Aa
chemo behavior (warning, my post may be very boring)
Hi, I thought I will as a question instead of answer one today. (I really feel like having a little back and forth talk like so many have had lately, and which did not used to be the case)
I have one other wish as well. Please do not tell me to ask my oncologist, or other doctor, since I already know this, and have asked. I also know that the answers I have received are guesses, and that is OK. (but there are more people than doctors who have valuable information to share, and they are more free to do so as well?)
Sometimes one can get information from other people's experience, or what they know from family and friends who had/have cancer, or even another patient who shared on a forum like this. I'll take everything of course also from people who have not themselves have had cancer, and who are often so 'on top of things'.
I am undergoing chemotherapy for the third time due to advancing bc and mets. (Ixempra) Prior to that I was on Abraxane which I loved, as it immediately, as well as continually brought down my rapidly increasing tumor markers, (from about 500-200), I felt great, had no bad side effects, and the chemo was infused in 30 minutes vs. the usual 3 hours, like the one I am now getting.
But after a few months the Abraxane stopped working, and in a matter of weeks my tumor markers went up from about 250 to 1800. (I was not able to start immediately after quitting the Abraxane because my cancer had invaded my spine, and it was so brittle with some breaks that I needed Emergency radiation first) The day I finished radiation I started the other and have now finished three treatments.
My point and question relates to the fact that my tumor markers have not gone down but slightly up. (I am not concerned about the 'slightly up' but about the 'not coming down.)
I am pretty sure that the chemo must be working somewhat and that without it my markers would be a lot higher, but then I am also wondering if maybe the chemo is not working well enough, or at all.
I wanted to know if anyone has had this experience, and how it was managed. Did your onco switch you, and at what point?
Thanks for listening; i realize this post is long and perhaps boring as well, to many.
Katrin
I have one other wish as well. Please do not tell me to ask my oncologist, or other doctor, since I already know this, and have asked. I also know that the answers I have received are guesses, and that is OK. (but there are more people than doctors who have valuable information to share, and they are more free to do so as well?)
Sometimes one can get information from other people's experience, or what they know from family and friends who had/have cancer, or even another patient who shared on a forum like this. I'll take everything of course also from people who have not themselves have had cancer, and who are often so 'on top of things'.
I am undergoing chemotherapy for the third time due to advancing bc and mets. (Ixempra) Prior to that I was on Abraxane which I loved, as it immediately, as well as continually brought down my rapidly increasing tumor markers, (from about 500-200), I felt great, had no bad side effects, and the chemo was infused in 30 minutes vs. the usual 3 hours, like the one I am now getting.
But after a few months the Abraxane stopped working, and in a matter of weeks my tumor markers went up from about 250 to 1800. (I was not able to start immediately after quitting the Abraxane because my cancer had invaded my spine, and it was so brittle with some breaks that I needed Emergency radiation first) The day I finished radiation I started the other and have now finished three treatments.
My point and question relates to the fact that my tumor markers have not gone down but slightly up. (I am not concerned about the 'slightly up' but about the 'not coming down.)
I am pretty sure that the chemo must be working somewhat and that without it my markers would be a lot higher, but then I am also wondering if maybe the chemo is not working well enough, or at all.
I wanted to know if anyone has had this experience, and how it was managed. Did your onco switch you, and at what point?
Thanks for listening; i realize this post is long and perhaps boring as well, to many.
Katrin
Best Answer
Thank you so much, SueYoung55, and Sue, for your support and kindness, and for responding even if you knew 'sh*t from shinola' about the topic, as my aunt used to say. (which also goes for many doctors and who have shared these feelings with me, as well as the fact that they are hardly perfect and make mistakes, and don't know nearly as much as we sometimes expect them to know.
All of our treatments are pretty much still a research process, and that is why it's so important that we as patients are active helpers, and diagnosticians as well, and work together with a team'...plus like we do here.
Someone said that they felt the following part of an article that bb posted was not much different than anything else every internet site tells you. (I think it was on a different site where I read this)
She was right in saying that most research one does on the Internet brings the same, or similar results, (minus new research), and that it is often presented 'automatically', or identically without providing the reader/patient/curious with much inspiration, or what they were hoping to find. Often,
investing so much and getting so little back, leads to profound disappointment.
But it is the following reason why I gave bb the 'best answer award', and specifically and mostly for these last few paragraphs.
They were not spoken in a stereotypic, boring and repetitive voice, and I was not left disappointed and empty, or just the way I usually feel.....
The words actually touched me on a much different level, and with a much deeper understanding, and very satisfied,. i really learned something that directly touched/related on/to my question, (but more), and I felt happy after reading it, I felt good.
(My 'best answer' was to that paragraph and not because Blueberry is my friend. (which makes me think that bb may be my friend because she has the ability to pick out such quality, and that says as much about her as the author)
On top of all, she is always taking the risk of being unappreciated, or rejected when she sends stuff to us, or ignored, and which is even worse.
To me bb's courage is familiar, and even when you make mistakes sometimes, or cannot please everyone, bb nailed it for me.
