not possible to remove all of the parts of the body where the cancer has spread because it is impossible to measure the individual cancer cells that will grow into a tumor without chemotherapy or hormonal treatment.
Breast cancer often responds to many different kinds of treatments, and most patients can live for months to several years with metastatic breast cancer.
Women with tumors that are not responsive to hormonal therapies or who have a large amount of disease in their bodies are usually treated with chemotherapy. There are many different types of chemotherapy that are used for breast cancer. In general, it is important to remember that the goal of treatment is to stop the cancer from growing while still allowing the patient to live a normal life. Many times the chemotherapy that is chosen in this setting is less toxic than the chemotherapy given after breast cancer surgery.
In recent years, there has been much interest in developing new types of medicines that kill breast cancer cells in new and different ways. Some of these medicines, such as trastuzumab (Herceptin), are designed to work against a specific type of breast cancer. Others, such as becizamab (Avastin), may work well in combination with chemotherapy to increase the likelihood that a treatment will stop the tumor from growing for a longer period of time.
In general, most women with metastatic breast cancer will be treated with several different types of therapy over the course of their disease. Over time, cancer cells become resistant to a treatment, and will begin to grow. When this happens, a change in treatment is needed. Unlike many other types of cancer, breast cancer cells can be controlled by many different types of chemotherapy, and women with metastatic breast cancer are living longer and longer.
Once breast cancer has spread beyond the breast and under arm lymph nodes, it is considered a “systemic” disease, meaning that it is necessary to treat the whole body rather than just one particular spot. This is because, once the cancer has traveled through the blood stream or lymphatic system, there are likely to be breast cancer cells in many different parts of the body, even if scans only show a few spots. For this reason, treatments that reach all parts of the body, such as chemotherapy and hormonal therapy, are used to treat metastatic breast cancer instead of treatments that just treat one part of the body, such as surgery. In general, surgery is not a part of the treatment of metastatic disease because treating only one area allows cancer to grow in other places. It is unfortunately not possible to remove all of the parts of the body where the cancer has spread because it is impossible to measure the individual cancer cells that will grow into a tumor without chemotherapy or hormonal treatment.
Breast cancer often responds to many different kinds of treatments, and most patients can live for months to several years with metastatic breast cancer.
Women with tumors that are not responsive to hormonal therapies or who have a large amount of disease in their bodies are usually treated with chemotherapy. There are many different types of chemotherapy that are used for breast cancer. In general, it is important to remember that the goal of treatment is to stop the cancer from growing while still allowing the patient to live a normal life. Many times the chemotherapy that is chosen in this setting is less toxic than the chemotherapy given after breast cancer surgery.
In recent years, there has been much interest in developing new types of medicines that kill breast cancer cells in new and different ways. Some of these medicines, such as trastuzumab (Herceptin), are designed to work against a specific type of breast cancer. Others, such as becizamab (Avastin), may work well in combination with chemotherapy to increase the likelihood that a treatment will stop the tumor from growing for a longer period of time.
In general, most women with metastatic breast cancer will be treated with several different types of therapy over the course of their disease. Over time, cancer cells become resistant to a treatment, and will begin to grow. When this happens, a change in treatment is needed. Unlike many other types of cancer, breast cancer cells can be controlled by many different types of chemotherapy, and women with metastatic breast cancer are living longer and longer.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