One of my favorite quotes, and that I find so profoundly true is the following:
' Taking no risks is risking everything' Dorothy Satten
(my mentor for many, many years who had amazing influence on me, and my life because of her teachings, and the wise and special person she is/was)
KATRIN
To: katarina777
Here is another way to tell if a treatment is working:
"In addition, a blood test, called CellSearch CTC, shows promise in helping to manage treatment of metastatic breast cancer. The test measures the number of tumor cells circulating in a sample of blood and can immediately inform physicians if a patient's treatment is working or needs modification. Research has shown that if a patient typically has more than five CTCs in a blood sample, survival may be shorter compared to patients with no CTCs. The CTC test can help physicians monitor whether a patient's treatment by determining whether the number of cancer cells is decreasing. This information can help determine whether changes are needed in a patient's treatment. While the test is used independently--typically before each chemotherapy treatment cycle--health experts do not recommend that it replace existing tests to monitor disease progression, such as the CAT scan or PET scan. Instead, it can be a useful supplement to those tests, which are often administrated every 12 to 24 weeks."
All of our treatments are pretty much still a research process, and that is why it's so important that we as patients are active helpers, and diagnosticians as well, and work together with a team'...plus like we do here.
Someone said that they felt the following part of an article that bb posted was not much different than anything else every internet site tells you. (I think it was on a different site where I read this)
She was right in saying that most research one does on the Internet brings the same, or similar results, (minus new research), and that it is often presented 'automatically', or identically without providing the reader/patient/curious with much inspiration, or what they were hoping to find. Often,
investing so much and getting so little back, leads to profound disappointment.
But it is the following reason why I gave bb the 'best answer award', and specifically and mostly for these last few paragraphs.
They were not spoken in a stereotypic, boring and repetitive voice, and I was not left disappointed and empty, or just the way I usually feel.....
The words actually touched me on a much different level, and with a much deeper understanding, and very satisfied,. i really learned something that directly touched/related on/to my question, (but more), and I felt happy after reading it, I felt good.
(My 'best answer' was to that paragraph and not because Blueberry is my friend. (which makes me think that bb may be my friend because she has the ability to pick out such quality, and that says as much about her as the author)
On top of all, she is always taking the risk of being unappreciated, or rejected when she sends stuff to us, or ignored, and which is even worse.
To me bb's courage is familiar, and even when you make mistakes sometimes, or cannot please everyone, bb nailed it for me.
One of my favorite quotes, and that I find so profoundly true is the following:
' Taking no risks is risking everything' Dorothy Satten
(my mentor for many, many years who had amazing influence on me, and my life because of her teachings, and the wise and special person she is/was)
KATRIN
To: katarina777
Here is another way to tell if a treatment is working:
"In addition, a blood test, called CellSearch CTC, shows promise in helping to manage treatment of metastatic breast cancer. The test measures the number of tumor cells circulating in a sample of blood and can immediately inform physicians if a patient's treatment is working or needs modification. Research has shown that if a patient typically has more than five CTCs in a blood sample, survival may be shorter compared to patients with no CTCs. The CTC test can help physicians monitor whether a patient's treatment by determining whether the number of cancer cells is decreasing. This information can help determine whether changes are needed in a patient's treatment. While the test is used independently--typically before each chemotherapy treatment cycle--health experts do not recommend that it replace existing tests to monitor disease progression, such as the CAT scan or PET scan. Instead, it can be a useful supplement to those tests, which are often administrated every 12 to 24 weeks."
Thanks Kat!
There are MANY (such as YOU!) who work hard here, sometimes with not much appreciation expressed by the people we answer, and other times with such gratitude for the smallest effort, that it brings tears to my eyes...
What also keeps some of us going is the friendships and camaraderie with one another we experience among "the regulars." (I'll never forget that Saturday night when you gals all got so silly over my display of chocolate goodies!)
♥♥,
bb
There are MANY (such as YOU!) who work hard here, sometimes with not much appreciation expressed by the people we answer, and other times with such gratitude for the smallest effort, that it brings tears to my eyes...
What also keeps some of us going is the friendships and camaraderie with one another we experience among "the regulars." (I'll never forget that Saturday night when you gals all got so silly over my display of chocolate goodies!)
♥♥,
bb
We could do a lingerie show later this week........................... LOL
If not exciting it CERTAINLY would be interesting!!!!
If not exciting it CERTAINLY would be interesting!!!!
Hey girls,
Maybe bb's lingerie are exciting and interesting!..Always matching things up!.She might even have butterflies on them! "BLUE",of course!
My husband says that mine look very nice...........The liar! LOL.....
Maybe bb's lingerie are exciting and interesting!..Always matching things up!.She might even have butterflies on them! "BLUE",of course!
My husband says that mine look very nice...........The liar! LOL.....
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I don't have an answer for you today, but I want to say that this is not in any way a boring post!
It's a serious and important issue, and I hope someone will have had some experience with this situation, or other good information to share with you...
I wish your doctor could come up with a chemo that would actually make your marker start going back down!
♥♥,
bb